Gen V Season 2 Redeems The Boys Season 4
Showrunner: Michele Fazekas
Starring: Jaz Sinclair; Lizze Broadway; Maddie Phillips; London Thor; Derek Luh; Asa Germann; Sean Patrick Thomas; Hamish Linklater
Rating: ****
Jaz Sinclair and London Thor in Gen V S2
This review contains spoilers for Gen V S2 and The Boys S4.
It also contains discussion of sexual assault, eating disorders, and self-harm.
The Boys season 4 almost put me off watching Gen V season 2 entirely. Everyone's aware that The Boys toes the line with dark humour. There's something incredibly watchable about the weird, kinky superhero shags that are sprayed across the series. The fantastical gore meets this strange eroticism at its (low? high?) level. But although this drew audiences into the series, the witty cultural commentary embedded into the explosive storylines was what kept people coming back for more.
It was always going to be tricky introducing a spin-off into the universe; the first attempt, The Boys: Diabolical was an excellent idea (separating these stories from canon allows for far more creative leverage), but viewership figures halted a renewal. Gen V was a punt in the direction of a parallel storyline and proved itself to be a success on its own but slowed the progress of The Boys season 4 as it simultaneously covered its key plot points.
Not only did it retread old ground, but the addition of many disturbing sexual assault scenes treated in a blasé manner across season 4 made it unpleasant to watch. OK, sure, The Boys are at a bleak point in their story. Placing the team in a weaker position prior to the final season gives for more petrol in the proverbial tank. But I didn't find it funny having to watch MM pleasure a man with spiderwebs shooting out of his arse. I also hated seeing Hughie abused by Ashley and co. The whole fake-Annie assault was another shite on top of a repulsive cake (perhaps a black forest gateau?).
Derek Luh, Jaz Sinclair, Keeya King, and Lizze Broadway in Gen V season 2.
I was concerned that Gen V would suffer the same fate. And perhaps the Black Hole joke did wear a little thin. Yeah, it all came to a (tortoise) head in "Trojan", but after the second time I did find myself thinking "how many more times do I have to see this guy poop people out?" Still, fair play to the dude for doing his bit. I wonder if it's uncomfortable for him.
Unfortunately for the showrunners, the Thomas Godolkin twist was visible from a mile off. It would've made sense to reveal this earlier, because leaving it so late in the season to reveal something so many already clocked made Boq/Spongebob/Ethan Slater feel underutilised. This isn't to say that Hamish Linklater didn't suffice at playing Cipher; the guy nailed the transition into Doug. But it would've given a little more meat to Godolkin's bones, a little more room for Marie to grow into their final face-off, a little more time to spend with sweet, sweet Doug.
In all fairness, there was a lot of ground to cover. The beginning of the series had to quickly shift the gang out of Elmira and back into the university to sew the legs back to the show's premise. Not only that, but we had a lot of setting up for the finale of The Boys to do. Again, season 4 spent so much time dragging its feet (Butcher-cancer-crazy, Hughie-Annie-assault, V-virus-bad) that Gen V had to run towards season 5's starting line.
But the edgelord humour was dealt with in a more... tasteful? Humorous? Loving? Fashion than the more prior try-hard season of The Boys. I loved the introduction of Bushmaster. If I had a superpower, it would probably be that.
Maddie Phillips and Hamish Linklater in Gen V S2.
Emma provided much of the comic relief this season with a delightful dollop of tasteful nudity -- but she also continued one of my favourite character arcs as she attempts to understand how to manage her eating disorder. There's not really a solid answer provided, and I really liked that. Often times, recovery consists of finding tools to cope, potentially relapsing, and then using your resilience to enter recovery again. It's not a black-and-white "I'm cured!" situation. Emma is a prime example of that, and I feel strangely proud of her for asserting her boundaries this season. Big up Little Cricket.
The same applies to Marie. Amongst the Odessa Project discovery, the reconnection with her long-lost sister Annabeth, and her romance with Jordan, there was still her ongoing problem with self-harm. Discussion of this was both forthright and thoughtful. Her character arc saw her trained by Cipher/Godolkin to not just levitate others via their blood but revive people from the dead. Marie's self-worth appears on the up, but her sense of direction is perhaps a little cloudy.
Polarity's character arc was another highlight of the season. If it hasn't been said enough already, the handling of Chance Perdomo's untimely death was not just written off as a side story but provided a refreshing insight into a father grieving the manslaughter of his son. Over and over the writers of this series prove themselves highly capable of constructing poignant narratives without forcing sentimentality, and I hope that this carries over into season 5 of The Boys.
Jessica Clement, Georgia Murphy, Stephen Kalyn, and Lizze Broadway in Gen V S2.
Season 2 of Gen V was a marked improvement from what was a sharp decline in writing quality from The Boys. Even though there were issues with pacing, along with characters like Emma, Sam, and Cate being somewhat sidelined this season, all cast members performed brilliantly with the material given to them. The introduction of new supes Harper and Ally is a welcome addition to the team. Whether or not this ends up being the final season of this successful spin-off, the resistance has ended on a high this time around. Hopefully, the writers haven't bitten off more than they can chew for The Boys finale.
