Basically… if you like THE BOYS with extra blood, you’ll probably like this.
The world of THE BOYS is one where the “superheroes” have feet of clay up to their eyeballs, paying more attention to their public image than to actually helping people. It’s a world of brand management and carefully controlled PR. So where do supers learn all that?
Well, GEN V is the answer to that question. Turns out young supers have a school of their own–Godolkin University (aka GodU)–where kids can major in crimefighting or performing arts. Seriously, that seems to be the only choice, one or the other, with crimefighting being the one kids want.
GEN V starts with Marie Moreau (Jaeda LeBlanc, then Jaz Sinclair), age 12, discovering her period and a lethal blood-related superpower at the same time. Because of that, she was sent to essentially a reform school/quarantine facility for underage supers; if she can’t manage to control her power reliably, she’ll be sent to another facility when she turns 18–one from which no one returns. But… a reprieve comes her way in the form of acceptance (with a scholarship) to GodU. If she can stay out of trouble, she can avoid whatever happens to the kids who are dragged away, kicking and screaming.
However, trouble isn’t so easy to avoid. Marie’s roommate, the size-changing social influencer Emma (Lizze Broadway), wants to help but ends up complicating Marie’s life, while the clique of cool kids–including rising superstar Golden Boy (Patrick Schwarzenegger), his girlfriend Cate (Maddie Phillips), best friend Andre (Chance Perdomo) and Jordan (London Thor/Derek Lu)–quickly gets Marie in over her head. An accident on a night out puts Marie on a collision course with Prof. “Brink” Brinkerhoff (Clancy Brown), the ultra-popular dean of the crimefighting school.
But disaster is averted when one of the young supers murders Brink then commits a spectacular public suicide, thrusting Marie into the public eye and leaving a mystery for the other kids to solve. What are ‘the Woods’? Who was the runaway kid Marie and Andre helped capture? And what caused the dead super to snap?
With three episodes released as of September 28, with a new episode coming every Thursday, the answers begin almost immediately.
As does the extreme violence and gratuitous, over-the-top sexual content. While I can appreciate THE BOYS wanting to take things to the limit, GEN V starts off (frankly) trying too hard. Golden Boy rips the arms off another super (who’s able to put them back) in a sparring match; Little Cricket (aka Emma) pleasures a boy at minimum size (in a scene slightly reminiscent of the “Herogasm” episode of THE BOYS); and so on. It’s not that there’s no space for pushing the envelope, but going so hard so fast risks losing an audience that might need to warm up first.
On the positive side, the actors are all engaging and do a great job giving their characters depth right off the bat. Sinclair delivers as Marie, a girl who blames herself for a tragedy but now, with sudden (and undeserved) fame, finds that she might like the spotlight after all. Schwarzenegger is a natural as the popular, charismatic Golden Boy, who appears to be on track to join the Seven, while Brown gives Brink a subtle vibe of “fatherly used car salesman.” Phillips brings some real game to playing Cate, who could easily have been a cliche mean girl but isn’t, while Broadway shines as the wannabe best friend with an unhappy secret to her power. And last but not least, Thor and Lu share the role of Jordan with great delicacy and effect, raising issues in a superhero context that confront many kids (and parents) in real life.
What’s also a strong positive is that the show is able to parody and make cutting snarky asides about other superhero entertainment–such as one girl saying she’s got a role exploring trauma through “70 years of sitcoms.” Seriously, the dialogue is often delightful.
Okay, then, where do we land? GEN V might help itself by trusting its actors and its story and dialing back on the FX-heavy gore and sex. College is a place where kids find themselves, sure, but the show doesn’t have to hammer home what THE BOYS pioneered. It’s off to a pretty good start and, happily, has huge potential to learn… just like college kids.
B
