Gen V: Trojan

 "Thanks for the level up, asshole."

Wow. That's how you do a finale. Just ramping up the tension, with Godolkin's murderously Darwinian student auditions also functioning as a way for him to level up his powers so he can finally control Marie, leading to a truly thrilling climax with Marie and her friends vs. Godolkin, showing the power of the collective over the individual... although the way everyone sneaked into there was, yeah...

There's a lot of good character stuff too, though. Emma and Marie bonding over how damaged they both are from past trauma. Marie apologising and healing Cate, showing absolute trust. Jordan forgiving Marie, and dumping her, in one breath. Doug (whose experience with "Cipher" has been truly existential horror) bonding with Polarity over admiration for his late son. Godolkin's joy at being able to eat, drink, have sex and just feel again. Sage's vulnerability when asking him to live with her. Polarity's extraordinary growth as a character.

Godolkin is, of course, a monster. Yet, fascinatingly, his ultimate target is indeed Homelander, whose far right, MAGA-tinged, mentally unstable nonsense he sees as "mediocre"- a reminder that, by and large, those with far right views are not exactly ubermensch.

And the ending, with Starlight, A-Train and the gang joining the resistance just in time for the concluding season of The Boys? Uplifting and magnificent. Here's hoping they all appear, and we haven't seen the last of them.

And yes, The Boys will be replacing Gen V for the blog in this "slot". 

 

Gen V: Hell Week

 "It may be time for a very big sacrifice...."

Before I turn to any of the many bombshells in this extraordinarily gripping and eventful penultimate episode, let us briefly turn to that scene, and yes, you know which one I mean. America, just bleeding well lower your drinking age, instal bars in all your university campuses so people can drink without joining weird cults... and then just ban this freaky "Greek life" nonsense, m'kay?

Brilliant effect, mind. Poor Hemple, though. His last few hours on Earth are like that.

Anyway, this episode does a superb job of getting everyone in place for the big finale, and building up the excitement. Some nice character moments, though- after not impressing me last episode, Annabeth impressed me here with her concern for her sister, which is good writing- the reconciliation between her and Marie has to feel earned. And having seen her parents' death in advance? Ouch!

Marie means well, to be the big hero- however counter-productively, as we'll see- but her morals are very "ends justify the means" here. Understandably she's reluctant to heal Cate, given what her power is, but is, in her desperation, willing to do so if Cate will tell the others to keep away. In refusing, because of her promise never to control her friends, Cate arguably shows more moral integrity in that moment.

Then there's her curing of a newly assertive Polarity- who comes across here as newly confident, wise and self-aware. His understanding and forgiveness of Cate over Andre's death is a powerful moment. 

But (SPOILERS!) that ending packs a punch. There never was a Cipher, just Godolkin using a poor randomer's body while keeping his own elderly body in his basement. The perfect twist to a perfect episode... 

 

Gen V: Cooking Lessons

 "They tell me Mark Zuckerberg has a lesser version..."

Wow. Where to start with this rather eventful bit of telly? Probably by admitting that Cipher was never, in fact, secretly a well-meaning rival to Homelander with ends-justify-the-means methods but sound aims. Far from it. As Stan Edgar puts it, he's a supe supremacist- "Vought uber alles", indeed. And this plan of his, related to Polarity, to cull the God U student population by 75% as some crazed Darwinian exercise? Yeah...

As the gang struggle with being on the run, we have so much character stuff. There's Emma and Sam sort of starting to reconnect, now that Sam has started to heal, take his meds properly and get sorted out. But, as the episode reminds us, there's a potential triangle with Greg. But the big focus is on Marie adjusting to the enormity of what she's capable of- literally resurrecting her sister! Annabeth is not easy to like here, with her attitude to Marie who, after all, cannot fairly be blamed for their parents' death, an event over which she had no meaningful level of control. I'll be honest: we know and like Marie, and Annabeth doesn't come across as at all likeable here. But her reactions are nonetheless realistic, and there are possible tentative signs towards reconciliation.

And then, catastrophe: Cipher discovers their locations through, among other things, controlling and thus violating Polarity... cue Vikor's arrival and seemingly no hope. So it's something of a surprise when the late Victoria Neuman's daughter turns up to behead him with splendid gruesomeness. Cue Stan Edgar, the mother of all nuclear war bunkers, a scene with Stan cooking that (deliberately?) echoes another of Giancarlo Esposito's roles from Better Call Saul, and the best type of exposition: the long-awaited kind.

