GenV - a frustrating second season (review)

Extended review to link from this tweet. GenV S1 previously covered much more briefly, here. Maybe I've been unreasonable, levelling so much criticism at a show that's a spin off of another that was always a little throw-away in terms of overall plot and production (more making pithy points, initially). But this showed promise that it squandered...

+ Tragedy: the actor playing Andre died in a motorbike crash, paid tribute throughout the season, following rushed rewrites. But, as far as I can see (having done little digging) the father character may have been given a bigger role to cover the same abilities. And I didn't feel like this could totally excuse the mess of continuity and pacing. Perhaps production timelines and financial pressure preventing sufficient delays to recalibrate..?

+ Plot hole [major spoilers]: Mid episode 4, Marie clocks Dean Cipher as *definitely* non-supe (just human) and tells the others. This key fact is inexplicably not mentioned in later episodes; the cast totally buys the bizarre explanation Stan pulls out of his arse about Godolkin being Cipher's 'trophy'. Mentioning, but ignoring, the fact he'd be too old at >100, especially for a burnt husk of a human. (Whether Stan deliberately deceived them is beside the point, but I didn't see reason he would help Godolkin, even if he could should have known, as former Vought intel.)

All a bit awkward and lost...

+ Unbelievably dumb!: So, Marie rushing to heal Godolkin (end of Ep7) without hesitation is ridiculous. For what? So he can quickly divulge Cipher's weak spot..? How about punching him in the head real hard?! If Polarity (now at full strength) can block his mind control, then he's a squishy target, as far as they know. Why over-complicate things?

Even when the ensemble cast stupidly pile in, giving Cipher bodies they *know* he can control (eg Jordan), the obvious move was to just rush Cipher (well, his main puppet, Doug) all at once. Instead they stand about like NPCs so we can watch him play whack-a-mole.

+ Superfluous: I think much of the rushed plot is moving pieces around the board (too fast) to reach necessary end-points for the overall franchise arc. (Extending to 10 episodes might have cut it.) But there's also stuff like the pointless infiltration action scene: Cricket smuggles in a spy-cam, with the sole justification of making Cate feel safer. But, of course, ends in the same room as (and talking to) Cate, who is no less exposed upon finding the camera just sat in the middle of a table.

+ Unsympathetic: Marie (surname reference to H.G. Wells's classic sci-fi novel, The Island of Doctor Moreau) keeps doing the cliché lone wolf thing. They fail to explicitly rationalise this via her self-sufficiency of difficult teen years. She repeatedly leaves Jordan, killing the one good romance. Marie then holding them all in a force-grip was an unnecessary dick-move. No way could she have kept them in place while healing Cate to then 'push' them. Clumsey/unclear thinking, maybe clouded by fear for her sister. But no mention of the direct problem with them all tagging along, of supplying puppet bodies.

+ Bad action: there's a lot of supes being inexplicably robust, shrugging off concrete pillar breaking slams. Also just using hand-to-hand instead of powers, eg Marie laying into Godolkin's puppets. No nicely choreographed or high concept fight scenes. Very scrappy. The Boys budget streaming show vs Hollywood, I guess.

It didn't need to be this hard...

+ Cameos: it seems all the main cast supes must have had it in their contracts to make a showing, here. Starlight had the most casually unbelievable acting. Fan-fic feel. While I was actually happy to see Sister Sage, having suspected she might be supplying Cipher with insights. She's by far the most interesting, pulling the pupeteer's strings. We see her as tragic villain/grey-area actor, like a female Ozymandias (The Watchmen) perhaps. But failing to keep a grasp of Godolkin's reinvigorated male ego thirst for fun, games and power, wrecking her plans.

+ Ideology: Godolkin has a similarly ugly mindset to Homelander: super-man supremacy. (Although perhaps more abstract than the sociopath in chief). Blatant Nazi Aryan race shtick, with added eugenic-like cleansing of weaker supes, too. Also a dumb take on "evolution" of personal capabilities, through psychological pressure and (frankly) trauma. Which we know, IRL, is inferior to nurturing environments, but apparently works here, to some extent.

This also kind of contradicts his earlier tutorship of Marie, alluding to an intellectual exploration of the exact mechanisms of her powers. Instead landing on immediate necessity of the moment magically instilling detailed knowledge and carefully honed skill. Adrenaline strength sure, but that neurotransmitter system narrows cognition.

Godolkin's life in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, reminiscent of iron lungs (following polio injury). 

+ Representation: There was some reflection on physical disability, with Cate being very visibly one armed, head scarred. Made to feel these vulnerabilities acutely, humiliated by guards in a standard prison strip search. But her still having the chops to instigate an escape, with encouragement. 

Also Godolkin himself, they make a point of showing the shitty daily reality behind bed-bound living. In constant pain, somewhat akin to severe ME/CFS patients, etc. Which I think is where the show pushes the most ground.

Sam suddenly losing all his paranoia, psychosis and schizophrenic visions getting medicines, off screen, is unconvincing. Unworried about not taking them while on the run, too. Although his revelation that he has no one to blame for his severe mental health issues has some pull.

The trans (bi-gender) character's reaction to being mind-raped was decent. Jordan generally most mature and likeable, calling out *some* of the obvious deceptions. And their brave truth telling, upon a platform of "Number 1" status was actually a heck-year moment. (Are the combat rankings a good parody of education grades generally?)

Nice detail: the fight night "Bloodbender" monicker is a nice hat tip to blatant similarities with part of Avatar - The Last Airbender.

+ Politics: Initial campus tensions have some gravitas, with poor human staff brought in like migrant workers with no rights. One caught painfully in the middle of slogan/vandalism antics, but then Cricket immediately stop caring about her to continue plot. Show could also have explored more IRL attempts to influence (generally more liberal) student campus politics by central government. But we don't see Homelander at all. 

Conversely, we don't see much general public perspective on the elitism of a literal university for Gods. That might tie in to anti-intellectualism, irl. Distorting push-back against ultra-wealthy. Who are our real world super-enabled. Perhaps the "Unsafe Spaces" poster tagline (above).

There is "Truth Bomb", mirroring post-truth news media's (and politician's) inversion of reality. Although real life has again moved beyond parody in contemporary US. Trump returning to office since the show was shot in 2024, I think.

+ Overall: I guess I still want to see where S5 of The Boys takes the convened cast. Although S4 was somewhat forgettable compared to even S1 of GenV, which I found mostly mediocre, at the time. I'm surprised GenV S2 appears to have been rated so highly. I guess it does touch on a lot of worthwhile issues (mentioned above).