The Deep Isn’t So Deep on ‘The Boys’ Anymore

Across four seasons, The Boys has had a plethora of great characters, often improving them from the comics or even making their own. Not all such characters have been adapted with grace, however, and The Deep (Chace Crawford) has deliberately been denied the type of arcs given to others. In the first season, he made quite a splash with audiences by sexually assaulting Starlight (Erin Moriarty) on her first day, but his story is left in limbo after the scandal reemerges.

While other characters have increased their complexity in later seasons, The Deep has ironically become even more shallow, losing his identity and purpose just as his plotline became less important to the show itself. Unlike Ashley (Colby Minifie) or A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) in Season 4, who both seek to better themselves but are either limited by their circumstances or forced to keep their actions secret, The Deep is rarely ever provided with sympathy or tragedy to make his story even worth following. Although it might not be the product of bad writing and seems deliberate for a show known to be self-aware, it also makes his character stand out from his more developed contemporaries — and can also be seen as a missed opportunity to make The Deep, well, much deeper.

The Deep Made a Big Splash in Season 1 of ‘The Boys’

It can be argued that A-Train literally creates the biggest impact by killing Hughie’s girlfriend Robin (Jess Salueiro) in The Boys‘ opening scene, but the second most defining moment during the series premiere happens when Starlight is sexually assaulted by The Deep through coercion. While it remains toned down from the original version in the comics, this vile introduction to the Seven proves a founding moment for Starlight’s moral identity, one that comes back to haunt The Deep and his reputation. During most of his scenes, The Deep remains rather one-note in a way similar to most of the Seven. Occasionally, we get insights into his own insecurities, specifically during the hallucination scene involving his gills and talks with his therapist, but very rarely do we learn more about his struggles.

Even in the first season, there were signs that The Deep was not being given enough attention compared to the other members of the Seven. After his exile to Toledo, he is left with little to do and his scenes feel like filler in a show with deeply layered plots. While witnessing A-Train become addicted to Compound V is both pitiful and sympathetic for viewers to watch, The Deep has no moment of self-reflection while at his lowest point. Like Homelander (Antony Starr) himself, The Deep remains unable to claim responsibility for his actions but lacks the inherent terror or narcissistic tendencies that make Homelander so memorable as an antagonist.

The Deep Has Become a Pure Comic Relief Character in ‘The Boys’

In later seasons, the flat nature of The Deep as a character began to stand out when other characters evolved. In Season 3, Homelander becomes more unhinged and Maeve (Dominique McElligott) regains her faith in superheroes, while A-Train starts down his own path of redemption. By contrast, The Deep has largely remained the same and never progressed as a character. Instead, he simply goes from leaning on one authoritative figure to another, but even this is hardly explored in great detail. During his time in the Church of the Collective, most of his scenes are comedic in nature and revolve around his awkward marriage. Even after leaving the Church, The Deep has simply switched his loyalty back to Homelander in Season 3, where he becomes such an afterthought that he doesn’t even participate in the final battle.

The increasing irrelevance of The Deep has become even more apparent in Season 4, where his growing status as a sycophant to Homelander reaches new heights. Unlike earlier seasons, however, this time he barely even has scenes to himself, and most of his encounters with other characters say more about them instead of him. On the very rare occasions when The Deep does take the time to reflect upon his decisions, they are ultimately still played for laughs above all else. Both his conversations with Ambrosius, for example, specifically included Tilda Swinton as a humorous moment by the writers, not a dramatic one, and his own emotional conflict is handled without the gripping drama that A-Train is simultaneously experiencing.

The lack of a story for The Deep in The Boys‘ fourth season also stands out because of how grand the show itself has since grown in scale. By this point, Vought is now seeking to expand its influence on a political level as well as domination of the world itself. With such high stakes, whatever journey The Deep might still undergo, if it even happens, will likely feel pointless. In short, any potential development for him would be too little, too late, especially with The Boys‘ final season on the way. Perhaps that’s the intention, and the Deep is meant to be the one loyal character who stays loyal to Homelander to the end, whichever way it comes. This is not exactly a horrible writing choice, but it still renders what could have been an interesting character into the shallow archetype Homelander has already perceived him to be.

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The Deep Has An Arc in ‘The Boys,’ But It’s Anticlimactic

Although not as sympathetic as other characters, it would be wrong to say The Deep is a totally flat character. On the contrary, his story appears to be about the loss of his own identity, just as he also becomes less important to the plot of the show itself. What little personality The Deep once had is now mostly gone, replaced by complete loyalty to Vought as he is relegated to marketing material in real life as well as the show. The fact that he was nearly forced to do the same thing he originally did to Starlight just as a test, and would have obliged, is the perfect testament to how far his character has fallen.

This all sounds perfect in principle, but the problem is that The Deep is difficult to relate to as a character, and others have already gone through the same arc. In sharp contrast to The Deep, Ashley struggles with similar questions about loyalty but is more sympathetic due to conflicted emotions and themes surrounding the imbalance of power in the workplace women like her often face. Additionally, she has enough willpower to make attempts to leave and subtly defies Homelander by keeping the survival of Maeve secret, even if she cannot afford to risk outright sabotaging him like A-Train now does.

Both characters have shown two very different ways to undermine the leader of the Seven, but The Deep simply does not have the fortitude to even try making a similar move. Since he is already unsympathetic as a character and makes no major attempt to change, it can feel nearly impossible to root for him in the same way A-Train or Ashley have earned respect from the audience. With so little conflict, The Deep’s arc is not even tragic compared to Ashley, who tries to escape but finds herself blocked at every turn. Instead, The Boys has left us with a major character who has no purpose to himself or others, one likely doomed to fade into obscurity — but maybe that’s the point.

New episodes of The Boys Season 4 premiere every Thursday on Prime Video in the U.S.

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