Gen V Season 2

Hey everyone, and welcome. Today, we will be talking about season 2 of the show Gen V. Fun Fact: Project Odessa was hinted at in the last season of The Boys when Homelander goes to the lab where he was raised. There is a memo board that refers to Odessa. This season came out in 2025 and stars Jaz Sinclair, Lizze Broadway, London Thor, and Derek Luh and was created by Craig Rosenberg, Evan Goldberg, and Eric Kripke. So without further ado, let's get right into it.

Season 2 of Gen V follows Marie, Jordan, and Emma, who have been let back into school after being sent to the Supe prison at the end of the last season. There is a new headmaster by the name of Cipher who is training the future heroes, but he really focuses on Marie, and there are so many secrets about him that they need to unravel. The group needs to figure out who Cipher is, what he wants, and how to fight all the anti-human sentiment as well.

Gen V is an action show filled with super people that is an analogy for real social issues presented in a way that may be easier for some people to digest, but also has lots of violence. It has similar vibes to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, X-Men, or Sky High.

Gen V is a spinoff of The Boys, and season 1 had me impressed, so I was so excited for season 2. I think what the show does well is highlight that the truth can be twisted to fit someone's agenda, and you need to form your own decisions instead of being sheep and following the herd. The show has its main plot of the students who were in prison trying to live life while also fighting back and learn what Odessa is, but also shows how supe supremacy and anti-human relations are making the world a scary place to be. There are a lot of topics that mirror real life, and while a lot can be compared to the current MAGA crap in modern times, other historical connections can be made.

Chance Perdomo unfortunately passed, and he played Andre, who was a big part and the show makes sure to honor him throughout the season, and his dad, in the show, Polarity, steps up to help the group out. I loved that it wasn't just one mention in the beginning, but it's something that everyone is constantly thinking about because some people feel guilty for his loss, and others are just sad they couldn't help him. Most of them have a reason to feel guilty, too, be honest, because for Cate, she's the reason he was in that situation, his dad didn't tell him of the seizures, even though I think Andre did witness his dad's last season, and Marie did leave him, but I understand her reasoning. It's sad all around, and everyone is just trying to survive. It's always sad when the real-life actor dies because there's so much that has to go into making sure you respect their legacy, and I think the show did a great job of reminding everyone of his importance in the show.

Marie has felt guilty about her powers her whole life, and now she's told that her abilities make her one of the strongest supes. You can always tell that there is hesitancy with her because of what happened to her parents, which to me shows even more that being the strongest doesn't matter to her unless she can use her abilities to help people. She denies how powerful she is, even when her friends tell her it may be true, because she is scared, and it’s an added stress, which is understandable, because we've seen how accidents in this universe will leave people dead. Jaz Sinclair does a great job portraying the range of emotions that Marie has because of all the stuff going on in her life. I do hate Godolkin, but I'm glad he told her that cutting herself isn't the best way to use her abilities, and there are better ways to do this. She is reunited with her sister this season, and we continue to see her skills leveling up, which shows us that she truly is a force to be reckoned with.

There have been many groups that have claimed they are better than others because of some trait they possess, and in this show, that trait is superpowers. There is Make America Super Again on campus, which is obviously mocking MAGA, and scenes showing how humans, even if they are powerless, are treated as less than, and some fear for their lives. They blame all their issues on humans, which is similar to another group known as the Nazis, who often blamed the issues of Germany on the Jewish people. I already knew that this show mocks these groups and shows that what they stand for is not good and only aims to separate people more and more, and even when you get to a point of super supremacy, people like Godolkin are like, " That's not enough, now we only want super strong supes to survive. It's a cycle of hate and violence, but the show reminds us that there will always be a resistance, hate will not thrive and will always be met with resistance, no matter how small, and it will never win. I think it's important to see that with all the racist and discriminatory stuff happening, even if your circle is smaller, you have ways to fight back, but sometimes it may just look different because you have to react smarter and try and convince others to join you. No person is born better than another, no matter what they say, and this show goes even further to show that most of the supes aren't even born that way; they are just given a drug that makes them strong.

They mention some of the typical conservative targets like DEI and Gender Identity. They mention that the school repurposed the DEI office as a training facility and got rid of that staff, which further shows that, more specifically, they want strong white supes. When Cate gets hurt, they want to reflect on her and treat her like Jesus, and want to idolize what she's done, and a lot of it actually isn't good. When Jordan goes against the school, they set up a battle between them and Marie, and when the promoter is talking about it, they misgender them and then use an offensive tagline that says blood bender vs genderbender. It just shows how they will prop you up if you benefit them, but the moment you speak out against them, they will turn on you and disrespect you in ways that may surprise you.

Most people who have powers in this show have them due to getting dosed with Compound V at a young age, which has been an issue for some in both Gen V and The Boys, but this season of Gen V highlights that even more. I think it's so important because they are babies or children who are given this drug, so they have abilities that they don't know what they will be, and they don't know if they will hurt people with their abilities. I feel like it shows how vulnerable kids are because the act of doing that is reckless, and their parents are the ones doing it, and to be honest, if someone takes Compound V and becomes a killer, I think it's partially their parents' fault because it will most likely be way worse compared to someone who didn't take it.

