Back when a college-themed spinoff of The Boys was announced, a lot of us likely had the same exasperated reaction.
The primary series is great, but often toes the line between visceral thrills and desperate attempts at producing shock value. That said, the narrative and characters are consistently superb. With Gen V, the college setting appeared to be an excuse to up the sex and gore to eleven via thinly developed and disposable characters. Throw in a few cameos from The Boys’ main series, and I figured Gen V would end up being nothing more than an X-rated, cheaply-made CW series with a built-in audience.
And boy was I wrong.
Gen V isn’t just a fun slice of filler between seasons of The Boys (like The Boys Presents: Diabolical). It’s populated by wonderfully layered characters within a story that’s equal parts thrilling and intriguing. It also adds significant weight to The Boys‘ mythos without relying on it as a crutch. I hesitate to say you don’t need to have watched The Boys to understand it, but the narrative definitely stands well on its own.
Let’s take a slightly more in-depth look at what makes Gen V‘s first season worth adding to your watchlist. There will be some minor spoilers in this review, but nothing that’ll ruin the show’s many surprising twists.
The Characters
Gen V (Prime Video)
Remember that dig I took at the CW earlier? That wasn’t meant to imply that all CW shows were bad. In fact, some are really good. But it’s hard to deny that their teen/young adult content tends to deal in static archetypes.
Those archetypes are on full display at the start of Gen V before getting put through the wringer. By the final episode, they’ve changed or revealed so much about themselves that your opinion of them will have shifted significantly, as well. For me personally, there were two characters I couldn’t stand in the first episode who are now two of my favorites in the entire franchise. Some of the series’ characters are pretty static, but they tend to be the villainous sort — and so horrifically evil that it works.
The cast is anchored brilliantly by the series’ main character, Marie Moreau.
Gen V (Prime Video)
Where Marie’s life has been plagued by tragedy and disadvantages, her place in the narrative also starts with one hand tied behind her back. The supporting cast is filled with shades of grey and engaging conflict while she represents the best humanity has to offer. In most shows, that would quickly lead to Marie being the boring lead that the audience tolerates while focusing their attention on the more interesting characters. Thankfully, Marie remains the best part of Gen V for three main reasons:
- Her heartbreaking backstory isn’t just a forgotten springboard. Instead, the narrative calls back to it during her most triumphant and tragic moments.
- Her power set starts off as something weird (but still pretty cool) and is slowly revealed as something very different and dangerous than anyone would expect.
- Jaz Sinclair is a phenomenal series lead. I was completely unfamiliar with her work before this show, but will definitely have anything she’s in on my radar moving forward. Sinclair owns the screen like someone who’s been doing this for decades longer than her. She makes Marie simultaneously relatable and aspirational — and always compelling.
As for cameos from the main series, those are used sparingly and to great effect. Their appearances are also organic without ever feeling shoehorned — even the big one that had everybody talking after the season finale.
We also get some appearances by supes who’ve only been mentioned before. In one case, it ended up being such a great character that it would be a crime not to use them again in the franchise.
The Story
Gen V (Prime Video)
Considering how much we know about the inner workings of Vought and the history behind Compound V, you could almost forgive the series if it struggled to tell a story that mattered. Doing so would’ve already been a tall order without an audience that knows more about the franchise’s backstory than the main characters.
Thankfully, Gen V manages to construct a mystery-filled narrative that falls in line with the series’ mythos while also adding new layers to it. Along the way, character arcs and connections to the main series are seamlessly woven into each plotline, culminating in a finale that will make you just as anxious for the next chapter as we are after after season finale of The Boys.
The show is also packed with fantastic action sequences, each one of them charged by drama and well-constructed tension. Add in some great production values and you’ve got enough violence/gore to keep the meatheads like me happy without ever feeling too gratuitous.
What Doesn’t Work
Gen V (Prime Video)
There’s still some violence/gore that’s pretty gratuitous. The series is still part of The Boys franchise, after all.
The season finale also compresses the conclusion of some of its plotlines in a way that doesn’t feel as well-constructed as what came before. It all still worked well, but could’ve benefitted from one or two more episodes of build-up before the climax.
A couple of moments also felt like they deserved a much bigger response from the Vought and/or the rest of the public than what we saw. Perhaps that’ll be explored in the next season of Gen V or season four of The Boys. For now, however, we’re left with a cliffhanger that was undoubtedly good, but arguably too abrupt.
The Verdict
Gen V (Prime Video)
Being wrong isn’t normally very fun. In this case, however, I’m so glad to have been so ridiculously off the mark.
Instead of existing as a bland filler, Gen V goes beyond complimenting The Boys‘ narrative and stands on its own. Is it better than the main series? Probably not, but it’s definitely at the same level — and it’s definitely worth watching.
Let’s hope that a second season means we get even more quality content from this franchise.
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