So the Odessa program wasn't started by Cipher but by Thomas Godolphin, way back when- Cipher only brought it back again after it had been seen to fail, with so many deaths. It was intended to create truly godlike supes, and only two subjects survived, namely Homelander... and Marie. This is, to put it mildly, quite the bombshell. I like Marie's horror at the comparison here. But, as Edgar rightly states, Homelander is a "gaping abyss of deep need and sociopathy", whereas Marie is a decent human being. 

One wonders what the full extent of Edgar's intentions are here. He means to take back control of Vought, to get rid of Homelander... what else? But there's one further spanner in the works: that old man that Cipher has, could it be Godolkin?

We end with Polarity, from a hopeless position, seemingly succeeding in killing Cipher. And in Marie walking away. Wow. The tail end of this season is one thing after another, and I'm loving it. 

Gen V: The Kids Are Not All Right

 "I saw my first vagina here."

"Ok. Thanks for that."

"You're welcome."

Wow. This episode took several unexpected turns. Yet it has us asking so many questions about Cipher. What does he want? Why does Marie's potential mean so much to him? Is Jordan right that he's in so much pain? What's going on with his dad, and all the hardcore carer stuff he does? He's sleeping with Sage, but what are he and his genius lover planning? He certainly doesn't seem to have Homelander's welfare in mind.

It's likely he manipulates everything for Marie, Jordan and Emma, sending Cate to Elmira as scapegoat as a blatant trap for the three of them, who are obviously going to spring them. It feels inevitable that they're all going to end up in that hellhole, and so it comes to pass. But there are so many nuances here. There's the shock of how Cate is treated when she arrived, her wig and fake forearm being removed. There's her genuine surprise and appreciation at what the others did for.

But... what Cipher pulls with Annabeth to manipulate Marie? Wow. And did Marie resurrect her? 

The scenes with Sam and his parents are nicely done too. At first it seems as though he's going to inevitably end up lashing out and killing them- but that gets subverted, and instead he learns a truth about who he is: his instability isn't Compound V, it's just genes.

This episode is... mad. This season feels as though anything can happen. The fact that we're kept guessing about Cipher just makes everything feel charged and exciting. And Hamish Linklater is literally acting his face off. 

Gen V: Bags

 "What if I kill him?"

"That's why we name them for assholes." 

A goat called Elon. Presented as an expendable bag of blood that blows up gloriously. I'm sure there's a subtext here, but it's beyond me. Still, this levitation scene sure beats the one in The Empire Strikes Back.

Anyway, I'm back blogging this after such a long time with my condition getting worse, the resulting surgery, and my ongoing recovery from that, meaning it's been less easy to focus on television episodes. But I'm back now, cheerfully admitting how I'm so very far behind. And it's good to be back with Gen V. Naturally, Jordan's confession is disbelieved with all sorts of on point but extremely nasty resulting transphobia which, sadly, reflects the MAGA-polluted world in which we live. 

There are some nice character touches, though. Cate (whose powers are still on the blink in, er, gnome-related ways, starting to reconcile with Marie, Jordan and Emma. There's Ally and Harper looking up to Emma, perhaps helping with the low self-esteem aspect of her powers... and Greg, a possible new love interest.

But, well... my probably wrong hot take? I wonder if Cipher is just an overly sinister red herring? He's very mysterious, manipulating Marie since she was born, the whole purpose of Odessa, training her to be the most powerful supe ever... as a possible not-evil rival to Homelander? Even the fight between her and Jordan (their chemistry remains sweet) ends positively. He's very mysterious- a dad on life support in a locked room, no V in his blood but powers to use people as puppets. But is he actually well-meaning?

I know. I'm naive. But this is another great episode, and not only because of the pooing scene... 

Gen V: H Is for Human

 "Well, you kind of get used to the public nudity stuff..."

I only know of Olivia Rodrigo from Little Miss Llamastrangler, but damn, this middle aged rocker has to admit that the song they play at the start is daaaaamn good, a bit heavy with good vocals and some good, old-fashioned teenage angst.

