Gen V is Amazon’s best new show since The Boys (and it might be even better)

The Boys spinoff Gen V premieres on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, September 29, 2023. Amazon was nice enough to share the first three episodes with WinterIsComing, and we have some thoughts to share about the series. It’s great, and potentially even better than The Boys. 

I know that’s high praise. The Boys is the best Amazon original series of all time, in my opinion, and there have been some really good Amazon shows released recently, including The Rings of Power, The Wheel of Time, and more. Gen V starts better than them all.

Gen V is set in the same world as The Boys. It focuses on a young group of Supes at the prestigious Godolkin University, where Supes train in a variety of interesting areas of study, including crime-fighting, which is a path that leads directly to Vought and The Seven. If you want to be the next Homelander, this is the study area for you!

Gen V summary

Gen V follows Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair), a freshman at God U with the power to control blood. She settles in, learns what’s at stake, and tries to pursue her dream of helping others. It’s revealed early on that an accident from her past has landed her at Godolkin, and this is her way forward.

There’s something so refreshing about Gen V. We’ve all seen these coming-of-age college stories in TV and film, and Gen V is here to play in that genre. I love it! I’m a sucker for these kinds of stories, and I can’t wait to see more of how creators Craig Rosenberg, Evan Goldberg, Eric Kripke, and the rest of the creative team are going to put their spin on common tropes from college-based shows and movies.

To steal from the official Gen V Twitter account, this summed up my thoughts and feelings about Gen V almost perfectly:

Gen V review

One of my favorite parts of Gen V is how it feels personal in ways that The Boys can’t. Yes, we learn a lot about Hughie (Jack Quaid), Annie (Erin Moriarty), and Butcher (Karl Urban) in The Boys, but that show is so big. The ideas they’re playing with are on the macro level, while Gen V explores the important questions of young adulthood on a more granular level. The Boys explores the question of what would happen if superheroes were real and had near-unchecked power in modern society. Gen V breaks that idea down to, what if Supes were normal college students? It’s awful in many ways for these characters, but incredible for viewers.

In scope, The Boys is so much bigger than Gen V. There are so many characters, storylines, and arcs to keep track of, and I think that can be overwhelming for some viewers. So far, Gen V is much more focused. Whatever is going to happen will be lower stakes than what the Boys are up against, but there’s room for smaller, tighter stories. To me, that’s what Gen V is right now. Will it get even bigger? Probably, but I hope it stays grounded.

We can imagine the other Supes from The Boys in a similar position as Marie at Godolkin. It’s clear this is a competitive environment. Without going into spoilers, Godolkin University definitely feels like it’s a university designed by Vought International. I’m hoping the show explores more of those parallels in future episodes.

In the first episode, titled “God U,” Marie meets her roommate Emma (Lizze Broadway), and is invited on a night out by another student, Andre (Chance Perdomo). Marie gets a chance to experience what it’s like to be God U royalty with Luke aka Golden Boy (Patrick Schwarzenegger), Cate (Maddie Phillips), and Jordan (Derek Luh and London Thor)…or so it seems, but this is a show set in the world of The Boys. You know things are going to take a turn eventually, and they do.

“God U” does an incredible job setting up this story, teasing enough mystery to keep viewers interested and dabbling in some of satire that makes The Boys so popular. Gen V, which is set after the events of The Boys season 3, sucks viewers into this world and catches them up on what’s going on quickly. You don’t have to watch The Boys to enjoy Gen V, but you will benefit.

Verdict

Overall, Gen V is 10/10 awesome for me. I can’t wait to see what’s next for Marie and the rest of the students of Godolkin throughout the season. It’s early, but Gen V is right there with The Boys in terms of quality. We’ll have to see the full first season to judge completely, but there’s no doubt Gen V is going to be another massive hit.

The first three episodes of Gen V hit Prime Video on Friday, Sept. 29. After that, Amazon will release one episode per week through the season 1 finale on November 3. If you’re a fan of The Boys, Gen V is an absolute must-watch.

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