WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for the first three episodes of The Boys Season 2, available now on Amazon Prime Video.
Due entirely to his awful actions, the Deep is still depressed and despondent at the start of The Boys Season 2. However, thanks to some help from an organization called the Church of the Collective -- which is coded as a cult -- the former member of the Seven finds a new sort of peace in Season 2's opening episodes.
After getting kicked out of a bar, the Deep heads to a waterpark and gets arrested after causing an incident. He's then bailed out by Eagle the Archer, who gives the former member of the Seven a place to crash. However, Eagle's motives aren't entirely pure, as he's part of a group call the Church of the Collective, and part of their goal seems to be rehabilitate the Deep and have him rejoin the Seven.
Shortly after waking up at Eagle's apartment, the Deep meets Carol, who was responsible for bringing the archer into the church. Both Eagle and Carol try and work on the Deep psychologically and help him to accept himself more readily. But the Deep is resistant at first. When Carol gets him to draw himself, the Deep actually omits his gills, showing he's still got a major problem with that particular part of his anatomy.
Seeing that they're not making progress, Eagle gives the Deep an hallucinogenic tea, which takes the supe on a wild ride. During the trip, a lot of the Deep's terrible actions towards women come to light, and they're explained as being the result of his insecurities about himself. The most instrumental figure in helping the Deep realize his flaws isn't Eagle or Carol, though. Instead, it's his own gills. The Deep hallucinates his gills (which are voiced by Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. alum Patton Oswalt) talking to him. While at first the Deep rejects the talking gills, he soon comes to accept them and their importance in his life.
Later, the Boys have Kenji -- a wanted super terrorist -- captive and are looking to trade him in exchange for having their names cleared of the various charges against them. However, Kenji gets loose and destroys a police helicopter, which puts the event on national news. The Deep sees the broadcast, and Carol encourages him to intervene so that he can redeem himself to the Seven. The Deep then attacks the Boys, forcing them to crash their boat into a whale.
The Seven soon arrive, finally giving the Deep the chance to make amends to talk to them personally. Initially, the Deep -- who is distraught over the whale's death -- tries to make amends, but he's rejected by pretty much every member of the Seven. Starlight -- whom the Deep sexually assaulted -- won't accept his apology, while Stormfront remarks that he's stupid to join the Church of the Collective. Homelander, seeing his former ally's gills exposed, tells him to cover them up, expressing disgust at that part of his anatomy. As the episode ends, the Deep seems no closer to rejoining the Seven, and his newfound self acceptance has been horribly undercut.
Overall, the Deep's journey is one of major disappointment. While he eventually comes to terms with his body, it's unclear just how he'll feel after the Seven reject him. However, he does seem to have new allies in the cult-like Church of the Collective, so there's a very real chance that group isn't done with him yet.
Amazon Studios' The Boys stars Karl Urban as Billy Butcher, Jack Quaid as Hughie, Laz Alonso as Mother's Milk, Tomer Kapon as Frenchie, Karen Fukuhara as the Female, Erin Moriarty as Annie January, Chace Crawford as the Deep, Antony Starr as Homelander, Aya Cash as Stormfront and Simon Pegg as Hughie's dad. New episodes of Season 2 release Fridays on Amazon Prime Video.