Gen V Season 2 Finale: "Guardians of Godolkin" Review

Warning: This nonfiction contains full spoilers for Gen V Season 2 Episode 8! You tin besides cheque retired our spoiler-free reappraisal of the full season.

Apparently, it’s becoming contented for Gen V to wrapper up each play with a gory massacre connected the field of Godolkin University. This clip around, we’re seeing the seeds of Thomas Godolkin’s (Ethan Slater) pledge to “cull the herd” carnivore fruit, arsenic Marie (Jaz Sinclair) and the pack marque 1 last, hopeless basal against the bloodthirsty dean. If the scope of the finale isn’t rather arsenic immense arsenic it could person been, the occurrence nevertheless serves arsenic a fitting capper to an wide enjoyable sophomore season. It adjacent works arsenic a coagulated bid finale, should it travel to that (but we’ll get there).

Assuming you didn’t fig retired the large Cipher/Godolkin twist up of time, you’re astir apt inactive reeling from the uncover that Hamish Linklater’s quality was thing much than a puppet for the existent villain of the season. That was surely a large mode to ramp up the hostility successful Episode 7, and that twist helps springiness the finale an aboriginal momentum it doesn’t squander.

Again, the scope of this occurrence turns retired to beryllium a spot smaller than expected. Given however Episode 7 ended, I half-expected this section to unfastened with Godolkin continuing to laic psychic discarded to the students helium truthful intelligibly despises. Instead, Godolkin’s execution spree is confined to the fistful of students attending his seminar aboriginal successful the episode. It’s astir arsenic if determination was a fearfulness of letting the cookware boil implicit excessively overmuch and past having to explicate wherefore Antony Starr’s Homelander isn’t showing up to intervene.

Ultimately, the quieter, much intimate attack works to the show’s benefit. The aboriginal absorption connected Godolkin and Susan Heyward’s Sister Sage helps overgarment a vivid intelligence representation of a antheral who can’t assistance but go his ain worst enemy. Early connected successful this episode, Godolkin has genuinely won; helium got precisely what helium wanted by tricking Marie into healing him. He’s escaped to beryllium with Sage and reclaim his spot successful the precocious echelons of Vought International. He has everything, yet helium can’t halt himself from being tripped up by this foolish obsession with separating the wheat from the chaff. Godolkin is arrogant capable to judge that helium knows amended than the smartest idiosyncratic successful the world, and we spot wherever that gets him successful the end.

Half the amusive of “Guardians of Godolkin” is successful seeing Slater truly descend his teeth into a relation that had been Hamish Linklater’s up to this point. Slater succeeds successful making this consciousness similar the aforesaid quality without simply echoing Linklater’s performance; the sardonic wit and acold menace are determination successful afloat effect, but tinged by a definite grade of manic abandon. Again, this is what happens erstwhile Cipher gets a sensation of what helium craves and loses the plot. Even Sinclair gets a amusive country wherever she gets to play Marie possessed by Godolkin.

Thankfully, Linklater isn’t wholly relegated to the background, adjacent if he’s efficaciously present playing a wholly antithetic relation arsenic Doug. Linklater gets 2 large scenes – 1 which gives america a sensation of conscionable however atrocious it is to unrecorded arsenic Godolkin’s nutrient puppet, and the different that provides an added spot of closure for the precocious Chance Perdomo’s Andre. I privation Doug were fixed much to bash beyond those 2 scenes; fixed everything he’s endured, it feels similar the quality deserved amended than to beryllium abruptly killed disconnected by Black Noir.

As for Sage, the bid continues to marque inspired usage of the quality successful her recurring impermanent role. We get to spot a precise antithetic broadside of Sage here, wherever she’s successful emotion and intelligibly retired of her extent due to the fact that of it. There’s a large vulnerability to Sage during her bedside chat with Godolkin, followed by a wounded consciousness of grief erstwhile she visits Sean Patrick Thomas’ Polarity and realizes that her fellow has squandered everything they worked for. As overmuch arsenic Godolkin is his ain worst force successful this episode, helium astir apt inactive would person won the time if not for his all-seeing lover.

The last showdown betwixt our heroes and Godolkin doesn’t disappoint. If Godolkin’s sidesplitting spree proves amazingly contained, there’s inactive a macabre glee successful watching him laic discarded to his people and past promptly unit them to creation for his amusement. It’s arsenic satisfying to spot however integral God U’s weakest and lamest students are successful toppling the almighty dean, proving Sage’s constituent that the astir unsafe enemies are the ones with thing to lose. And Godolkin’s last decease country is each spot arsenic gory and disgusting arsenic fans of the bid person travel to expect – a fitting extremity for a feline who got mode excessively precocious connected his ain proviso by the end.

With that, it’s worthy digging into the last country a bit, and the question of whether there’s inactive a aboriginal for Gen V. I surely wasn’t expecting Season 2 to adjacent retired by truthful straight laying the instauration for The Boys Season 5, but that’s what happens, arsenic Erin Moriarty’s Starlight and Jesse T. Usher’s A-Train some halt by to formally invitation Marie and her friends to articulation “the resistance.” It’s a large mode of capping disconnected Season 2 and acknowledging that these characters are acceptable to articulation the large leagues now; plus, a bully NiN needle driblet ne'er hurts.

But should we instrumentality this to mean that there’s not going to beryllium a Gen V Season 3? Are we efficaciously watching the bid finale here? Possibly. It’s truly a question of what authorities this beingness is going to beryllium successful by the extremity of The Boys Season 5. Will determination inactive beryllium a Vought, overmuch little a Vought-sponsored superhuman college? How galore of these characters volition inactive beryllium alive by then? As overmuch arsenic I’d emotion to spot much Gen V, this isn’t a atrocious mode to headdress disconnected the show…if that’s so the goal. This finale closes retired 1 epoch and opens the doorway to an breathtaking crossover; if thing else, fans are surely going to beryllium rewarded for having watched this spinoff erstwhile The Boys yet makes its return.