The Tick, Season 1, Episode 2: Where's My Mind
The pilot for the Tick, as most pilots are wont to do, is torn between having to set both the the setting of the unique world of superheroes that it presents, as well as the tone it's taking with them -- a combination of deconstruction and parody, while still at the same time trying to tell a relatively serious story. This one starts to go through a bit more of the plot and exploring what's behind Arthur.
And we do get a bit of an action scene, albeit one that's not super-exciting, between the indestructible Tick and the leader of the group of Pyramid Gangsters that attack Arthur's apartment, one Ms. Lint. Who shoots her glass eye out when her electric powers go out of control. It's pretty cool, and after making a Tick-assisted escape, Arthur has to confront something that most savvy viewers are wondering. Is the Tick a second personality within Arthur's mind, or is he simply completely imaginary? It could be a Fight Club style situation, where Arthur blacks out and a far-more-competent alter ego sometimes shows up to fuck shit up. Add that to the Tick's general insanity and obsession with destiny and moulding Arthur into a hero, points here Dotty and the shopkeeper talk about how Arthur is alone, and all his talk about being the hero that Arthur always wants to be, and it's easy to really see why. Of course, there are also points in favour of the Tick being real -- like the Tick throwing around gangster cars and blocking lightning blasts while Arthur is still around stuck in that weird moth outfit.
Of course, we quickly establish that, no, the Tick is real. It's a cool thought, I guess, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for a show about the Tick to not actually feature the real Tick.
The show does manage to build up Arthur and Tick's relationship pretty well, even if we spend part of this episode with Arthur not being sure if the Tick is even real. Arthur's neurotic worldview and general dislike of the Tick's penchant to not think things through (or at all) and all his talk about heroism and justice and destiny... while Arthur just wants to give the moth suit back and be done with all this mess. Cool stuff.
We get some short scenes with the Dottie at the precinct, as well as Ms. Lint as she meets up with her teeth-clenched criminal partner Ramses the Fourth, a colourful character who isn't quite happy at Lint's failures. Their scenes are more of kind of defining who their characters are -- Dottie as the long-suffering supportive sister, and Lint as someone who desperately wants to prove herself, and is highly inspired by her mentor, the Terror.
Not much else happen, I think. We're introduced to a Punisher-style uber-bloody-uber-brutal antihero archetype at the end that gets Arthur seemingly in trouble with the policemen, and we get some funny meta jokes from the Tick talking about how this is Arthur's origin story, how this is the part where he rejects his calling and stuff, knowing just how many superhero stories go through the same beats.
Overall it's still fun, doesn't take itself too seriously, and the show itself is just as bombastic as the Tick himself. It basically forces you to pay attention to it due to how ridiculous it is, yet despite its insanity the charm that it exudes makes you really trust it.
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