Gen V is a spin-off of The Boys. That's both a fact about the show and a warning. It's an ultra-violent, ultra-bloody show, and you'll see more than one nude penis on the screen during the eight-episode Season 1. At the same time, it's also a more focused story that knows how to use the tools we associate with The Boys effectively and--pending a sharp left turn in the final two episodes we haven't seen--finds plenty of interesting stuff to do with them without involving Vought or The Seven as more than background noise. At the same time, you should consider this a catch-all trigger warning for Gen V: The series is bloody, and its main characters deal with self harm, eating orders, and mental health in ways that directly apply to the plot. If you tend to look away from the screen in the presence of blood, you're not going to see huge portions of Gen V.
We'll work hard to avoid spoilers, but be aware that there may be minor spoilers ahead, depending on your threshold for such things. This review covers the first six episodes of Gen V Season 1.
Gen V's better use of the tools it's borrowed from The Boys can be summed up easily through the show's main character, Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair). Early on, we are introduced to her as she discovers her power to manipulate blood in particularly graphic fashion. That's part of what Gen V is about--it's every bit as graphic as The Boys, but the blood and gore on display feels much more effective, using it more often to tell us things about the characters than to shock us.
Another example comes with Sam (Asa German), a character who hallucinates and struggles with his perception of reality. We got to see some of this with Noir in the latest season of The Boys, but Noir was a silent character. Sam, on the other hand, talks back to his hallucinations.
The Boys touches on a number of thematic issues that drive the story forward. It shows the powerful abusing their position, trying to control things they don't understand. It highlights the powerless using ingenuity to fight back against a goliath they should have no business fighting against. It's a series about the way power and fantasies are advertised to us as ways to quell us and lull us into security and about how parents can do the worst things to their children with the best of intentions.
Gen V, on the other hand, is about what it's like to be one of those kids, affected by the actions of the older people in the room. This new generation of potential supes gets the chance to grab for power but can also see the warning signs about it before it's too late to turn back.
Marie has escaped the confines of her upbringing and is stepping out in the world of adults where she can be judged on her own merits--or so she hopes. Things go badly when a fellow student with sky-high expectations kills himself, setting off the central mystery of Season 1. Marie is pulled into an increasingly sprawling conspiracy that implicates the students she's been spending time with and the staff of this high-profile school.
Our core cast, too, is more focused than that of The Boys. We see things mostly through the eyes of the students of God U, future superheroes and celebrities: Marie, Emma (Lizzie Broadway), Andre (Chance Perdomo), Jordan (London Thor and Derek Luh), Cate (Maddie Phllips), Luke (Patrick Schwarzenegger), and Sam (Asa Germann).
Gen V feels decidedly 'right now' in a way that I hope will stand up to time. Each of the show's main characters is emblematic of the different kinds of pressures young people deal with as they grow up in the modern world. It can be tough for a traditional comic book story to feel modern when the main characters are newspaper reporters, when storylines pretend that cell phones and social media don't exist, or when kids are walking around with names like Dick, Barbara, Harry, and Norman.
As she enters God U, she doesn't have a mobile phone or a social media profile. She's entering the most prestigious school for Supes, and if she was to do well, she's be the first Black woman to rank among the school's top students. As she gets a tour of campus, we quickly see just how far behind she appears to be. She's a strong and smart young woman, but she's fighting against perceptions and expectations of her race and gender, judgment over her past, and to that while navigating a world full of people like her who are actively vying for a power in a way that she's never had the chance to.
Every member of the cast is a reminder that young people are fighting the agendas of entrenched people in power. Emma is a famous YouTuber, but the way her power works means that she's literally minimizing herself for other peoples' enjoyment. Andre is powerful but lives in the shadow of the nepotism granted by his father. Sam represents everything a prestigious school sweeps under the rug to maintain its image.
Further, every single one of these characters is painfully isolated in some way. Cate's power means that she can't touch anyone and that people--even friends--are constantly afraid of her manipulating them. Marie's power is upsetting to normal sensibilities, and her sister won't even acknowledge her existence because of it. Andre doubts his success and power around every corner. Emma might have tons of social media followers, but her shameful secret reminds us not only that there's a toll for her powers but that making friends she can trust is incredibly difficult.
These characters are all searching for two important things: connection and the truth. They have to learn how to trust each other and understand themselves while the executives at the school try to manipulate them. Yes, Marie can use blood as a rope to trip someone, and yes Luke can disintegrate you with a hug, but despite these incredible powers, these kids are being exploited.
There are a ton of great performances from young actors in this series. Jaz Sinclair and Chance Perdomo both shined as supporting cast members in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and it seems like someone noticed, rewarding them with starring roles in Gen V. Lizzie Broadway has mastered the vibe of a former Disney Channel kid who is adjusting to the real world, using confidence as a fragile shield to protect herself. Jordan Li's two actors, London Thor and Derek Luh, do a great job of feeling like the same person. There aren't any obvious physical tics that they use to cheat, and the show doesn't overdo it--they're just good actors who have learned how to behave like one another. On the administrative side of things, Clancy Brown and Shelley Conn are great as Professor Brinkerhoff and Indira Shetty respectively. They give off warm, welcoming vibes that distract from their corrupt cores.
Gen V would fit well visually with The Boys, too. A late-season cameo--we won't spoil it--lets a character we know slot into the story without feeling out of place. At the same time, it feels more brightly lit, and doesn't spend nearly as much of its time in grimy, abandoned places. That makes sense--these kids are at the most prestigious university for Supes, and they're only beginning to plumb the depths of its corruption. We expect things to get grimier in the last two episodes and probably even moreso in possible later seasons.
The story has been fascinating so far, too, twisting enough to keep us guessing and trying to anticipate moves. The show is very much about the way young adults handle different kinds of pressure and the way adults in those kids' lives will try to manipulate them while thinking they're doing the right thing. Gen V's themes feel much more personal than The Boys, but it deals with the cynicism in a more head-on way rather than winking and nodding along sarcastically the way The Boys tends to. They're both worthy shows that sit well beside one another, but where The Boys thinks most of its characters are assholes, Gen V is more interested in giving them a chance and getting to know them.
