Gen V Episode 4 Features A Bloody NSFW Moment That Rivals The Boys' Most Shocking Kill
Spoilers for "Gen V" follow.
As we've learned through three seasons of "The Boys," if you live in a universe filled with superheroes you should never, ever, have sex with them. They'll accidentally crush your skull during cunnilingus, or worse. It's not that they're bad people exactly; it's that they're not always as in control of their powers as you'd think. And if they spend most of their time among other Supes who can handle the occasional sex-related mishap, they can often forget how fragile a regular human body is.
But even when it comes to Supe-on-Supe sexual relationships, the power imbalance still causes plenty of trouble. When Homelander engaged in a sexual relationship with Doppelganger, a shapeshifter who could transform into his former lover Madeleine Stillwell at will, all it took was one wrong move for Homelander to end up snapping Doppelganger's neck. Even when the Supe isn't accidentally harming you, it's troubling to know that they could still harm you intentionally with barely any repercussions.
Such was almost the case in this week's episode of "Gen V," in which Marie (Jaz Sinclair) found herself under the spell of the mind-manipulating Rufus. Marie asks Rufus for help, and Rufus (Alexander Calvert) responds by putting her under his psychic spell. The next thing Marie knows she's waking up in his dorm room, with him apparently mere moments away from raping her half-conscious body. It's a horrifying moment, mainly because of how realistic it feels. Rape culture is already a big problem on college campuses, and it stands to reason that it would be even worse in a school where some of the students have mind control powers.
Luckily, Rufus was interrupted
But whereas rape certainly exists in the universe of "The Boys" and "Gen V," neither show has ever been particularly fond of relying on sexual violence for shock value, or as a questionable vehicle for character development. So thankfully, Rufus's psychic date rape scheme is foiled by Jordan (played in this scene by London Thor) banging on his door just in time. Rufus momentarily loses his concentration on keeping Marie under his trance, which gives her just enough time to come to her senses and fight her way out of it.
Most other shows would just have Marie push him out of the way and run out of the room, but "Gen V" chooses as always to dial things up to eleven. After waking up to find Rufus coming towards her wearing nothing but an open robe, she panics and, well, explodes his dick. How? Well, she's a blood bender, and an erection is caused by blood flowing into the tissue within the penis; it's one of those gross fun facts that most of us choose not to think about, but for the writers of "Gen V," this bit of anatomical trivia serves as inspiration for one of the goriest scenes on television all year. We get to watch in disgust as Rufus's penis expands like a balloon and then bursts, spraying blood all over the place.
A long time coming
It's dark and disturbing, but also fairly satisfying. While most guys will instinctively sympathize with Rufus at least a little bit during this scene — it's hard not to squirm a bit on his behalf — it's also clear that he's got it coming. Everything we learn about Rufus in this episode, like the confidence in which he goes about this rape attempt and the fact that he's nicknamed "Date Rape Rufus," implies that he has done this plenty of times before and he'd probably do it again.
"Gen V" also deserves some extra props for properly foreshadowing this plot point two episodes earlier. Back in "First Day," the other mind-manipulating Supe, Cate (Maddie Phillips), overhears Rufus making a meanspirited joke about her and her recently-deceased boyfriend Golden Boy. She gets her revenge by hypnotizing him into getting a bat and repeatedly smashing himself in the crotch with it. It seemed a little like overkill at the time, but now that we've got a larger understanding of Rufus's many sex crimes, Cate's revenge seems a lot more proportionate.
But Rufus's comeuppance doesn't just serve as a way to explore the limits (or lack thereof) of Marie's superpowers. It also serves as a callback to perhaps the most brutal death scene in the entirety of "The Boys," one that occurred within mere minutes of its third season's premiere. In it, the shapeshifting Supe Termite decided to shrink himself down and crawl inside his lover's urethra, only to sneeze and accidentally return to full size, instantly exploding his boyfriend's junk. Luckily(?) his boyfriend's pain was short-lived, as half his body was destroyed along with it, killing him almost instantly.
Depraved, but clever
This may all sound like senseless gore and violence — and don't get us wrong, it mostly is — but it also serves as a creative, NSFW take on superheroes. The MCU's "Ant-Man" films are designed to be accessible to children, so they're forbidden from dealing with any of the more interesting anatomical complications that might arise from a man who can shrink and grow at any moment. In the build-up to "Endgame," MCU fans would joke about the possibility of Ant-Man crawling up Thanos' ass and blowing up from the inside, but of course, none of us actually expected the movies to do that, because it's gross and undignified.
Luckily, "dignity" is not a word "The Boys" franchise has ever been familiar with, so when it gets a size-shifting Supe, it immediately puts them in NSFW situations. "Gen V" has had size-shifting Emma use her powers to have one of the weirdest, funniest sex scenes on television in just its first episode. Then it had her crawl inside a man's ear and destroy his brain from the inside, something the MCU could never do.
Likewise, Marie's blood-bending powers serve as a fun exploration of the abilities "Avatar: The Last Airbender" could only hint at. The popular kids' animated show had a dark episode about blood bending in its third season, where Katara is confronted by her own terrifying ability to control people by bending the blood in their bodies. By Nickelodeon standards, this was really pushing the envelope, but the R-rated "Gen V" can take the concept much farther. If you're looking for answers to all the dark, R-rated questions raised by those mainstream, family-friendly superhero stories you watched as a kid, this franchise will always have you covered.