The worldbuilding continues to be great here, in all sorts of subtle ways. The insidious "Avenue V" kids programme, indeed best enjoyed via the medium of weed. The poor young human lady working at the coffee bar, subjected to constant abuse and trauma because of the flyers put there by unthinking Starlighters who, ironically, haven't stopped to check their supe privilege. And, of course, the decision to hush up the real perpetrators of the attack on Cate.

But the character stuff continues to be great, too. Cate's realisation that, if her powers don't come back, she's finished. Sam having to actually have his terrible deeds on his conscience now that Cate can no longer just take the bad memories away.

Then we have Marie realising from an "Aunt" (I recognise the actress from Dexter!) that she was conceived in a Vought fertility clinic... and delivered by none other than Cipher. But also, quite rightly, calling out her aunt that she didn't "massacre" her parents, just had her first period, with no agency or control over what would happen, and that she's blameless. A subtle dig there at the Neanderthals who see periods as "unclean"?

So much going on. But the ending, with Jordan telling Marie that they love her back, and then... that ending. Wow... this is how you keep an arc going. Excellent stuff.

Gen V: New Year, New U

 "Nothing good will come of this..."

Gen V is back, and this time it's a very different status quo following the last season of The Boys. Victoria Neumann is dead and the new, intriguing, sinister dean, "Cypher" seems very much to be a staunchly anti-human "supe supremacist" who hates humans. Lovely. He seems very likely to be this season's Big Bad.

But we begin with a flashback to 1967, the origins of Compound V, and the kind of gore we've come to expect from the, er, Boysverse, if "Boysverse" is a thing...?

The new status quo has Emma and Jordan released, exonerated and back in uni. Marie is on the run. Everybody hates Cate. Andre is still dead. So, you know, all is sweetness and light...

It's all very well done, though, reminding us immediately of the characters and what's going on after all the time that's passed. And lots of hints of the MAGA-tinged dystopia we're in, with Cypher talking of the "deep state" and "race traitors". Plus, of course, the targeting, and paedophile accusations, against Starlight's supporters, which is a key plot point, causing Marie to be found first by Starlight (at first, she's refusing to investigate all these new experiments at uni, but we all know that won't last) and then by Jordan and Emma... and with dramatic results for a desperate, distraught Cate who is, in the end, still loyal to Vought... hence the dramatic ending.

So far, I have very high hopes for this season.

Gen V: Guardians of Godolkin

 "That was Andy. He was hilarious. And then really sad. He was bipolar."

Wow. That's quite a twist at the end.

And it's quite an episode. Yes, the Shetty/plague stuff was wrapped up last episode, but the season is by no means over as the episode begins. The Big Bad is not Shetty after all... it's Cate, with Same on her side and the others desapewrately trying to deal with a nightmarish race war. All looks hopeless.

Yet there's so much character stuff here. Marie grows to understand all the many more things her powers can do, and decides she doewsn't want so much to be a hero, or have her sisyter's forgiveness, but just to be a good person.... which she is. If she can't have those other things, she can at least deserve them. And yes, Cate deserves what she gets.

Sam is a **** for breaking poor Emma's heart, the girl who risked so much for him. Andre is in a horrible situation, under pressure to take over from his dad, who is suffering brain injuries as a result of just using his powers. 

But the ending is extraordinary. Homelander arrives not to save the day but to rearrange things for Vought's advantage. Marie, Jordan, Emma and Andre are the scapegoats... and genocidal maniacs Cate and Sam are the heroes. WHAT? Billy Butcher has the last word, and it's hard to disagree. But this is brilliant satirical telly. Superb episode, superb finale, superb season. More please.

Gen V: Sick

 "In my defence, he was a puppet at the time, so..."

Gen V has been a consistently excellent television programme throughout, but this penultimate episode- pretty much a finale in itself- is a particular triumph. The worldbuilding, the characters, the political subtext, the masterful switching of tone between dark humour, tragedy and emotion, is all done to perfection.

In terms of the characters, there are two main threads here. One concerns Cate, filled with guilt and knowing she has so much work to do if she is to earn back her friends' trust. Even we doubt her motives as she appears to succumb to Shetty's gaslighting, even realising that Shetty genuinely loves her as an adopted daughter. It's a particularly clever piece of misdirection as Cate eventually forces Shetty to reveal the truth- about the genocide virus, about wanting revenge for Homelander's killing of her family on that plane, about the entire uni just being a front for the Woods.And kills her, in a way that is particularly upsetting for Marie.

