A young girl gets her [menarche|first period]. Her mother comes to check on her.

Her blood turns deadly and kills both her parents.

Years later, she attends a school for people with superpowers.

We're at [Godolkin University] ("God U"), an elite college for aspiring [superhero|superheroes]. It's run by [Vought], the evil corporation behind metahuman mutation in the universe of the dark, deranged, and brilliant comic and TV series, [The Boys]. Along with Boysish shenanigans among the [sidekick] set, we have an incendiary suicide and a sinister secret lurking, literally, beneath the well-manicured campus lawns. Actually, God U has quite a few sinister secrets. Finding the truth behind the facade can be dangerous. ["Il est dangereux d'avoir raison dans des choses où des hommes accrédités ont tort."--Voltaire|It is dangerous to be right when powerful people are wrong].

These elements are taken from the pages of The Boys. Literally-- the first season adapted a story arc from the comics. The differences in this series concern the characters' ages. They are young, struggling with their identities. They have superpowers, but they're relatively powerless beside Vought.

I found the early episodes a bit tiresome in places. The Boys has already trod heavily on this territory. What Gen V adds is younger characters and too much over-the-top [satire] of them wacky [Gen Z] college kids and their obsession with [social media]. Okay, maybe it's not so over-the-top, but they make the relevant points early on, and keep repeating them. Over and over.* We also have the excesses of the parent show without, initially, enough in the way of serious concerns to balance them. It feels a little too much like executive producer [Seth Rogen] SethRogenning. In that respect, it recalls the more recent seasons of [Doom Patrol] or, more to the point, the excesses of actual privileged people. They're doing it because they can.

As the plot develops, the real concerns become more apparent, and the series ends with its strongest episodes. The thematic elements regarding how we interpret current events and the manner in which information is framed are particularly compelling.

The acting is (overall) excellent. The characters are, however, less interesting than the main cast of The Boys. It's a breath of fresh air whenever someone from the parent series makes a cameo appearance.

The best performance and most consistently interesting character is [Jaz Sinclair] as [hemokinesis|hemokinetic] [Marie Moreau], the lead. Yes, at nearly thirty, she's a little old to be playing a first-year college student, but she gives a solid portrayal of a genuinely sympathetic character who serves as the viewer's point-of-view. [Lizze Broadway] is also impressive as Emma Meyer / Little Cricket, even if I found her character as annoying as often as I did interesting. Remove the superpowers and this comes pretty close to a certain real-life type, but that doesn't make her consistently fun to watch.

The basic arc seems fairly predictable. An incongruous group of young heroes began working together after they learn a hidden truth. They aren't sure whom they can trust, even among their own numbers. And then-- at that point, Gen V takes some unexpected turns.

The season's ending clearly sets up for both a second season (recently announced), or for this arc to influence the next season of The Boys.

If you like the parent series, you will enjoy the offspring, though you may find the early eps retread familiar turf. If you find the excesses of The Boys too disturbing, you won't be sold on this incarnation.

Directors: Nelson Cragg, Steve Boyum, Rachel Goldberg, Sanaa Hamri, Clare Kilner, Philip Sgriccia, Shana Stein

Writers: [Garth Ennis], Evan Goldberg, Chelsea Grate, Lauren Greer, [Eric Kripke], [Darick Robertson], Craig Rosenberg, Wei-Ning Yu, Brant Englestein, Jessica Chou, Lex Edness, Erica Rosbe, Zak Schwartz

Cast

Jaz Sinclair as Marie Moreau
Chance Perdomo as Andre Anderson
Lizze Broadway as Emma Meyer / Little Cricket
Maddie Phillips as Cate Dunlap
London Thor and Derek Luh as Jordan Li
Asa Germann as Sam Riordan
Shelley Conn as Indira Shetty
Sean Patrick Thomas as Anderson / Polarity
Alexander Calvert as Rufus
Maia Jae Bastidas as Justine
Patrick Schwarzenegger as Luke Riordan / [Golden Boy]
Marco Pigossi as Dr. Edison Cardosa
Jessica Clement as Harper
Dan Beirne as Social Media Jeff
Siddharth Sharma as Tyler
Nicholas Hamilton as Maverick
Matthew Edison as Cameron Coleman
Robert Bazzocchi as Liam
Louise Kerr as Kath
Jameson Kraemer as Kyle
Clancy Brown as Prof. Rich Brinkerhoff
Maria Nash as Annabeth Moreau
Christine Sahely as Prof. Renata Ibarra
Ty Barnett as Malcolm Moreau
Miatta Lebile as Jackie Moreau
Jaeda LeBlanc as Young Marie Moreau
Violet Marino as Young Cate
Samantha Espie as Cate's Mom

Special Guests:
[Chace Crawford] as [The Deep]
[Derek Wilson] as [Tek Knight]
[Antony Starr] as [Homelander]
[Jessie T. Usher] as [A-Train]
[Jensen Ackles] as [Soldier Boy]
[Karl Urban] as [Billy Butcher]

*That said, a wild college party in the cellphone/social media era, but with superpowers, is vintage Boysiverse craziness.

Gen V (review)