Gen V premiered in September of 2023 and I have got to admit I was very late to the game.
Not that I wasn’t aware of it. I had multiple people tell me how good it was, reviews were strong and let’s be honest, it’s a continuation of THE BOYS which is, so far, one of the best Superhero/comic book shows ever created.
So when I did get around to watching it this year, I was stoked that it had the same energy, dark plot points, twisted humour and grounded storytelling as its predecessor. However, all of that changed when I got to the final few episodes and what had started as a well told, constructed, and layered story, soon turned into a rushed race to the finish resulting in…well…a lot of stuff that, when you really look at it below the surface, it doesn’t make any sense.
So when I did get around to watching it this year, I was stoked that it had the same energy, dark plot points, twisted humour and grounded storytelling as its predecessor. However, all of that changed when I got to the final few episodes and what had started as a well told, constructed, and layered story, soon turned into a rushed race to the finish resulting in…well…a lot of stuff that, when you really look at it below the surface, it doesn’t make any sense.
THE BOYS is one of the best written shows I have ever watched. Maybe it is because I hold it in such high regard that I looked at this under the magnifying glass. Or maybe it was just so blatantly lazy it wouldn’t matter what show it was associated with, and I would have spotted these plot holes a mile away.
Where should we begin? Where in this dive into criticising the continuity of creative writing shall we begin our journey? Let’s start with what should have been a subtle yet tragic substory happening to a villain that could have made you sympathise with them. I believe this tale would have been called something like…
Where should we begin? Where in this dive into criticising the continuity of creative writing shall we begin our journey? Let’s start with what should have been a subtle yet tragic substory happening to a villain that could have made you sympathise with them. I believe this tale would have been called something like…
DUDE WHO GETS HIS DICK BLOWN OFF (and not in the good way)
Other than this person being a serial rapist that is somehow on campus and hasn’t been caught before, we will overlook that (just like the school did). What I cannot overlook is that this guy’s dick is completely blown to smithereens and…we move on. As does he, seemingly.
He is seen in multiple episodes after this incident living a totally normal life and going through absolutely no trauma after this at all. This is a show that displays the raw emotion and change that can rip through a human when they have to kill for the first time, but a teenager having their member explode due to his actions? The perpetrator being a classmate who was also his potential victim? Nah. Water off a duck’s back. Man’s fine.
Why do we need to look into this any further or have this change his character in any way when we can still write him the same? Well, you could use this as a backdrop to paint a picture of his actions being linked to the main villain. It could have been used to add more distrust to the character, or even integrated them better into the storyline. However, this is not to be. So much so I can not remember his name and he’s just called DUDE WHO GETS HIS DICK BLOWN OFF.
It is really odd that this is never played on and it’s even odder he is instead used as a writer’s pawn. Used just to pull other characters into other scenes, and even then, that makes no sense either…
He is seen in multiple episodes after this incident living a totally normal life and going through absolutely no trauma after this at all. This is a show that displays the raw emotion and change that can rip through a human when they have to kill for the first time, but a teenager having their member explode due to his actions? The perpetrator being a classmate who was also his potential victim? Nah. Water off a duck’s back. Man’s fine.
Why do we need to look into this any further or have this change his character in any way when we can still write him the same? Well, you could use this as a backdrop to paint a picture of his actions being linked to the main villain. It could have been used to add more distrust to the character, or even integrated them better into the storyline. However, this is not to be. So much so I can not remember his name and he’s just called DUDE WHO GETS HIS DICK BLOWN OFF.
It is really odd that this is never played on and it’s even odder he is instead used as a writer’s pawn. Used just to pull other characters into other scenes, and even then, that makes no sense either…
DUDE WITH NO DICK RECRUITING SAM
Why did he want him at the rally? He didn’t know him at all.
It never turns out to be a clever, underhanded way to trap Sam. He literally had no idea who Sam was and he’s PSYCHIC! So why did he want him so badly? If you’re arguing that he was just recruiting him for the rally…look at that rally, did he need him? That rally was PACKED!! But this dude absolutely insists Sam join them.
