Gen V Season 1 ends not with a superpowered bang, however with a compelled, The Boys-centric whimper.
That whimper comes courtesy of the arrival of Homelander (Anthony Starr) on the Godolkin College campus. He is there to quell the violent homicide spree began by Cate (Maddie Phillips), Sam (Asa Germann), and the freed prisoners of the Woods — no less than, in idea.
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In actuality, Homelander takes out the 4 God U college students attempting to cease Cate and Sam from murdering each non-supe of their path: Marie (Jaz Sinclair), Emma (Lizze Broadway), Jordan (London Thor and Derek Luh), and Andre (Probability Perdomo). The shocking switch-up happens when Homelander sees that Marie has blown up Cate’s arm. He compares her to an animal, asking, “Do you want attacking your type?” With out giving her an opportunity to reply, he lasers her within the chest. A lot for not attacking your individual type!
When Marie wakes up, she finds that she, Emma, Jordan, and Andre are trapped in a mysterious analysis facility. Seems, they have been blamed for the Godolkin bloodbath, and Sam and Cate are being hailed as the brand new Guardians of Godolkin. These developments make for a captivating set-up for Gen V Season 2, however they arrive at a significant price: the present’s individuality. And actually, Homelander’s finale look is responsible.
What’s improper with Homelander popping up in Gen V?
Anthony Starr as Homelander in “The Boys.”
Credit score: Jasper Savage
The issue is straightforward: Homelander is a staple of The Boys, however he’s not a staple of Gen V. Sure, the 2 exhibits happen in the identical world, however up till the finale, Homelander and the remainder of the Seven have principally been stored offscreen, lowered to the occasional reference. This lack of give attention to them — or on any main character from The Boys — helped Gen V cement its id as The Boys’ college-aged sibling with its personal messed-up crew of supes.
All through its first season, Gen V made smart use of its few cameos from The Boys solid, together with Vought staff Ashley (Colby Minifie) and Adam (P.J. Byrne). Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) confirmed up briefly, however solely as a figment of Cate’s creativeness (one who gives up some wild descriptions of masturbation). These cameos served much less as main plot factors than as taste for the world of the present.
That started to alter in Gen V’s penultimate episode, once we study that Dean Shetty (Shelley Conn) hates supes as a result of her household was on the flight Homelander let crash in Season 1 of The Boys. We additionally discover out that Marie and Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) have the identical powers. Instantly, the characters of The Boys and Gen V have been colliding in additional important methods — though the present nonetheless confirmed some restraint, like not flashing again to the airplane scene from The Boys.
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Any restraint flies out the window when Homelander truly exhibits up within the flesh. As a supe, he’s a lot extra highly effective than any of the God U college students. They do not stand an opportunity in opposition to him: It is like anticipating a stick of dynamite to face as much as an atomic bomb. Take Marie — she simply barely survives one encounter with Homelander’s trademark laser eyes.
So by throwing Homelander into the combination in its ultimate stretch, Gen V is mainly robbing its personal fundamental characters of any company. The present sends a near-unstoppable outdoors drive to offer a neat-ish resolution to the bloodbath on God U’s campus, as a substitute of giving Gen V’s precise characters a possibility to unravel the mess on their very own. Certain, having Marie face off in opposition to Homelander demonstrates the facility she and her buddies are up in opposition to. However to finish the season like that makes for unsatisfying storytelling. What is the level in getting invested in Gen V’s bloody battles when Homelander can simply swoop in and resolve them at any minute?
Gen V’s Homelander downside remembers different spinoff points.
Probability Perdomo, Jaz Sinclair, and Derek Luh in “Gen V.”
Credit score: Brooke Palmer/Prime Video
Homelander’s look in Gen V is a textbook spinoff downside, the place a by-product depends too closely on its flagship present as a substitute of forging its personal path. Latest examples embody virtually each Disney+ Star Wars present. Take the disappointing Easter egg frenzy that was Ahsoka, or the cameo fest that was The Mandalorian Season 3.
Most egregious of all these Star Wars examples — and most just like the Gen V and The Boys situation — is how the spin-off present The E-book of Boba Fett was used to resolve a significant plot level from The Mandalorian. The previous noticed the reunion of Din Djarin and Grogu with little fanfare or forethought as to how shunting such a key occasion to a completely completely different present would cheapen The Mandalorian itself.
Now, Gen V faces an identical downside — ironic, given its many digs at Disney (together with a pointed WandaVision reference) all through Season 1. Will it attempt to keep its personal particular id, even within the shadow of The Boys? Or will it succumb totally to that shadow and simply turn out to be the Homelander and the Seven present 2.0?
The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke advised Leisure Weekly that Gen V’s Season 1 finale would operate as a “handoff” to Season 4 of The Boys, which might, in flip, tie into Season 2 of Gen V. His feedback recommend that the exhibits will seemingly stay additional intertwined, no less than of their respective finales. Billy Butcher’s (Karl City) temporary look in a mid-credits scene within the Gen V finale additional confirms this.
The obsession with plot interconnectedness is an unlucky route to take — as if the aim of every season of TV is simply to tease one other. Like within the MCU or Star Wars, and now in The Boys universe, no TV present may be allowed to face alone. Every little thing is constructing to some unknown payoff, with loads of fan service alongside the best way — however far much less confidence in a present to talk for itself.
Gen V Season 1 is now streaming on Prime Video.
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