Gen V season 2 takes us right back into The Boys’ world, full of its dismemberment, over-the-top graphic super-power sex, and slapstick comedy. These are but the first layer of this heavily political, engaging, and thought-provoking narrative. The Guardians of Godolkien are back, and they’re here to fight!

An Ode to the Late Chance Perdomo

I couldn’t start this review without first acknowledging that this season pays fantastic homage to the late Chance Perdomo (The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), who played Andre Coleman, son of former superhero and magnokenetic Polarity (Sean Patrick Thomas). Much like his character, he had a natural magnetism, and his presence on screen was phenomenal. His authentic portrayal of grief and anger over the passing of his best friend hugely contributed to what made the first season of Gen V such an enjoyable experience.

Back For Another Super-School Year

The story kicks off a few months after the Godolkien Massacre, led by powerful telepath Kate (Maddie Phillips—Teenage Bounty Hunters) and superstrong supe Sam Riordan (Asa Germann). Thanks to the efforts of Marie Moreau (fellow Sabrina alum Jaz Sinclair), she uses her blood control to stop Kate, which leaves her without her left arm. 

Following intervention by Homelander (Anthony Starr), Marie and her friends, size-shifter Emma “Little Cricket” (Lizzie Broadway), and gender-shifter Jodran Lee (London Thor and Derek Luh), were locked up. In a special prison known as Elmira. The trio were held over the course of Season 4 of The Boys, which saw the Starlighters uniting against the fascist conspiracy-loving hordes of Homelanders ‘The Hometeamers’ (who are DEFINITELY not characters of any real political movements in America right now!). This culminated in the Leader of the Seven installing a puppet president in the Oval Office and cementing his Supe-superiority agenda across the United States. 

By the time we catch up with our Gen V leads, much has happened in that time period. Marie has escaped imprisonment and is searching for her sister Annabel, Jordan and Emma witnessed Andre’s death and a new creepy Dean called Cipher (Hamish Linklatter) has taken over Godolkien. 

While it appears Homelanders’ victory is at hand, hope remains as Marrie is contacted by none other than a member of The Boys, Annie January, AKA Starlight (Erin Moriarty). Managing to persuade Marie to return to Godolkien, she encourages the young team of supes to discover a secret project directly connected to Dean Cypher, Project Odessa. 

Returning to the world of superhuman youths, many of whom have been radicalised against humans by the Hometeamers, the Guardians of Godolkien must prove that they can live up to their name. Project Odessa might be the key to taking down Homelander and saving America from his tyrannical rule. 

Politically Relevant, Frighteningly Real

It feels strange to say that I’m watching a TV show about teenagers and young adults with superhuman abilities, and I’m saying to myself, “Holy shit, this is so much like real life!” It’s because our characters exist in a politically charged environment where supes and humans are now at odds, with the former demanding dominion over the latter.

The show demonstrates the political divisions between Homelanders Hometeamers and Starlight’s Starlighters, as clear a divide as between the Republican MAGA groups and the left-wing grassroots that make up the Democratic Party’s voters. It is impossible to watch this show and not feel enraged at the dimwittedness of these violent superpowered bigots and their supporters. As MAGA has formed a cult around Donald Trump, the extremist supes have formed a cult around Homelander and his administration, which he puppeteers, and is closing the gaps between the elite and the “inferior” humans.

The line between what is perceived as ‘them’ and ‘us’ is clearly drawn within Godolkien, with those with superpowers given privileges over those who are human. There is a real sense that the society of superhuman America is on the edge of turning its movement into one that is nothing but a means to commit violence against those they deem lesser than them.

The frustration when we see Emma, Marie, and Jordan come up against so many of their peers who so fully get into these fascist beliefs is the frustrating feeling emulated in real life – it feels as though they are the many and we are the few. Though hints are provided throughout the show’s premiere episodes that Homelanders hold on to the homeland is not quite as firm as he might believe, even within superhuman education.

Great Actors, Great Viewership

One of the things Kripke has always been good at is casting characters. Whether that’s Anthony Starr as Homelander or Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy, it’s the absolutely brilliant performances of Thor/Luh, Phillips, and Sinclair that truly sell the universe’s death of Andre off-screen. The absolutely fantastic chemistry between the guardians makes the show so good.

