Helmed by Eric Kripke, Craig Rosenberg, Michele Fazekas, and Evan Goldberg, Gen V Season 2 takes place in the violent universe of The Boys after the events of the fourth season and follows Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) and the rest of her friends who return to Godolkin after months of suffering, where a new dean is training young Supes to be soldiers. On the brink of war between humans and Supes, the team discovers a program that could change everything.
The first season of Gen V was a welcome surprise, proving to be an awesome spin-off series we never knew we needed that both expands the world of the Boys in between seasons but also tells its own compelling story, with really well-written characters and themes, which I was excited to see continue in a second season. However, this season was definitely going to be very different from the first from the start, not only because of how its story was going to be affected by the events of season 4 of The Boys, but also because of the sudden tragic passing of one its main stars, Chance Perdomo, who played Andre Anderson in season 1.
Does these season match the same level of greatness as the previous season or perhaps turn out to be better than it? Personally, I don’t think it does either, but it is still a solid second season that I did enjoy overall. This season does a really great job delivering the same well-written characters and themes in a really damn good story, but it does tend to end up being held back by a weaker first half and a tendency to lean too much into the grotesque humor that falls short this time around. The performances, narrative arcs, twists, themes, and a stronger second half are what really come through and make this second season great, even if it doesn’t achieve the same heights as the previous season of The Boys.
What definitely holds up from the previous season is the performances of the cast, from both returning and new faces who each get their chance to shine in really well-written arcs. Jaz Sinclair absolutely dominates this season with her incredible performance as Marie Moreau, who is dealing with many various challenges as she is forced to confront a dark truth about her powers, attempt to maintain her new relationship with Jordan Li, and try to reconnect with her friends and sister in order to solve this new threat at the university.
She was my favorite character in the first season and she was also my favorite character here, continuing a compelling journey that goes to some crazy places and brings the biggest parts of her story in season 1 full circle, especially with the debut of her sister this season, played amazingly by Keeya King. Jaz is definitely the heart of the series, delivering some powerful emotional moments this season and kicking ass, proving to the world she’s a true superhero and not a corporate puppet for Vought.
Lizzie Broadway wonderfully returns to the role of Emma Meyer, delivering great laughs as well as her own compelling journey as she learns to control her powers without the need of the methods she was forced to use in the first season. She manages to have significant growth since we last saw her and I am so glad we get to see her evolve and be independent rather than be limited to comedic relief, as some characters like her in other media are usually reduced to.
London Thor and Derek Luh once again pull off a beautiful double performance as Jordan Li, both playing the character respectively and responsibly as they go through a significant emotional arc that parallels the struggles that trans people are currently experiencing in our own world. In season 1, Jordan had protection against the bigotry and hatred from the outside world but in this season that protection has been stripped away from them and are now exposed to the public. Jordan may be a powerful supe but there is no amount of superpowers to protect them mentally from how the world perceives them, which is such a realistic and heartbreaking struggle to see them go through. But of course Jordan is able to endure this with the help Marie in a beautiful relationship that we get to see blossom in this season in a beautiful way.
Cate Dunlap, reprised by Maddie Phillips, took a villainous turn in the season 1 finale that had her turn on her friends and end up siding with Homelander’s cause, but that all changes this season when she ends up losing control of her powers and also loses her position of power when confronted by the new dean of the university. We see her brought down to the lowest level and slowly begin to try redeeming herself in the eyes of her friends that she betrayed. While I was still uncertain if we could trust her after what happened in the first season you could see she ends up genuinely wanting to reconcile with the others, especially when the death of Andre ends up truly shaking her views and bring her back to reality as a new threat rises.
Also on a path of redemption is Sam Riordan, played by Asa Germann, who once again is dealing with the struggles of his mental health, Cate’s manipulation of him, and trying to find his true place in such a broken world. He was a very compelling character in season 1 and continued to be so here, with Asa Germann delivering another great performance as this character that you can’t help but feel immense sympathy for as he continues to come to terms with his broken self.
Sean Patrick Thomas reprises Andre’s father Polarity this season as he takes on the role and journey that Andre was meant to have this season in the wake of Chance Perdomo’s passing, and it is handled beautifully. Sean Patrick Thomas proves to be the surprise MVP of this season, delivering a very compelling performance that evokes the raw emotions of the character in an incredible arc that pays tribute to Chance. This was going to be one of the most difficult challenges the showmakers had to tackle for this season but they did such a great job in their handling of Andre through his father Polarity, while also keeping Andre as a core part of the story that impacts all the characters throughout the season.
Taking on the role as the main villain of this season is the mysterious Dean Cipher played by Hamish Linklater, who wonderfully brings us a truly sadistic villain that honestly tops the villain we had in the last season. While there is a major twist involving his character in connection to the university’s founder, Thomas Godolkin (Ethan Slater), that changes your entire perspective of the character, there is no denying that Cipher is a strong villain that is played to perfection by Hamish Linklater, giving us a truly love to hate character and an impressive foe for our group of young heroes to fight against, especially with the power of possession at his fingertips.
There are a number of fun guest appearances that pop up in this season that definitely fit the narrative but I don’t want to give anything away about them due to major spoilers.
The storyline of this season as whole is done very well, starting off with a really interesting mystery that evolves into something larger that not only causes massive implications for the characters but also affects the upcoming final season of The Boys as well. There were so many great twists this season had that I didn’t see coming and had some major stakes that kept me on edge the entire time as our characters are put through hell while the present threat of superhero fascism looms over them.
As one would expect this season continues the various satire and themes of the previous installments and doesn’t hold back on highlighting various political horrors that are sadly ongoing currently, including the dangers of white nationalism. A lot of red hat wearing idiots and bigots are clearly offended by this season, as seen with the review bombing on certain critical sites, due to its satirical yet accurate depiction of them, and I absolutely love how far the writers go to rip into them any chance they get throughout the season while not letting it get too much in the way of the story.
What does end up getting in the way of the story is the season’s attempts at grotesque humor that I feel fell short this time around. The Boys comics and seasons are infamously known for its ultra graphic violence and graphic gross humor that gradually pushes the boundaries every season, but for Gen V season 2 I think they ended up doing too much of the gross humor, to the point it interferes with the narrative and ruins important moments between characters. There were a number of times mostly in the first half of the series that I felt certain humor just didn’t work for me and put me off to the point that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue the season, given the hyper fixation on the gross humor, but thankfully it managed to lessen during the second half, allowing the story and characters to shine. Had they struck a proper balance this season with its attempts at gross humor I may have liked it more and I really hope this issue doesn’t occur with the final season of the Boys.
From a technical standpoint the season has a lot of great things to offer, from solid action to excellent cinematography to awesome effects to a great score and soundtrack. The action feels improved from the first season and doesn’t lose its hyper-violent touch, leading to some hilariously crazy kills that will both shock you and make laugh as one would expect from this universe.
The cinematography and set designs are as great as the previous season, as are the effects mixing good practical and CGI effects together in a fun blend that looks amazing on screen. Definitely the best visual effects of this season to me were Marie’s expanded blood powers that looked even better compared to the first season effects.
The score is decent but the soundtrack of hand-picked songs are definitely the highlight of this season, with some great choices that are fitting for certain sequences.
While Gen V’s sophomore outing may have not been as strong as I would have liked it to be it was still a great new season that I enjoyed as a whole and did a great job with paying tribute to the late Chance Perdomo. Where our misfit group of characters will go next has been teased at the end of this season to likely appear in the final season of The Boys, but whether they will have a main role or just small supporting roles is currently unclear. Will there even be a third season after The Boys finishes out their run? Time will tell but either way I can’t wait to see what the fate of these characters is going forward. I’m going to give Gen V Season 2 a B+ = 89.
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