This text comprises spoilers for “The Boys” season 4 and “Gen V” season 2, episode 2, “Justice By no means Forgets.”
“Gen V” is simply as enjoyable and twisted as “The Boys,” however there’s one key distinction: Whereas the Boys’ battle towards the present’s resident Donald Trump analogue Homelander (Antony Starr) is each topical and essential to cease the supes from unleashing hell on humanity, Godolkin College must be nigh-obsolete.
That is a daring assertion, however hear me out. As “Gen V” retains exhibiting us, the entire “injecting adolescents with Compound V and creating a complete schooling system for the tiny proportion of them that develops semi-useful powers” modus operandi is dear and cumbersome. It is extra more likely to trigger numerous deaths and ship younger supes to the asylum-style Elmira Grownup Rehabilitation Middle through the Pink River Institute than it’s to provide worthwhile superpowered influencers and faux crimefighters. It is a main trouble as enterprise fashions go — particularly since Vought has a far superior choice on the desk.
V24 is a Compound V selection that grants momentary superpowers and may be given to wise adults. It has its points, like a $2 million-per-dose price ticket and a bent to make the consumer loopy and/or useless in the long term, however come on: Vought has already been coping with management and price effectivity points with an excellent lots of its current supes, solely continually and all through their lives. Ever since “The Boys” launched V24 and Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) made clear that he seeks to switch supes with V24 customers inside 5 years, I’ve had a tough time understanding why Vought nonetheless selected to hold coaching extra supes that it totally intends to switch quickly. Luckily, “Justice By no means Forgets” fixes this plot gap and reminds me that God U nonetheless has its makes use of.
Younger supes’ means to stage up is likely to be cause sufficient to maintain God U operating
Because the episode reveals, younger supes can “stage up” in energy, typically in stunning methods. This alone is greater than sufficient motivation for Vought to maintain extraordinarily cautious tabs on them with a tightly-controlled supe college system — in any case, it might be unhealthy for enterprise if, say, an unsupervised wall-crawling teenager immediately manifested the flexibility to create black holes in his arms and ft.
To make it possible for the message comes throughout, “Justice By no means Forgets” explains the idea twice. First, Cate (Maddie Phillips) recuperates within the hospital after Marie (Jaz Sinclair) and others attacked her within the season 2 premiere (“New Yr, New U”). She instinctively lashes out at two workers members, exhibiting the fully new energy of taking up folks’s our bodies and manipulating them like puppets — a substantial change from her typical energy set of studying minds and controlling folks with contact and verbal instructions. This is not the one time “Gen V” has hinted that Cate has untapped potential, but it surely is the primary time she demonstrates a complete new side of her powers.
Later, Dean Cipher (Hamish Linklater) presents extra exposition on the topic, as he tries to forcefully set off energy improvement in choose college students along with his “seminar” — that’s, having Vikor (Tait Fletcher) beat everybody up in hopes that somebody ranges up throughout the ordeal. College students studying to make use of their powers higher is not a brand new idea for “Gen V,” and folk like Marie and Emma (Lizze Broadway) have demonstrated extra management over their powers because the collection has progressed. Nevertheless, Cate’s model new puppeteering trick is a powerful implication that powers can immediately manifest in a dramatically completely different manner than typical, which might be what Cipher is after.
Homelander’s revolution threw a wrench in Vought’s V24 plans
Other than the episode’s implication that Vought has wanted to look at the God U college students’ energy improvement extra intently than we knew, there’s one other possible cause for the college’s ongoing existence: Homelander taking up. The brutal ending of “The Boys” season 4 left the chief of the Seven because the de facto head of each Vought and the nation, and tensions between supes and common persons are at an all-time excessive.
Robust as he’s, Homelander needs adoring, supportive supes to do his bidding. Whereas he himself grew as a prisoner in a secret lab and has demonstrated pretty little curiosity in God U other than a fast cameo within the “Gen V” season 1 finale, he must be way more unhinged than he already is to drag the plug from the nation’s main supe-training facility. So, as a substitute of the imprisoned Stan Edgar’s V24 plans, we get what we see in “Gen V” season 2: Not solely does God U have extra assets than ever, but it surely’s now staffed by supes who’re fairly overtly coaching the scholars as troopers for Homelander’s trigger.
It is a dramatic flip of occasions that is additionally a logical follow-up to “The Boys” season 4. Mixed with the ability evolution reveals of “Justice By no means Forgets,” it additionally makes for a reasonably hermetic reason why God U is not more likely to go away any time quickly … that’s, except Billy Butcher (Karl City) will get an opportunity to open that may of supe virus close by.
“Gen V” is streaming on Prime Video.