Gen V Episode 5: Cate’s betrayal explained

Gen V Episode 5 directly addresses the confusion surrounding last week’s ending – and it involves a major betrayal by Cate. Here’s what you need to know.

In our review of the fifth episode, we said it “manages to find a satisfying answer to last week’s head-scrambling ending while upending the show’s natural order; the flow of time and power isn’t as steady as we thought.”

We last saw Marie in bed with Jordan, which came after a smash cut to black from Emma pinning down Sam in Doctor Cardosa’s garden. We didn’t see anything that happened in between, nor was it clear exactly how much time had even passed between that night and then.

Episode 5 doesn’t dance around it – we get answers, and it leads to a rather shocking reveal for Cate.

Gen V Episode 5 reveals Cate’s betrayal

In Episode 5 of Gen V, we learn that Cate has been wiping the memories of Andre, Jordan, and Marie at the behest of Dean Shetty.

They all wake up in Dusty’s house in the wake of a wild, debauched party, but nobody can remember how or when they got there. Their first suspect makes sense: Rufus, who we’ve seen mind-controlled into slamming his genitals with a baseball bat by Cate, not to mention the explosion of his penis after he tried to rape Marie. If anyone wants revenge against Godolkin’s guardians, it’s him.

Andre pursues him, but as soon as he gets close enough, Rufus blanks his memory again. Later, Marie and Jordan confront him, making sure to keep him at a safe distance so he can’t get inside their heads again. However, he insists he has nothing to do with it.

“I swear to f*cking Christ, I never touched any of you,” he says. “You’re all f*cking nuts. Look at the facts… you say I wiped your memory, right? Except I couldn’t have done that, because my powers only work up close and I’ve been here for the past five hours,” he says.

That’s because it’s been Cate this whole time! When Marie finds a tracker in her neck, she rushes to show Cate, who sneakily removes her glove as Marie is checking her and prevents her from investigating further. Emma then tracks down Sam at the drive-in theater, where he reveals Cate to be the culprit – she even made him forget that Luke, aka Golden Boy, was his brother multiple times.

It’s unclear exactly why Cate is helping Dean Shetty, but she’s certainly not happy about it. She goes to her in a distraught state and feeling like she can’t take the lying anymore, but Shetty tells her that “no one helps people get past what’s holding them back like you… you’re the only one who can keep your friends safe.”

As we find out more about the Virus in the upcoming episodes and Vought’s wider, insidious plans, we’ll likely learn about the origins of Cate and Shetty’s secret agreement.

Gen V Episodes 1-5 are on Prime Video now, which you can sign up for here. You can check out our other coverage below:

Gen V review | Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | When does Gen V take place in The Boys timeline? | Gen V cast and characters | The Boys cameos | Gen V runtimes explained | Tek Knight powers explained

Please note that if you click on a product link on this page we may earn a small affiliate commission.