I love how Gen V dives into the fact that some supes have the same ability, but that doesn't mean that they are equal. Marie and Neuman, Cate and Godlokin, and many more have very similar powersets. We see how the powers are there, but you need to learn how to use them, and it's like a muscle, so to strengthen them, you need to use them more and practice, which not enough people are doing. In Cates's instance, if you aren't strong enough, then the person with powers like yours will walk right over you. With Gen V showing how powerful Godolkin is, you really see how the idea of the strongest supe may not be the most obvious. Everyone is scared of Homelander, but he also surrounds himself with supes that wouldn't be a threat to him, and the ones that are don't dare question him because they are scared of him. This show made me question the idea of the most powerful supe and how it could be anyone because you have Godolkin, who can mind control people, Homelander, who has speed and strength, Marie, who can control blood in herself and others, even Harper, due to her ability to copy abilities, which is for a short time, but could it be longer?

I forgot that Cate turned off Sam's emotions last season and was still pushing them down, so his schizophrenia stays at bay and makes him a shell of a person who just follows Cate. I loved that he is forced to deal with this when she is not around, which leads to him losing it and destroying stuff, and Jordan has to stop him. Sam is the perfect example of how giving kids compound V can be dangerous because who knew he would be schizophrenic, and who knows if his schizophrenia is not under control, who he could hurt. He visits home, and it's sad to see that his parents thought he was dead and didn’t even know that he was in the woods until the events of the last season's finale.  I love how he thinks his mental health issues are a side effect of the compound V, but his mom lets him know that while there is so much that can be attributed to compound V, this particular issue stems from family history on her side. He asks as well how you can shoot people up with random drugs, which is valid because mental health issues clearly run in the family, and the drugs they gave just made the situation worse for them because it added more danger and heartbreak. I forgot that Sam wasn’t bad and he had been through so much torture, which definitely didn't help his mental health. By the end of this conversation, they make you realize that Sam just has to deal with his problems and not rely on Cate to help push them down, and he really doesn’t want to hurt people.  I do wonder if he has the potential to rival Homelanders' strength and durability if he can get his situation under control.

I loved how the show handled Cate's redemption arc. She is the reason the 4 were sent to Elmira in the last season, and she is also the reason they get out, but that doesn’t mean they forgive her, which is valid. Cate seems to feel bad in the beginning, but she thinks an apology will suffice for all the trauma that the group has endured, and not to mention that Andre died trying to escape. At the beginning of the season, Cate gets injured, nearly killed, which makes her powers unpredictable. When she comes back to school, she does not tell people it was Jordan who almost killed her, but Jordan reveals it themselves.  Later in the season, she is sent to Elmira and gets to experience what the group experienced and how invasive the situation is. She later asks Marie to heal her powers and says she won't use them on anyone else, and Marie declines. Marie later asks her to stop any of them from following her, and she declines, which shows me that she did actually grow. The Cate we knew going into this season always put herself ahead of everyone, but at the end of this season, she had the opportunity to get her powers back, but declined because while it’s good for her, it's at the expense of everyone else. Later, Marie does fix her, which I was happy to see because I think she earned it. I just loved how the show handled this and her getting her powers back. I will say once she gets her powers back, she wasn’t much help in the end, but maybe she can be strong as Godollkin one day.

When we meet Cipher, there is something different about him, but we can't tell. We see he's keeping this man in this chamber, who is his "dad," which I knew was Godolkin, after the beginning of the season showed how he survived an explosion. He took the same compound v that Stormfront and Soldier Boy took and was granted powers to control people, but his ability is much stronger than Cates but it seems like his body burns as he uses his abilities too much. I was under the assumption that Cipher was using Godolkin for something, but I couldn’t figure it out. It should've been a clear sign that Godolkin was using Cipher when Marie noticed no compound V in Cipher, but I completely missed that. We later learn that Godolkin is so powerful that he was able to control Cipher for years until he found someone who could heal him. He is in a relationship with Sage, but once she realizes his plan to control Homelander, she backs out because that was not what they agreed to, and she even helps Polarity escape since he's one who can disrupt his powers. Godolkin does prove he can control one Odessa baby, Marie, but Marie has polarity on her side, so it eventually backfires when he disrupts the connection. Marie eventually pulls a Neuman and pops his head after realizing that’s the only way to stop him.

The show has some funny parts as well to balance all the craziness, which I think is great to include because it can be a lot to see, especially the crazy stuff that mirrors real life. When Cipher is training Marie, there is a goat named Elon that she's supposed to control, and the reason for the name is that he named them after assholes, which was funny. There's a guy whose butt is like a pocket dimension, and it’s a joke that comes up a lot in various dumb ways. I thought it was funny how he ends up being the way the group is able to sneak into Godolkin's seminar, and we see the entire group climb out of his butt.

Odessa is something that we learn early on in the season and comes up a lot because the program created very powerful supes. I'm glad they didn’t make us wait too long and told us that Marie and Homelander are the only Odessa babies that survived, and we learn that Sage leaked the info to Starlight. Later, when we meet Stan Edgar again, who wants help so he can become Vought's CEO again, he tells Marie that he shut down the program. I love how this ties into how powerful Marie can be because everyone is a human who took Compound V, so they have blood in them, which means Marie can do something to them. Cipher or Godolkin trains her, so we get to see more of her abilities and how we see not only that she is powerful, but also how dangerous it can be if uncontrolled, because emotional changes in the midst of her using her abilities can lead to death. Marie is able to heal people, as seen with bringing her sister back to life after Cipher slits her throat and stopping Polarities' seizures. I wonder how much power is needed to take down Homelander, what is happening when she uses a lot of her powers that makes others bleed, but I also wonder if she can help A-train as well. Odessa also makes me wonder if Homelander can get stronger, or if he's at his max.

I loved Marie and Jordan together this season, but there was some tension there after Marie escaped and left them. At first, it seemed like they worked it out, but after Jordan saw the extent of Marie’s powers when she used them on them, they were a bit scared and worried.  I think Jordan's decision to end the relationship was partly because they have so much going on, but also because they are scared of her, because when she uses her powers to do big acts like heal her sister, others get hurt. I do hope they get back together because for me, they are endgame.

I love how Jordan can present themselves as male or female, played by Derek Luh and London Thor. Both actors do a great job of keeping the illusion that no matter what, it is the same person. Jordan is Bigendered, but that is something that has been an issue for others to understand, and which prevented them from being ranked number one last season. This season, Jordan gets ranked number one, and I'm glad that instead of spewing propaganda, they tell the truth that Andre was a hero, they attacked Cate, and how dumb the ranking system is. Jordan has dealt with so many rude comments about who they are and stayed quiet, but now they are speaking up, which I thought was great to see. I love Jordan, and I'm glad they don’t just sit by doing what they're told, and they're great when speaking, but if you want to throw hands, then you've got a good fight coming your way.

Polarity coming in this season and having a bigger role was nice. I'm glad that they have an adult supe who has experience with the 7 come in and help the younger ones rebelling. I love that he finds out about his own ability when he is able to disrupt Godolkin's mind-controlling powers. His seizures were scary, but I'm glad Marie was able to stop them so that he can use his abilities to the fullest. I loved his relationship with Emma and how she helped him realize his fight is not over, and he could really help, and probably saved him from drinking himself to death.

Annabeth is finally shown after Marie constantly talks about her. A great plot twist was that she had pre-cognition powers, and an even bigger twist was her saying she saw their parents dying before it happened. Part of the reason she doesn’t want to see Marie is because of Marie killing their parents, but also because Annabeth could have stopped it, but didn’t because she didn’t speak up. I love that by the end of the season, after spending so much time with Marie and her friends, she sees that learning to control your powers can help people. She hugs Marie and says that she is her hero, which was so nice to see.

Emma's abilities aren't really seen as a threat, especially when she can't control them and when she's surrounded by some real heavy hitters. I love how in this season, she is trying to understand her powers a bit more while also realizing that not everyone on Campus is a fan of Homelander, and there are fans of Starlight. I love how she goes detective on the girls who are Starlighters and tells them to be smarter about their rebellion, and Harper even helps her understand her powers a bit more. I think it's important because we saw in the past season that she was popular among people and had an internet following, so she knows how to connect with people and rally them. I loved how this season showed that she is not only encouraging these Starlighters to advocate for their cause in a smarter, more efficient way, but also could be the reason that more people who feel the same way join. I feel like Emma is underrated, but she really is good at communication and helping people see their potential, even if she doesn’t see hers. I'm glad in the end she is able to get big in the last battle, so maybe she has figured out that block.

Marie talks about self-harm and sometimes feeling like she would rather bleed out, and Emma mentions how she almost thought the same in Elmira, but her friends are what prevented her from doing it. I'm glad that they didn’t, and they speak on how important it is to have such a supportive friend group.

My favorite part of this season was the speech Marie had with her aunt Pam after Pam mentioned they were scared of and avoiding Marie. Marie talks about her own guilt of killing her parents by accident and then immediately being shunned by the remaining family she had and being placed in foster care. One thing thats been reoccuring in The Boys and Gen V is this fact that all the supes were drugged up as kids or babies and had no choice in the matter so when accidents with their powers happened they get blamed but Marie tells Pam she didn’t ask for this and Pam tries to sympathize and says i know and Marie calls her out on her bullshit and says that she didn’t say anything to defend her. She got her period, which is normal, but because of her parents, she got these abilities, which accidentally killed them, and Marie mentions she loved her parents. It's a powerful scene and superbly acted by Jaz Sinclair that reminds us that she's been ostracized by something she had no control over. I think it's important to show because having abilities puts an added stress on your shoulders that they didn't ask for, and their parents didn't bother to ask them.

Gen V season 2 really keeps up the quality and stands out as a great superhero show. The cast is amazing, and the episodes always have me wanting more to see how the story unfolds. I'm glad the show is able to mix in themes that you see in real life with all the superhero stories.