ScreenCrush: The Podcast! - Gen V - Season 2 Episode 4 BREAKDOWN - The Boys Easter Eggs You Missed!

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

ScreenCrush The Podcast tackles all the movie and TV hot topics, offering reviews and analysis of Marvel, Star Wars, and everything you care about right now. Hosted by Ryan Arey, and featuring a panel of industry professionals.

Gen V just gave us a big tease that Cypher is actually a good guy, and he might be the world's first true superhuman. Welcome back Screen Crush, I'm Ryan Erie, and this is all of the Easter eggs references and little things you might have missed in Season 2, episode 4 of GenV. Quick disclaimer, guys, this show is really political. It's a modern satire of the time we live in right now. So we are going to talk about the political commentary in this show

and what the creators intended with it. We're not actually trying to get on the soapbox and say what we think, we're just interpreting the satire in the show. Be nice to each other in the comments. Remember, everyone has a mother. We open with Vot News, hosted by Firecracker, and she says, We're about to enter the Gay Tricks. And a conservative political commentator referencing the Matrix

while referring to a transgender person is probably a nod to Lana and Lily Wuchowski, the trans women who created the Matrix trilogy. You know, since Vot wants Jordan to make being bi-gender easier to understand by calling themselves trans. It's trans-tastic. But notice when they show Kate, she's listed as a real woman as a way of implying that Jordan is not a real woman, that instead she is fake. This ties into the recurring theme of this episode I'll talk about in just a bit.

Outside the school, we see statues of alum's A-Train and Crimson Countess, and inside we see that giant portrait of Homelander with resist graffiti. Now, I didn't mention this in the last video, but the graffiti being yellow is, of course, a nod to Starlight's costume, just like the yellow shirts, signs, and hoodies that her supporters wear. Now, last episode ended with Jordan taking the blame for Kate's death, and now we see how Vought Spin Machine has gone into full four. by calling them a liar and keeping up the cover story that the starlighters are responsible.

Now at the rally, people were cheering for Jordan's faux trans identity. It's trans-tastic! But now, influencer Justine is using a dog whistle criticism of trans people, claiming she's upset that Jordan was the wrong gender when they entered their bathroom. They had their . Jordan wants to talk about how she wanted to be number one so bad, but now... This school, everything is so fake. And that is the theme.

of this season so far. It's real versus fake, how we actually feel versus how we appear to feel. Our entire culture is in a constant state of flux, where the truth is always changing depending on your personal algorithm. And social media can literally warp your perception of reality depending on what filters you apply to your Instagram photos. So this theme, fake versus real, is especially relevant for young people today, who are constantly being targeted by brands and corporations who are feeding them bullshit to sell them things. Now, this whole conversation about what's real or not real or digital versus real life is one of the reasons I love doing our live shows. So we had a whole live show tour over the past year or so. And it was a lot of fun. We went to different

cities. We had some sellout crowds. You know, we did some cool stuff we just can't do on the channel. Like I did exclusive breakdowns. We had meet and greets guests. But the best part was meeting you guys face to face, taking your questions, and just being in the same room with you. I feel like on YouTube, we never really get to be who we are because we're always like reading from a script. And just being in the same space as you guys and geeking out together is what makes these shows special. And that's why I'm very happy and also a little sad that our very last show of the tour

is going to be a New York Comic-Con and City Winery on Friday, October 10th. So tickets for this are on sale now. You can find them below. And I really hope you can make it. It's so much fun. We tried to schedule the show for a time when people would have been walking around Comic-Con all day

and their feet would hurt, so then they would come see us. And we're also going to be wrapping up a story that we told like through all the live shows that involves Paul from heavy spoilers. It's goofy, it's fun, it's stuff you don't get to see on the channel. Again, ticket links are below. I really hope you guys can make it. Now, back to Gen V. Think about how smartphones have ruined our ability to be ourselves in public. People are less inclined to dance because the video might just get posted to the internet for the world to see. Therefore, we all walk around like we're personal influencers and we're portraying a fake self.

And in the boys, we see the main characters try to use this false reality to weaponize against Vought, like Marie's social video. But Vought is always ready to reshape reality to fit the narrative that they want to be told. Case in point, the kids have to project false emotions to the public and hide how they really feel. For instance, Marie and Jordan are in love. But Votz's narrative is that they hate each other and they have to fight in a cage match. Now, the match is being marketed by Seth Reed, who has appeared several times in the boys. We first saw him in a support group for people who were abused by soups. It snapped off. He was also one of the people who had the idea to use

May's sexuality is a marketing tool. Grand Marshals at the New York and Chicago Pride because you are two proud lesbians. You know Maevis's bye, right? And remember, A. Trey Nasten for help rebranding back in season three. Is that a video game about the slave trade? Some powerful stuff. It's really something.

