Gen V “Bags” Review

Season 2 Episode 4 – Congratulations! You secured a VIP ticket to the big fight! Attendees assume all liabilities. You may appear on camera or come in contact with bodily fluids. As a reminder, The Vought International Hotel and Spa forbids outside beverages and gender neutral bathrooms. Enjoy your VIP Experience!

Please note, our reviews are based on likes and dislikes. These contain significant spoilers. If you haven’t already watched the episode, we recommend that you click off the article and come back once you have watched the episode. Enjoy!

What I Liked

1. Cipher’s stability begins to unravel. After Jordan’s speech, they spin it around as a lie, which is actually clever. Now, Cipher is forcing a fight between Jordan and Marie. Cipher is also holding Emma at the forefront of it, which makes it even more sadistic. This wasn’t a bad start. To be fair, I’m looking forward to the fight.

2. Cate’s powers are seemingly returning, but are unstable and unpredictable. I didn’t think I’d wake up this morning and watch a guy have sex with a garden gnome. Here we are, I guess…

3. Despite how dodgy Cipher is, I’m enjoying watching him train Marie. We see her move multiple bags of blood from one table to the other without moving. It was impressive. I loved the Yoda reference, considering it felt like I was watching a Star Wars scene for a moment.

4. Nothing like Cipher calling Elon Musk and Julia Fox asshole’s and referencing them as animals. I couldn’t help but laugh throughout this season, even despite the fact that it was a fairly solid moment for Marie’s development.

What I Disliked

1. I’m gonna be honest. So far, Harper and Ally don’t really appear to be characters I particularly care for. They haven’t added anything of value to the season as of yet, and this was fuelled further for me in the 4th episode. I’m hoping for something better as we move forward and for them to have an actual point instead of being Starlight’s fangirls who spraypaint walls.

2. The camera sequence felt too predictable. They went through this entire mission to get a small camera inside the room where Cate confronts Cipher. It was clear from the off that Cipher was going to spot this. In the end, it felt like an even bigger waste of time as the end result stayed the same, which was positive, of course, but everything prior to Cate actually confronting Cipher was a tad boring.

Favorite Moment

Cate calls out Cipher after Marie believes him to be human during her training session. I wasn’t entirely sure if Marie’s call to her was correct. It wasn’t, though. Cipher can seemingly mind control from a distance. Marie and Jordan appear to be hesitant to fight, obviously, until Cipher steps in to control Jordan. Marie manages to levitate Jordan, and then Cipher lets go. For a moment, you really thought Jordan was gonna be an Elon Musk situation. This had me on the edge of my seat.

Standout Character

Cipher takes it for me. From his moments of training Marie to showcasing his power for the first time was fantastic. He’s a villain who feels like he’s 10 steps ahead of everyone at all times. He’s not Homelander-level terrifying (yet), but I believe if this direction continues, it could very well head that way.

Verdict

A real highs-and-lows episode. It wasn’t the best of the season, but it was still relatively decent overall. I enjoyed certain aspects, especially the aftermath of Jordan’s speech and Cipher’s true reveal. However, there are points in this season that need to be ironed out to better fit the overall story, and this episode didn’t really help with that. At times, that left me feeling a bit let down.

Rating 7.4/10