Redemption Within 'The Boys' (The Boys Short Essay) 

No one understands how deep the deep is

Idk if A Train and The Deep could ever truly redeem themselves but they definitely can try to help defeat Homelander or help out The Boys like atonement. We know they can't really make up for all the wrong these two have done but they can help prevent any more harm.

I think A-Train is trying to redeem himself, he’s just been a jerk so long that it’s genuinely hard for him, and I feel like Deep is gonna have a crazy unexpected redemption/usefulness arc

Honestly I feel A-Train have higher chance to kinda redeeming himself

Personally I hope they don’t try and force a redemption arc for the deep. I honestly like that it seems like his story arc is gonna be him spiraling and doubling down and becoming worse as time goes on. We’ve already seen that he has never shown real remorse for what he did to Starlight and probably numerous other women and the fact he did that alone makes him irredeemable in my book. But I like that the writers seem to have the same idea, given how he’s continuing to do awful things

Imagine how interesting would be for in Season 4 to be a scene where they are willing to help the Boys against Homelander and the people they reach out to are both Hughie and Starlight, the two people who they both set of on their journey.

A-Train did snitch on Supersonic however. I think A-Train and the Deep are stuck out of fear doing whatever Homelander tells them. A-Train at least doesn’t have a senator in his kill count, but there’s little wiggle room for him to actually acting against Homelander and he’s been shown that him doing what he believes is right did nothing but make Bluehawk a martyr and finally destroy his relationship with his brother.

I don’t think the deep should be redeemed. He was on the route to improvement, but only through the help of others. He has proven in season 3 that he is too despicable to be redeemed.

I hope A-train gets redeemed, but the Deep is just too pathetic. Not just his powers but how he grovels from person to person, both the cult and to homelander

The deep? More like the peak ain’t nobody tops him

While A-Train seems to be trying to redeem himself (Except for getting Supersonic killed), I don’t really see how The Deep is changing, he still is pretty much the same Asshole he was in Season 1, sure he’s got a manipulative terrible Wife and he was forced to eat Timothy but I can’t really see how he has changed.

I hated A-Train in the first two seasons. He lacked the quiet, sinister nature of Homelander, the sympathy of Mauve, the odd comedy beats of Black Noir, or how pathetic and amusing Deep could be. A-Train just seemed like a hate sink. The third season was very good to him, and the actor really knocked it out of the park.

A-Train fumbled the redemption arc when he ratted out supersonic, he won't be redeemed unless it's revealed that homelander lied about him ratting out supersonic

I love how none of them just turned to the other side immediately but instead portrait them as feeling worse and worse about themselves

You're just mad the deep pulls

They haven't redeemed themselves yet, but both have a chance. They're the only characters on the show outside the Boys to apologize and show even a little remorse for their actions. Which means it's possible for them to change, in A-train's case I think it would be a waste if they didn't after they gave him the perfect send off but didn't kill him

"You'll teach me to outrun cancer?" This burn gave A-Train his heart disease

Honestly, the only way I see them redeeming themselves is if they do times for their crimes. They need to show that supes arent above the law, even if they do help take down a tyrant. They still murdered and assaulted numerous people.

I’m gonna be honest the only way I see these two getting redemption is in a Better Call Saul like way where they end up in jail but finally find peace with themselves and finally pay for all of the horrible shit they did

I wish I could see homelander redeem himself as the original definition of a Superhero! Like go from Villain to Anti Hero to a fully benevolent Meta Human

the peak

3:41 To be fair, Blue Hawk being killed is the closest to justice they'll get. Chances are he would've gotten a slap on the wrist thanks to his super hero status. Maybe not even that, but Blue Hawk getting away with his actions scott free.

When the deep said it's deepin' time before orally satisfying a mollusk A truly deeper moment

A-train tries to do what he thinks is the right thing, but almost always for the wrong reasons

ik im late to this vid but I think exploring the idea of the deep's power of talking to sea creatures could be kind of interesting way to explore the tradgedy of both his character and powers. Most people (both in our world and the world of the boys) treat sea life as a joke and barely even tolerate the idea of sentience and feelings among fish compared to land based animals. The Deep has the ability to not only to control these animals to some extent but also talk to them on a near human to human level of communication. He then is forced to watch these things that he knows as thinking and feeling beings be killed for both entertainment and food and sometimes even forced to kill them himself. If this is explored at all (i doubt it will because the deep is a horrible person and doesn't deserve our empathy) they could easily set up one of the most unique existential dreads in probably all of fiction and could maybe lead to a semi redemption arc?

I would be so dissapointing if A train killed or weakened homelander to the point where it nerfed him so he could be killed.

With A-train it's not so much reddeming as it is facing what he's done, it's always been a cop out for me to have a redemption end with them dying because it would be too awkward to have them keep living after what they've done In a fairytail not at all likely "and everything was ok" style ending think the best outcome for him, is to admit his crimes publicly and use what wealth he has left to help victims of supes.

a train deffinetly has one of the best character arcs. his brother is what is helping keep him grounded. also his guilty concious is showing. love the show and a train is def one of the best characters even if hes not a good guy by definition

As someone from Michigan who went to cedar point a lot(everyone in the Great Lakes region does), respect Sandusky lol

A train kinda goated tbh

Is it just me. Or does The Deep kinda look like Steve Stifler from American Pie? Cause that's pretty fitting...

