Gen V Season 1 Review

Gen V (2023-)
Season 1 - 10 episodes

Watch Gen V on Amazon Prime Video (paid link)
Created by: Evan Goldberg, Eric Kripke, Craig Rosenberg
Starring: Jaz Sinclair, Chance Perdomo, Lizze Broadway, Maddie Phillips, London Thor, Derek Luh, Asa Germann, Shelley Conn
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer

Plot
From the world of The Boys, this explores the first generation of superheroes to know that their super powers are from Compound V. These heroes put their physical and moral boundaries to the test competing for the school's top ranking.

Verdict
This is just as edgy as The Boys, but where that show felt like a response to the prevalence of super hero movies and an apt criticism, this doesn't feel all that different from edgy teen drama other than the super hero angle. There are conspiracies, testing, and plenty of drama both between teens and parents. This doesn't have something to say about heroes like The Boys. It exists because The Boys is popular. The issues it does explore through the characters feels forced.
It depends.

Review
The main character is Marie (Jaz Sinclair), a hero that can control blood. She's not as well off as many of the students, and she keeps her past to herself. She's desperate to make a name for herself. Since this school ranks all the students, that creates plenty of friction among students.

The impetus of the plot is the school wanting Marie to take the fall for Andre's (Chance Perdomo) mistake when Marie only tried to fix it. Why can't the school cover it up like everything else like we've seen in The Boys? Vought easily covers up everything for their main super heroes. I'd think their reach would extend to the school they run. This is all in the first episode and we even get a big surprise to end the episode.

Jaz Sinclair, Derek Luh, Chance Perdomo play Marie, Jordan, Andre

Marie's expulsion is reversed when she appears to be a hero in a random event. Her popularity numbers are good so now the school wants to make her the face of a new program. Marie wants to get ahead and doesn't want to lose this opportunity so she's more than happy to go along.

The most mistreated character is Emma (Lizze Broadway). This ties her power to an eating disorder, and it's clear she just wants to be accepted. When we meet her mother in episode three, it's clear where most of her issues derive.

Andre also has issues with his father, a former super hero who pushes his son. Andre begins looking into clues that point towards the school testing on students. It's a full blow conspiracy.

The Boys felt like a response to the influx of super hero movies. It provided the grimy behind the scenes of what super heroes might be if they were morally gray. Homelander represented the worst of them, image conscious and depraved. Gen V feels more like a generic young adult mystery that's trying to be edgy. The Boys certainly went for edgy, but it fit that show better. This show never feels like the subject had to be super heroes. It's a send up of colleges and college athletes, but it doesn't have the bite of the original series.

Asa Germann, Lizze Broadway play Sam, Emma

Episode six reveals everything, or at least most everything. We discover who is behind it all.

In episode eight supes run amuck causing destruction. There was a concern about supes being too powerful, and this all but proves that. I get some of those supes were imprisoned and tortured, but two wrongs don't make a right when supes are killing innocents. 

This season ends a chapter, but there's certainly more to this story. Vought will cover up what happened, finding a way to spin this to their benefit yet again. With Marie and Andre cast as villains instead of heroes for revealing what was going on, what will they do?