Synthetic Biology

Synthetic biology

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. III

🐬The Deep🐬

The Peak Deep is such a fascinating character due to his utter pathetic excuse for being a superhero. While S4 shows off his strength, durability, and combat abilities, he’s referred to quite accurately as being “just the fish guy” by Annie.

While his abilities appear versatile, him both being able to breathe underwater and speak to aquatic life, they come at the major cost of him being robbed of his humanity by having grown gills in adolescence. This mutation is repeatedly referred to as disgusting by other people, and by his own psyche, all of this acting as a veiled metaphor for the thralls of puberty.

What I find interesting though is how he uses his ability to speak to marine life to have…relations with an octopus in a way that states he’s done this with other aquatic life before. The unfortunate, and honestly tragic aspect of his character is that he has this relationship, and it’s the most dynamic and mutually respectful he has out of every other character he interacts with in the show. This relationship with octopus-Tilda Swinton, Ambrosius, feels so organic because at his core, he believes that humans don’t get him, and I would even go so far as to say he believes this all makes him “subhuman”. He was the fish guy with freakish gills who thought the only way he could catch a date was by manipulating them or relying on his fame and connections. Despite the fact that HE’S in the Seven, he prattles on about how close he is to Homelander, implying that he never viewed his success as legitimate, especially when he has to hide the source of his abilities (his gills) from the world. Much like Noir, they both share aspects of their identity that Vought’s repulsed by, or at the very least resentful of. This may be why McDreamy Noir and him became as close as they did, and could be why Ashley felt so comfortable being verbally hostile to him; he’s so ashamed of who he is and what Compound V made him into he feels like he deserves it.

The Compound V itself gave him the ability to communicate with a world that goes unnoticed and unheard by everyone else. The most heartbreaking aspect of his character is that so many people could relate to his exact plight. When the V kicked in, he was a weird little boy who needed friends. For many of you reading this, that was in the form of internet friends, but in this world, little Kevin found fish, and was able to become part of their world.

Regardless of the origin of his character, his impulsiveness, simple mindedness, and blind devotion to Homelander borders on animalistic at times, this behavior mirroring a loyal pet subservient to a master. Once he fully embraces this role as a drone to his “owner”, he slays octopus-Tilda Swinton in a way symbolic to his own shunning of morality and conscience. His abilities tether him to nature, and yet he’s one of the most corrupt, industrialized men in the show. Any chance he has at redemption he squanders, which proves the point that it’s a fish eat fish ocean, and he understands he’s nowhere near the shark Homelander is.