Seth also says that Marie is... One of the good ones. Which is just, like, that's language that white people used to call some black people. It's overly racist, and having a black man say it to Marie, though, is very clever. It's showing that in this world there are even more lines and divisions that divide society. And now we see that he's come up with t-shirts that play on Jordan's gender. My per no nouns are kick and ass, and he has made these transphobic shirts to appeal to the

homelander fan. Again, the corporation in this show has one main ideology, making money. And until Homelander's takeover, everything else was just for show. It's trans-tastic! But Seth didn't just design the merch, he crafted a whole story for their fight. So he sounds like a boxing promoter or a writer, for the WWE, who knows that the story behind the fight is more important than the fight itself. And, just like the WWE, the fight outcome is already written. Two powerhouses, but only one can be number one. By the way, bloodbender's a really cool name. Yeah, like it's a full moon and she's a very skilled waterbender.

Seifer also says, The people want red meat. They want to see your ass kicked and you will oblige. And this is a term used to describe when a politician takes an action to make their base happy, and usually it refers to conservative politicians. And then notice this moment. I couldn't kick Jordan's ass even if I wanted to. When Marie says she can't beat Jordan, look at the disdain on his face.

He's pissed in Marie because he needs her to believe in herself to unlock her full power. And when he yells, Jordan would issue some sort of statement. You do not have a fucking choice. This is the moment when it hit me. This guy's a secret hero. He has pissed at them for making his life harder. He's already trying to keep Homelander away from the school.

and now he's being forced to create this matchup. Now, I have not watched ahead. I don't know this for sure, but I think that Vought actually created Marie for a specific reason and that Cypher is the key part of this plan that I'll talk about later on. Although, he sure does act like a villain, like he threatens people like Magneto and he spews anti-human propaganda. Magneto always preached that mutants were above humankind, and he considers his students to be soldiers first,

and this is exactly like Cypher in the show. Also, notice the stained glass window here in the dean's office. Most of the pains are the Godalkin crest, these others might represent alumni or prominent heroes. Homelander or Crimson Countess, maybe the scales are lamplighter, and the shield is a possible nod to Soldier Boy. Notice that when they go see Kate, Jordan tucks their hand into their sleeve,

just in case Kate decides to use her mind control powers on them. And this takes us to Emma bonding with Hannah and Ali, who admits that she can manipulate her hair like Medusa. Now, while she's comparing her powers to Medusa from Greek myth, there is an inhuman in Marvel comics called Medusa who can control and manipulate her hair. Oh yeah, like in that awesome TV show. Boy, I hope her hair grows back in season two.

And notice that they have Queen May posters in their room from Dawn of the Dead and her solo movie. That's an older Easter egg, sir, but it checks out. Allie's brother enters through the dorm window, even though last season windows were thought to be barred up. Now, this was supposed to keep the kids from jumping out, but then it was later revealed that it was actually to keep them trapped inside in case they went ballistic. And yet, Allie can just open up her window. And maybe this is because the school is now embracing a more pro-soup agenda, and they want the flyers to be able to fly out whenever they want.

They hatch a plan to dig up dirt on Cypher, just like how they broke into Dean Shetty's office last season to learn why she didn't like soups. And then we get a look at the VOT marketing machine and how they distort reality in their promo on VOTSports 3, which is a play on ESPN 2 and their sister network, ESPN 8. Live from Las Vegas, it's the Las Vegas International Dodgeball open here on ESPN 8, Theo. If it's almost a sport, we've got it here. We see past matchups, May versus the Deep, build as Battle of the Sexes. So it's likely that Maeve was the first hero powerful enough to break through into male sports entertainment, kind of like China wrestling in the WWE. And the title of the card, Battle of the Sexes, was the name of the 1973 exhibition match between Billy Jean King and Bobby Riggs.

And King won in three sets. Similarly, Maeve would eviscerate the deep in a straight-up fight. There's also Eagle Archer versus Blind Spot. Now Eagle Archer is a play on Hawkeye and Green Arrow, and he recruited the Deep into the Church of the Collective way back in season two. And Blind Spot was recruited to be into the seven until Homeland Hollander voted no. What happens if, I don't know, if I do this.

