The Tick S01E11 Review: Science Is Not Exact Science

The Tick, Season 1, Episode 11: The Beginning of the End

So we get a bit of clarification about the whole VLM/Superion plot here, with the reason that Superion being super-dizzy and alternating between knocked-out and barely-lucid is because apparently the Tick is covered from head to toe (as well as in some... other regions, as Kevin notes) in Big Bismuth when he blew up the Terror's factory all the way in the first episode, and it actually sort of makes sense that Superion only falls down when Arthur and the Tick show up in the apartment. And since we, the audience, mostly follow Arthur and the Tick's POV, it's a clever bit of foreshadowing that makes absolute sense. 

We also get the explanation of the one other thing about this whole-blown conspiracy not mentioned in the previous episode, which is the role of Arthur's moth suit. The Terror has built in a transmitter into the moth suit, which is why he allowed Arthur to abscond with it. The transmitter would cause the VLM to explode, destroying the city and unleashing a lot of Big Bismuth to kill Superion in the process. So yeah, it's a crazy plan, but there's a sense of dark sociopathy in that the Terror knowingly picked Arthur out for his connection with the whole Terror/Flag Five tragedy -- probably the same reason the Terror chose the dude that found his teeth to become the VLM. 

What the Terror didn't count on was Arthur allying himself with Karamazov, someone who can explain what the shit's going on. And Karamazov modifies the switch to shrink the VLM instead of blowing him up. And when Arthur asks him what the chances of it working is, Karamazov gives us that glorious quote ("science is not exact science, you know?"). The Tick is pretty reasonably indignant about this, knowing that Arthur cannot withstand explosions, and demands that he wear the suit -- but, y'know, he's a giant. And this is the crux of Arthur's storyline in this season. He's finally outgrown his cowardice and his desire to be involved but as quickly hand it over to the authorities, and embrace the mantle of being a hero. It's a pretty awesome moment as Arthur and Tick show up inn the pathway of the VLM (who, again, despite the rather spotty CGI still manages to work reasonably well).

Oh, and Arthur's parents are in the same city that the VLM is charging to, which Tick notes with a "goodness, more stakes!"

Meanwhile, Lint and Overkill explore their past relationship -- they were once in love, but Lint used her relationship with Straight Shooter to gain access codes to fuck up the Flag Five (was it the same fuck-uppery that caused the Flag Five's death?). It's a fair bit of well-acted emotion thrown in some torture scene, layered above the love triangle between Lint, Overkill and Dot. It's interesting that Lint sees an out in having Overkill kill Terror, showing that Lint might actually betray the Terror at some point in the series. Dot shows up to save Overkill with the tried-and-true usage of water to disable an electrical supervillain (apparently no one writing these superhero movies ever played Pokemon), all the while muttering about how the two of them really do need therapy. Dot's awesome. I like her. 

Overall, a pretty smashing build-up to the first season's finale. This episode is mostly about wrapping up the character developments of Arthur, Overkill and Dot, but I don't mind it. It's still one hell of a fun episode and a great setup piece at that.