Gen V season 2 had more to offer than what I was expecting

I have never taken too kindly to spinoffs. I think most of the time they are made with the sole purpose of maintaining an audience, especially after the main series has ended. They may expand the world or add lore but often tell stories that are not interesting and that cannot live up to their predecessor. Gen V didn’t feel like that. I think it made a huge difference that Gen V took place alongside The Boys, this allowed them to tell a story that not only fitted well into the world of The Boys, but one that would have consequences in the main series. But that was two years ago. I didn’t even know that the second season was coming out until two weeks before its release. Was there less marketing compared to the first season? Or maybe it didn’t pop up in my feeds because time had passed and people didn’t care that much? I will say that the unfortunate death of Chance Pedromo probably altered their plans for season two and maybe that could’ve negatively impacted the quality, but either way I am here to talk about it as it is.

The second season starts with a bit of a time skip. We see that Emma and Jordan are taken out of Elmira and back to Godolkin university. Marie escape during this time skip and is now on the run. However, she too comes back to Godolkin when she is tipped about a possible secret project that could be the foundation of the university. This reunites her with her friends, but there is friction between them as Jordan felt abandoned by Maire and blames her for Andre’s death, which happened in Elmira. There is more tension as they will have to face Cate, Sam, and the new Dean, Cipher, played by Hamish Linklater.

I didn’t know that Hamish was joining the cast of the second crew, so it was a nice surprise as I really enjoyed his performance in Midnight Mass. Here he also delivers, but in a completely different way. Dean Cipher is such as an asshole, but the type that you enjoy watching as he interacts with other characters. He is so rude and condescending, but he does it with a tone of voice that makes it even worse. Plus, there is some mystery to him as no one knows anything about him, not even his powers. Another surprise was the direction in which they took Cate and Sam in. I thought they were going to be the antagonists, given how season one ended, but they do more interesting stuff with them. However, I felt that they could’ve flushed out their behaviour more but there are a lot of moving pieces in this season so it is understandable I guess. When it comes to the characters, almost every one from the main group gets a mini arc, things they learn throughout the season change them and how the view themselves and the people around them. There no ground-breaking story telling here but what is there is done well when it comes to the characters and their development throughout the season. I do not know why but I was expecting the characters to remain the same as in Season 1 and I didn’t think they would do much with them. I guess I had didn’t have any real expectations from this season so it caught me by surprise in a nice way.

I guess that’s the thing I enjoyed with this season, it just took my by surprise in different ways. Not just with the characters, but the story as well. I can’t give details as pretty much episode to episode new information is revealed to us and major developments happen, these gives the season a good pace. You know how else the show surprised me? After four seasons of The Boys and one season of Gen V, you would think that you’d have gotten used to the gore, the profanity, the political jokes, and the sexual content. But no, some scenes are hilarious in their ridiculousness while others are disgusting in how dirty they are. Same thing can be said when it comes to jokes based on real life people or events, they just keep coming up with new stuff. Starting from season 3 of The Boys, people started criticizing the show for the amount of political jokes and influences in its story telling. I never understood that, at least when it comes to the comedy. I feel like no one is safe and everyone gets to be the butt of the jokes at one point or another. So I wasn’t offended by any of the jokes and statements, they just made me either laugh or nod my head in disbelief thinking “I can’t believe the just made that joke” or “I can’t believe the just made fun of X or Y”.

Something else that I appreciate is how the event in the fourth season of The Boys have consequences that can be seen here. With Homelander basically running the country and the discovery of a sup-killing virus, the sup students in the university are have become aggressive towards normal people, with clear discrimination being shown to what little human employees work in the university. But not all the students support Homelander and his vision, as there are Starlighters among the students that, while remaining hidden, try to resist the ideas of the rest. There are cameos as well, what Spin-off doesn’t these days, but there were more than I thought. Plus they don’t feel like random characters from The Boys popping up in Gen V for no reason and feeling out of place. The universe and the characters feel coherent with the rest of the universe.

The same goes for the story. While initially the plot may seem to be limited the university, later it is revealed that there is more at stake, with Marie being the centre of it all. The progression of the story is well-paced and well done. I was never bored, I never rolled my eye because of anything, I was entertained. There is a plot twist that is revealed towards the end of the season. I’m not sure how I feel about it because while I did not see it coming, apparently a lot of people watching were able to predict it and thus was not a real surprise. It is still a good twist as it explains things in the story that could not be explained before or made no sense. As I said, the story does become more grand and consequential, but that doesn’t mean it felt dependent on the universe of The Boys. The manged to tell a story that is its own thing, with characters that can stand on their own two feet, while being important to the overall story that is going on in the universe.

Gen V season 2 is solid. Good laughs, good action, decent story and characters. There’s not much else to say really. It doesn’t bend the rules or break grounds in a new way, but it was enjoyable to watch and I didn’t feel like I was wasting my time and investment in the characters and their story. Plus, it did make me more excited to see what will happen next and how these characters will be handled in the next season of The Boys.