Gen V Episode 8 finale ending explained

Gen V Episode 8 closes out the first season of The Boys spinoff in blood-soaked, explosive style – here’s a breakdown of what happens in the finale.

At the start of Gen V, it would have you believe that it’d mostly be about students competing to beat each other on the Godolkin University rankings – and, in turn, vying for a spot on The Seven alongside Homelander and Vought’s other poster heroes.

And then Golden Boy killed himself. And then we found out about the Woods. And then there was the plan to kill every supe on the planet with the Virus.

Gen V has been an unpredictable ride, and its story culminates (but doesn’t quite conclude) in a chaotic, violent finale that sets up another season as well as the return of The Boys. Here’s what you need to know.

Gen V Episode 8 finale ending: What happens?

Gen V Episode 8 ends with a massacre at the university, but Marie, Jordan, Andre, and Emma are locked away in a cell and framed for the murders, while Sam and Cate become the new Guardians of Godolkin – all under Homelander’s direction.

The episode opens with Cate and Sam deciding to team up to free all of the supes in the Woods, and carnage quickly ensues. They make their way through the campus’ faculty and kill non-supes on sight, while Marie, Jordan, and Emma sweep the school and try to save people.

Meanwhile, Sam asks Cate to “help him” – in other words, she makes it so that he “feels nothing”, turning him into a merciless killing machine. He ends up fighting Andre, and after exchanging a few molar-quaking haymakers and tasers to the torso, the pair both end up unconscious on the ground.

As the violence intensifies, Ashley tries to find Homelander while offering a spot on The Seven to anyone who takes out the rogue supes, including Marie. She can’t convince Cate’s to stop what she’s doing, and after fending off a totally invisible Maverick, honing the blood of several corpses to create a hail of shards, and saving Jordan’s life from a supe ambush, she explodes Cate’s arm to prevent her touching anyone else.

Suddenly, a speed-of-sound boom thunders above them – it’s Homelander! He lowers down onto the grass, but the heroic music scoring his arrival quickly stops. Marie greets him with “sir”, but he waggles his finger at her. Surveying the bloodshed and noticing what she did to Cate, he asks: “What kind of animal are you? Do you like attacking your own kind?” Marie doesn’t understand, but before she knows it, she’s blasted with his laser vision and knocked out cold.

Vought, under Homelander’s direction, spins the violence in a particularly insidious way: Jordan, Andre, Emma, and Jordan are framed as murderers, while Cate and Emma are the new so-called Guardians of Godolkin; blonde hair, blue eyes – are we really surprised?

Marie then wakes up in a white cell with Jordan, Andre, and Emma. There aren’t any doors, and none of them have a clue where they are – and it gets worse: this is where the episode ends.

And as for the post-credits scene, you can read more about that here – let’s just say, it’s diabolical.

Gen V Episodes 1-8 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 | Episode 5 | Episode 6 | Episode 7 | Episode 8 | 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 | What is the Virus? | Jordan Li powers explained | Why does Soldier Boy return? | Every supe’s powers explained

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