Gen V’s fifth episode completely flips the series around with a wild reset. The end of episode four suggested some trickery was afoot as the “save Sam” sequence abruptly cut to Marie Moreau and Jordan Li in bed together. This proved to be true with the entire crew waking up at a wild party and not remembering anything about what happened the night. Even worse, they don’t remember anything about Sam nor the woods. It set them on the path towards Rufus, the psychic supe, because all signs pointed to his involvement. Rufus is disgusting, but he’s not the culprit behind their major setback. It turns out Cate Dunlap is deeply involved with Dean Shetty and covering up what’s happening in The Woods on Gen V.
In the episode, Marie, Jordan, Andre, and Cate try to remember how they all ended up at a wild house party. Jordan notes they never black out and a whole day has gone by without any of them remembering it. Later on, Marie and Emma are confronted by Sam, who is much calmer than when they last saw him. The problem is, they don’t remember him at all. Sam tells Emma there are dangerous people at the school who don’t want them to know about him. He says he will find a way to fix it and leaves.
Marie and Emma catch up with the group again and Cate suggests Rufus is probably behind their memory loss. It’s a convenient lie considering Rufus is 1) a horrible predator and 2) mad at Marie for exploding his penis. Marie also discovers a tracker is embedded under her skin, which is likely true for the others. She goes to Cate to update her and Cate uses her mind control powers to make her forget. Of course, Marie isn’t able to expose Cate’s deception because she cannot remember anything (again).
However, Cate isn’t straight up evil like Vought. She tearfully tells Dean Shetty she can’t keep lying and pretending to be someone she’s not. Cate says her friends will eventually figure it out and Dean Shetty simply apologizes for what’s going on. Meanwhile, Emma finds Sam, who reveals Cate made Luke forget Sam over and over again. Everything crashes together when Jordan and Marie find Rufus, who says he can’t manipulate anyone who isn’t physically close. Emma calls and reveals Sam is Golden Boy’s brother and Cate is behind it all. Andre shows up with Cate and he’s very angry, nearly killing Rufus before Cate admits her deception and restores his memories. He’s visibly heartbroken and calls her a monster before walking off.
Despite the circumstances, it’s hard to not feel sorry for Cate Dunlap. She genuinely cares about Andre and the others and doesn’t take pleasure in manipulating them. It’s not clear why Dean Shetty chose Cate as her reluctant accomplice. It’s possible that there’s some part of Cate’s past that Dean Shetty is able to use as a bargaining chip. Maybe Cate has some kind of connection to the woods that Gen V will reveal soon. Either way, Cate knows something—if not everything—and the crew will have to get that information out of her. The good thing about Cate being a decent supe at her core is that she can still use her powers to help stop Dean Shetty’s nebulous plan. The plot continues to thicken in this quest to take down God U and The Woods.