Cate is one of those characters who has the opportunity of a redemption arc. The question is whether she really wants that in Gen V season 2.
What is clear is that she needs friends, but they’re struggling to trust her. When Cate asked Marie to fix her broken powers, Marie refused. Yet, she fixed Polarity’s issues with his powers, making it clear that she has the ability to do this.
Even if she did attempt to fix Cate’s powers, would it work? It’s possible that Cate is broken for reasons other than her brain surgery.
Cate’s powers glitched after learning about Andre in Gen V season 2
It seems like Cate’s brain injuries could have led to her broken powers. This would make sense under usual circumstances. The brain is something that people just don’t understand. It controls the entire body, while also affecting emotions and memories. While V is in the blood, it would make sense that the brain is needed to control the powers, and that would mean that the brain being damaged would affect a person’s abilities.
However, the timing of Cate’s power glitching came with another reveal. She learned that Andre had died in an escape attempt from Elmira. This was written in as a way to honor Chance Perdomo, who played the character and tragically passed away as filming of Gen V season 2 began. It adds a layer of danger and loss for the characters, and it is a beautiful way to mourn his passing.
With Cate just finding out, she will start to blame herself. After all, she is the reason her friends were in Elmira in the first place, and with the doubt, it would make sense that her powers don’t quite work properly.
Cate is doubting herself (and that leads to doubt of her powers)
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Maddie Phillips, who plays Cate, explained a little more about what’s going on with her character right now. Cate is doubting herself.
"Her brain and soul probably glitched out. She has had to be so certain about where she stands. She’s made this huge decision — she is not on the same side as the rest of the gang — and all of a sudden, this tragedy has inevitably planted a seed of “Have I made the right decision? Is it wrong?” Something so jarring could only result in a glitch."
During the first season, she took steps that she thought she needed to so that she could protect the people she cared about. However, her actions had dire consequences, and now she needs to live with those consequences.
Not only has Andre died, but all her friends have turned against her. She’s become a puppet for Cipher—who we now know was a puppet controlled by Godolkin—having to do things that she doesn’t even agree with. No matter how much she tells her friends that she is doing what she thinks is the best thing to keep them safe, her actions continue to have negative consequences.
So, as she starts to doubt herself, it leads to a doubt of her powers. Even if she doesn’t think she’s doubting them, subconsciously, she’s probably worried that she’ll do something else to hurt people. That’s leading to a full glitch to her abilities, and while there have been some crazy consequences that only The Boys universe could bring us, it’s no laughing matter.
Gen V airs on Wednesdays on Prime Video.