If you've been watching The Boys season 4, then I'll give you some advice: if you were planning on watching spin-off show Gen V, then do it before you watch episode 5, which came out on Thursday, June 27.
This newest episode of the long-anticipated fourth season of superhero drama The Boys is called "Beware of the Jabberwock, My Son", a reference to a line from Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky". This reference makes sense when you consider that the line is telling a boy not to search for a dangerous monster, and that's what our main characters do in the episode.
However, we're not talking about the main story of The Boys season 4 episode 5 — the episode's big Gen V spoilers come from the episode's side story. This depicts "V52", a fan festival for Vought's superhero movies (which is a clear shot fired at Disney's similar annual convention) and it reveals what happens at the end of Gen V.
If you missed it, Gen V is a spin-off to The Boys which came out in September 2023, and it's a high-school drama set at the Godolkin University for superheroes-in-training. More so than most spin-offs, it had a lot of cross-over with the main series of The Boys with many appearances from that show's cast, and its story also had implications for the world of the main show.
While Gen V was pretty popular when it came out, it's definitely not for everyone. While The Boys has wide appeal, tackling global mass media and political issues, the fact that Gen V takes place at an American college (and is clearly aimed at this kind of viewer too in its writing and performances) means that it's not quite as fun for an international audience.
This is initially why I skipped Gen V: after watching one episode, I realized that I (as a non-American) wasn't the target audience, and left it alone... until excitement for The Boys season 4 prompted me to push through. So far I'm halfway through Gen V, watching it while I wait for episodes of The Boys season 4.
However, I'm not sure if I will anymore, as episode 5 has confirmed things about the ending of the show (obviously I won't give details as to what exactly it spoils). It's shown me at least two characters who'll survive until the end of Gen V (one of whom I was sure wouldn't last until the finale) and it's shown me which "side" these two characters end up on (their scene with Homelander near the end of the episode skips me straight to the end of their character arcs).
Elsewhere in the episode, Butcher also gives us a quick plot summary of another sub-plot to Gen V, about what experiments are going on in Godolkin University's lab, which again spoils the secrets that Gen V was slowly drip-feeding us.
It's always great when a spin-off show ties into the series it's based on, but I would have liked Gen V to be woven a little more neatly and subtly into The Boys, so that there are still reasons to watch the college story — even some kind of disclaimer about spoilers would help so that you know to catch up on Gen V first.
Bear in mind that the spin-off show had only been out for around 9 months when it was spoiled, and not everyone watches streaming TV shows straight away.
With only one final season remaining for The Boys, at least I'll know to watch the second season of Gen V before I jump into that final batch of episodes. And other rumored The Boys spin-offs, like one set in Mexico and one centering on Jeffrey Dean Morgan's new character, will likely come out after the main series has wrapped, so spoilers won't be an issue.
But don't make my mistake: if you were ever going to watch Gen V, do it now before you continue streaming The Boys season 4.