As for Marie, the episode gives us another bombshell: Marie's benefactor is none other than Victoria Neuman, whose powers are the same as Marie's and how she makes people'sheads explode. Neuman deals with the whole virus thing, making Dr Cardoza's head explode into the bargain... but what's going on with her? What does she actually want? The plot thickens.

Most powerful of all, though, is the reaction of the protesting students towards Neuman, clearly evoking slogans of the real world MAGA extreme right. And Sam, is seems, is in the process of being radicalised into supe supremacism. This is truly heady stuff. Supe genocide vs. supe supremacism, Nazis vs. Nazis...

Gen V: Jumanji

 "I fart the star spangled banner!"

I haven't seen the titular film, so no doubt there are all sorts of pop culture references I'm not getting here. Nevertheless... 

The B plot here is so, so sweet. Sex is often played for gross in Gen V and The Boys, but this episode has one of the loveliest sex scenes I've ever seen, as Emma and Sam make love. It's his first time, but Emma is so very understanding and makes it clear that there's no pressure. Bless her.

The rest of the episode, though.... oooh, it's dark. Also structurally clever, of course. How can we get the rest of the gang to give Cate the time of day ever again? By getting trapped in her traumatised psyche and get to understand, if not condone, what she did. Cate has a lot of work to do to even begin to earn back their trust... but it's a start.

We know what Cate did to her brother, but not how her mother proceeded to hide her away, unloved, for nine years, easy prey for Shetty and her bottle of pills. And there are parallels with Jordan who, we now see, made some dodgy decisions in going along with brink, and with Andre, who started sleeping with Cate while Luke was still alive. And then there's the parallels with Marie: her sister's rewaction is utterly heartbreaking.

But Shetty, the doctor, and that supe-killing virus... ouch. We've had two intense and character-based episodes, two superb bits of telly, but I get the feeling a lot is going to happen in these last two episodes.

Gen V: Welcome to the Monster Club

 "You're a ***ing monster."

Again, wow. Gen V continues to be simply extraordinary, but this week in an entirely different way to usual, with very little humour this time round. Instead we get character, real feeling, and a big, incredible reveal that makes us totally rethink much of what we've seen in the first half of the season. SPOILERS, obviously.

Therre's a lot of cuteness about Marie and Jordan, who still like each other after the night before. I continue to love the strong friendship that's developing between Marie and Emma, even as both of them develop further. Emma's mother forbade her from getting big, yet that's what's starting to make her popular. And Shetty, and Cardosa, seem to have plans for Marie, who has a "benefactor". Hmm. And Cardosa is close to creating a "virus" that will "control them for good". Sounds, well dystopian.

But yeah, the amnesia. Yes, it's a trope and we've seen it many times before in serialised telly. But the narrative is clever here, as characters forget, work things out from clues and forget again: narrative as unreliable narrator. It is, of course, a twist that allows the characters to avoid obvious consequences for the events of last week.

But the reveal- it was Cate all along, working for Shetty- comes asa massive, hugely effective and emotional shock. Gen V has deeply impressed me yet again. Sublime.

Gen V: The Whole Truth

 "You have a... a piece of eardrum on your shoulder."

Obviously, this episode is awesome. I mean, it's Gen V. I expect all future blog reviews will probably begin with words to that effect.

This episode is fascinatingly different, though. Despite last episode's... dramatic ending, this episode focuses on a cataluyst thrown into the mix to do things to the characters. A catalyst called Tek Knight, who has Daredevil-like powers to act as a sort of human lie detector, yet he uses said powers just to do a TV show and "investigate" crimes purely to cover up for Vought, "find a patsy and destroy their life". He'sa piece of ****, and spends most of the episode showing this to be true in various ways. His comeuppance, and humiliation, is hilarious.

So much happens, though. Emma and Sam really connect, and are sweetly devoted to each other. Emma is now one of the gang, after spending most of the episode being with Sam in a cute but surely doomed relationship, shows that, like Alice and like Henry Pym, she can grow larger as well as small. I would say wow... but I wasn't expecting Marie to get together with Joranin another cute little relationship between probably the two most decent people in this show.

This show is completely insane. I love it.

Gen V: #ThinkBrink

 "Shall we talk about our intercourse situation?"

