The Tick – Season 1 Review

The Tick

Amazon’s new rendition of The Tick couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ve grown a bit jaded by the slow, brooding pace of the Marvel/Netflix shows. The Tick is nearly the polar opposite with a protagonist (Tick) who is overly optimistic all the time, even as real-world violence takes place around him. That can be a little jarring at times, since the show’s heroes and villains are so goofy yet revel in the occasional F-word and blood-spurting murder. But I also really appreciate that the show’s universe allows these super characters to be goofy and over-the-top while the civilians are still regular, old, normal people. The Tick’s “Saturday morning cartoon” behavior can be pretty funny when the people around him look at him like he’s crazy.

On the topic of crazy, though, the show first suggests that Tick is nothing more than a figment of Arthur’s imagination, and I was really worried that that would end up being the case. The Tick needs more people than just Arthur to play off of his childishness. Fortunately, they drop the “imaginary friend” angle by the end of the second episode. However, it does still take a long time for Arthur to not only realize that Tick is real but that he’s not going away. I know it’s important to establish Arthur’s character and motives, but with only six episodes, I didn’t want us wasting the whole season on the reluctant hero storyline. It’s in the final episodes where Arthur accepts his destiny that the show becomes really fun and funny.

What also makes the show work so well in the second half is that we have a much bigger cast of characters by then. Anti-hero Overkill is a great addition, because his brutal methods are so at odds with Tick’s. It smells of Daredevil vs. Punisher, sure, but it’s played for laughs. I think my favorite thing about the show, however, is the main villain: the Terror. He doesn’t even have much screen time, but he’s honestly the best comic book villain I’ve seen since… I don’t know, the Joker from The Dark Knight? What made the Joker effective was that he would do random, crazy shit purely for the fun of it. He loved being bad. The Terror is the same way. And isn’t that the perfect foil to a sugary do-gooder like the Tick?

Reviewer

Clark
I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.

Published by

Clark

I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.