Gen V Season 2 Premiere Review: Why the First 3 Episodes Are a Must-Watch for The Boys Fans

The first 3 episodes of Gen V Season 2 have dropped on Prime Video. I, personally, really enjoyed these episodes as I feel like they have expanded on an already established universe, while also tying it further into the lore of The Boys Universe. 

The 3 episode premiere had a lot of strong points and it gave me the exact same feeling I had when we first entered the story at the beginning of Season 1. All of the excitement, intrigue, and mystery have been able to keep up the same quality even though we already know these characters and their story thus far. I will say, that is one of the highlights for me in these 3 episodes: the characters, their development, and the unlikely bonds/friendships that have formed post-S1.

We see characters like Emma interacting with Polarity/Mr. Anderson, their banter and comedic timing was impeccable and something I could’ve never expected after Season 1. Another unlikely friendship that I really enjoyed being introduced to was Sam and Jordan. Seeing them bond over their collective grief and the weight of being themselves was really touching and also, their chemistry was actually really strong. Definitely not something that I would’ve expected at the end of Season 1. And I think all of this is exactly why this show works: the writing and story feels very fitting and makes sense within this universe, but they still find unique and compelling ways to surprise viewers. 

The death of Andre’s character is something that is felt very strongly within this premiere. I think that they handled the unfortunate, unexpected, and devastating death of their cast member really well. Even though he is not physically in the show, it feels like he is still woven into every storyline and every character’s individual story. I also believe that this is handled with grace and compassion from both the cast and crew. One of the best scenes regarding this, I think, was the scene when Marie finds out and Jordan is upset because she abandoned them when she was able to escape. You could see the absolute shock and immediate pain that brought Marie. And Jordan’s response of it being Marie’s fault, albeit, said out of anger and hurt, broke me even more and made me tear up. I’m curious to see what this all leads to and what everyone in our core group of characters is going to discover in trying to find out more about Dean Cipher and his connection to all of this and Marie’s connection to Odessa. 

Speaking of Marie and the Odessa plotline, I think that this is one of the more prominent and intriguing storylines that we’ve been presented with. We see Marie attempt to connect with her Aunt Pam, who we know that she has had no contact with in years due to what happened with her parents and how it traumatized her sister. Marie reaches out to her to get some more information and see if she knows where her sister, Annabeth is. In this, they do end up having a short scene where they are looking through old family pictures and Pam reveals that Vaught is actually who helped her parents to conceive her. Which was just as much of a shock to me as it was to Marie. Which ties into the idea of “Odessa,” a seemingly unknown and new challenge for Marie to face when she speaks to Starlight while she is in hiding towards the beginning of the first episode. Marie starts to connect all of these pieces together and she believes that she is Odessa…but why would Starlight warn her of Odessa if the project is about her? I can’t wait to see what all of this is leading to, I can’t already tell that the gears are turning in Marie’s mind and making her ponder who she can be and what she will become.

Also, on the Marie front, another strong point for me, is the relationship between her and every single person on canvas, but especially her romantic connection with Jordan. We see a new side of Jordan once they cool down after the initial hurt and anger of Marie “abandoning” them. All of this has made them realize that they do care about Marie and they want to make the most of the time they have together. The chemistry between both Derek Luh and London Thor with Jaz Sinclair is absolutely phenomenal work. Even with all the drama they have going on, you can tell that regardless of that, they want to be there for each other and the foundation that was built throughout Season 1 is progressing into some new territory for both Jordan and Marie. 

My final highlight is Emma’s development, Cate, her impact on Sam in the time between S1 & S2. The Emma that we are presented with at the beginning of Season 2 is someone that I had been begging to see on my screen throughout S1. During their initial season, I felt like everyone had equal screentime for the most part and all of the core cast had their own stories going on as well as the overall arc of Season 1. With Emma though, I did feel as if she didn’t have a huge personal story going on at the time; but, in this season, we are starting to see someone who is coming into their own. This is all thanks to Lizzie Broadway’s impeccable timing & solid chemistry that she has formed with the entire cast. One aspect of this that I really enjoyed was Emma starting to stand up for herself more and be more direct with Sam, Harper, Mr. Anderson, and even Marie and Jordan. She’s really found her own groove and she is not afraid to stand in that and be proud of who she is and help where she can.

Cate, on the other hand, is still the same person we met in S1 in many ways, but we can tell that she is trying to follow the orders of the powers that be at God U so that she can be safe and supposedly keep her friends safe as well. She desperately needed a wake-up call in my opinion, as I feel like she had started to use her powers in a way to control everything even more and not thinking of the consequences of her actions (e.g. wiping Sam’s memories of all of the terrible things in his life and attempting to wipe Marie’s memory to cover Cipher’s tracks. This comes in the form of Jordan blasting Cate away from Marie during this attempt, leaving her with a brain injury that has affected her powers. God U and the media intend to use this as a way to point the blame on an innocent person so that they can justify the awful things they’ve done to them. But in reality, Marie, Jordan, and Emma end up leaving Cate there to die. As much as Cate gets under my skin, I do enjoy her character and I’m interested to see where they’re going to take her this season. Will she stay powerless? Or will they find a way to restore her powers and get her on the path of a full recovery? And will it be before Sam actually goes insane? We see him struggling a lot in these episodes and we discover that every time he’s started to spiral, Cate would wipe his mind so that he could continue to move on and function in his day-to-day life. But with that gone, we’ve started to see the surface level of Sam’s mental state and I’m actually scared to see what could happen if he isn’t able to control these emotions anymore. 

Overall, I think this was a very solid premiere with a lot of promise of what is to come throughout the remainder of this season. The character growth and development that we have seen even with just these 3 episodes, gives me high hopes to see where these character’s stories will go. I would give the premiere set of episodes a 5/5 rating. 

What did you think?

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