Diksha Sundriyal
The fourth episode of Prime Video’s ‘Gen V’ finds Marie and her classmates trying to figure out what happened to Emma and Sam after they broke out from the Woods. Marie is worried that something might have happened to Emma and blames Andre for sending her into danger to do his dirty work. Things also get tricky when Tek Knight arrives on campus to film an episode where he uncovers the reason behind Golden Boy’s actions. This is Vought’s attempt to control the narrative and make people think they still have things under control.
This whole episode is a wild ride, with Tek Knight and his “special proclivities” being the center of attention. However, it also sheds light on Sam’s mental health, giving us a glimpse into the voices inside his head (which take the form of TV’s Jason Ritter and a puppet version of The Deep) and how they manipulate him into doing things that led Vought to put him in the Woods. The twist, however, arrives at the end with an abrupt break, which makes one wonder what happened there. Let’s find out. SPOILERS AHEAD
What Does Marie’s Blackout in the End Mean?
Having run away from the Woods, Emma and Sam hide out in a place where he used to come with Luke. He is devastated when she tells him his brother is dead but assures him she’s there for him. At first, Sam is in control of his feelings, but when TV’s Jason Ritter and The Deep’s puppet start talking to him, an idea germinates in his mind.
So far, he has been abandoned by everyone he loves, and he worries that Emma might do the same. Even if she doesn’t, he’s still putting her in danger because the people who came after will target her, too. He particularly fears Dr. Cardosa, who experimented on him in the Woods. Sam is convinced that he has to kill the doctor to ensure Emma’s safety.
When Sam runs away, Emma goes to Marie for help. They are accompanied by Andre, Jordan, and Cate, who arrive at Dr. Cardosa’s house just in time to stop Sam from killing the man. They try to reason with Sam, but he doesn’t trust anyone. Andre and Marie had stopped him before when he tried to run away, and Cate had subdued him, following which he was taken to the Woods. This is why he doesn’t trust them. As he gets out of control, Emma expands in size to overpower him.
With Sam under control, Emma and the others try to convince him they are on his side. Marie promises to help him figure things out, but before she can finish the sentence, the scene abruptly cuts to black. The next we know, she wakes up next to Jordan. What does that mean? Did she have a blackout? Did the others have the same experience?
Previously, in the episode, Marie approaches Rufus, who has psychic abilities, in the hopes that he’ll locate Emma. Instead of helping her, Rufus uses his powers to assault her. This is the first time Marie is abruptly removed from one scene and thrown into another. This scene and the one at the end show that she’s had a blackout. Does it mean Rufus did something this time around?
The preview of the fifth episode proves that Marie is not the only one who has had a blackout. The others have experienced the same thing, which means that all of their memories were wiped. What probably happened was that Marie and the others got Sam under control and took him away somewhere safe, where they started to plan their next moves, which meant exposing the university, Vought, and the Woods program.
Perhaps they forgot that in saving Dr. Cardosa, they left a loose end. He notified Dean Shetty about it, who found Sam, threw him back in the Woods, and then wiped the memories of Marie and the others to clean up the mess. She couldn’t have all five of them taken away, killed, or even reported because she didn’t want Vought to find out that Sam had run away while she was in charge. By ratting out the students, she would be creating trouble for herself. Instead, she found it better to remove those memories and let them carry on in peace.
Another possibility is they voluntarily removed those memories. After encountering Tek Knight, they know how easily they can be manipulated to reveal their secrets. They didn’t want someone at the university to figure out their connection with Sam and put him and all of them in danger. So, maybe they decided to remove those memories so that even if they were caught, they couldn’t be coerced into revealing Sam’s location.
They must have a backup plan, too, but perhaps they forgot about it when they removed their memories. In this case, Cate is the only one (as of yet) who can do the memory-wiping thing. The next episode will shed more light on the nature of this blackout and, more importantly, what it means for Sam. Is he tucked away somewhere safe, or is he back in the prison, which he’d only just escaped?
Read More: Is Jordan Li Trans or Non-Binary in Gen V?
