Sept. 17 has brought with it another season of Amazon’s spin-off series Gen V, which I would describe as My Hero Academia meets Euphoria, with a touch of Blue Mountain State.
Season 1 served as our chaotic introduction to the series’ main character, Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair). She enrolled in Godolkin University, a school built for superpowered youth, only for things to go south after the death of the star student, Golden Boy (Patrick Schwarzenegger). This disaster led to the discovery of a conspiracy involving human experimentation, agency corruption, and loads of unmitigated messes.
While Season 1 built up the tension, Season 2 feels rushed from the beginning. This season reveals that Marie escaped the superpower prison, leaving the rest of the kids behind. Episode 1 quickly moves past this as Cipher (Hamish Linklater), the new Dean of Students at Godolkin University, releases the kids from prison with ulterior motives while Marie is on the run.
Marie ends up back at the university through Starlight’s request for intel on Thomas Godolkin (Ethan Slater), the founder of the university. He is the central MacGuffin for this season — a driving force that gets the plot moving quickly, perhaps too quickly, given the stakes established in the finale of the previous season.
Most of the main cast returns except for the late Andre Anderson (Chance Perdomo). Anderson’s death becomes a driving force for the plot, especially for his vengeful father, Polarity (Sean Patric Thomas).
As of the time of this writing, we don’t know the goals of the enigmatic Cipher, but he is the main villain for this season. He introduces a daring new subplot with Cate Dunlap (Maddie Phillips), which is focused on his manipulation of her and others. This is incredibly ironic, considering Cate, herself, has the power to manipulate others with her power to influence people by touch. Cipher has a similar power, but unlike Cate, he is not restricted by touch.
A genuine shame is that Sam Riordan (Asa Germann) is barely in this season as a character — so much so that one could almost forget his existence. This is a missed opportunity, especially since he is the most interesting character with a tortured soul and mental health problems, and many could relate to his struggles.
This season sees more cameos from characters like The Deep and Starlight, who do more than just exist to show that this new story exists within the same universe. Yet, the show is still vastly different from The Boys because it feels less like an edgy superhero satire and more like an X-Men story.
For example, Cate’s incarceration exemplifies a typical trope in X-Men stories: dealing with the adversity that humanity creates for itself. To support this thematic shift, Cipher also teaches a “hero optimization” class that similarly explores how society tries to control and weaponize differences.
Beyond the ethics of superpowered children, Gen V has a deeper meaning. The series is ultimately about the struggles of being different and dealing with them at a young age. This is explored through themes like self-harm with Marie’s blood power, eating disorders presented from Lizzie’s Antman-like powers, and gender identity through Jordan Li (London Thor playing female Jordan and Derek Luh playing male Jordan), though I personally have some mixed feelings about how these integrated into the whole story. These themes are less focused this season, as it goes down a more thriller-conspiracy route.
The latest season tackles complex issues, and while the plot feels rushed, the thematic work and the new character dynamics have immense potential. Let’s see if this season ends better than it started. While I do like it, I would give Season 2 of Gen V 3 out of 5 crabs.