Why are you so invested in this dude you just met? And why are you not bothered that you had an appendage blown off, dude? You need to talk about it!!
He didn’t even really need to be used to get Sam at that rally. You could have just had Sam want to continue hanging with these people. To continue just having fun. It literally wouldn’t have changed the story at all. So why invent this weak excuse for a character to get invested in another character?
But hold on a minute…why on earth is Sam back on campus?
It never turns out to be a clever, underhanded way to trap Sam. He literally had no idea who Sam was and he’s PSYCHIC! So why did he want him so badly? If you’re arguing that he was just recruiting him for the rally…look at that rally, did he need him? That rally was PACKED!! But this dude absolutely insists Sam join them.
Why are you so invested in this dude you just met? And why are you not bothered that you had an appendage blown off, dude? You need to talk about it!!
He didn’t even really need to be used to get Sam at that rally. You could have just had Sam want to continue hanging with these people. To continue just having fun. It literally wouldn’t have changed the story at all. So why invent this weak excuse for a character to get invested in another character?
But hold on a minute…why on earth is Sam back on campus?
WHY WOULD SAM RETURN?
Sam has literally spent most of his life trapped underneath the school and has spent every waking moment trying to escape and wishing to be free. He’s acrophobic, paranoid and has major trust issues (other than with Cricket). So how on earth do the gang convince him so easily to return there? He’s just finally gotten free!
Yes, he wants to avenge his brother and what they have taken from him, but he also knows how easily he can be captured and how powerful VOUGHT/The School are. Staying in his girlfriend’s campus room is not a safe place/great plan. Couldn’t he have done what the team needed him to do but instead he only walks on campus when they need him?
I mean, that must be pretty easy to do. Reminder: Sam is the most wanted individual by all the security on the grounds, and he walked on without a hiccup. In fact it is so easy we’re not even shown how they got him on. We just cut to him being snuck into her room with his hood up. What a true master of disguise!!
Maybe the gang were relying on Sam staying in that room based on his lack of trust. To be fair his paranoia and acrophobic behaviours are a perfect combination of fears that can guarantee he won’t leave her roo-aaaaaand he just left the room to play on a slide. Yeah. Let’s risk getting locked up and tortured for years again for a go on a slide. To be fair though, maybe he thought the school had forgotten about him, after all, the show forgets about a lot of characters.
Yes, he wants to avenge his brother and what they have taken from him, but he also knows how easily he can be captured and how powerful VOUGHT/The School are. Staying in his girlfriend’s campus room is not a safe place/great plan. Couldn’t he have done what the team needed him to do but instead he only walks on campus when they need him?
I mean, that must be pretty easy to do. Reminder: Sam is the most wanted individual by all the security on the grounds, and he walked on without a hiccup. In fact it is so easy we’re not even shown how they got him on. We just cut to him being snuck into her room with his hood up. What a true master of disguise!!
Maybe the gang were relying on Sam staying in that room based on his lack of trust. To be fair his paranoia and acrophobic behaviours are a perfect combination of fears that can guarantee he won’t leave her roo-aaaaaand he just left the room to play on a slide. Yeah. Let’s risk getting locked up and tortured for years again for a go on a slide. To be fair though, maybe he thought the school had forgotten about him, after all, the show forgets about a lot of characters.
DUSTY DIES AND NO ONE CARES
When Cate has a seizure and traps everyone in her mind, the gang soon discover that if they die in Cate’s mind, they die in real life. To show this, the ‘Dream Golden Boy’ kills Dusty and the characters confirm he is dead. Problem though…when they all awaken, none of them bring up the fact they just watched a classmate die or even spend a second thought about it.
