REVIEW: Gen V – Season 1, Episode 1, 2, and 3, “God U,” “First Day,” and “#ThinkBrink”

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Television Reviews

Amazon has been trying to hype up Gen V for a while now. I don’t know how successful they’ve been, as I’ve seen a lot of marketing but haven’t heard much about it from fans. This spinoff of Prime Video’s hit comic book adaptation The Boys takes place in and around Godolkin University, a school for young supes to reach their potential. The primary cast is brand new, with supporting characters from The Boys peppered in. Even without their presence, the connection between the two shows is obvious; the penis gags, gore, and savage dialogue are on full display here. I would probably have given Gen V a chance out of curiosity, but those returning characters and Clancy Brown sealed the deal. Clancy Brown is an absolute delight whether he has a big part or small, hero or villain (usually the latter). He’s one of those few actors that can make anything worth checking out at least once. With all this being said, Prime dropped the first three episodes of Gen V on Friday. Let’s see how it compares. 

Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) is a troubled soul, to put it lightly. An orphan by her own unwilling hand, Marie’s acceptance into Godolkin represents her one shot at escaping a system that hides defective or dangerous super, i.e., her. However, going to college isn’t the instant fix Marie expected, creating as many problems as it solves. She’s immediately rejected by the crime-fighting track due to her powers and other factors. Meanwhile, her roommate Emma (Lizzie Broadway) is overly familiar and has boundary issues. Marie goes out partying one night with hotshots Luke/Goldenboy (Patrick Schwarzenneger), Andre(Chance Perdomo), Cate(Maddie Phillips), and Jordan (Derek Luh/London Thor). This seemingly innocuous, incidental choice will have massive consequences for Marie, her friends, and everyone at Godolkin. 

***SPOILERS***

As I mentioned earlier, Gen V definitely has The Boys’ aesthetic sensibilities. This world is very much like ours, only populated with pompous assholes wearing ridiculous costumes. Gen V still hates superheroes, the media, hypocrites, and anything sappy or sentimental as much as its sister series. They get several punches in early, with a jab at WandaVision as a girl promotes her show exploring 70 years of TV and its impact on one woman. The ads for Godolkin University are just as saccharine and self-congratulatory as the ones we see in the real world. The director of the Seven movie from The Boys (P.J. Byrne) is teaching intro acting courses at a college now, due to flashing a famous actress. The supes are self-aware and unempathetic, as usual, with another character saying she wishes she had gotten attacked like someone else. In fact, if anything, I think Gen V might be nastier than The Boys at times. Maybe I need to watch the seasons again, but Gen V gets right into the blood and guts and contains a huge (relatively speaking) CGI penis in its second episode. This isn’t my favorite thing, but I find The Boys entertaining enough to watch it anyway. I can see this type of humor being a deal-breaker for many people, which I fully understand. But if they know anything about these shows, they probably know to stay away. 

I like Marie, for the most part, as the show’s lead. Sometimes, she can be naïve and a little clueless, but I think they sufficiently explain how her background would cause this. She also has the worst luck in the world, inadvertently killing her parents because of their stupid, selfish decision to give her compound V as a baby. As if that weren’t enough, her sister won’t speak to her because of it, and Professor Brink (Clancy Brown) tries to expel her to cover up for other students. Then, we have Marie’s roommate Emma, who moonlights as Little Cricket on social media. Evidently, Emma hates this alter-ego and using her shrinking powers in general. I wondered why she does it, but by the end of “#ThinkBrink,” I think it’s clear her mother strong-armed her into the whole thing. With some exceptions, parents are another thing these shows hate. This is not a complaint or an argument, just an observation. Emma’s acting partner also goes on to exploit an intimate detail shared in confidence and then her own apology for doing so, for social media gains. I appreciate the searing of modern culture and how we treat one another, especially concerning the internet. This is a breathing human, not content for you to profit off of. I could laugh at my excitement to see Clancy Brown in this, as he dies in the first episode, along with Goldenboy, who was marketed as a main character. Brown frequently plays characters who don’t make it; his character in Sleepy Hollow was also axed in that show’s premiere episode. A big praise I will give these shows is for their sense of stakes. I genuinely feel like anyone but Butcher and Homelander could die at any second, and that’s a precious commodity most shows can’t offer these days. I counter that with one bad point in the song covers in Gen V. They suck, and I tend to hate covers of famous songs, anyway. Stop it. 

Andre (Perdomo) is another character I like so far. He’s under his dad’s thumb and learns a disturbing fact about his lack of morals. I like Andre’s desire to honor his dead friend and free Sam, Luke’s brother. Sam is being held because his powers are dangerous like Love Sausage and others in The Boys. Knowing that Andre’s father is in on this dark secret, I can’t help but wonder if Sam’s parents know and tolerate this arrangement. Again, the parents are so evil and manipulative on these shows. I wouldn’t put it past them. 

“God U,” “First Day,” and “#ThinkBrink” are entertaining and serve as a good start for Gen V. It’s difficult to compare a mostly new cast to the now-established stars of The Boys in terms of the characters. I’m aware that both contain previously known actors. Anyway, I think the heroes(?) of Gen V stand up pretty well, especially Marie and Andre. They’ve set up a good villain in Dean Shetty; I just hope she has an interesting motivation or backstory beyond “using supes to make big money.” I’m invested enough to keep watching, which is all I ask of a series premiere.