SummarySuperpowered students compete for top rankings at Godolkin University, a Vought International-run college for young superheroes in the spinoff of The Boys.
SummarySuperpowered students compete for top rankings at Godolkin University, a Vought International-run college for young superheroes in the spinoff of The Boys.
You’ll laugh out loud, wince often, and wonder how Gen V gets away with half of what’s displayed – which is my way of recommending this brilliantly batshit show to anyone who will listen.
Like “The Boys,” “Gen V” may be too much for those who prefer the comparatively clean-cut superheroes of Marvel blockbusters. There are seriously bent sex scenes, and the violence is next level. But for the rest of us, it’s a wonderfully warped alternative to your friendly neighborhood superhero tale.
“Gen V” retains the edge, cynicism and (aptly) adolescent humor that make its parent show tick, suggesting “The Boys” is far from the creative fatigue now plaguing juggernauts like the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
And while, at this point, it’s certainly fair to question whether things like fountaining blood and viscera or penis jokes have run their course, at least you know what you’re getting. And there’s something to be said for a good (if familiar) time.
There’s no single performance as likely to earn accolades as Antony Starr’s ultra-intense take on Homelander, but the cast of relative newcomers is generally sturdy. If the series becomes frustratingly rushed as it progresses, within that rush and those choppy narrative choices, I kept finding enough moments of giddy inspiration to be entertained and sometimes more than that.
There’s a lot to like about Gen V, with one standout action sequence as inspired and inventive as it is undeniably hilarious for reasons we won’t spoil here, but it nonetheless constantly feels as though that special intangible something that made The Boys what it is has been found sorely wanting.
Gen V constantly resorts to icky humor for fear of losing our attention. Despite its flash, its swaggers of confidence, this is a curiously self-conscious, uncomfortable show, forever offsetting its earnestness as if needing to prove its coolness.