Gen V Review: Just As Fun And Twisted As The Boys, If A Little Too Familiar
The smartest choice in "Gen V" is perhaps the simplest: While the non-supe Hughie made for a fun underdog protagonist in "The Boys," this new show focuses primarily on Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair), a young powerful supe who wants to join The Seven. She and the friends she makes at the supes-only Godolkin University are already at the top of the food chain, powerful up-and-coming students who will never have to worry about A-Train accidentally crashing into them when they step off a curb. As the first episode makes clear at multiple points, these characters are far more likely to be the ones doing the crashing.
This choice makes for a group of main characters who are, on the surface at least, nowhere near as sympathetic as Hughie was in those first few episodes of "The Boys." What they are instead is messy, morally gray, and as Marie says in the trailers, deeply "f**ked up." They're a group of nearly untouchable supes, most of whose life goal is to join a corporate superhero group currently run by an unhinged sociopath. None of them are endearing on the surface, but slowly and surely over the first six episodes — the first three of which release on Prime Video on September 29, 2023 — they'll each worm their way into your heart.
A standout cast member so far is undoubtedly Lizze Broadway as Emma Meyer, Marie's size-shifting roommate who is taken far more seriously by the narrative than the running gag character Termite ever was in "The Boys." The story explores her powers in all sorts of silly, disturbing, NSFW ways, but Broadway is always able to keep the performance grounded and keep the audience rooting her on. The other big standout is Jordan, a nonbinary supe capable of switching back and forth between male and female at will, played by both Derek Luh and London Thor respectively. Once again with them, "Gen V" seems to have taken inspiration from a minor joke character in its parent show, (Doppelganger, a shapeshifter murdered by Homelander in season 2) and decides to treat the concept behind the power far more thoughtfully this time around.
Most of the same strengths, most of the same flaws
Like "The Boys," this show is fascinated with the many unexpected ways having powers can mess up your sex life, or all the other ways it would complicate a person's day-to-day activities. Some of the best moments are when "Gen V" embraces the college part of its premise; how does the well-known problem of sexual violence on college campuses play out when the students in question have superpowers? "Gen V" has an answer for that. What do frat parties look like in a school for supes? "Gen V" has an answer for that.
The problem is that for as fun as the college elements are in this show, the story isn't always that interested in them. In the second episode particularly, the story nearly abandons its focus on school in exchange for more satire of corporate PR, which is already well-trodden ground for the franchise. Usually, I don't complain when young adult dramas don't focus on the classroom — I don't think anyone cares what the "Euphoria" teens get up to in math class — but the little glimpses into Godolkin University's curriculum are fascinating, and it's a shame the show doesn't offer much more of it beyond a few brief scenes and one major storyline in the fourth episode.
The other big similarity with "The Boys," and not a good one, is the bluntness of its writing. The social commentary is smart, sure, but it's also laid on so thick that you can't possibly miss it. And while our main cast is interesting, with plenty of complex motives and strongly developed backstories, "Gen V" shares its parent show's habit of over-explaining their emotions. Characters will often have straightforward conversations discussing the themes of the show, telling each other pretty much exactly what their character arcs are and what stage of the arc they're in. The lack of subtlety isn't new for the franchise, nor is it a dealbreaker for "Gen V," but after the aggressively straight-forward satire of "The Boys" season 3, it's disappointing that the spinoff didn't dial it back a little.
On the bright side, "Gen V" also takes the approach of throwing us into a dark, hopeless, cynical world, before slowly revealing a more optimistic outlook than you might expect. The first few episodes might lean a little too hard into the gore, the edginess, and the over-the-top supe sex, but deep down the show has a tender heart; it just takes a while to find it.
Another day, another conspiracy
The comparisons to "The Boys" don't stop there. Every time "Gen V" focuses on the family members of its main supes, it feels like it's hitting all the same notes they did with Starlight's unhelpful mother or The Deep's insincere new wife. There's also a new central mystery to be uncovered here that drives the plot, most of it revolving in some way around non-supe Indira Shetty (Shelley Conn). She's a fascinating character, even if she's not as terrifying a villain as fans of this franchise have grown accustomed to. "Gen V" needed a new shrewd, knowing authority figure to revolve around, and Shetty is perfectly serviceable in the role.
Where this show really shines, however, is with its pacing. "The Boys" is a sprawling show that's taking its sweet time with defeating Homelander, but "Gen V" is barreling towards its conclusion with no time to lose. Game-changing revelations are dropped regularly, making it abundantly clear this show isn't interested in saving the good stuff for later. It's not clear yet what the long-term plans are for "Gen V," but those first six episodes at least promise that this debut season can make for a wonderful self-contained mini-series, one that should work just fine regardless of whether season 2 ever arrives.
Despite all its similarities to its previous show, "Gen V" is still very much its own thing. It's a relief considering that Claudia Doumit (who plays Congresswomen Victoria Neuman) raised some concerns among the fandom earlier this month when she said that this spin-off "lays a lot of the groundwork" for season 4 of "The Boys." After watching how Disney made nearly everything in the Star Wars and Marvel universes interconnected, nobody wants "The Boys" to become another franchise where you have to watch a whole bunch of ancillary projects just to understand the main story. But while it's easy to see how "Gen V" might play into the main show, the spin-off itself requires zero outside knowledge to understand. Some of "The Boys" characters make minor cameos and/or get occasional shout-outs, but all new viewers really need to know is that supes publicly exist in this world, and they've been monetized. Fans of "The Boys" will get a fun, mostly self-contained story that fleshes out this big, seedy universe even more; newcomers will get a dark superhero boarding school story centered around a captivating small-scale conspiracy. Whether you're a fan of "The Boys" or you just like superhero stories in general, "Gen V" is definitely worth your time.
/Film rating: 8 out of 10
"Gen V" premieres on Prime Video on September 29, 2023.