But notice, no one is facing off with Homelander, and they show that he's referred to as one of the gods. And some legends become gods. Again, we are seeing how religious faith is being used to make Holander more powerful throughout the season. Jordan started off the season holding grudges against Marie and Kay. But in both relationships, their long history together helps them move past any problems. In the case of Marie, she loved her.

loved her. And with Kate, well, they both lost two of their best friends and they bond over their memories. And this moment when they say, I think I might be mad at you forever. I hate that. Says a lot about the power of forgiveness. Like when you resent or hate someone, you carry that burden, not them. So forgiveness of others really is a gift to yourself. It's a real emotion, unlike the fake hatred that Marie and Jordan are forced to show in the match. Again, running theme of the episode, Real versus Fake. And remember, Kate's powers are also not completely gone. When she was comatose, she used her powers subconsciously. And here we see that she can still influence people, kind of. You must be really sympathetic to gnomes. I can't unsee that.

And frankly, this is a really good idea from a writing standpoint. Kate was just a little bit too powerful and nerfing her powers gives her a more compelling arc this season. The song playing at the Dean's vinyl is cherished by the association. Now the lyrics are about wishing you can love and hold someone. In this case, it's Cypher's dad who is trapped in the iron lung. And we got some theories on this guy I'll talk about later, but I'm also wondering could he be the flame on guy from the opening, or could he be Thomas Godalkin himself? In the danger room, Seifer tries to inspire Marie by basically repurposing quotes from Yoda. You have to stop thinking and feel it. And learn what you have learned. You must feel the force around you. And I love his response. Ease up, Yoda. Fair enough. Sorry.

Yeah. And then he tells her, drop the hand. The hand doesn't do anything. Feel it. Which, by the way, in Star Wars is completely true. Jedi do reach out their hands because that physical motion helps them to visualize a greater connection between their bodies and the force and the world around them, but they don't actually need to move their bodies in order to use the force. And in this universe, we did see Victoria Newman use her hemokinetic powers without her hands. All she had to do was use her eyes to start popping heads. So while Marie practices with her abilities, Emma practices with hers.

And it's important that this is happening on the drama stage. In the finale last season, this is where Sam yelled at her and made her shrink. And that's when we realized that eating or purging actually had nothing to do with her powers and that they're all in her head. And then she tells this story about Daniel Day Lewis. When Daniel Day Lewis wants to cry, he just remembers when he sat on his balls. It's actually how he won his Oscar. Now, I googled this.

I'm pretty sure it's not true. I think it's all from a joke that Will Farrell made about the prosthetic testicles he wore in stepbrothers being modeled after Daniel Day Lewis. Meanwhile, Seifer reveals who the goat is named after. What if I kill Elon? That's why we named them for assholes. Named after Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, and a Republican mega donor. So if the show does have a liberal bent, this is another clue that Cypher is a secret good guy.

This is also when he reveals that he is one step ahead of everyone. I know, you know that I was at your delivery. You figured out you're part of something called Odessa. And he caps off this revelation with... The whole point of this school was to produce you. So it's pretty clear that Vot was trying to trying to create Marie or the Godalkan was trying without Vot's knowledge. In both cases, it seems like they wanted to create a soup who could defeat Homelander.

Yeah, right. More powerful than Homelander. And I think the reason for this is so they can have a backup in case Homelander goes crazy. In the comics, they did create a clone of Homelander and they dressed him up as Black Marr. So he is always close to the big guy in case he needs to kill him. And I think that's what Marie is. Last season, it was revealed that the school wasn't a place for soups to study. It was a place to study soups. But what is the school was a place to study soups. But what is a if the real purpose was behind that to secretly create a soup who would be a check on Holander's powers. Now, if so, it would be important that this person would be kept a secret.

