Gen V Season 2

Last night, the season finale of Gen V, Season 2, was released on Amazon Prime Video. Gen V season 2 is a spinoff of The Boys, continuing the story of Marie Moreau and her friends after their imprisonment in Elmira. I really enjoyed where both Season 4 of The Boys and Season 1 of Gen V ended, so I was very interested to see where this season tied into all of that.

Unfortunately, Season 2 of Gen V was a big drop-off from Season 1. There are a few elements that were good. We get to see a nice evolution of Marie's powers and see her grow as a superhero, and get to see Emma grow through her eating disorder. However, beyond that, there were quite a few problems. I think they kind of wrote themselves into a corner with Gen V Season 1's ending, and the beginning of Season 2 just completely undoes it. Marie, Emma, and Jordan get sent to prison at the end of season 1 and are released at the very beginning of season 2 like nothing ever happened. The show also undoes everything that went into Kate and Sam's character arc in season 1 by just randomly making them friends with the other characters again, like nothing ever happened. The two literally help Homelander round up people who oppose him at the end of The Boys, but by the time this show rolls around, it's like it never happened. I also felt like nothing substantial happened in the season. The characters are basically at the same point at the beginning of season 2 as they are at the end of season 2. The show also has a bit of an Andre-shaped hole in it, as the actor who played him passed away right before filming was to start, so they had to quickly rewrite the show with Polarity taking most of Andre's role. They did the best they could considering the circumstances, but you can still kind of feel it in the writing. I'm pretty sure in the original version, Polarity was going to be the one to die instead of Andre, so they just had to flip-flop the roles. The season also doesn't embrace the college aspect like the first season did. It doesn't have the fun supes in college format like the first season, as the second season hardly spends anytime there. It loses the essence of the show.

Overall, Season 2 falters because it neglects real character or story progression. I hope Season 3 returns to what made the show compelling: strong character arcs and the distinct college experience.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+ Recommendation: Skip it