Gen V may have offered a shocking twist in its most recent episode, but the showrunners share that all the clues to it were in front of fans all along!
Caution: This article contains SPOILERS for Gen V season 2
Since the start of Gen V season 2, the heroic characters have faced a new threat: Cipher (Hamish Linklater), the new dean of Godolkin U. He was already unsettling, with his calm voice turning into sudden rage as he pitted the characters against each other in twisted games.
At first appearing to be a normal human, Cipher was revealed to have the power to control people like puppets. That made him more dangerous, even as he was shown tending to a horribly burned man in a bathtub, while often shown muttering to himself. He also unveiled his plan to “cull” the supes population on the classic idea that “only the strong survive.”
The penultimate episode of season 2 had our heroes hunting Cipher and figuring out that the burned man in the tub was Thomas Godolkin, the founder of the university and known for his powerful abilities. Marie figured rescuing Godolkin could make him an ally against Cipher.
After various scrapes, Polarity faced off with Cipher while Marie used her powers to heal Godolkin (Ethan Slater), restoring him to full health, which nearly wiped her out. Just as Polarity had Cipher down, however, the twist came in.
Cipher's true identity was revealed in a shock twist
Without warning, Cipher dropped his arrogant persona to beg for mercy. He then dropped the bomb. “There is no Cipher. There’s only him.” "Him" meaning Godolkin.
“Cipher” is actually Doug Brightbill, a lowly worker whose last clear memory was being fired from Blockbuster Video in 2014. Ever since then, he's been controlled by Godolkin, who set him up as Cipher to control the school. It’s why Cipher had no Compound V in his blood but was able to control people as he was just another one of Godolkin’s puppets. This entire thing was all to get Marie to heal Godolkin and the man now prepared to carry out his culling.
It was a shocking twist, with showrunner Michele Fazekas talking to Entertainment Weekly on how they crafted it. That includes the little bits throughout the season that would have been subtle clues.
"We're laying out little hints that, if you look back, you'll be able to see it. Even the fact that — why does this guy just drink gross shakes with chicken and stuff in it? It's because he doesn't taste anything. He doesn't care about this body. He's just trying to keep it going to get to the end goal."
Other clues include Cipher’s insistence on being slapped a lot, as he couldn’t feel the pain, and Godolkin just having fun with Doug. A scene where Cipher whips Godolkin was likely Doug briefly asserting control before he lost it again. Then there was how Cipher would openly goad people into attacking him as he was nothing but a puppet for the real villain so if he got killed, Godolkin would find someone else to control.
It makes you feel sorry for Doug who's had to put up with being used in horrible ways for a decade and the scary idea he was just the latest in a line of people Godolkin was "puppeteering" for a long time. Now that he's fully healed, the man is going to be even worse (as proven by making one low-level supe student strangle himself).
It’s a wild turn for the show, setting up the finale where the fully powered Godolkin is going to start his murderous culling. It puts everything we thought we knew about Cipher in a new light and makes rewatching the season to see the clues all the more intriguing. No matter how wild the Gen V finale is, it can’t match how masterful this story twist was.
The Gen V season 2 finale streams Wednesday October 22 on Prime Video.