If they wanted to make a spin-off out of anything, Prime Video would if it means big bucks. But thankfully most of what they’re doing so far does complement their other shows to be bigger and better universes and lore-building. 

Case in point: Gen V. A spin-off of superhero satire drama series The Boys (that clearly overshadows its comic book source material), Gen V is about a bunch of super-powered students who end up discovering a super-hero-manufacturing conspiracy while trying to stay on the good side at campus and the obligatory teenage angst. With just more gross-out scenes, gore, and M-18 goodness. 

Season 2 of Gen V is more of that, which is clearly a good thing and has a focused end goal: lead up to the eventual final season of The Boys while telling a cohesive and gripping super-teen drama-slash-comedy. One that revels in its crass nature. 

New Year, Same U

After the chaos and school riot bits in Season 1, Season 2 picks up a few months later. Cate (Maddie Philips) and Sam (Asa Germann) are now leads in Godolkin University since they’re heralded as the saviours of the previous season’s riots. Meanwhile, Emma (Lizze Broadway) and Jordan (London Thor/Derek Luh) get carted back into the university from the lab they were imprisoned in. As for our main heroine Marie (Jaz Sinclair)? Well, she managed to break out and is given the choice to head back to the university to help out an unlikely ally.

In the school itself, we have a new head of the school, Dean Cipher (Hamish Linklater), who may seem affable and charming but has his own agenda with Marie and her group of Supes. It’s a game of getting through the university, playing cat-and-mouse with people behind the inception of Godolkin U. and the Elmira lab they were stuck in, and determining who is friend or foe, or at least people who aren’t out to get them.

We saw the first few episodes, and so far it doesn’t let up and continues to be a thrill ride of conspiracies, gross-out humour and gore, and short-but-brutal action sequences you expect from a superhero-themed TV show. New addition Hamish Linklater is both charming and chilling as Dean Cipher, as you can’t tell what his next move will be but you just want to see how it pans out just because he pulls off his ambiguously evil role perfectly. That one scene in the trailer where he shows Cate who is boss while being affable? That’s just the tip of the iceberg as to how awesomely well-played Dean Cipher is.

The rest of the cast is great and all, from Marie’s shaky-yet-determined resolve to set things right to Cate’s half-good-half-evil manipulative conduct in being school queen bee and top dog. However, props goes to Lizze Broadway’s Emma for taking front and center with her story arcs. Sean Patrick Thomas’ Polarity also gets in a good few scenes as he slowly integrates himself into the Marie-and-co. cast.

The show also eloquently tackles the elephant in the room: the death of cast member Chance Perdomo who plays one of the main cast members Andre Anderson (Polarity’s son). The show’s rewriting of the character was what you would expect (hint: father’s vengeance carrying the story), but it feels tastefully done and doesn’t go the route of recasting. I personally wouldn’t know how else to rewrite this turn of events apart from what’s on Season 2, so it’s worth stressing that it’s handled fine.

More Than A Passing Grade

But take note: Gen V Season 2 is not a beginner-friendly series. Watching all of The Boys is essential in getting into and understanding the cameos & surprises along the way. On the flip side, Gen V’s second season continues to being one of the better spin-offs that is integral to the TV series’ lore and canon, one that is told with flash and substance (and gore). Gen V still shocks like its brother series though in a different perspective -one with the superheroes-in-training- and still entertains in its second bout leading up to a satisfying conclusion. And you’ll dig the cameos and special appearances from the Boys’ Supes and supporting cast, as they go beyond easter eggs and carry the plot along. 

Still as outrageous and violent as ever, the second season of Gen V carries on in the most logical way possible while also retaining its high school drama bits and The Boys style of humour and cynicism. You still need to be in touch with all four seasons of The Boys for any of Gen V’s plot and tidbits to resonate, but it’s a worthy supplement to an otherwise-packed adaptation that rarely succeeds its source material.

Final Score (For Now): 70/100

Prime Video premiered the first few episodes of Gen V Season 2 to the media a few weeks ago. Score may change once we finished watching all eight episodes, so stay tuned.