Prime Video is well aware of its huge success with The Boys series, and Gen V is proof that they don’t intend to forget that. What seems like, from the outside, gratuitous material to further the brand, the series instead inserts a horrifically accurate view of our modern societies. Equally, the subplots will make lasting changes to the landscape of Vought and its Supes forever. Even with the obscene amounts of blood, I had a delightful time watching Gen V. When the first three episodes release this upcoming Friday, be certain to catch them and be part of an interesting conversation.
[Warning: slight spoilers and impressions from Gen V are below!]
Gen V: Supes 101
Godolkin University comes off as your standard university, of course with the small difference that it’s one for Supes. Also, there’s the residual revelation from prior seasons of The Boys that Supes weren’t born, they were injected with Compound V.
The series features two different schools, one for the arts and the other for crime-fighting. On the surface, that’s all that really matters, it helps many known Supes make names for themselves and a couple even joined the Seven (The Deep, A-Train). It’s neatly outfitted with resources for the use of the students who have exemplary powers. One of the coolest shots was them panning across the locker room and seeing different people lifting weights in the several hundred as if it were a cool 150. The campus itself is nothing too impressive which seems to be fully intentional as we discover more about the institution’s secrets.
Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) is our lead, and we open the show with her finally attaining her powers, but later than others. They manifest during her first menstrual period as a pre-teen. A period alone can be scary for a young woman, so to couple that with the ability to control the blood makes it even freakier.
Sinclair is a star and impressed me every moment she was on screen. Kudos to Prime Video for casting her and giving her a full series from the go. Marie as a character endures a lot in the first episode alone and Sinclair delivers a full-range performance that is lasting. The arc for the character herself was also one I enjoyed following, Marie has been through so much and rightly protects her self-interests first.
Perhaps it seems selfish, but in the later episodes, it’s revealed why she works so hard and the answer is admirable enough. But Sinclair’s ability to pair with the multitude of people in the show is what should be applauded the most.
The other standouts were Derek Luh/London Thor as Jordan Li, a gender shifter with strength and smaller controlled hand blasts. Lizze Broadway as Emma Meyer, who can shrink down and is also Marie’s roommate. The majority of Marie’s time is spent with both of these other students and seeing how the rankings affect the three of them is highlighted as they intersected the “Supe Rankings” for popularity on campuses. Equally, seeing unjust movements at the table spurs animosity among one another.
Mid-term successes for this The Boys spinoff
While I may not attend college, the social commentaries were disgusting in the best way possible. One student gets cozy with others and has them reveal secrets to her, then she uses that information to blow up her YouTube channel. When confronted about this act, the YouTuber uses the opportunity to try and issue an apology (on camera of course) to garner more likes and followers. It’s the soulless need for validation that hits so accurately that sparked the biggest eyebrow raises. Volunteering up the most sacred piece of information about yourself to have it turned into a trending video is abhorrent, and Gen V got it right.
Since it’s The Boys, the question of how much blood you see will come up. The answer is yes. As stated earlier, the lead character controls blood as if she were a bender from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Marie can use the blood as whips or projectiles and can manipulate blood within a human’s body as it flows. This means she can move it around as she sees fit, which is quite devastating for more than one person throughout the series. There was indeed one move that left my jaw and the guards on the floor.
The kill counts are in the double digits quickly and I don’t see the last two episodes being without a few as well. Since they were screeners I believe the visuals were still being touched upon and the framerate within my browser at times wasn’t the best so it was pixelated at times. Otherwise, the show was on par with everything we’ve seen with The Boys over the years.
Gen V Course: Passed
Even if seeing a young woman navigate through a university isn’t enticing off the bat, it’s all the subplots tying it together that absolutely lead into the fourth season of The Boys. Clearly, there’s more at play at Godolkin University through what we’ve seen in trailer footage, but they do have a path leading to something massive that will change everything.
How they intend to explore the implications of what has been worked on here is poised to be answered in Season 4 of the flagship series. Knowing its ties to the other show, there are indeed other cameos beyond the ones we’ve seen. A few were blink and you’ll miss it, and the Soldier Boy cameo was easily my favorite for his dialogue. It definitely gave me tons of laughs as he carried on with a simple joke for a bit too long.
Overall, Gen V entertained me on par with the first two seasons of The Boys. I loved every character introduced and hope to see them join in the other series soon! The first few episodes are a bit longer and they shorten as the season goes on, but the shorter episodes had a bit more impact. I can’t wait to see Marie hopefully in the other show along with some of her friends if everything turns out right for them at the end of Gen V.
Gen V will premiere three episodes this Friday on Prime Video! Will you watch Gen V this weekend? Join the conversation on social media @mycosmiccircus or in our Discord!
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