I mean, I know they’ve been through a lot but what about the elephant in the room? Literally in the room! The reason that he was in Cate’s mind was because he was in the room when she had the seizure sooooo shouldn’t his dead body be there in the room too? This was the most blatant “Fuck you, we are not concentrating whilst writing this” moment and really irked me.
Aaaaaand again we didn’t need him in this scene. You could have just explained that you die in real life with some dialogue and a decent injury inflicted to one of them.
I mean, I know they’ve been through a lot but what about the elephant in the room? Literally in the room! The reason that he was in Cate’s mind was because he was in the room when she had the seizure sooooo shouldn’t his dead body be there in the room too? This was the most blatant “Fuck you, we are not concentrating whilst writing this” moment and really irked me.
Aaaaaand again we didn’t need him in this scene. You could have just explained that you die in real life with some dialogue and a decent injury inflicted to one of them.
MARIE’S POWERS
Okay. Now I am nitpicking but by the time I am noticing all these little plot holes, I began looking back at the series as a whole and Marie’s ‘Hemokinetic’ powers are…an issue.
Marie will cut herself and use the blood as a weapon, controlling it not unlike how Venom controls his parts. The blood can stretch, grab and bind, and also become hard and sharp. We see that in order to do these things Marie uses a lot of blood. Why does she not show symptoms of blood loss?
The human body can only contain 8-10 pints. According to medical research and cases, 50% of blood loss can be fatal. 15% of blood loss causes dizziness and your body to become weaker. In some scenes I swear she’s shooting/losing multiple pints of blood and I am sorry, but she should be at least unconscious from this.
Losing blood to win a battle and become stronger seems backwards to me. It annoyed me so much that Dan Bibby and I discussed this and, whilst he posited that she replaces the blood she loses as it leaves her body, I then pointed out that if that were the case, what happens when she successfully returns it all back to her body? She would have too much blood. This is admittedly not the most important point to make but one that wore away at me more as the show progressed and the other plot holes reared their head.
Marie will cut herself and use the blood as a weapon, controlling it not unlike how Venom controls his parts. The blood can stretch, grab and bind, and also become hard and sharp. We see that in order to do these things Marie uses a lot of blood. Why does she not show symptoms of blood loss?
The human body can only contain 8-10 pints. According to medical research and cases, 50% of blood loss can be fatal. 15% of blood loss causes dizziness and your body to become weaker. In some scenes I swear she’s shooting/losing multiple pints of blood and I am sorry, but she should be at least unconscious from this.
Losing blood to win a battle and become stronger seems backwards to me. It annoyed me so much that Dan Bibby and I discussed this and, whilst he posited that she replaces the blood she loses as it leaves her body, I then pointed out that if that were the case, what happens when she successfully returns it all back to her body? She would have too much blood. This is admittedly not the most important point to make but one that wore away at me more as the show progressed and the other plot holes reared their head.
MARIE’S STATUS AT THE SCHOOL
One of the main stories, and reason we get the story going, is that Brink expels Marie. This is later stopped because he is killed before revealing it to anyone else on the faculty, but he makes it clear that she is to leave
immediately as he is in charge. This, to me, affirms that he never had to get authorisation to do this. He would have just needed to have informed the staff to not expect her in class and to remove her from campus etc.
Yet one episode later, when the underground VOUGHT scientist wants to use her, we find out (via Shetty) that she’s “protected”. Aaaaaand then a few episodes later it is revealed that the protection is from Victoria Neuman, the Vice Presidential Candidate. So how could Brink have possibly expelled her?
If Shetty knew she was protected, surely he certainly will have, so it wouldn’t have ever been an option. Brink was above Shetty. And he also asked her to leave right there and then. Not wait for any hearing or any other formalities. Brink would have checked if she had any sponsors or investors before doing this because…well look at the clientele. It’s mostly trust fund kids. He would need to check if the kid he is expelling wasn’t linked to a major investor of the school. If a child was protected by a VP Candidate, he would know.
Speaking of the school clientele…
immediately as he is in charge. This, to me, affirms that he never had to get authorisation to do this. He would have just needed to have informed the staff to not expect her in class and to remove her from campus etc.