Deep has an amazing redemption and I hope they do more with it in season 4

Redemption doesn’t mean escaping consequences, if A-Train does redeem himself he wont get off from all the shit he’s done. I hope his is redeemed, His story has actually been amazing and his character is way better than the one note asshole rapist he was in the comic.

Peak sports

0:34 you were gonna say children. You think youre clever but i caught you

Homelander would cure cancer by killing everyone with it

That was diabolical. Super enjoyed your review Broski, laughed pretty good a few times too 😂

I didn’t really pick up on, when A-train changed his suit, how exactly did he do it in the wrong way?

good video also I think your right about The Deep not getting a redemption also I actually like Aqua-man to be honest but yah good work man again

i was kinda willing to have A-train redeemed until he got alex killed

I feel like the only way that they can redeem themselves at this point is if they either sacrifice themselves against Homelander, or they lose their powers and go to prison for their Crimes kind of like the end of Better Call Saul.

A Train didnt kill Pop Claw "purely out of a drug addiction" he was towing the company line

i think a-train (also considering season 4) is ABSOLUTELY going to have a redemption arc. he didn’t kill that guy with the bat when HL asked him to, and then gave that evidence to starlight/the boys. the deep however, has mostly become a lolcow character just to laugh at who doesn’t really have much substance. i guess that’s because a lot of people think rape i less redeemable than murder, and i doubt the deep can come back from what he did. if from season 1 he began apologising to starlight and making up for it, maybe, but now we’ve seen he just cares about optics and his career

I want the A train to be a good guy

“You’re being eeeh tooxic personality”

I ain't gonna cap I like the new suit it's the most comic booky suit with its colors and patterns

I'd honestly love to see the Deep have some sort of unlocked potential, where he can control water similar to aqua man and somehow someway him and A Train fight with Homelander. Even injuring homelander would be a win, but they can't defeat him

Good video! I like those kinds of character analysis/essays a lot! I think A-Train's gonna get a redemption arc in S4, due to the whole story with Blue Hawk and his brother, he might try to distance himself from Vought/Homelander and maybe even get information for The Boys (Hughie in particular) like he did w/ Stormfront in S2 as his way of "becoming an actual hero". As for The Deep? I don't rlly see him having any reason to redeem himself bc I saw his arcs more as a "villain origin story" (lol), he's extremely insecure about being amphibian/having gills, he struggles with connecting to "normal" ppl and fears being rejected (which is why he's so quick to change his opinion), now with Cassandra (his wife) gone, I can see him getting into a more toxic/dependent relationship with Homelander (kinda like he's Homelanders pet), just doing whatever Homelander says bc yes sure, he treats Deep like garbage but at least he's not rejecting him. Maybe I read too much into Deep's character but idk, I find the idea of a comic relief character just being with the main antagonist bc they're both kinda pathetic (polar opposites of pathetic but still pathetic) would kinda fit perfectly into the setting of The Boys.

This is a great video

I think A Train will become a informant for The Boys in Season 4. If Homelander finds out he’s a goner. As for the Deep, due to his pathetic nature I think he’ll stick with Homelander for much longer until things get much uglier.

keep it up man good work

0:51 Twitter when someone does something they disagree with

Nah, not gonna forgive A-Train.

I love this show it is a true 💎 and so are your videos.

A-train's suit change was just to get a better public opinion imo

No one cares for Aquaman. Aquaman Movie: Am I a joke to you.

I have more faith of deep than a-train I mean he snitch to homelander and got star lights ex boyfriend killed

Ur page is amazing

I think A.train and Deep will kill each maybe Homelander will make them fight to the death for a Laugh

The Deep doesn't redeem himself though lol.

I feel like they will redeem the deep and atrain at the end at this point they are really just do shit so homelander doesn’t kill them next season given the situation they are in a feel like at least one of them will be redeemed id say at least of one them is probably gonna die at some point next season

IMO, Homelander is more redimable than The Deep.

ok, place your bets, who do you think will have some redemption in the end. Personally I hope that both

Not sure where the line is to call redemption, but A Train is genuinely repentant after losing someone he loves to the actions of an unaccountable supe. This is seen in his sincere apology to Hughey at Herogasm. Being a supe himself, he was able to enact his own revenge and kill that supe. Even benefited from it. But I think he's on a trajectory to gradually become one of the good guys.

