This Friday (September 29), Prime Video will drop the first three episodes of their Boys spinoff Gen V. Here’s how it is described:
Set in the diabolical world of The Boys, Gen V expands the universe to Godolkin University, the prestigious superhero-only college where students train to be the next generation of heroes—preferably with lucrative endorsements. You know what happens when supes go bad, but not all superheroes start out corrupt. Beyond the typical college chaos of finding oneself and partying, these kids are facing explosive situations … literally. As the students vie for popularity and good grades, it’s clear that the stakes are much higher when super powers are involved. When the group of young supes discover that something bigger and sinister is going on at school, they’re put to the test: Will they be the heroes or the villains of their stories?
The review:
Those who like the gore, uncomfortable situations, and violence of The Boys will be happy to see that the next generation of characters meet all of those traits. As a fan of the comics genre and more specifically comic book-related TV, I have to say I was impressed: Gen V is the New Mutants TV show we could have and should have had for a long time now, only more adult. Sometimes “being too adult” is a turn off to me — see Titans and its constant attempts at being overly grown up — but perhaps because of the Boys connection, I get it. It might also help that there’s high production value here as well as a cast and story that really come together well. I think another reason I like this is that some of the characters ask, say, or do things a young person truly would do if they had extraordinary powers. It’s not all just about saving the day, though there are classes for that.
We really get to know this world through Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair), a new freshman at Godolkin University who has a very traumatic experience in her past that informs how she approaches the present and the future. Her powers involve the control and weaponization of her blood. It can get messy, but much like Starlight on the early episodes of The Boys, she is the character who seems to be in the most conflict with her new situation. Many of my favorite scenes from the first two episodes involved her and her roommate Emma (Lizze Broadway), who may be my favorite character of the series so far. Emma wants to be one of the cool kids, but might not always be one, though she does, at least, have a huge social media following.
Patrick Schwarzenegger’s “Golden Boy” gives us a look at how the Human Torch may look in the MCU, which is a different take on such powers than we’ve seen in the Fantastic Four movies. It’s his character Luke Riordan whose character journey surprised me the most in the first two episodes. I’m also quite fascinated by Jordan Li (London Thor and Derek Luh), a character who can switch genders and powers whenever they transform. And of course, Jaz Sinclair’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina costar Chance Perdomo brings in a great performance as always playing Andre, the son of a previous-generation supe known as Polarity. Finally, how cool is it that the voice of Lex Luthor himself, Clancy Brown, plays a major role at Godolkin University?
Any cast that I don’t mention up above aren’t left out because they are bad or anything; it’s a strong and solid cast, and like The Boys, a very large cast, so I’d imagine we won’t be seeing a lot of every character every week. (On that note: Prime Video is releasing Episodes 1-3 on Friday 9/29 with new episodes following one at a time for the following weeks).
The creative team behind Gen V includes many of those who brought us The Boys, though this one also has two favorites as showrunners: Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters, who long ago created a little show called Reaper that I’m still not over losing. They also did Agent Carter, so they have fan cred. It has also been announced that Jason Ritter, star of their also-way-too-short-lived Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, will be appearing on Gen V; that’s great and all, but Michele and Tara, if you’re reading this: Where are Sam and Sock?
As I have only been able to watch the first two episodes of the series so far, I don’t feel right giving Gen V a rating until I see more, though from the two I’ve watched, the show definitely would rate at the very least an 8 out of 10. I’m looking forward to seeing and exploring this world and these characters more.
