Prime Video’s Gen V stresses the media more than the superheroes

Few institutions are more trustworthy than private universities. It’s hard to think of a business model so transparently invested in reinforcing the status quo. Give us your money, and we’ll find you a comfortable spot in the American dreamThe proposition is. It’s a persuasive one, an idea so seductive that the seminal children’s fantasy of an entire generation was about a boarding school with a hat that told kids where they belonged in the world. The problem is that it will be impossible to keep this promise in 2023. Now, there’s only one place where anyone can feel truly comfortable: the very top. And there’s only a few spots there. Seven, exactly. Gen V.

Prime Video’s spinoff of The Boys, its hit crass-yet-thoughtful adaptation of the comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, takes its cynical view of a world with superheroes to the world of college kids and Gen Z. It’s a world where being famous is easier than ever, and a worse deal than it’s ever been — not that that’ll dissuade anyone.

Gen VYou can use The Boys As raw material, it uses the story of a college student coming of age. The Seven’s media eco-system, which is its take on the Justice League, will be familiar to those who have seen the original series. If you’ve seen The BoysThe Seven, as you may know, are morally bankrupt celebrities, who perform heroic acts for press coverage and to boost the share price of Vought international, their corporate sponsor. If you haven’t seen The BoysWell, surprise! Bastards run the world.

Photo: Brooke Palmer/Prime Video

Gen V is about kids who don’t know that yet. Superpowered kids who are just hope and ambition, full of faith that maybe the system can work for them, now that they’ve achieved the first, most vital step in climbing the ladder: admission. Set at Godolkin University, Vought’s premiere institute for superpowered young adults, the show follows a motley crew of God U (as it’s called; the show is not subtle) students as they slowly discover that the school is also a front for something sinister.

Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) is the viewer’s window into this world, an orphan with everything to gain and nothing to lose. Taking a cue from X-Men comics, Marie’s powers, and those of her classmates, manifest in a moment of innocence lost, a foundational trauma that gives them the drive to reinvent themselves at Godolkin. Marie’s powers allow her to manipulate blood, which results in a CarrieHer newly-discovered powers cause her to have a nightmare, killing her parents.

This is a good example. Gen V’s writers share The Boys’ penchant for juggling semiotically loaded guns for the viewer’s entertainment, regularly featuring fraught imagery like self-harm (Marie gets a handle on her powers but cuts herself to unleash them; another character throws up in order to shrink, Ant-Man style) and superpowers leveraged to make everyday perils so much worse. One character can make you forget entire days, and is a creep described as “a walking roofie.” Another one can make you do her bidding with a touch. This is not meant to be titillating. Gen VIt is at times shocking, but it’s also thoughtful. The film is interested in boundaries, consent, and the erosion of those. What can one do to survive? What motivates people to do good?

Photo: Brooke Palmer/Prime Video

This is what you will find. The Gen. The V closely resembles The Boys’ methodology of gleeful provocation in the service of existential angst, giddily pushing the boundaries of good taste in order to inventively present, say, a giant penis, or perhaps a new sexual organ invented for a throwaway gag, only to show how its characters press forward to find meaning in this horrible mess. If The Boys If the topic is the corporate bosses who control the media eco-system, then Gen VThe young fans and consumers who strive to make their mark in the system. To carve their own niches in the economy of attention.

Comic books and superheroes are not the main point. Instead, Gen V ponders what it means to come of age alongside algorithms, to understand what it means to know your cultural cachet is always rising and falling with every post, and in a world full of cameras linked to social media platforms, you can’t even control when your life becomes content.

This context makes it so understandable that you would want to become a super hero. To the kids who are in Gen VThe Seven take control of their own stories, interact with the rest of the world in their own terms, and become brands. This allows them to gain respect from a world that is corporatized, where the brands are all the things protected. That’s all the heroes of Gen V want. That’s what makes the show feel so much more grounded than its counterpart, even if it’s still so sensationally over-the-top. It’s a very mundane desire for superpower. It is a very difficult thing to accomplish.

First three episodes of Gen VPrime Video premieres Sept. 29. New episodes are released each Friday.