Emma's Powers On Gen V Make A Goliath (And Complicated) Change
This post contains spoilers for "Gen V" episode 4 — "The Whole Truth."
"The Boys" is, with some exceptions, a show for the boys. That's not to say that the girls can't also enjoy its wily charms, but the Prime Video series has made a cinematic universe on its ability to satirize fragile male egos the world over, and its obsession with that subject often forces its female characters to the sidelines. Sure, heroes like Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) and Starlight (Erin Moriarty) get plenty of chances to play with — and against — the boys, and their arcs are tied exclusively to their own emotional worlds. But even if girls do get it done, they're not given nearly the same attention as Homelander's (Antony Starr) daddy issues, or Hughie's (Jack Quaid) mommy issues.
The latest "Boys" 'verse spin-off, "Gen V," does not share its predecessor's foibles. The majority of its cast are women — though its choice to explore the blessings and curses of girlhood through its new class of characters might be even trickier to pull off. The series finds a sympathetic protagonist in Marie (Jaz Sinclair), a blood-bending Supe who accidentally kills her parents with her first period. There's also Cate (Maddie Phillips), whose contact-based telepathy makes intimacy difficult. But the series' most compelling new character might just be Emma (Lizze Broadway), Marie's size-shrinking roommate. Her ability to phase down to the size of a Polly Pocket — and, enviably, cop her entire wardrobe — was all kinds of endearing at first. But things got weird when a one-night stand made her get small enough to cling to a guy's penis like a tree ... and weirder still when "Gen V" revealed the impetus for her powers.
Warning: references to self-harm follow.
Not so little anymore
Unlike Ant-Man or Ms. Marvel, Emma's shrinking powers don't just happen at will. They're controlled entirely by her diet: she has to purge her stomach to get small, and — as we learn in episode 4 — binge if she wants to get big.
In an effort to stop Sam (Asa Germann) from an imminent rampage, Emma scarfs down a family-style serving of pasta; moments later, she's as big as a house. The implications here are not subtle, but is anything in the "Boys" 'verse? If anything, the other side of her abilities was hiding in plain sight the whole time. She's always needed food to reverse the effects of her shrinking. Given her mom's obsession with her caloric balance in episode 3, this new development makes a lot of sense. Still, it's hard to shake the uncomfortable implications that come with it.
Through Emma, "Gen V" is covering as many aspects of disordered eating as it can manage: not just the more opaque push and pull of binging and purging, but the slippery slope of calorie counting. It's certainly effective, but its choice to tie it to a source of empowerment puts Emma at the center of a dangerous debate. Naturally, she doesn't want to be a cautionary tale. She wants to be a hero, in spite of the way that purging clearly makes her feel. But she's fighting against an established conception of a debilitating mental illness. That Emma basically purged for a man's validation, and later gorged herself to get stronger, can be triggering for anyone who's struggled with their relationship to food or their own body image. You want to root for her; you want to hope that she can eventually use her powers without such a self-destructive stimulus. Knowing the universe Emma occupies, though, it's hard to be optimistic.
This is what makes us girls
"Gen V" is playing an interesting game with a handful of inherently gendered powers. Hell, it's been said, is a teenage girl, and nowhere is that more apparent than in this nihilistic take on our world. That each of the series' female characters essentially has to self-harm in order to manifest their abilities is a pretty accurate reflection of femininity's darker side. And it helps that "Gen V" is resisting the urge to glorify any of it.
When Marie cuts herself at a low point, unleashing rage and pain along with her own blood, it's just as stomach-turning as it ought to be. When Cate pushes her powers too far, her blue eyes are stained red, a manifestation of the toll it all takes on her own mind. None of it is pretty. But it's hard enough being a girl in a world teeming with telepathic date rapists and all kinds of systemic, exploitative evils: to have any power at all is something to celebrate.
That said, the series is still walking a real tightrope, especially where Emma is concerned. We expect most supernatural powers to be a gift, at least in superhero stories. Her ability to grow and shrink does have its benefits, but can she find a way to activate it without harming herself? More importantly, is that where the series intends to take her character?
Whether "Gen V" can develop Emma's relationship to her powers with the sensitivity it deserves remains to be seen. Tact has never really been a strong suit of "The Boys," and while its spin-off is doing an okay job managing its tone so far, there are only so many ways this story can end.
"Gen V" is available to stream on Prime Video, with new episodes arriving on Fridays.