‘Gen V’ (Season 1) Review: New Supes, New Strengths, and New Conspiracy Theories
Back in 2019, in a deliberate attempt to mock comic book franchises, Prime Video introduced the smash-hit series The Boys. It is an alternative universe where a large corporation controls the media. Vought International manufactures superheroes, runs a PR machine to gain popularity points and controls the narrative to focus on the goodness and purity of their superheroes. But what happens behind the doors of Vought International is far from what the public eye can see: the superheroes neither care about saving the world nor the consequences of their actions.
For the past three years, The Boys has explored the superhero genre and fatigue, corporate greed, takedown of sociopolitical events, celebrity culture, and right-wing extremism. It’s a brutally absurd and extremely violent series that ups the game every season with more blood, gore, and dicks. For the last three years, Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and his anti-supe team have been trying to kill Homelander (Anthony Starr). Every season ends the same. The gang never kills him. So, they retreat to their lair to think of another plan. Creativity isn’t dead, or is it?
Developed by Craig Rosenberg, Evan Goldberg and Eric Kripke with Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters as showrunners, Gen V is an exciting new addition to the superhero satire universe. The Boys could use a much-needed break. The new spin-off series brings a new group of characters set in Godolkin University. It is an educational institution dedicated to making the best students study courses such as crime fighting and media training. The only way the current students can succeed in the university is based on their skill and star power. The higher the students are ranked, the higher the chances are to join the Seven.
Before the events of Gen V, the previous seasons of The Boys revealed that Vought International had manufactured supes with a chemical called Compound V. The superheroes aren’t born with these powers; they are made in the lab run by Vought. Parents allow their children to be dosed with Compound V as part of an experiment. The results are brutal. Children who are unwittingly injected with this chemical have used their powers on their parents and loved ones, which caused deaths and resulted in them being sent to a facility to control the supes.
This is the case of Marie (Jaz Sinclair). At age 12, she discovers she has a new disturbing superpower: she can manipulate blood. But she cannot control it. This results in a horrific accident and a tragedy that cuts her from her only surviving sister. She grows up in a facility that houses orphaned teenage supes with powers. But they are transferred to an asylum when they turn into adults. Marie is desperate to change her fate. She gets accepted into Godolkin University. She wants to fit in with the rest of the students, so she lies about her past. Marie knows that she has to play by the rules. Otherwise, she will get kicked out of the university and end up in an asylum for adult supes.
Her roommate, Emma (Lizze Broadway), is eager to be friends with Marie. She can alter her size and knows how to build her social media presence because that is what Godolkin University is. Talent, skill, brand power, and social media popularity are the keys to gaining the top student rank. The student who holds the number one spot is Luke (Patrick Schwarzenegger), also known as Golden Boy, the unstoppable and handsome human torch. Luke’s popular group includes his girlfriend, Cate (Maddie Phillips), who can control minds; his metal-warping best friend, Andre (Chance Perdomo); and nonbinary gender-shifter, Jordan (Derek Lum and London Thor). Emma convinces Marie to get out of her comfort zone. Soon enough, Marie is invited into the Golden Boy’s inner circle, but things begin to take a different turn.
After a night out with Luke and his friends, Marie gets involved in a situation which leads to her expulsion from the university. The president of Godolkin University, Richard “Brink” Brinkerhoff (Clancy Brown), isn’t very welcoming towards Marie. So, she goes to his office to convince him to change his mind. But she ends up barging into Golden Boy and Brink’s conversation. The human torch supe loses his cool and ends in a blood-splattering carnage. Golden Boy’s friends are shocked by what happened to their friend, but they find out that the university is hiding a facility on the campus called “The Woods.” Marie and her friends get embroiled in the mysterious location and find themselves in deep trouble.
What sets Gen V apart from The Boys is that it entirely focuses on a fresh, coming-of-age drama of young adults navigating the complex lives in college. Education milestones, dating and relationships, traumas, and complicated parents are elements of the genre. But adding superhero powers, brand deals, endorsements, and media training classes is the added flair needed for this well-established universe.
With never-ending penis jokes, blood-splattering marks, and a new group of superheroes, Gen V has a youthful perspective on self-harm, bulimia, gender dysphoria and suicide. It takes a socially conscious approach to storytelling mixed with comedy and gore. It never falls short of the trademark explicitly of The Boys. The showrunners understand that college students will always get involved in strange and precarious situations. Like the predecessor, the series brings a suitable balance of perverse comedy, fascinating characters, bloody outrageous situations, and corporate greed. It’s a faithful adaptation of The Boys that expands the universe and integrates these characters. Just like Vought International and the Seven, Godolkin University is up to no good.
There’s more that makes Gen V a standout in the universe. Like the predecessor, this series has a conspiracy theory at the centre of the plot. What is happening in “The Woods’’? Through pre-recorded video clues left on a phone, Marie and her friends try to unravel the mysterious location on their campus. It’s a new, compelling approach compared to the previous three seasons of The Boys, where the plot was centred around Vought International and Homelander.
Along with the conspiracy theory plot, Marie and her friends wrestle with interpersonal traumas. For Marie, her most major trauma is the death of her family and being separated from her sister. She has never been able to reconcile with her only living family member. Growing up alone in a super facility with no familiar face led to isolation and loneliness. Also, Emma’s ability to shrink her size and her eating habits are closely monitored by her momager, who also wants her to gain fame and fortune through her powers, which are deeply rooted in the fetishization of her weight. There are other characters with deep, emotional scars and dark secrets that consume their lives. But the series finds a way to explore these personal traumas with an empathetic lens and without ridiculing them.
Gen V blends well with the already-established universe. With its perverse comedy and commentary on superhero fatigue, it explores a combination of compassionate and deadly villains set in college. If anyone is frustrated with The Boys and its lack of creativity, Gen V is a refreshing introspective of teenagedom with an added element of superhero conventions. The best part is that it has a lot of fun with it. Season four of The Boys is delayed indefinitely due to the strike, but the new live-action spin-off series puts the corporate-led franchise to a new level.
Episodes 1–3 are currently streaming on Prime Video. New episodes will stream weekly on Friday. Six out of the eight episodes were available for critics to review.
Strike Funds: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1weorhmG1H7cszY3rGHCpNYsgleegkuOSH7rD47JzSAQ/edit
Solidarity with striking film and television workers: https://freelancesolidarity.org/wga-sag-strike-solidarity/
