Is The Deep In Too Deep?
Can The Deep ever truly redeem himself on The Boys?
Out of all the imaginary superpowers in all the fictional worlds, talking to sea creatures is the one that gets shat on the most. Before Jason Momoa turned Aquaman into an unfunny, not charming surfer bro, he was often seen as a joke especially when standing next to superheroes with powers like Superman or a badass like Batman. Every team needs a punching bag and for The Boys and The Seven, that poor unfortunate soul is The Deep.
Injected with the ability to psychically communicate with sea creatures, breathe underwater for as long as he wants due to his gills, and enhanced strength and durability, The Deep’s powerset should actually earn him more respect than he gets. But after what he does in the very first episode of Amazon Prime the series, respect will have to be earned back, but does he even deserve it?
Obviously a riff on Aquaman, The Deep is actually African-American in Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s comic. Much like how most think that Aquaman is a joke because “all he can do is talk to fishes”, The Deep is mostly on the receiving end of ridicule from his fellow teammates in The Seven. However, this was all made worse because of the color of his skin and, unlike the Justice League, The Seven are made up of mostly a bunch of cunts. He’s not only treated as a joke by his own teammates, however, and when he’s sent to deliver an ominous message to Butcher and The Boys, his threats, and him, are easily dismissed and not taken seriously. Even Frenchie can’t help but laugh at him when he emerges from the water during a meet that The Boys and The Seven take part in.
In the Amazon Prime show, The Deep, whose real name is Kevin Moskowitz, is caucasian but still seen as the joke of the team but at least he’s not wearing a stupid diving helmet. He feels that Vought only calls on him for water-based attacks and he’s the one tasked with showing Starlight around Vought Tower in the first episode. This leads to him demanding oral sex from her to solidify her place in The Seven, something that in the comic he is ironically enough not involved with. Eventually, Starlight would come forward with her story and Vought have no choice but to put him on sabbatical from the team which, as the season progresses, he obviously doesn’t handle very well. This leads The Deep to become more of a tragic character, searching for purpose and a way back into the good graces of Vought and The Seven. His exploits in the first season even lead him to attempt to free a dolphin, a scheme that ends in brutal, yet hilarious, tragedy.
As the first season moves to its end, Kevin is still nowhere close to being back in The Seven and he seems to be falling deeper (pun intended) into depression. As the second season begins, he’s bailed out of jail by a fellow Supe, Eagle the Archer. He introduces The Deep to Carol of the infamous Church of the Collective which starts him down his road to recovery and redemption in hopes that it will lead him back into the ranks of The Seven which, by the end of the season, still doesn’t happen. Along the way, things like conversations with his gills and marrying some twit that annoys him just for better publicity lead to some of the season’s funniest moments, which creates even more distance between what he did to Annie and where he is during season two.
The Deep’s arc began in a very dark place and his assault of Starlight immediately painted him as possibly one of the worst members of The Seven. Since then, however, he’s been on his road to recovery, and his deep depression cast a somewhat sympathetic light on him since being benched. Maeve even asks him for help finding footage of Homelander letting a plane crash into the ocean killing everyone on board in exchange for good publicity. He obliges and the footage plays an important part at the end of the season as it’s the reason why Homelander lets The Boys escape with his son, Ryan. As season two progresses, he also becomes more and more of a comedic character with some of the situations he finds himself in, as what he did to Annie is pushed even further into the past. The only reminder of what he’s done comes after his pursuit of The Boys, as he’s reunited with The Seven on the beach following a horrific scene with a whale named Lucy. The Deep tells Starlight that he’s sorry for what he did and that he would do anything to be forgiven, but his plea falls on deaf ears as both Starlight and super-crazy Nazi bitch Stormfront quickly dismiss him.
In no short time, The Deep goes from sexual predator to sympathetic figure to comedic gold with a splash of heroism. However, the severity of his crime isn’t lessened with his actions after the crime and he still doesn’t feel like a truly remorseful character. The Deep is looking for his way back into The Seven and the positive public eye, and his depression doesn’t come from what he’s done to Annie but from what it cost him. Him helping Queen Maeve also doesn't come from a place of good, but rather the positive publicity promised to him. So while it gets harder and harder to hate The Deep as his life gets more tragic and in some cases funnier, redemption should still be nowhere close for him until it feels like’s actually sorry for what he did to Starlight and not just sorry that he got caught.
Of course, Chace Crawford’s performance makes it hard to truly despise The Deep. Crawford oozes charm which works for both aspects of the character. That smarmy charm and smirk make what he does to Starlight believable, and on the flip side, that charm and smirk also make it hard to hate him when he heroically stands on a beach atop a giant whale or takes part in a calendar shoot. Crawford was a risky casting choice because of the “pretty boy” reputation he gained from starring in Gossip Girl but one that more than paid off. Karl Urban and Anthony Starr get most of the plaudits (and with good reason), and season two’s Aya Cash also received heaps of praise for her portrayal of Stormfront, but Crawford also deserves his fair share of attention for being able to play a character that goes from complete asshole to somewhat likable scoundrel as convincingly as he does.
At the end of season two, The Deep thinks that he’s back in The Seven but it turns out that A-Train is the Supe returning to take Stormfront’s place. Angry and bitter at the Church, The Deep delivers one of the most meme-able lines of the series so far as he declares “Fuck Fresca!” before leaving. It’s a hilarious quip, backed with the knowledge that he’s still not back on the team but is it a reaction that, after what he did to Starlight, he’s earned?
So while The Deep remains on the sidelines, it’s obvious that he’s becoming more and more likable with his underdog story and the often hilarious situations that he puts himself in. While the crime that got him ousted from The Seven should never be forgotten, it feels like The Deep is one heroic act, or one hilarious incident, away from becoming one of the most liked characters on the show, whether he deserves it or not.