So Holmander could not find out about Project Odessa. There's also some support here because last season, Victoria Newman said she was the person who got Marie out of Red River and into God you. I couldn't let them ship you after their adult facility, so I got you went to get Alkin. Now, remember, Victoria Newman was raised by Stan Edgar, who was the CEO of Vop before Newman conspired to get him out of that position. So it could be that Stan Edgar, was already looking out for Marie, but after he was out at his CEO, Victoria Newman kept watch on her and then made sure that she got into university. Anyways, Seifer calls the next goat, Julia Fox, named after a controversial influencer who I had to look up for this video and thank God I've

already forgotten her name. Later, Emma is drinking pop-claw juice, named after A-Train's ex-girlfriend that he murdered to keep quiet. And the drink is also probably a play on the alcoholic drink, Whiteclaw. And this is when Marie reveals that Seifer has no compound V in his blood. But then how does he have powers and stuff? Well, we've got a big theory about the we'll talk about later on, but you know, it's also possible he's just the world's first superhuman, as in he's not technically a soup, he's an all-natural superpowered person. Now, if his dad was Thomas Godalkin, he could be the result of genetic experiments. He could be the original Odessa, a check to literally control soups like Homelander. It can also be that Godalkin broke away from

Vought and is secretly creating Project Odessa to oppose them. But I doubt it, since Project Odessa was on a bulletin board in the lab where Homelander was raised. Now, the Vot International hotel and spa is actually the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in New York, and the broadcast is being co-anchored by Vicar, who fought Marie in episode two this season. Backstage, Jordan talks about how their worst nightmare was always not fitting in, and how they always had to hide who they really are, and the chance outside seemed to prove their fears right. One, those are just the kind of chance you hear at wrestling matches, but they also demonstrate how mob mentality, witch hunts and cancel culture are a genuine fear for people now. Like I said earlier,

it's hard to say or do anything on your phone without the fear that somebody's going to pick it up and cancel you. So Jordan's worries about people hating them are only amplified by the digital age, and they further raise the need for them to be fake instead of real. I mean, after all, they just saw that when you show your real self and not the fake projection people expect, they turn from loving you, It's trans-tastic! To hating you. But Marie hits home the theme of the episode.

This whole school is fake, but you're real. While Vought is deep faking their faces to promote the fake fight, Marie actually sees the real Jordan. So there's a few small details here, like how Kate smiles reflexively at the cameras or how Hannah can still phasing power, but unlike Shadow Cat, she can't face her clothes. So the show continues to do this.

They give people powers like growing or shrinking, but with today's technological limitations. So in the comics, pin particles shrink clothes. But in the show, it just means that Emma is naked when she uses her powers. Before the mission, Emma gives her her new hero name, Pushmaster. Which is already a character in Marvel Comics, who also appeared in Luke Cage Season 2, but they have completely different powers, and let's leave it at that. And check out the attention to detail in this sequence. Outside in the lobby, we see this guy holding a sign that says

Teen Bloodbender, and then we see the same guy in the crowd holding the same sign. Seems like a small detail, but it shows how the creators are really working to make this feel like a cohesive universe. They mentioned that Marie made the top 10 as a freshman, which happened in episode one after she saved this woman at a bar. And this is a cool detail. They're fighting in an octagon like UFC fight while upstairs, Cypher and Kate are waging a mental battle with octagons on the ceiling above them. And it turns out that Cypher was actually fighting in both battles when he starts to mind control Jordan. So when he controls Jordan, it's the ultimate expression of the episode's theme. This is not the real Jordan. This is a puppet that he can control.

This is a fake projection of Jordan. This also ties into the show's overall theme of adult power structures controlling children for their own ends, whether it's training the kids to be influencers for the Vod Agenda or experimenting them on the underground lab. The corporation wants to control the kids. Cypher even calls Jordan... ...the meat perfect. With no strings. Which is similar to how he described the bags of blood earlier.

We're all just blood bags, walking, talking blood bags. Now, the tension in this scene is great, and we're all scared that Jordan's going to pop just like he's on Musk. But all of this turns out to be just another test. Cypher needed Marie to face someone she loves in order to learn to control her powers. But here's a theory for you. Maybe the reason Cypher doesn't have compound V in his blood is because this is not the real Cypher. Maybe this is just a human body that is being mind controlled by someone else. Maybe even being controlled by the man in the iron lung. So when Seifer called this person dad, he was kind of right. And maybe that mental control is what keeps Kate from reading him. After all, if the real mind is far away,

Kate wouldn't be able to read this person because this person we think is Cypher is just a vessel. Now, if this is true, it would mean that Cypher really is like Professor X, whose telepathic abilities can allow him to mind control people. And guys, big shout out to Ethan Inc. who co-wrote this video, you can find his links below. So what did you guys think of the episode? Who is the man in the iron lung? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below or at me on Twitter, blue sky threads or most especially on our free to join discord server and if it's your first time here welcome to the channel bros good to see you please subscribe smash that bell for alerts for screen crush i'm ryan airy