Superhero narratives are notorious for rendering death as a non-definitive event, and since its introduction as a pocket galaxy within The Boys TV universe, Gen V has portrayed bloodshed and mortality as casually as dropping a class. Thus, while Cate Dunlap’s survival after Jordan powerfully hurls her into a brick wall in the premiere of Season 2 isn’t shocking, it’s even less surprising that Vought International is turning the incident into propaganda. Following the brutal attack on a Guardian of Godolkin, Emma, Jordan, and Marie consider that perhaps staying on campus is the safest option, as they’re at least within the “belly of the beast.” They create a TikTok where Marie employs therapy jargon to articulate her return to school and her personal awakening. Jaz Sinclair amusingly portrays Marie’s forced smile, reminiscent of a Grimacing Emoji, but the clip goes viral, sufficing to portray Marie’s supposed willingness to return to God U. “Sophomore year is gonna be lit!”

The group finds themselves under relentless surveillance. Student Life Stacey (Stacey McGunnigle) is constantly lingering, partly because she’s part honeybee. (Beware of the stinger.) Dean Cipher, aware of Marie’s false enthusiasm, remains indifferent and instead becomes their professor in a “Hero Optimization Seminar.” As Vikor (Tait Fletcher), a supe from Vought clad like a He-Man figure, breaks the backs of supe students over his knee, Cipher declares, “None of your power sets are fixed,” suggesting they can all enhance their abilities under pressure. It appears to be part of a strategy to mold young supes into soldiers, extending beyond mere loyalty tests. Cipher and Vought seemingly intend to appropriate the identities and powers of Marie, Jordan, and Emma while coercing them into embracing this fate.

Of course, they harbor alternative plans. Emma’s motivating talk with Polarity in Episode 1 was influential; he’s now enlisted to assist in their battle against Vought, still largely motivated by the memory of Andre. (“Do you think it’s a coincidence the only one who didn’t make it out of Elmira is a young Black man?”) Emma and Polarity cleverly navigate past Godolkin U’s archivist, The Rememberer (Stephen Guarino), and just as they’re about to abandon their search within the ordinary files, they stumble upon a concealed room that contains classified records. Inside, they find disturbing Nazi and Klan relics — content that would appear comically malicious if not genuinely so. Ultimately, they uncover a filing cabinet teeming with birth certificates and photographs of infants labeled “ODESSA.” In her excitement over this discovery, Emma, possibly super-zooted on Molly the whole time, consciously enlarges herself for the first time.

With Marie’s return, Jordan made the anger clear, that whole leaving them in the lurch while at Elmira thing. But later, when they’re alone, it’s quieter. Jordan was angry with Andre for rashly trying to bust them out on his own, and she was really angry with Marie because she didn’t want to be alone. Marie places her hand on Jordan’s thigh – “You’re not gonna lose me” – and their romantic feelings from last season return. The first time they spent the night together, it was partly a wash, a function of Cate amnesia-fying everybody at a party. No such funny business this time. “Me like this is OK?” Jordan asks in her female form. “Anything and everything you do is OK,” Marie answers. Cue a sticky-sweet cover of The Outfield’s “Your Love,” because our favorite Gen V ‘ship looks like it’s back in business.    

While Cate survived getting tossed into a wall, she’s still in a hospital room, mostly comatose. (Gen V finds a gore moment when a nurse touches Cate and becomes a vessel for her mind control. Scalpels and bedpans find their way into faces.) And that means she can’t be out on campus keeping tabs on Sam Riordan. Without her controlling touch, Sam’s mind, still tortured from being a Woods experiment, falters in and out of stability. And when he sees Emma on campus, he confronts his former flame. “Cate said your name. Well, she didn’t say it – she possessed a nurse that said it and that nurse stabbed another nurse in the face.” It’s not a coincidence, Sam tells the voices in his head, that Emma and Marie and Jordan were in the vicinity of Cate’s attack. Why would they harm her after she helped them get out of Elmira? 

Emma’s like: “Wake. The. Fuck. Up.” She tries to reason with Sam, tries to make him see that Cate twisted his thoughts into more Vought-aganda. Tries to make him understand she brainwashed his late brother Luke “Golden Boy” Riordan (Patrick Schwarzenegger), too. Tries to talk sense into a guy who spent the end of last season putting his fist through innocent Godolkin students’ faces. “Sooner or later, you’re gonna have to face up to what you’ve done.”

But that won’t be tonight, because God U is alive with celebration. Vought “caught” Cate’s “attackers,” pinning the entire incident on the Starlighters, those progressive-minded followers of the most hated member of The Boys. (Vought News chyron: “Starlighter F*@#ks Around And Finds Out.”) Unlike superhero deaths, the regular human Starlighter shot and killed by chief Vought bounty hunter Dogknott won’t be coming back. And Marie is distraught, thinking their actions led to his death. Unwittingly, of course. But the lie machine is already running in the red, and they’ve only been back on campus for a day.

The other big problem? Those files Emma found in the archives. She runs to meet her friends, stuffs the manila folder full of birth certificates into Marie’s hands. “I know what Project Odessa is! It’s you. You’re Odessa.” On Gen V, sophomore year is definitely lit. By the glow of a dumpster fire.

Class Notes for Gen V Season 2 Episode 2 (“Justice Never Forgets”):

• The Boys cameos continue in Season 2 of Gen V. Chase Crawford surfaces in Episode 2 as perpetual Seven dummy The Deep, who is all-time president of Rufus’s fraternity at God U, and must conduct its racist hazing rituals personally. Like the wielding of a giant shit-covered phallus, for example. And Valorie Curry is also here as Firecracker, the Vought mouthpiece whose nightly show Truthbombs is like a Opposite World flamethrower.
• Emma’s “Advanced Influencer Fluency” class is taught by Modesty Monarch (Kira Guloien), a supe with gossamer wings who is tradwife-pilled and primed with a bewildering word salad full of lies. “If a fuckable superhero” – Emma’s value reduced to objectification – “says the Starlighters need to be hunted down by any means necessary, they’ll follow their patriotic erections into the fight against the globalists and pedophiles who are ruining this nation.” The last thing Emma wants is to inundate her social media with Vought messaging. But it’s also the first thing Cipher wants. Modesty Monarch drops the sweet tone. “The dean wants you here.” Like we said, this crew’s under constant surveillance.

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.