I don't think The Deep was genuine in his apology to Starlight at all

I can agree with you about at A-Train but the deep RaP(e)d someone witch is more irredeemable than murder

Spoiler alert : After season 4 episode 4 im kinda rooting for A train... He is one of the good ones now

Ok time to put on my discussion hat on. I’ve recently been told an amazing thing about great storytelling the physical victory vs the conceptual victory. The physical victory is usually seen in B movies or basic action movies, just think the hero beating the villain in a fist fight or shootout it’s cool but it’s simple. The conceptual victory is not only defeating the villain but also defeating what the villain represents the exact opposite, think Luke Skywalker redeeming Darth Vader in Star Wars or Iron Man snapping his fingers in Endgame. Now let’s bring it back to the Boys, it’s pretty clear the main villain is Homelander but what does Homelander represent? Simple “i can do whatever the fuck i want”. Now while not outright said by other characters they all have that mentality A-Train, Deep, Stan, Soldier Boy, Vought you get the idea and while yes they are people in power who can technically do whatever they want it always comes back to bite them because of how reckless they are sooner or later it will catch up to you the only reason why it hasn’t for Homelander yet is because people fear him except our main characters. Now i always had theories has to who would kill Homelander Billy Hughie Ryan Black Noir (he’s still alive) but the best way to end the series and defeat Homelander the conceptual way in my opinion have the 7 become REAL heroes like actual superheroes cause you great power comes great responsibility, and yeah I know the show is satire of the superhero genre but they’re are still shreads of superhero stuff in here just with very flawed characters so imagine all the supes learn said responsibilities with power and arn’t hold back by vought and become they’re own people and real heroes and showing Homelander you need to be held responsible for your actions maybe they don’t even have to kill him maybe it’ll finally hit him and he’ll excial himself just imagine all our characters Billy Hughie Frenchie MM Kimiko Starlight Maeve Deep A-train Ashley ryan black noir grace neuman soldier boy edgar fuck everyone realizing at the end of the show to be held accountable for your actions and being responsible and leading better lifes. I know it’s not the blood bath everyone had in mind for a finale but 2 things one they did that in the comic and it sucked and 2 this would not only be a great supervison of the superhero genre but also of the show 2 all the other finales in the show are big climactic battles but this finale of the show just ends with a “we can do better” message it’s not a big fight but it’s new like i said it’s an eternal conflict rather then an external conflict i think that ending would be perfect. Sorry I know that was long but i had an idea and i wanted to share it and this seemed like the perfect video to do so on.

Both A-Train and The Deep are useless.

8:41 well is character regression a main thing or a huge thing? I'm confused 😁

What about Maeve?

What gets me perplexed is how they both wanted to get back in the Seven soo badly knowing fully well how Homelander is around them/ looming over them. They have soo much fear of him yet they desperately want to work under him. Total suck ups.

the peak*

As frustrating that as their character regression is, it does wonders for the Celebrity commentary theme of the show. Deep throws away all of the efforts he and others put into his self-betterment and learns absolutely nothing as soon as a chance to come back to his celebrity life, only to end up under the Homelander's thumb. And A-Train got fucked by karma harder than anyone in herogasm, he got his spot at the 7 back, but he has to live knowing he only did because of a racist asshole whose the reason his brother is in a wheelchair.

A-Train is just as irredeemable almost as much as homelander imo

I seriously hate A train, I know Homlander is way worst but at least he is entretaining

well but killing Blue Hawk was not a bad thing

Homelander is NOT the main villain of The Boys

3:02

The writing wants A-Train's redemption arc, but honestly I don't feel like he earned it. I don't think he cares about killing Popclaw (his girlfriend who he supposedly loved a lot) or that he effectively sentenced Supersonic to death by snitching and I definitely don't think he cares about Robin after joking about what he did to her. But the writer's narrative doesn't ACTUALLY care about Robin, Popclaw, or Supersonic so we're supposed to forgive and forget since they're disposable love interests. We get references to their deaths, sure, but the characters moved on from it so absurdly fast that it feels like they may as well not count which makes me cringe. The narrative wants us to say, "Oh he's good. Look how he reacted to Blue Hawk's racist bullshit." It's giving me the vibes of a fanfiction written by someone who wants to excuse a bad person by making another worse person their bad reflection. It especially is jarring that A-Train's brother is upset that Blue Hawk didn't get to face a trial... the brother to A-TRAIN, the supe who killed Robin and didn't face any repercussions at all. And the Deep is a bunch of stupid hijinks at this point not a character. In Season 3 he's just around to be a joke to laugh at or to screw fish and that's all. If he was given any character development maybe he could change or grow but I don't see it happening. I actually had hoped that the Deep would reach a breaking point after being forced to eat the octopus friend, but nope, it was just another joke at his expense and meant nothing cause he's back to being himself next episode. Oddly enough and probably unintentionally the writers gave ASHLEY more interesting progression lately than A-Train or the Deep, with Starlight and Maeve begging Ashley to have a shred of decency and not be a selfish minion and in the finale she lets Maeve escape and go into hiding. The writers obviously don't want us to like her cause she's a performative corporate head who mistreats her assistant (personally I think she's the most entertaining comic relief characters with her performative woke stuff and her reactions during fucked up shit); yet her doing that while being stressed out and way in over her head actually counts for more than The Deep's storyline ultimately changing nothing about him and A-Train's actions being excused narratively.

no i disagree with all of your theories and speculations