Gen V – ‘First Day’ – Review
Gen V got off to one hell of a ‘bloody’ start in Episode One, ‘God U’, and now the fallout is about to hit hard! ‘First Day’ picks up after the nuclear meltdown of Golden Boy, and stuck in the middle of it all is Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair), and she’s about to find out just what the hero life is like.
Everyone is reeling from the tragic events of ‘God U’. Meanwhile, Marie and Andre are branded by Vought as the new ‘Guardians of Godolkin’. Emma trusts the wrong friend while Dean Shetty brings Marie under her wing. Jordan can’t contain their jealousy over Marie getting credit for fighting Golden Boy. Andre’s suspicion starts to grow as he starts to uncover a mystery.
Things went nuclear in Episode One of Gen V, ‘God U’, with All-American, big man on campus Luke Riordan/Golden Boy (Patrick Schwarzenegger) brutally murdering long-tenured ‘supe’ professor Richard “Rich Brink” Brinkerhoff (Clancy Brown), before openly sacrificing himself in a brutal and bloody fireball of death. What follows is a very icky and gory cleanup, and those left behind in Godolkin University are starting to question everything. Marie, Jordan (London Thor and Derek Luh), Andre (Chance Perdomo) and Cate (Maddie Phillips) were all present to the harrowing moments of Luke’s rampage. Everyone’s on edge after this frenzy, but it soon becomes clear that Luke might not be as crazy as everyone thinks.
The events of Episode One, ‘God U’ have changed the entire direction of Gen V, and it’s fair to say that a star has been born. Finding herself at the centre of Luke’s massacre and now being roped into a swiftly organised PR campaign by Vought, outsider Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) now has the cameras placed on her and gets her first taste of celebrity. And she likes the feeling. This sudden 180 turn is a genius move on behalf of Gen V creators Craig Rosenberg, Evan Goldberg and Eric Kripke, and it really upends everything that the audiences expect Gen V to be. It’s also a brilliant satirical comment on the manufactured reality of the media industry and corporate spin, and its commentary is spot on.
Standing directly in Marie’s corner and taking a very personal interest in her is Godolkin University’s Dean, Indira Shetty (Shelley Conn). Possessing no Compound V-enhanced powers of her own, Conn’s Shetty is the smiling, welcoming face of the university, but make no mistake, she’s a cunning and manipulative figure who is ready to do anything to get to the top of the Vought hierarchy. And Marie’s in her focus now. A trained psychologist, she gets to work on Marie in Episode Two, ‘First Day’, and she’s got her own secrets that she wants kept out of the limelight. What her end goals are, well, we still don’t know yet, but it’s clear that the most dangerous person on this campus doesn’t have any powers at all except to manipulate her students for her own ends.
While Marie might have found her way into the spotlight, her roommate, the ever-loveable Emma Meyer/Little Cricket (Lizze Broadway) is starting to feel left out, and her demeaning sexual romp with a fellow student hasn’t helped out her confidence. She soon comes to befriend the vampy Justine (Maia Jae Bastidas), who has made a name for herself in the world of Vought as an almost suped-up Kardashian and whose sexuality and edge make her a dangerous weapon. There’s plenty of back and forth between these two characters, and when Justine’s intentions for Emma come to light, it doesn’t lead to a pretty picture. Andre’s also has his own problems dealing with his manipulative father but soon finds himself, along with Cate, falling into the conspiracy that caused Luke’s rampage. And it’s not good.
Episode Two, ‘First Day’, ends on a showstopper, and whatever is happening behind the scenes and underground in Godolkin Univeristy is incredibly bad. Just where our characters all fit into it is still to be seen, but it’s starting to get juicy in Gen V.
Gen V streams on Prime Video.
Image: Prime Video
