The Tick S01E04 Review: Walter's Party

The Tick, Season 1, Episode 4: Party Crashers

This episode begins with wrapping up last episode's cliffhanger of the Tick falling out of the window. And, of course, the big man is fine (you're really stupid if you think a fall from a building is going to kill the Tick) but the way that they showed his train of thought as he fell and grabbed onto a flag pole, and Overkill's subsequent reactions, before absconding with Arthur's little conspiracy investigation stuff, is pretty funny.

This episode's a lot more focused on the comedy even compared to the previous episodes, now that all the whole 'will you answer the call of destiny' questions from the Tick has been answered with a meek "eeeeh, I guess" by Arthur. Oh, and also the fact that people are telling him that the Terror is alive -- Overkill believing it is so kind of riles up Arthur. We learn a couple of names like Project Achilles and Doctor Karamazov and stuff, and one thing leads to another... and the Tick crashes on Arthur's place for the night. This leads to him letting a homeless dude, Tinfoil Kevin, into Arthur's apartment, and later on when Arthur has to show up at his foot-obsessed stepfather's birthday party and deal with a gajilion questions from everyone who isn't Dot about his episode... the Tick, naturally shows up and... he doesn't exactly make a fool of himself, actually, but Arthur clearly doesn't want him around. Arthur doesn't want him there, and neither does Dot (who thinks the Tick is a bad influence, if not a criminal per se).

Oh, and Lint also shows up at the party, because the moth suit or whatever has bonded to Arthur. And of course the Tick doesn't recognize her, despite repeated attempts by Arthur to get him to notice. Lint gets Arthur to wear the suit, except the instructions for the suit is in another language... and confirmation that Lint wants to hunt down the Terror herself makes Arthur finally decide to fight back. He did at least manage to get the hell away from Lint by sheer luck and a vacuum cleaner (which neutralizes Lint's electricity attacks somehow?). But Ramses's people are coming, Lint has stumbled out of the house in pursuit of Arthur... who's flapping around on the moth suit because he can't really control it. This is Arthur finally showing his backbone after three episodes of being basically a victim, realizing that he does need to keep the suit away from the bad guys' hands.

There is also a weird subplot running in the background of Superion, majestic guardian of Earth, having to fly down and deal with a giant naked man. Oh, and a weird scene of Lint having to deal with her irritating ex-husband who still shares the house with her which I really felt wasn't as funny as the rest of the episode. 

The episode is a lot sillier, but we do get a lot more Tick and the dude's absolutely hilarious. Between the comedy and Arthur going through some character growth, the episode's certainly pretty fun to watch.