Sam's Gen V Puppet Massacre Is Something No Viewer Will Ever Forget
This article contains spoilers for "Gen V" episode 5.
When the trailer for "Gen V" first dropped, social media was fluttering with inquiries regarding one specific blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment featuring what looked like a puppet slaughter. As a spin-off of "The Boys," audiences were already prepped for some serious suspension of disbelief. After all, this is a franchise where we've seen two different versions of wieners being exploded by Supes. This is all to say that the idea of a Supe having puppet powers doesn't even crack the top 10 weirdest things we've seen throughout "The Boys" universe, but anyone familiar with this world should know there's typically much more than meets the eye.
In "Gen V" episode 4, it's revealed that Sam (Asa Germann) — a Supe who has been used as a human lab rat by Vought International in a terrifying research facility (torture chamber) known as The Woods underneath Godolkin University — is plagued by visions of puppets. They were first shown during a dissociative episode where the voices in his head manifested as a puppet version of The Deep, as well as "Television's Jason Ritter," who appears like a twisted take on a "Sesame Street" human resident. Ritter is delightfully demented in the role, and The Deep's puppet gills are comedy gold. And yet, the scene is the furthest thing from funny.
At first, it seems as if the puppets appear for Sam during moments of extreme emotional distress in order to torment him, but episode 5 shows that the puppets might serve another purpose — psychological protection ... for better and for worse.
Brought to you by the letter 'V' for 'Viscera'
We still don't know what exactly goes down in The Woods, but we do know Supes are being experimented on to such extreme lengths that it drives them to suicide. Sam is being tormented by his puppet visions, screaming out "You're not real! You're all f***ing puppets!" during his confrontation at Dr. Edison Cardosa's house. During this scene, we view Sam through the POV of Cardosa's family, as well as Supes Marie, Emma, Andre, Jordan, and Cate. Sam is frequently talking to the puppets, sparking Andre to ask, "What the f*** is his problem?" but Emma holds up a dismissive finger to him, knowing that what's happening to Sam is beyond his control. He begins fighting the Supes with reckless abandon, almost as if he's unaware of the carnage he's bringing.
Well, if the obliteration of episode 5 is any indicator, that's exactly what's happening. He's visited by a vision of puppet Emma, who he dismisses as being "not real." But then she gestures to a SWAT-like team arriving to take Sam out, and he suddenly views the real situation as nothing but puppets, himself included. What follows is an incredibly violent confrontation, wherein Sam proves to be not only bulletproof, but capable of tearing off limbs, gutting from the inside out, ripping people in half, and popping out brains from a skull like he's pushing out an allergy pill from the foil. The puppets all explode red glitter instead of blood, only for the perspective to shift and reveal that this bloodbath is real. Sam disassociated and saw puppets, but he dismembered and destroyed a whole squad ... including the single father who begged for mercy before having his head torn off.
Were these visions born or made?
We don't know if Sam has always struggled with these visions, or if they are a result of his Mengele-like experimentation. Seeing Sam effortlessly tear apart the team sent to kill him, without expressing any remorse (or emotion at all, really), is reminiscent of the "Black Mirror" episode "Men Against Fire." In it, soldiers are tasked with hunting and killing humanoid mutants known as "roaches," who they are told threaten all of humanity. However, after a soldier's neutral implant malfunctions, it's revealed that these so-called Roaches are regular people, and the military has been tasked with exterminating innocent civilians in an act of genocide without knowing it.
It's a metaphor for xenophobia and the way dangerous people in power paint groups of people as "monstrous" so it becomes harder to see their humanity, instead paving the way for people to view their deaths as being "for the greater good." Is this happening with Sam? We know from "The Boys" that Vought International wants to put Supes in the military, with Homelander even administering Compound V (the chemical that makes Supes) to radical extremists to make "Super Terrorists" in the hopes that the military would feel the need to enlist Supes to take them down. Given the ease of Sam's murder spree, it's starting to look like his treatment in The Woods was to create the ultimate killing machine.
Let's say Sam was born with dissociative visions of puppets. It's obvious that this aspect of his nature (or nurture, if it is a side effect of Compound V) is something Vought is looking to manipulate for their own gain ... or destroy. Sam cannot control the way he is, and he's in desperate need of help and healing.
And if he doesn't get it, this might not be the only puppet massacre we see on "Gen V."