Season Two of Generation V from Amazon Prime came with a Herculean task of not only having to live up to the success of the first season but also serving as the critical bridge between season four of The Boys and its upcoming series finale. What could have been anything from a tumbling block to a monumental failure instead became an emotional foundation. Season two of Gen V hit us like a brick to the face in tribute form through its signature blend of ultra-violence, dark satire, and a surprising amount of heart. But don’t just take my word for it; bolstered by a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score with critics calling it “essential viewing,” season two proves this spinoff has rightfully earned its place in the franchise.
I’ll be providing a take on each episode, so be warned: SPOILERS AHEAD.
Episode 1: “New Year, New U”
The season premiere jumps right in, establishing the new status quo with character lead Marie Moreau (played by Jaz Sinclair) on the run after somehow escaping the Elmira Center after the cliffhanger ending of season one. While the story keeps spinning as Emma Meyer (Lizze Broadway) and Jordan Li (London Thor/Derek Luh) are revealed to have (forcibly) returned to Godolkin University as “Guardians.” The real punch in the gut is revealed in the yet-unrevealed death of Andre Anderson (Chance Perdomo).
The real treat for me this season comes in the big bad of Dean Cipher (Hamish Linklater, of another great Amazon Prime show, Batman: Caped Crusader), the new replacement dean looking to turn supes from coal into diamonds through intense pressure.
The premier does the heavy lifting of putting all the pieces in place while introducing the mystery of the Odessa Project that will drive the entire season. It’s an episode that presses all the right buttons and then some with all the right suspense, action, drama, intrigue, and absurdity. I’ll set it up for you with a brief imaginary conversation:
“You remember last season?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, we’re not letting up anytime soon.”
“How do you mean?”
“Two words: Black Hole.”
You’ll get what I mean real quick.
Episode 2: “Justice Never Forgets”
The episode kicks off with both a jaw-dropper and a moral quandary for our gang when they find out that they didn’t unintentionally kill Cate (Maddie Phillips) last episode but instead left her comatose, leaving them to contemplate finishing the job themselves in order to protect their secret. Cate takes their choice from them, awakening to unstable powers due to brain damage.
The introduction of Polaris, Andre’s father (played by Sean Patrick Thomas), adds a layer of intrigue as he’s not only investigating the cause of Andre’s death, which is revealed to be his willful overuse of his powers. Transforming it from an act of tragedy to one of heroism. His presence also adds the “father-figure” presence the group has been sorely lacking up to this point.
The dark truth of Marie being the sole survivor of the Odessa Project was a revelation in itself, but this episode did something that has rocked the “Boys-verse” of both TV-land and comic-dom when Cipher suggests her potential to be even more powerful than Homelander. As a fan of the comic, I like the fresh new spin on this spin-off by throwing in this wrinkle into the lore.
Episode 3: “H Is for Human”
It’s revealed that Marie and Cipher have more than just a campus-worth of history between them in this episode, with Cipher having been responsible for her “creation.” Marie’s family also enters the fray in the form of her sister Annabeth (Keeya King) and family friend Pam, who to this day has prevented the two from meeting.
Aside from all this, Jordan is thrust into the spotlight as Godolkin’s number one student and is “asked” to deliver a speech that should earn them hero status but instead makes them a pariah due to coming out in public defense of the Starlighter group and admitting that they were the ones that brutally attacked Cate. Additionally, Sam’s (Asa Germann) trauma deepens as his addiction to Cate’s powers really begins to impact him and his popularity on campus.
This episode does a fantastic job of world-building and balancing it with character moments, making these Gen V kids feel more layered and even more relatable than the core Boys cast. While immensely entertaining, The Boys has lacked in really making me feel for the characters, including Butcher and Hughie, so I’m thankful that Gen V has really excelled in that regard, especially this season.
Episode 4: “Bags”
As punishment for Jordan’s public disobedience, Cipher forces a UFC-style fight between them and Marie, and the decision is—comply or return to Elmira. What transpires is Gen V at its most bombastic. Due to a suspected lack of powers, Jordan and Cate break into Cipher’s house to gather any evidence they can on the dean, where they uncover a burned man in a hyperbaric chamber (later revealed to be school founder Thomas Godolkin himself), while Marie trains with Cipher and learns she could surpass even Homelander in power.
The fight itself turns into an “Ocean’s Eleven” moment, with Emma infiltrating through pipes to plant a camera on Cate for blackmail. But Cipher’s unflappable response to being exposed as human leads to the episode’s shocking turn: he has powers after all, puppeteering Jordan’s body to attack Marie. Only through Marie’s blood manipulation and controlling Jordan from the inside does she secure her victory.
Cipher continues his run as my favorite Boys-verse villain, outsmarting our crew at every possible turn and making them feel as though they’re simply kids playing dress-up to him. The big reveal that he does in fact have powers rewards only the most attentive of viewers.
Episode 5: “The Kids Are Not All Right”
The emotional centerpiece of the season begins with a disturbing and deeply uncomfortable flashback: Cipher and Sister Sage (Susan Heyward) having sex in front of immobilized Thomas Godolkin. While seemingly unnecessary, it establishes the power dynamics at play. Meanwhile, when Marie, Jordan, and Emma attempt to rescue Cate from Elmira due to last episode’s botched attempt to expose Cipher, they’re captured themselves, leading to a rescue that requires the intervention of Sam.
