Gen V Premiere Early Review

The following is a spoiler-free review of the first three episodes of Gen V, premiering on Prime Video tomorrow

Through 3 seasons, The Boys is a brutal superhero satire that is not afraid to push the envelope in terms of blood, gore, and sexual content and is absolutely hilarious. Based on the comic book series by Garth Ennis, it is certainly not for the feint of heart but strong writing, direction, and performances make it an absolute blast to watch. Developing an expansive world of problematic superheroes, it has definitely left an opening for more stories to be told. There is room to expand the world and the franchise therefore cue Gen V, a spinoff series set in the world of The Boys that focuses on the next generation of superheroes as they come into their own and find themselves while contending with the various social, gender, and socio-economic dynamics as they navigate their way through Goldokin University in the hopes of becoming a future member of The 7. Playing different personalities and powers off of each other, things, however, are not quite what they appear to be. Along with the journey of self-discovery, lies a conspiracy that threatened their future before it could even get started. While the series takes the story in a different direction from its flagship source material, it may not all work but it still very much has that edge. It never ceases to be amazing what this franchise keeps getting away with.

Bringing viewers into the world of Gen V was a woman named Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair), an orphan supe at a crossroads. Hoping to become a hero and reconnect with her estranged sister, she accepted a full ride scholarship to Goldokin University, a university for supes, and enroll as a freshman. The contrast between her and her fellow classmates could not be more apparent. Coming from lesser means compared the predominantly affluent student population, she was essentially a hermit compared to everyone else as the University felt like another world to her. And not owning a smartphone presented its own set of challenges. Right away, Marie found a potential new friend in her roommate Emma Myer (Lizze Broadway) whose energy, while a little jarring, made for a nice counterbalance as she helped her start to come out of her shell. Faced with the pressure of not screwing up her scholarship, Marie tended to shut herself from others but those feelings were spurred from her tragic past. Meanwhile, being the new kid came with the usual fascination. Preferring to keep her head down, she unwittingly aligning herself with the “cool kids” which truly put things into perspective as a wild night out put her enrollment at risk. As Marie teetered on staying or leaving, signs of what was really going on behind the scenes began to emerge.

The aftermath of the incident saw Marie in a position she tried to avoid which was the spotlight, a victim of circumstance, it was something she was clearly not comfortable with but she perhaps saw it as a means to find her sister. Her meteoric rise as a freshman came as a surprise to the more established juniors, sophomores, and seniors whose sole focus was the top 10 rankings. They saw Marie’s rise as a threat to their status. At the top of the list was the seemingly perfect and infallible Luke (Patrick Schwarzenegger), otherwise known as Golden Boy. Set up for success, little did everyone know, it came at a cost for which the story has only scratched the surface of. One thing for sure is that Vought was involved in the happenings behind the scenes. Along with introducing Marie and a smattering of other side characters through the lens of the university, the other focus of the first three episodes was to start to uncover the depths of the conspiracy taking place underneath Goldokin. Offering multiple tones, the balance is almost there, though that could easily improve over the course of the season.

While the writing was solid in trying to balance its tones, the best part of Gen V was its performances. Sinclair shines as a flawed yet relatable character who is introduced to a new way of life and all the pressures that came with it. Outside pressures kept her closed off but showed signs of opening up over the first three episodes. The rest of the cast also delivered as the chemistry between Sinclair, Broadway, and Schwarzenegger as well as Chance Perdomo (Andre Anderson), Maddie Phillips (Cate Dunlap), London Thor (Jordan Li), and Derek Luh (Jordan Li) as other university students and supes. While the series looks to find its footing, they are a blast to watch as it starts to develop them and their backstories.

At the end of the day, Gen V shows off the range of the Boys universe as it takes the world in an equally entertaining new direction while maintaining its edge.

still courtesy of Amazon Studios

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.