The quote isn't even the funniest thing about sex in this episode: that would be Jordan discussing Marie during sex, pausing briefly to climax, and then continuing. It just goes to show how very The Boys this is... like the last scene with Emma shrinking and, you know. Euurgh. Which reminds me of a certain parallel scene from The Boys. Yes, that one.

I'm so impressed by this. The balance between plot, character and world building is perfection. I love how Marie and Emma reconcile, hopefully the start of va beautiful friendship. They are alike in more than having powers that areb metaphors for self harm: both have low self-esteem. Both are made to be useful, Marie forced to parade at the Brink party for the university, having the kind of background that makes rebellion a luxury. Emma, meanwhile, eagerly siezes a chance to be a hero, to be really useful... and is out of her depth. It's sweet that Sam likes her though. Shame about her mum.

It's nice to see Marie open up, and reconcile a bit, with Cate and Jordan: she's not alone in having killed her parents in manifesting her powers: Cate did the same with her little brother. And she has a point. It's not their fault, but the parents who drugged them with Compound V. Jordan's parents, in a nice little metaphor (sometimes an obvious metaphor can work well) for transphobic parenting.

All this is unfolding at a perfect pace. The arcs advance yet the characters breathe. And Andre's dad knows about Sam and the dungeon beneath. Ouch. This is brilliant telly.

Gen V: First Day

 "That is really Freudian..."

Two episodes in and... this is just as good as The Boys. No wonder it seems to be doing very well indeed. It's the same mix of plot, character, satire and outrageous humour. I for one am loving it.

We begin with university leaders, and Ashley from Vought, cynically doing PR after last episode's explosive events. Marie and Andre are to get all the credit; Jordan just won't do in the red states, what with the "pronoun ***ery", as Ashley puts it. So Marie, who was to be expelled, is suddenly catapulted into the top ten, status, stuff, popularity. Will it spoil her?

She's a fascinating character. As Dean Shetty correctly says, she's determined to do good in order to atone for her past, and to win back her sister. She has genuine moral integrity, unlike may characters... yet this is in conflict with the ambition that is every bit as much a product of her past. As she tells Andre- who seems to understand- she's taking the luck that comes her way because, without it, people like her would have very bleak prospects indeed. Not all of us have superhero dads.

And so it's no surprise when, being interviewed on telly, in the end she does as she's told rather than give Jordan credit as she'd meant to. Her background is precisely why Vought can control her, good person though she is.

There's a parallel with Emma who, for the second episode in a row, is exploited and abused. Both of them are being used, and both have powers that are not pleasant to use. The parallel scenes of self-harm are revealing.

There's also some very dark humour with Cate's mind control powers, and she and Andre do some interesting detective work into the Woods. The two of them are fascinating characters too. This is bloody good stuff.

Gen V: God U.

 "It's like a big, fiery cucumber..."

I had no idea what to expect from this university-themed spin-off from The Boys, full of very uoung actors who make me feel old, sort of, as their young people music sounds awfully... conservative? It seems as though this exists to tide us over during the long delay until the next season of the parent show.I have to admit, though, this first episode is bloody good. And absolutely as hilarious and dark in equal measure as is said parent show.

It's a good idea to have Marie as audience identification character, and Jaz Sinclair is superb. Not only is her backstory as tragically dark as hell, but her blood superpowers are the grossest thing ever. Then we have nice seeming Andre, whose powers are unclear; Cate, with her "these aren't the droids you're looking for" powers"; and Emma, who can shrink and is burdened, beneath the surface cheer, with low self esteem that leads her to be used, bless her. Then there's Jordan who, well, it's laudable to have a trans character, and I like the concept that being trans is heroic, nicely done... but is switching gender really a power that can be used to fight crime?

The question is perhaps not all that pivotal; it's made very clear that 90% of alumni are destined for showbiz rather than crimefighting, and even crimefighting classes are half about branding... and all bery much controlled by Vought. But the ending is shocking... Luke, Golden Boy, our pampered little Johnny Storm, ends up killing the superstar prof and then exploding himself. Wow. At least this means poor Marie isn't expelled in order to save the reputations of others further up the pecking order.

Why does Luke do this? What is "The Woods", where kids are seemingly sent? I'm sure we'll find out. I'm very much hooked.