Yet one episode later, when the underground VOUGHT scientist wants to use her, we find out (via Shetty) that she’s “protected”. Aaaaaand then a few episodes later it is revealed that the protection is from Victoria Neuman, the Vice Presidential Candidate. So how could Brink have possibly expelled her?
If Shetty knew she was protected, surely he certainly will have, so it wouldn’t have ever been an option. Brink was above Shetty. And he also asked her to leave right there and then. Not wait for any hearing or any other formalities. Brink would have checked if she had any sponsors or investors before doing this because…well look at the clientele. It’s mostly trust fund kids. He would need to check if the kid he is expelling wasn’t linked to a major investor of the school. If a child was protected by a VP Candidate, he would know.
Speaking of the school clientele…
NO SUPES AT THE SCHOOL ATTEMPT TO STOP THE ATTACK
This is a school that is actively training people to be heroes, as well as celebrities. They all have powers. Tell me why do zero percent try to fight back? Not one person is shown or reported to have.
You watch the episode and they’re all running. The fact that it was only our four who fought back is even highlighted and used by VOUGHT to twist and spin that they were the true instigators of the attack. This, to me, seems…unlikely.
Hell, look at real life. When terrorist attacks happen, people still fight back. Regardless of whether they would be successful. The idea that no one that had super-powers thought to fight back is bizarre to me and really is asking me to suspend my disbelief a little too much here. But then again logic is completely suspended in this scene too…
You watch the episode and they’re all running. The fact that it was only our four who fought back is even highlighted and used by VOUGHT to twist and spin that they were the true instigators of the attack. This, to me, seems…unlikely.
Hell, look at real life. When terrorist attacks happen, people still fight back. Regardless of whether they would be successful. The idea that no one that had super-powers thought to fight back is bizarre to me and really is asking me to suspend my disbelief a little too much here. But then again logic is completely suspended in this scene too…
HOMELANDER’S LOGIC
I will start by saying it was fantastic to see Homelander again.
However, he swoops in and accuses Marie of “attacking [her] own kind”. Let’s be real right now, how did he know that Marie blew up Cate’s arm? She did it with the KINETIC side of her powers and as shown in previous series of THE BOYS, Homelander can’t detect people using that power. He would have just seen her arm blow up. Also how does he know they were both supes? Where did he get that conclusion from? Has he also been watching since episode 1?
Another thing, if he did know they were both supes didn’t he see that they were both fighting supes? Which would mean Cate also be in the wrong in Homelander’s eyes?
This could have done with being a slightly longer scene. I would have liked to have heard more dialogue of him working out what is going on, at least see him reaching some sort of irrational conclusion or using some backwards logic to show why Marie is wrong and Cate is innocent. But without it, there are a lot of assumptions the viewer must make here. This is a scene that made me feel the writers were bolting for the finish.
However, he swoops in and accuses Marie of “attacking [her] own kind”. Let’s be real right now, how did he know that Marie blew up Cate’s arm? She did it with the KINETIC side of her powers and as shown in previous series of THE BOYS, Homelander can’t detect people using that power. He would have just seen her arm blow up. Also how does he know they were both supes? Where did he get that conclusion from? Has he also been watching since episode 1?
Another thing, if he did know they were both supes didn’t he see that they were both fighting supes? Which would mean Cate also be in the wrong in Homelander’s eyes?
This could have done with being a slightly longer scene. I would have liked to have heard more dialogue of him working out what is going on, at least see him reaching some sort of irrational conclusion or using some backwards logic to show why Marie is wrong and Cate is innocent. But without it, there are a lot of assumptions the viewer must make here. This is a scene that made me feel the writers were bolting for the finish.
DOES CATE KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS?
Cate. This girl cannot decide what side she is on but at one point she very much becomes TEAM ANTI-SHETTY. When this happens, she is pestered to reveal what information she knows to help the team. This was to build trust back up with the team and help them to take Shetty down.
