Gen V powers up on Prime Video on Friday, September 29 – here are our spoiler-free thoughts on its first six episodes.
In an era where archetypal superhero movies and TV shows are commonplace, The Boys has been a breath of fresh air. One of the best Prime Video shows, its subversive and satirical take on the genre has provided welcome respite from many of the big-budget, VFX-laden productions audiences have been bombarded with.
Ironically, given its own success on Amazon’s main streaming platform, The Boys has taken cues from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and similar world-building franchises and created its own shared universe. The Boys Presents: Diabolical, an eight-part animated anthology series, led the charge in March 2022. Now, it’s the turn of Gen V, The Boys’ first live-action off-shoot, to add to the main show’s grisly and amusingly unrestrained makeup.
Like its Diabolical spin-off sibling, Gen V pleasingly adds the heaps of gore and other adult material, thematic weight, and original storytelling that characterizes this self-aware, witty corner of the superhero genre. It’s not without its faults, though, which ultimately create a show that suffers from an identity crisis.Dawn of the (teenage) Seven
Set between The Boys’ critically acclaimed third season and its soon-to-be-released fourth season, Gen V follows a group of superpowered teens at Godolkin University, the only college specifically for ‘Supes’, i.e. this universe’s name for people with extraordinary abilities. Among the prestigious school’s attendees are Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair), Andre Anderson (Chance Perdomo), Emma Shaw (Lizzie Broadway), Cate Dunlap (Maddie Philipps), Jordan Li (London Thor/Derek Luh), Luke Riordan (Patrick Schwarzenegger), and the mysterious Sam (Asa Germann).
Here, students, who were injected with Compound V – the serum that gives people superhuman abilities – as babies, train to become the next generation of Vought-developed heroes. However, when shocking revelations concerning one of Godolkin’s most gifted youngsters come to light, the aforementioned group realizes something’s amiss. Thus begins the gang’s investigation into the shady and sinister goings-on at the university that could send shockwaves through The Boys’ wider universe.
It’s this sleuth-esque storytelling pivot that initially makes Gen V an absorbing watch. Prime Video’s adaptation of The Boys, based on Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s famous comic series of the same name, has wowed audiences with its biting rhetoric and R-rated sensibilities since debuting in July 2019. Horrifyingly hilarious and thematically resonant as it is, though, The Boys’ latest spin-off needs more than sardonic takedowns of superheroes, reality TV, and the corporate US elite. Equally, in an age where audience desensitization to adult content is glaringly apparent, Gen V’s penchant for gratuitous violence could become stale very quickly.
Thankfully, Gen V circumnavigates this minefield with its deeply engaging premise. Yes, it starts out as you’d expect a side project of The Boys to, but its genre bait-and-switch in the final moments of episode 1 propels Gen V into unexpectedly intriguing territory.
Indeed, its swift evolution from cynical superhero show to neo-noir mystery thriller is a wildly creative diversion to take, and one that works really well. With the students determined to unearth the secret plot they believe is being hatched in the bowels of Godolkin, Gen V takes on the form of an amateur detective story.
