Take all the copious amounts of superpowered mayhem, blood, guts, sex, politics, and satire of The Boys and inject it into a college setting. It seems like a natural fit, right? That’s the formula that makes Gen V, the first live-action spinoff of the mega-successful Prime Video series, so diabolically promising. When it was first announced that the Amazon-owned streaming service would be expanding the world of The Boys, many were weary that the series would slowly morph into the kind of corporate franchising it has always excelled at lampooning. The Boys has always felt like it’s a step ahead of Marvel and DC as it’s not like you need to watch countless streaming spinoffs, shorts, and movies to fully understand what the hell is going on onscreen.

This largely self-contained series is set at the Vought-owned Godolkin University, a prestigious “supes only” college where many aspiring superhuman young adults train to become part of a new generation of superheroes and celebrities. The star pupil of the school is undoubtedly Luke Riordan, aka Golden Boy (Patrick Schwarzenegger). He’s got it all — a beautiful girlfriend in Cate (Maddie Phillips) and plenty of friends, he’s the top-ranked student, and his esteemed professor Rich Brink (Clancy Brown) has constantly told him that he’s a shoo-in to become the next member of The Seven, which, after the events of The Boys’ Season 3 finale, is in desperate need of new members.

Meanwhile, freshman Marie Moreau’s (Jaz Sinclair) blood-bending powers have only carved out a path of tragedy, rejection, and isolation for her. Marie finally gets the chance that she’s been longing for upon receiving a full-ride scholarship to Godolkin, with the hope of turning her dream of becoming the first Black woman in The Seven into a reality. She makes fast friends with her size-changing roommate Emma (Lizze Broadway) and quickly catches the eye of Luke and his friends, which also includes the metal-bending supe Andre Anderson (Chance Perdomo) and the gender-shifting supe Jordan (Derek Luh, London Thor), all of whom have been promised bright and successful futures. After a night out partying takes a violent turn, Marie and her peers start to realize that their dream school is harboring some dark and sinister secrets and is beginning to prey on all of their individual insecurities.

‘Gen V’ Stands on Its Own
Image via Prime Video
 

While Gen V is able to retain The Boys’ knack for graphic violence and exposing corporate corruptness, it is also able to stand on its own two feet. For better and for worse, Gen V diverges from the more satirical elements of the flagship series and decides to tackle issues that many young adults in our everyday world face, including gender, sexuality, drugs, and eating disorders. At times, the series recaptures the snark of its predecessor. At others, the show resembles something closer to a CW series with a much higher budget.

Gen V seems like it’s trying to bring in new fans as, while there are a handful of callbacks in each episode that will fly over any first-timer’s head, the overall story stands on its own. Gen V makes an effort to give each of its youthful supes their own kind of backstories and insecurities. Marie’s attempts to reconnect with her estranged sister and Emma’s constant struggles with her body image are when the series is at its strongest. The gender-swapping character Jordan does have a lot of promise in being able to explore gender in the world of The Boys, but the themes in their storyline are often muddled and undercooked.

Related:’Gen V’ Stars Share the Advice They Got From the Cast of ‘The Boys’

Thankfully, none of these new additions are necessarily a riff on the old characters that fans have already come to know and love (or hate). Golden Boy could have easily been written and portrayed as a younger version of Homelander, but instead, Schwarzenegger is able to bring his own charm to the role and make him much more relatable. The series makes several references to the fact that Marie could become “the Black Starlight,” but Sinclair’s performance solidifies that the character is her own person with her own demons. While she is becoming more and more disillusioned by Vought and the true intentions of her new school, she also is making many choices that will benefit her — not out of selfishness, but out of necessity.

Broadway is another stand-out in the Gen V ensemble as Emma. She initially starts out as chipper and eager, having found success for years on YouTube, before her more toxic classmates begin to take advantage of her and her naivety about the real world. Broadway not only shines in every scene she’s in, but she also has stellar chemistry with Sinclair. If any of the cast members in Gen V are to break out in a big way, just like Jack Quaid did after the first two seasons, it’d be Sinclair and Broadway. They have such an immensely watchable screen presence, and it becomes very easy to root for them, even if their characters don’t always make the best decisions.

‘Gen V’ Doesn’t Always Take Advantage of Its Potential
Image via Prime Video

Outside an explosive pilot episode, Gen V feels like it’s playing things much more safely than The Boys. Putting a bunch of corrupted superheroes in a college setting is an intriguing concept, as one can only imagine the kinds of classes that these students take and what kinds of parties they go to. Yet Gen V never takes full advantage of this conceit. There are a couple of scenes that show the day and night lives of the students at Godolkin University, but the series appears far more interested in telling a generic murder mystery story where the surprises start to become more and more predictable as the story progresses.

As the series becomes more entrenched in this murder mystery, it starts to forget what was successful for the initial episodes, especially as certain plot lines revolving around the main characters are dropped for several episodes before being unexpectedly brought back up later on. This makes the payoff underwhelming rather than an exciting new reveal. The shock value that has been a staple of The Boys and its animated anthology spinoff Diabolical remains present in Gen V, especially as the characters begin to learn new things about their powers, but it doesn’t always have a lasting impact. There are moments where Gen V succeeds in creating a series that perfectly mixes teen melodrama, superheroes, and satire, but the overall story is ultimately a little too generic and predictable.

Rating: B-

The Big Picture

Gen V, the first live-action spin-off series set in the world of The Boys, is increasingly about a murder mystery that lacks the same punch as its predecessor. The new characters in Gen V stand on their own and don’t imitate the old guard, with standout performances from Jaz Sinclair and Lizze Broadway. While the concept of a college setting with corrupted superheroes is intriguing, Gen V plays it safe and focuses more on the generic murder mystery plot, losing some of the initial excitement.

Gen V premieres on Prime Video on September 29.