Gen V season 2 review

Cast: Jaz Sinclair, Lizze Broadway, Maddie Phillips, London Thor, Derek Luh, Asa Germann, Sean Patrick Thomas, Hamish Linklater, and Ethan Slater

Creators: Craig Rosenberg, Evan Goldberg, Eric Kripke

Rating: ★★★★

The first season of Gen V had the impossible task of living up to The Boys, the most unique show on television currently. Despite being set in a college campus and with the stakes slightly lower, Gen V managed to capture The Boysverse’s macabre, irreverent tone and made it fun in its own way. Then, Chance Perdomo’s death threw a spanner in the works for season 2. Yet, in its sophomore year, the show sails through once again. It gives the viewers a narrative worthy of applause, which is fun, shocking, yet deep and relevant.

The premise

Gen V season 2 opens with our protagonists – Emma (Lizzie Broadway), Jordan (London Thor and Derek Luh), and Sam (Asa German) being brought back from Elmira prison to Godolkin University. They are being pardoned and re-admitted after the interference of their foe-turned-benefactor Cate (Maddie Philips). The show reveals that Marie (Jaz Sinclair) was able to escape prison between the two seasons. But tragically, Andre (Chance Perdomo) died while trying to follow her. The second season sees our heroes grapple with Andre’s loss and deal with the new dean, Cipher (Hamish Linklater), who has sinister agendas of his own.

How Gen V S2 knocks it out of the park

The first brownie points Gen V S2 gets is for its handling of Chance Perdomo’s death. To lose your lead actor can destabilise any show. But Gen V takes that loss and includes it in the story, turning it into his character’s death, engaging both the viewer and the other characters in the tragedy. The beauty and class lie in the way in which the show does it without appearing to be exploitative or opportunistic. Andre/Chance’s absence looms large on the show, and Gen V is brave enough to not just talk about it, but dwell on it.

Season 2 gets more serious as the stakes are raised. The heroes are dealing with identity crises as they handle the new dean and their place in this new world order created by Homelander. The US of the show is now a quasi-fascist state where the supes are out to ‘claim their rightful place’ against humans. The divides are deep and the lines are sharp. That this season drops right in the middle of the real-life America at its most divisive only highlights the irony. But Gen V S2 never feels like a spoof of real life. It is almost a commentary on it, with references to Elon Musk thrown in for good measure. It is a show aware of its place in the larger scheme of things, both in-universe and within the cultural zeitgeist of the current times, and it does not disappoint by filling that place just nicely.

But what good would a show in this universe be if it did not contain at least half a dozen scenes of graphic gore, sex, and violence that make you question why you have eyes in the first place. Despite how high the bar has been raised by each subsequent season of The Boys, Gen V S2 still manages to surprise and shock you. The violence is still tasteful, if that is possible, and even the promised ‘butt stuff’ is quite out there.

Where Gen V truly succeeds is in its new villain. Cipher, played delightfully by Hamish Linklater, is unpredictable, devious, and mysterious. He is the archetypal evil teacher that students love to loathe, always one step ahead and never in the dark. His presence makes the show different from The Boys, where Homelander’s arrogance or Victoria Neuman’s ignorance made them (slightly) more fallible. Cipher is as strong a threat as anyone in The Boys universe has ever faced.

Gen V S2 raises the stakes in political commentary without sermonising. It cleverly draws parallels with the real-world crazy out there with not-so-subtle sloganeering, on-the-nose news tickers, and a UFC-esque fight that is a middle finger to American consumerism. But it never lets any of that get in the way of telling a good story, which remains the bedrock of this truly enjoyable show.

Gen V season 2 is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.