Since last season, Cate has split from the leading group, and the attention there is beyond palpable; the hatred feels so visceral and real. I don’t want to see the actors sitting in the same room. If there’s a standout in the first few episodes, it’s definitely Lizzie Broadway’s Emma, otherwise known as little cricket. Emma, to me, has always been the beating heart of the show, whilst Jordan and Marie might struggle with their feelings and bury them. Kate is happier manipulating others than talking honestly about herself. Emma is the voice of reason, anger, and rebellion.

It was also nice to see more of the polarity actor Sean Patrick Thomas, who plays the grieving father perfectly, demonstrating the split between grief and the drive for revenge. Cipher actor Hamish Linklater is also a perfect new addition to the cast of characters and a mysterious one at that. Linklatter fills his role as the new soup dean of the university as if they were shoes he’d worn his entire life.

The New Dean on Campus

Of all the characters in the show, Cipher is the most mysterious; we know not all about his powers, he has a strange obsession with Marie, and his blasé attitude and seeming omniscience of the going on on campus making more than a threat – it makes his presence unnerving. The Boys has only ever been as good as its villains; the same is true of its spinoff, and the new Dean gives us a new type of villain we have yet to encounter. Another little mystery pulls you into this world and this story.

The only character that truly feels pointless the narrative is Sam. Whilst Asa Germann’s importance to the first season of the show gave the series the critical momentum needed to allow the explosive finale it had, I simply don’t feel as though the performance of the actor it’s the need of this character. No longer bound to the legacy of the little brother of Godolkien’s favourite son, and empowered by the supe supremacy movement, the show should truly be delving into Sam’s darker side.

Gen V desperately needs villains that stay in place, villains who are not guest-starring whilst their primary show is in pre-production for its next season. The series doesn’t need an A-list superpowered enemy for the group to face off against; it needs one that the audience can unite in hatred against. And nothing brings hatred quite like betrayal.Cate makes one enemy, Sam should make two.

Bloody Outrageous 

Gen V knows what it does well, and it knows what its fans expect. After four seasons of The Boys, one of Gen V and one of Diabolical, the universe that these crazy suped-up kids live in is violent, shocking, and horny. Within the first few minutes, we’re witness to two of the three, and by the end of the first three episodes, we’ve checked the third off the box, Christ. 

In a world with deprived individuals who like to commit such abhorrent acts as making love to inanimate objects, drinking breast milk by the gallon, and climbing up inside their asses, it’s no surprise that the return to Godolkien U gives us precisely that en masse. After all, if there’s any place where depravity thrives, it’s at a university. 

Whilst some might say Erik Krikpe pushes the needle, comparatively, I think it’s quite time what’s been shown compared to what our imaginations wander into what we’ll see. The truth about superpowers would be that the deaths by those with them or injuries to those around them would be far worse than a bump on the head (as some DC and Marvel movies might have us believe). 

Tonnally, the level of gore is just right, considering our primary protagonist can manipulate blood inside and outside the body. If anything, given the tease that we’re about to see Marie rise to a whole new level of power, I think those of a faint heart might want to avert their eyes now. 

Conclusion

There is so much more to tell of the story of Gen V, and whilst the narrative of The Boys we’ll see its final chapter when season five releases next year, I genuinely hope we see more of our Guardians of Godolkien. The story is so much closer to its infancy that we have barely even discovered the entirety of the world they inhabit as superpowered students. With five more episodes, this season has you hooked from the get-go. Whilst the vulgarity might put some people off, it is my opinion that to tell this story correctly requires the sort of viscerally visual brutality that includes quite a lot of graphic deaths and dismemberment.

Gen V season 2 kicks off with a bang. The younger sibling of The Boys may inhabit the same world, but it fills in gaps in the story, giving it a fresh and engaging tale that builds on the lore of Kripke’s universe. 

Gen V season 2 is steaming now on Amazon Prime Video.

9 out of 10, Episodes 1-3.