Gen V Season 1 Episodes 1-3 Review: God U / First Day / #ThinkBrink
Gen V may be about a school for gifted youngsters, but it’s not the story you’re used to. Set in the dark and satirical world of The Boys, Gen V is more than just a send-up of teen superheroes and will hook you with its mystery, dark humor, and charismatic cast.
Gen V follows the students of Godolkin University, a superhero-only college where students train under the watchful eye of megacorporation Vought International. College sounds like the perfect setting for a show in a universe that doesn’t shy away from hedonism and vulgarity, but there’s more to the story than shock value.
Freshman and heart of the show Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) is in over her head from the start. It’s not long before Marie and her new friends are pulled into a mystery that could threaten their futures and expose Godolkin’s dark secrets. (Warning: The rest of this review contains spoilers for Episodes 1-3).
Gen V Season 1 Episode 1, “God U,” (written by Craig Rosenberg, Evan Goldberg, and Eric Kripke, and directed by Nelson Cragg) follows Marie, who accidentally killed her own parents when she manifested blood manipulation powers during her first period. This is either the best or worst metaphor for the trauma of female puberty, I truly can’t decide.
She starts Godolkin as a scholarship student unaware of the darker side of superheroes and hopes that the school is a chance to redeem herself in the eyes of her sister. The most significant difference from The Boys isn’t the age range of the protagonists, it’s that the supes are the heroes of the story.
Marie starts her journey naive about the corporatization of superheroes. She believes that all she has to do is be the best at saving people to earn a top spot in the crime-fighting program (the only other major is performing arts).
Quickly, she realizes being a hero is mostly about social media klout and personal branding. In a not-so-subtle criticism of the real-world exploitation of student-athletes by the NCAA, the highest-ranked crimefighting students at Godolkin aren’t necessarily the most talented but the ones who have four-quadrant appeal and can make Vought the most money.
The number one-ranked student Luke Riordan (Patrick Schwarzenegger) is a white, cisgender male with movie star looks literally called “Golden Boy.” His clique is made up of fellow students Andre Anderson (Chance Perdomo), a flirtatious metal manipulator who struggles under the legacy of his superhero father; Jordan Li (played by both London Thor and Derek Luh), a powerful genderfluid supe whose ability to physically shift genders keeps them from a number one ranking thanks to Vought’s prejudice; and Cate Dunlap (Maddie Phillips), Luke’s girlfriend whose ability to control minds through touch and penchant for wearing gloves reminds you of a cross between Rogue and Jean Grey.
Although savvier than Marie, even this group of supes stands out as more skeptical of Vought and more self-aware than most of the older supes we’ve encountered. They’ve known since they were teenagers that their powers come from their parents selling them out to be injected with Compound V and at times vocally resent being science experiments.
As if growing up isn’t hard enough, try adding in unpredictable and sometimes uncontrollable powers.
It’s safe to say there is no self-righteous sociopath among them, at least not yet, which makes them easier to root for than The Seven. It’s not a spoiler to say that the real villain is still Vought.
You have Colby Minifie reprising her role as Vought CEO Ashley Barrett but also new characters in Shelley Conn’s duplicitous Dean Indira Shetty and Clancy Brown as superhero scholar Professor Brink. Shetty’s relationship with Marie, which oscillates between sincere and manipulative, is one to watch.
Gen V does a decent enough job of setting up the world of Vought and superheroes in these initial episodes. Still, you’ll have to piece some things together on your own (or through Google) if you didn’t watch The Boys.
New viewers may take less delight in the cameos and references sprinkled throughout than diehard fans will. You won’t get the irony of a member of The Seven praising Professor Brink for making him the man he is now if you don’t already know this particular supe is a scumbag.
Episode 1 shoulders a lot as it throws Marie (and viewers) into this world but sells you by the end with a tragic twist that finds Luke killing Professor Brink and then himself after discovering his brother Sam (Asa Germann) is being kept prisoner in the secret facility “The Woods.” Marie’s accidental involvement in “stopping” him earns her a reputation as a hero and thrusts her into the campus spotlight.
Gen V Season 1 Episode 2, “First Day,” (written by Zak Schwartz and Brant Englestein and directed by Nelson Cragg) and Episode 3, “#ThinkBrink,” (written by Erica Rosbe and directed by Philip Sgriccia), keep up the series’ momentum.
As much as Marie wants to keep her head down after witnessing the murder, Vought is eager to make her their next star in a play for publicity and to cover up the scandal. Meanwhile, Andre’s investigation into what really happened to Luke and his attempt to find Sam puts them on a collision course.
The mystery plot device prevents Gen V from being a one-note coming-of-age story and provides a good excuse for The Breakfast Club-like group of characters to interact. This group isn’t as instantly compelling as the leads of its parent show, but they grow on you as you get to know them and their struggles.
Perdomo and Lizze Broadway as Emma Meyer are the standouts of the cast so far for adding nuance to their characters while still exuding plenty of charm. Perdomo plays the slacker-turned-leader well and draws the audience in with his presence making it easy to believe the other characters choose to follow him.
Emma, who goes by the stage name Little Cricket thanks to her shrinking powers, is usually the comic relief in Marie’s dramatic storylines. Broadway has range though and still manages to pull off some serious scenes focusing on Emma’s eating disorder that fuels her powers. Her initially tense then silly jailbreak scene with Sam also shows how easily Broadway builds chemistry with her scene partners no matter how little time they have already spent on screen together.
Although the more emotional scenes of Gen V are successful, like when Marie has a breakdown at a message from her estranged sister, it never veers into pure melodrama like some teen shows. That’s largely due to the action-oriented plot and nonstop jokes.
There are plenty of laughs from the ridiculous scenarios that happen when you put a bunch of overpowered, sex-crazed young adults in one place. Gen V also knows where to place a knowing pop culture reference (God U students have gone on to star in shows like Riverdale!) and wry social critique (an influencer tries to apologize to Emma for revealing her darkest secret on her YouTube channel but is actually just filming another video).
Gen V‘s impressive first three episodes prove it may not outshine its predecessor but it won’t live in its shadow either. The downside to it being such a worthy addition to The Boys’ universe is that if you can’t stomach that show, it’s unlikely you’ll have an appetite for this one either.
A shower of blood and guts over campus and simulated oral sex with a mutant tail are just the tip of the iceberg for gross-out moments. Viewers with milder sensibilities will probably want to skip this one.
What did you think of the first three episodes of Gen V? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Gen V streams Fridays on Prime Video.
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Breeze Riley
Breeze Riley is a pop culture enthusiast who decided to turn her love of watching too much TV into a hobby writing about it. Although she's a convention-going sci-fi and fantasy nerd, she's just as likely to be watching an off-beat comedy or period drama. She is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic.