–This review contains spoilers for Episode 2 of Gen V-
We return to Godolkin University. A tragic incident hallows above the school. Golden Boy blew himself up. No one truly saw it coming. After all, he was promised to join the Seven. His sudden death plays a role in what the season seems to unfold. The secret behind “the woods.”
The episode starts off with another music choice that left me hooked. Phoebe Bridgers, covering “Nothing else matters”, while a team clears out the remains of Golden Boy. It’s a scene that could’ve been right out of The Boys.
Episode two tries to build up the character around Marie. We get a closer look at Cate, who grieves for her boyfriend and may have a clue for the investigation on the woods. Meanwhile Vought wants all the budget they have invested in Golden Boy to go to another student that can take his place in time.
We at last get a look at a familiar character and meet Ashley (with a full head of hair!).
Complaining to Indira, the new dean of Godolkin University, about what she’s supposed to do with all the merch she had on golden boy. Urging the people at Godolkin to push Andre Anderson and Marie Mareau up to the top 10. Andre is expected to fully take over Golden Boys’ spot. In this scene we get another hint to the infamous woods, with Ashley mentioning how an exposure would cause “a fatal problem” for Vought.
Indira seems to take a special interest in Marie, although her real intentions remain unclear. She makes her attend photoshootings, interviews and turns Marie to the first Freshman who’s ever been in the Schools Top 10. What the audience finds out – what the characters aren’t aware of yet – is that she also plays a huge role behind the secret of the Sage Grove Center or as the friend group calls it: the Woods.
Cate and Andre question the school’s involvement in Luke’s death. They find out that Lukes little brother Sam has been kept under the grips of the Sage Grove Center for years, while his relatives were told that Sam died a long time ago. Cate and Andre ignore every other obligation and turn Sam to a new priority in order to honor Luke’s last wishes. Meanwhile Maries roommate Emma opens up about the secret behind her superpower to a girl she entrusted in class. Getting backstabbed by the same person, Emma’s story gets taken advantage of to boost the classmate’s social media accounts.
The episode does a great job in establishing the characters we briefly met in Episode 1 and turning them into their own people. By the end of it, the people around Marie had so many facettes that they became exciting. While watching, I sometimes completely forgot about other subplots, because I was so hooked on what was happening right now. Although it does add more depth to the other characters, Marie sadly falls a little flat here. We find out that her main intention behind all of this, is gaining her sister’s trust back and being able to see her again – once it’s clear that this may not happen, the morals she has established start to turn gray.
The overall theme of the episode plays with our generation’s addiction to social media and does a great job of highlighting its consequences, like feeling the need to get more and more likes and positive feedback. Following the social criticism, toxic “faux” mental health positivity gets a reality check by pointing out the hypocrisy of only bringing attention to it when something terrible happens.
Despite the episode’s few flaws, Gen V still has a strong start, beating many preceding spin-offs.