Gen V

This review was made after watching Season 1.

Good news, the show will have a second season 2. Sad news, sadly, one of the main actors passed away at 27. He was my favourite character in the series, I wish his family well, and I'm sure he made it to Heaven.

Ok let's review the show now. Is there gore? Yes. Is there nudity? Yes. Are there cool superpowers? Yes. That checks it for most of The Boys fans, but this series has more. Many current topics are tackled like eating disorders, self harm, parents acceptance and social media. The cg is good, the sets are good, and the acting is great. You really should give it a try.

The Boys show is amazing. Excellent casting along with compelling storylines and gruesome details. It has it all. This show is a spinoff in the same universe, though it never manages to reach the same heights or interest of The Boys.

If you've seen one modern teenage drama, you've seen them all. Basically it's about actors in their late 20's, playing as 18 years old, tackling the issues of identity, sex, evil senior leadership that is keeping a dark secret and modern diversity and inclusivity.

The show tries to make the story more interesting by using gruesome elements form the Boys universe (and that's the only reason that I gave it 6/10), but at its core it's still the same annoying teen drama.

Special effects and gruesome details are at par with "the boys", while acting and storyline is lacking in quality, boring and feel forced.

It still better than most of the superhero movies being released today, as it's not as predictable and stupid as the rest of them, but it's mostly due to "the Boys" universe and not as self sufficient as it might have been.

I hope they'll manage to improve and take it further to the insanely high level of the original show\comics.

A spin off set in the most incredibly thought through universe of recent times. Sounds too good to be true but they pulled it off in spectacular fashion. Looking at the Boys' universe from the lens of teenage superheroes as they realize what being a superhero means in the real world is refreshing.

The cast is good, although not at the level of The Boys but good enough. Jaz Sinclair (as Marie) in the lead is good, supported by Lizzie Broadway (as Emma), Chance Perdomo (as Polarity), London Thor (as Jordan Li) and others are also good.

The plot surprisingly ties in very well to the story of the main series and the cameos of the main show are extremely rewarding.

Good and entertaining to watch. Not a must though for the Boys universe.

Plot

From the world of "The Boys" comes "Gen V," which 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.

Cast

Mostly unknown to me, but several were memorable due to fantastic performances including Jaz Sinclair, Lizze Broadway and London Thor. A few of the Boys cast momentarily jump over and veteran Sean Patrick Thomas was a welcome sight.

Verdict

I like The Boys, I think it's one of the better shows of the last few years partially due to the no holding back, hyper violence and it just being something different and that's really needed right now. I was skeptical about a spinoff as they tend to be mere shadows of what came before but Gen V actually managed to get and keep my attention throughout.

Is it laden with teen angst? Well yeah, but that was never in question and was always going to be a major factor here. But the teen drama crossed with the Boys adult material, it works fantastically.

Interestingly co-written by Seth Rogan and with a mostly unknown cast I have to say everyone did a great job, most of the cast are brilliant here and that's what more shows need! I want to see a character, not have that ruined by my seeing a familiar face all the time. Sinclair, Broadway and Thor were all great and thorough scene stealers.

The plot is uninspired but competently handled so you can get past that and it parallels The Boys perfectly and makes for a nice companion piece which if handled correctly could intertwine incredibly.

I love The Boys, I like Gen V, I'm very excited where this all could lead.

Rants

In a world that hates the young, inclusivity is the devil and diversity is "Woke" I'm surprised that Gen V has been met as well as it has. The Boys got hit with all those accusations and I'd argue Gen V is even more so, I'm resisting the urge for a change to jump to the 1/10 reviews as I know what I'll see. Closed mindedness, the W word on a loop, an ocean of misogyny and casual racism. What time to be alive, rampant tribalism at it's most primal.

The Good

Some great cast members Solid connections to The Boys Engaging stuff Some action packed and very funny moments

The Bad

A couple of weak links among the cast Plot could have been stronger.

Gen V

Gen V is basically season 3.5 of The Boys. We are introduced to teenagers that are in a school for supes, teaching skills to be able to interact with humans depending on their unique powers. The major themes of the show are acceptance of who you are and, fear and discrimination on all sides.

The challenge with self acceptance of being a minority in America is made worse due to the fact that they have special power that can be deadly, depending on the morality of the person. What makes this worse is the fact that these powers were given to the people as children by the parents, thus metaphorically giving the impression that they were born that way. The idea that a minority is stronger than the snobbish majority is a theme that has been shown a lot lately in fictionalized media. Dehumanization still remains which is also a more difficult issue for these people because any use of their power can be interpreted as threatening thus justifying the discrimination. It doesn't help that there are folks happy to be immoral because they believe themselves as unstoppable. This metaphor proves to be very interesting as self acceptance then becomes near impossible. Most of the characters do not like having their powers. Some use them accidentally causing harm or death to loved ones, increasing this self loathing. I definitely can relate as a gay man because self acceptance took many decades, even though my power to cause harm was emotional or mental.

Fear and discrimination plays out in abusing the supes' lack of self acceptance because we learn that the school is more than it appears. In the first episode, the boy considered the number one student murders a beloved mentor and then commits suicide with the audience left wondering what is happening with that character, and with the school that supported him. The Boys demonstrated this many times in their three seasons with the supes' behavior and arrogance, often hidden to prevent backlash. This fear leads to two types of people. Ones that wish to live in peace, and those that wish to promote their arrogance to squash the others. It's ridiculous as it happens today, but it is still fun to watch the lovable characters fight back.

I'm eager for Season 4 of The Boys, and this show just made my eagerness stronger.