Tune In Or Tune Out: ‘Gen V’ Is Entertaining Enough But It’s No ‘The Boys’
With Marvel and DC films and shows dominating screens for decades, The Boys offered something different for the superhero genre. Created by Eric Kripke (Supernatural) and based on the comics of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, the Amazon Prime series shows a darker side of superheroes (or supes), digging into real world issues of politics, business, and lack of credibility in media, as well as flaunting grotesque violence. With immense critical and audience acclaim, The Boys has prompted two spin-off series: the animated miniseries The Boys Presents: Diabolical (2022), and now Gen V, which premiered September 29th. Craig Rosenberg, an executive producer on The Boys, created Gen V; he executive produces with Kripke, Ennis, Robertson, and Evan Goldberg, who also executive produces fellow superhero-comic-turned-ultra-violent series Invincible. The new series centers Godolkin University, a college for superheroes all vying for top rank and city contracts. Jaz Sinclair (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) stars as Marie Moreau, an underdog supe with the power to control blood. Orphaned after accidentally killing her parents with her powers, she needs to do well at Godolkin or she will be sent to an insane asylum for supes. However, her goal of keeping her head down and being a good student is challenged when she and her classmates discover the university’s dark secret, something called “The Woods.” Ultimately, while Gen V’s violence level and explicitness matches The Boys, it lacks the same edge and thought-provoking cynicism.
Meet God U
Gen V may center college students, but it does not tone down the visual shock. Bodies explode, throats are slit, and full-frontal nudity appears in episode one alone. However, it is also very much a young adult show. It is teen movie tropes meets superheroes (Sky High rewatch anyone?). Invisible stoners take hits off floating bongs and the popular kid makes out with his preppy girlfriend on the field. Main episodic conflicts include a classmate spreading an embarrassing video to the whole school, roommates fighting about whether they’ll be just roommates or friends, and parents not seeing characters for who they really are.
The Gen Z angle is evident in the show’s emphasis on media. The Boys explores how superheroes are industrialized and used for movies, merch, and monetizing fandom, but that is not the main focus of the show. At Godolkin U, the second most popular major behind crime fighting is performing arts, trending on Twitter factors into class rankings, and national interviews are central to Marie’s journey to top supe. Marie’s arc feels Hunger Games-esque; she begins as a rough-around-the-edges underdog but blows up in the public eye and struggles with her new fame. The show effectively satirizes media through Social Media Jeff (Dan Beirne), who comedically coaches Marie on the media dos and don’ts. However, other than that, the glamor is taken more at face value than in The Boys.
Meta-commentary on representation is one unique facet of Gen V. While representing very diverse characters, the show also examines what sells, what doesn’t, and who gets exploited. For example, Jordan Li (London Thor and Derek Luh), whose power involves switching from feminine to masculine forms, asserts that they can never be rank one because you can’t sell a bi-gender Asian in Florida. Marie’s roommate Emma’s shrinking powers require vomiting to get small; she is incessantly told she has an eating disorder but argues she doesn’t. She may not always have control over her purging behavior, but being placed in that box and, at one point, being offered a pitying reality show about that disorder, does not help.
The supes’ very powers are employed to represent social issues. Jordan was assigned male at birth and is not accepted by their parents when they switch into female form, a sci-fi representation of trans and gender fluid identities. Emma’s power prompts discussion of eating disorders, body norms, and mental health. Marie thinks she is a monster for killing her parents and in order to access her power of blood control, she must cut herself, evoking imagery of self-harm. While these embodiments raise provocative questions about real world issues, they can feel on-the-nose and overbearing at times as they become all-defining for the characters.
Is it Tune In or Tune Out?
So far, the characters are simply defined. Jordan’s struggle to be publicly recognized for their abilities as opposed to gender identity, and for their parents to recognize their identity, is compelling, though this is all we’ve seen of them. Emma is perhaps the best defined with a goofy side, a supportive side, and her struggle with the purging element of her power. Top-dog upperclassmen Cate Dunlap (Maddie Phillips) and Andre Anderson (Chance Perdomo) seem to genuinely care about their friends and show a few moments of genuine pain; unfortunately, they mostly fall into tropes of the popular kid’s preppy, bitchy girlfriend, and the charmer whose dad wants him to follow in his footsteps.
Marie is especially hard to root for. Her main motivation is to find her sister, who was adopted after the death of their parents, and convince her she is not a monster. The audience gets only a brief, generic scene of them playing together, not enough to truly feel their bond. Also, Marie’s motivation doesn’t feel as unique or strong as many other supes have accidentally harmed loved ones too, including Cate. It would be one thing if she was driven to save others, wanted to save her sister from something, or acted out in extreme, desperate ways; however, she passively allows the school to use her for good publicity and to lie to the public. This selling out involves screwing over other characters who acted heroically, complaining about being show-ponied about, and, at least in the beginning, refusing to investigate The Woods to potentially save someone in real danger. While Marie does have heroic instincts in the beginning when she saves someone, it only serves to make her later switch seem hypocritical and her values unclear. Despite being a break-out star, she is not particularly charming or clever and does not use her platform to push any boundaries. She also naively trusts Dean Indira Shetty (Shelley Conn) who is working with Vought, the company in charge of superheroes; viewers who have seen The Boys already know she cannot be trusted, creating a frustratingly drawn-out arc that can only end badly. While Cate, Andre, and Jordan are not fleshed out, they at least don’t trust the school and are looking into The Woods.
The mystery around The Woods and cliffhangers at the end of each episode, including a particularly shocking one in the first episode, are enough to keep the audience hooked. When The Woods’ mystery is finally revealed, it is nothing novel, but watching the characters fight Vought, discover secrets, and try to stay alive is entertaining. A solid amount of drama, action, and an intriguing layer of social commentary keep the show engaging, even if it’s nothing groundbreaking.
Who will like it?
If you loved The Boys and are looking for more of the same, Gen V is not it. It is well-written and does not feel cringey or overdramatic, but it is a superhero show for teens and young adults. The series is full of coming-of-age conflicts and tropes. It takes an interesting look at representation and different social issues but overdoes it at times. The action and suspense around Vought’s secret with The Woods is intriguing, but it’s nothing the audience has not seen before. Gen V does not have the same complex heroes, antiheroes, and villains as The Boys, nor does it turn the same sharp eye toward a breadth of issues. Gen V is still new and has room to grow, but right now, it is just entertaining and not a whole lot more.
