Two episodes into The Boys Season 5, it’s safe to say it’s avoiding a potential Gen V problem — but it also creates a new teenage supe issue in its opening chapters. The latest episodes of The Boys resolve some of the biggest open threads from the Season 4 finale, from Ashley Barrett’s status after taking Compound V to whether Ryan returns to Homelander and Vought. They also catch us up with the shows heroes — er, anti-heroes — after Homelander’s takeover at the end of Season 4. SPOILERS ahead for The Boys Season 5, Episodes 1 and 2.
In fact, The Boys Season 5’s opening reveals the status of pretty much every major player from the original series. It doesn’t do the same with Gen V‘s characters, however, despite the trailer confirming they’ll appear in the main show. Starlight and A-Train mention Marie is leading a team that’s “scoring a few wins” and was recently in Pittsburgh. Yet we don’t see or hear from them, which suggests Season 5 is cognizant of a possible Gen V problem and committed to avoiding it.
With Gen V Season 2 laying the groundwork for Marie to play a significant role in The Boys‘ ending, the main series could have picked up with its own characters and the spinoff’s working in tandem. However, throwing Marie and her friends into the mix so suddenly would be risky. Handled poorly, they could easily start to overshadow the many storylines and character arcs already in progress. This would hurt The Boys Season 5, which is tasked with giving all the show’s players and narratives proper send-offs. Needless to say, the superhero series has a delicate balance to strike when mixing the two casts.
And judging by Episodes 1 and 2, it’s pulling it off. By placing Marie and the other Gen V characters on the sidelines for now, it keeps the focus where it should be: on the titular team and their ongoing fight against Homelander. With her power set, Marie may still factor into Homelander’s demise later on. But the main team should remain the heart of the show. And even the original series’ supporting characters deserve priority over Gen V‘s — especially when the two titles haven’t mixed that heavily in the past.
The Boys Season 5 is successfully balancing its main conflicts with its inevitable Gen V overlap, but it creates another teen supe problem in Episode 2. In this installment, we’re introduced to a team of supes dubbed Teenage Kix — a group that seems to be satirizing the Teen Titans. As one of them, Rock Hard, is massive and powerful, Butcher chooses to test the virus on him, hoping it’ll demonstrate whether it can work on Homelander. The Boys raid Teenage Kix’s headquarters, and they end up killing two of them with the virus. However, MM takes mercy on Countess Crow, and Sheline is still at large.
It’s an odd diversion for The Boys Season 5, which already has a lot to cover without introducing new players. And although the show makes quick work of Teenage Kix’s male half, it seems likely we’ll see Sheline and Countess Crow again. It’s hard to imagine how they’ll factor into the ending, though, when it already has so many characters at odds with one another. Even working Gen V‘s leads in seamlessly is going to be a challenge, and we’re actually invested in them.
Although The Boys Season 5’s first two episodes do a good job of handling Gen V, the show isn’t entirely in the clear. It must be careful when it comes to bringing in Marie and the others, especially when Marie is set up as a supe with the potential of Homelander. Although Marie’s powers make her useful for taking down The Seven’s leader, it would be underwhelming to have her swoop in and save the day completely, especially when Gen V and The Boys have been kept so separate from one another. The feud between Homelander and Butcher, Starlight’s resistance, and the divides at Vought should take precedence. Jumping straight to Marie defeating Homelander would downplay those things, which The Boys must be careful about heading into its final episodes.
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