Cate tells them what she knows and says she will help make Shetty talk and also give herself up whilst the rest of the team dangerously investigate her office for clues as to what she is up to.
When Cate confronts Shetty in her house, the following exchange happens:
SHETTY: We are leaving. Together. After I’ve tied up a few loose ends, then all of the sacrifices, all of the hard work will finally pay off.
Cate: You want to make us sick.
Hang fire. How do you know that? Why did you not bring this up before when you were asked what you knew? Why have you sent your friends into a dangerous espionage scenario to discover information you already know? It doesn’t make any sense!
If you wanted to, you could argue that Cate wanted to be alone and knew she was going to kill Shetty when she walked in there but…that doesn’t make sense either.
The first big hole in this theory is Andre was originally with Cate and only left because his dad got sick, which is obviously something Cate had no part of and couldn’t have predicted. If this had not happened, Cate wouldn’t have been alone with Shetty at any point.
Secondly, killing Shetty before she has shared/confirmed the virus exists with another party other than herself doesn’t make any sense (how many times have I said this now). This is why Cate waits until the team arrive. To reveal this information. Cate seems to want to use the information to justify killing Shetty and to try and persuade the team that this is the way forward for them to get justice.
This is another one of those moments that didn’t need to be in there. If Cate had just discovered this information from this interaction it would actually justify her somewhat in her getting emotionally unstable and killing Shetty.
Instead, it’s now a line that I remember the most whilst watching the final few episodes. A line that underlines the laziness in the writing. Either the writers weren’t talking to one another or were just focused on writing their scenes but the majority of these plot holes and nitpicks, to me, come down to a team not talking to one another. Which is a massive shame as most of this series is really good.
Cate tells them what she knows and says she will help make Shetty talk and also give herself up whilst the rest of the team dangerously investigate her office for clues as to what she is up to.
When Cate confronts Shetty in her house, the following exchange happens:
SHETTY: We are leaving. Together. After I’ve tied up a few loose ends, then all of the sacrifices, all of the hard work will finally pay off.
Cate: You want to make us sick.
Hang fire. How do you know that? Why did you not bring this up before when you were asked what you knew? Why have you sent your friends into a dangerous espionage scenario to discover information you already know? It doesn’t make any sense!
If you wanted to, you could argue that Cate wanted to be alone and knew she was going to kill Shetty when she walked in there but…that doesn’t make sense either.
The first big hole in this theory is Andre was originally with Cate and only left because his dad got sick, which is obviously something Cate had no part of and couldn’t have predicted. If this had not happened, Cate wouldn’t have been alone with Shetty at any point.
Secondly, killing Shetty before she has shared/confirmed the virus exists with another party other than herself doesn’t make any sense (how many times have I said this now). This is why Cate waits until the team arrive. To reveal this information. Cate seems to want to use the information to justify killing Shetty and to try and persuade the team that this is the way forward for them to get justice.
This is another one of those moments that didn’t need to be in there. If Cate had just discovered this information from this interaction it would actually justify her somewhat in her getting emotionally unstable and killing Shetty.
Instead, it’s now a line that I remember the most whilst watching the final few episodes. A line that underlines the laziness in the writing. Either the writers weren’t talking to one another or were just focused on writing their scenes but the majority of these plot holes and nitpicks, to me, come down to a team not talking to one another. Which is a massive shame as most of this series is really good.
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I never got into Game of Thrones, so don’t know how annoying the final season is, but I have heard tales of how you can just tell it was rushed. Watching the final 2 episodes of this show definitely made me feel like that. That we, as an audience, needed to see this story’s end.
Of course there is going to be a second season, and of course I will watch, but I think this is a show that needs taking to a basement and experimented on to see if there can be any improvements made. What do you think? Can you make any of these plot holes make sense? Can you point out any others? Email: [email protected] Or Tweet me @ProJub |