Speaking of Sam, his character arc reaches a suitable catharsis as he confronts his parents, only to learn they gave him to Vought because they couldn’t control his molotov cocktail of mental illness and explosive strength. The realization that his illness wasn’t caused by Compound V, but was hereditary, through a heartfelt conversation with his mother, serves to establish Sam as one of the most “human supes” in the entire show.
The climax of this episode is pure comic trope-ology at its best. Marie discovers Cipher captured her sister Annabeth and has been holding her at Elmira, and in an attempt to draw out her true strength, slits her throat in front of her. In true “Jean Grey Rise of the Phoenix” fashion, Marie in her grief, evolves her powers to that of cellular manipulation, allowing her to resurrect Annabeth.
As the title implies, this episode is all about the kids. Toss in the revelation by Polarity that Andre died when Cipher tried to enhance his powers, making this one of the most emotionally resonant episodes of the entire season, in my opinion.
Episode 6: “Cooking Lessons”
The X-Men nods continue, as the newly resurrected Annabeth is also displaying precognitive abilities, and each of the group’s abilities starts working in synchronicity in their attempted escape from Elmira. Their getaway is completed with the arrival of Zoe Neuman (Olivia Morandin) and Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito), in a crossover from the central Boys series.
What follows is an exposition dump from Edgar in which he reveals that he shut down the Odessa Project, believing Marie to be an abject failure, but that only she and Homelander were the only successes reframes the entire project and the series itself. The group’s deduction of many similarities between Godolkin’s work and that of Cipher’s leaves them to believe the key to stopping Cipher resides in the charred body of Godolkin.
A resulting confrontation between Cipher and Polarity not only results in the discovery that Cipher is looking to “cull” the weak supes from the strong but also that Polarity’s powers disrupt the manipulation abilities of Cipher, giving the crew a glimmer of hope.
While not necessarily the strongest episode of the season, what makes this season great is that each episode is a must-watch. Not only is the arrival of Neuman and Edgar a fun little nod back to the core series, it’s a necessary evil, as the information revealed sets the table for the next two final episodes of the season.
Episode 7: “Hell Week”
The penultimate episode splits the group up across multiple locations, as Marie and Cate search for Thomas while all others regroup. Annabeth’s powers of precognition earlier revealed a dark premonition of Marie and many others lying in massive pools of blood, serving to create a bit of irony since Marie has repeatedly refused to heal Cate’s condition and stabilize her powers, choosing to prioritize the mission over her mistrust. That irony only deepens when the two encounter Polarity, and after one of his seizures, Marie heals him completely, stating that having him 100% presents a tactical advantage.
After inviting Marie back to training to ensure her friend’s safety, Marie agrees, and the group attempts to stop her, informing her of Annabeth’s vision, but Marie weakens them all with her powers and continues on. A battle ensues as Polarity and part of the group stall Cipher while Marie fully heals Thomas, only to find out that he’s a “non-supe” character named Doug Brightbill that’s been controlled by Godolkin all along.
This episode leaves your jaw on the floor once again with the reveal that not only has Godolkin been alive this whole time but has been the mastermind behind the entire season; it is just that maniacal twist that you’ve come to know in the Boys mythos. The fact that he’s able to fully return thanks to Marie really draws a distinct parallel between Marie and Butcher/Hughie of the main series as well.
Episode 8: “Trojan”
The finale takes us back to 1967, where we see Thomas injecting himself with V-1 (the same formula that made Soldier Boy and Stormfront) before being set aflame in the lab, a harkening back to the beginning of the season. In the present, Black Noir II captures Doug Brightbill and Polarity, taking out the crew’s other heavy hitter, while Thomas wants to hold “seminars” to eliminate the weak supes, control Marie, and eventually take over Homelander himself, whom he blames for the weakness of the supes. However, Sister Sage disapproves and frees Polarity, which positions her as a true wild card for the final season of The Boys.
The final battle sees Marie and her friends, whose arrival is delivered through an amazingly “Boys” entrance by Black Hole (full circle!), and they manage to subdue Thomas and Cate overtakes him briefly, allowing the other students to evacuate. After breaking free and taking control of Marie, Thomas is only stopped by the timely arrival of Polarity, allowing the killing blow to be delivered by Marie.
Polarity stays behind to take the blame for the chaos and for eliminating Godolkin, setting him up as the tragic hero of this season, just as Andre was the off-screen hero to start the season. The episode ends on the cliffhanger cameo by Starlight and A-Train, asking the kids to join the resistance, which they do, setting them up to be potential soldiers for season five’s final war against Homelander and Vought.
The episode comes home with all the pomp and circumstance you’d expect, full of violence, action, and intrigue, and finishes with the suspense to leave you wondering if a third season will be incoming after the conclusion of The Boys series. With news of the Soldier Boy spinoff, one can only hope.
Final thoughts
The season navigates the mystery and tragedy of Andre’s death, taking it and making it more of an emotional narrative than a plot obstacle. It drives our characters, it connects them, and in the end, it pushes them to the finish line. The one-two punch of Cipher and Goldolkin provide more than adequate villain fuel to sustain an entire season’s worth of intrigue, keeping you guessing as to what their true goals are the entire time. What’s even better is that once the end game is revealed, you’re not left feeling flat but satisfied, as it fits into the entire narrative of this season.
The best part about this season, though? It doesn’t feel supplemental to The Boys universe, it feels equal, or even essential. Given the depth of all the characters, the ideology that’s fed directly into the endgame of season five, this season of Generation V takes what was a fantastic opening season and delivers an even more promising sophomore year.
