Dean Cipher (Hamish Linklater) was one of the most mysterious, interesting, and terrifying characters in Season 2 of Gen V. As the new dean of Godolkin University, he made his intent clear: to weed out the useless Supes and make the school a training ground for the most powerful ones. He took a special interest in Marie (Jaz Sinclair), though the reasons remained unclear to her until later in the season.
By the end, his real identity was revealed, and it came as a shock to some, though perceptive fans picked up on what was really going on. Either way, it raises significant questions about his past that don’t quite add up.
Who Is Dean Cipher, Really?
Dean Cipher, the new dean of the school, is cool, calm, and collected, but also downright terrifying. While forcing Marie to train to harness the true potential of her powers, she realizes he doesn’t have Compound V in his veins. This means he isn’t a Supe. Together with her friends, she tries to catch him admitting to this on a hidden camera. Instead, he shows her what he can do, leading to more questions about who he truly is. He controls Jordan (London Thor, Derek Luh) from afar by simply looking at them on the TV screen, forcing them to attack Marie during a fight. Cipher can puppet others. He later shows even more superhuman powers when fighting Polarity.
One particularly weird aspect about him is that he has a burned human male body in a hyperbaric chamber, locked in a room in his home. He feeds the person, cleans and washes them, taking great care day after day. There’s an air of mystery about whom this person is until it’s revealed that it’s Thomas Godolkin (Ethan Slater) himself. He somehow survived that big explosion of 1967 that reportedly killed him.
It’s later learned in the penultimate episode that Cipher is actually a man named Doug. He used to sell VCRs back in the ’90s. One day, he was called to the home of a man named Dr. Fielder to fix his VCR. When he got there, Godolkin somehow jumped into his head, forced him to kill this old man, and has been there ever since. “It was like I was in a box in my own mind,” he explains after Polarity (Sean Patrick Thomas) and the others spare him, realizing he has returned to his former self after Marie resurrected Godolkin. Doug is actually innocent.
Thomas Godolkin’s Past in ‘Gen V’
There are so many questions about how Godolkin managed to survive. In a follow-up flashback, we see him awaken from being knocked unconscious. He grabs a nearby vial and injects himself. Doug does reveal that Godolkin injected himself with the same version of Compound V that Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) has, which prevents him from aging. But he’s still engulfed in flames, burning almost to a crisp. How he manages to get to Dr. Fielder, presumably the first body and mind he inhabits, is unclear.
Based on the timeline, Godolkin resides in Dr. Fielder’s body for decades until the man becomes too old to carry him any longer, on the brink of death. This is when Godolkin seeks out a new body to inhabit. After asking some questions, he’s satisfied that Doug, who has no surviving family, will do. It seems Godolkin has inhabited Doug’s body since the 1990s.
But there’s something strange. When Marie learns that she’s part of Project Odessa, she finds a photo of her as a baby at her aunt’s house, being held by Cipher. Except he went by the name Dr. Gould at that time. This means this was Godolkin forcing Doug to take on this other identity. Was he just a plant who somehow wormed his way into the project? How did he go from Doug to Dr. Gould to Dean Cipher without anyone being suspicious of this man?
As an 18-year-old, Marie would have been born in 2007, which means this is long after Godolkin took over Doug’s body and mind. Did he put him through med school or find a way to get him a job at the top-secret project? Considering how secretive it is, how did Doug/Dr. Gould manage to fake credentials and be hired without revealing his true identity to anyone? It’s certainly plausible since Godolkin would know exactly what credentials, experience, and personality someone would need to access the top-secret project he created. Still, it’s not like he could tell the others that it was really him inhabiting another person’s body. Perhaps he had Doug kill the real Dr. Gould and impersonate him. This would be the most plausible explanation.
The other question is, if Dr. Fielder had aged after being controlled by Godolkin, who had the anti-aging Compound V1, how did Doug not age? It’s possible that Godolkin didn’t take Compound V1 until after he had taken over Doug’s body, realizing he needed a body that would last and remain in tip-top shape for as long as he required. But then this raises the question of how he took it? Did he have Doug inject it into his burned body? Did Doug himself take it? If Doug injected it into himself, Marie and Cate would have sensed Compound V in his system, but they did not.
What makes more sense is that the vial Godolkin is seen injecting himself with in the lab in 1967 is Compound V1. This prevented him from aging, but did not prevent Dr. Fielder from doing so. It’s likely Doug did age, but he was very young when Godolkin first met him. Maybe he has excellent genes, which is why he hasn’t shown much aging since the photo of him in 2007 as Dr. Gould, and now.
Cipher’s Story Has Come to a Close in ‘Gen V’ Season 2
Whatever questions remain about Dean Cipher and his shifting identity, they are now irrelevant. Sadly, after being returned to himself, he fell deeply ill. Marie had expended all her energy in returning Polarity to health and resurrecting Godolkin. In transport to the hospital, Doug was killed by Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) in a surprise cameo.
As for Godolkin, while he had a short reign of terror, Marie managed to take him out thanks to a clever plan involving her student friends and allies, as well as a now stronger-than-ever Polarity. So, with both of them gone, the attention shifts back to the real threat: Homelander.
Logical explanations may exist for how Doug became Dr. Gould and then Dean Cipher without raising suspicion, why he appears not to age, and how Godolkin could control his mind and body despite seeming powerless — but these remain open to debate. Either way, it all led to a compelling story that, plot holes or not, drew us into the craziness of it all. And Cipher was a big part of that, even if, as it turns out, he was always someone else. Stream Gen V on Prime Video.
- Release Date
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September 28, 2023
- Network
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Prime Video
- Showrunner
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Michele Fazekas
- Directors
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Nelson Cragg, Clare Kilner, Philip Sgriccia, Sanaa Hamri, Shana Stein, Steve Boyum
- Writers
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Craig Rosenberg
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Jaz Sinclair
Marie Moreau
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Lizze Broadway
Emma Meyer / Little Cricket
