THE TICK FINALE Television 

Five Thoughts on The Tick‘s “Choose Love!”

By | June 12th, 2019
Posted in Television | % Comments

Welcome to Multiversity Comics’ “Five Thoughts” on The Tick. As is customary here at Multiversity Comics, these “5 Thoughts” will regard generally anything that crosses my mind while watching the episode, along with a dash of criticism here and there as I deem necessary. However, the 5th thought is always a collection of the episode’s most quotable lines: perhaps the strongest aspect of any iteration of “The Tick.” Keep in mind that there will be spoilers, so tread lightly. All that said, please enjoy my thoughts on the final episode of season two (and this iteration of The Tick, in general): “Choose Love!”

1. “That’s the answer: gotta get self-centered!”

Knowing now that we’re probably not going to see a continuation of this live action iteration of The Tick, it’s appreciated that the only real cliffhanger the show runners leave us with is with Superian’s story. Out of all of the myriad stories that season 2 had to offer, Superian’s thread is probably the one you could leave dangling while doing the least damage to the legacy of the show. Whether that was a conscious choice on the part of Ben Edlund & company or not, it is a smart way to end the season. Superian opens the season finale taking a leisurely walk on the moon, lost in his own thoughts and taking all the wrong advice from an earlier conversation he had with Arthur. Arthur told him to “center himself” and he reads that as “time to get self-centered” as he mulls over the idea of reversing the Earth’s rotation (one of a few nods to the Richard Donner Superman films that this season had to offer) to take the people of Earth back to a time when they unequivocally loved him. If that’s not taking the entirely wrong message, I’m not sure what is.

By the end of the episode, he’s found by what is presumably a spaceship piloted by members of his former alien race, who appear to have been looking for him for some time and consider him a “fugitive” at this point. Superian has spent the entire season essentially isolating himself further and further from the main cast of characters and the people of Earth in general. Were the show to go on to a third season, I would almost wonder whether Superian would be written off the show. If he’s brought in by his native people, I’m not sure there’s a Tick story there to be told. As it is, it plays like a cliffhanger, but because he’s literally so far removed from everyone else, there’s not much of a thread hanging there that affects anyone else.

2. “Destiny’s on the phone!”

Early on in the season, we saw The Tick recognize something special within Dot Everest before anyone else in her life could see it. In this episode, The Tick cites Destiny again, showing a warm enthusiasm at seeing Dot following her own path. Dot’s arc comes full circle, with her helping defeat the rogue leader of A.E.G.I.S. “Acting Agent Commander Doctor Agent Hobbes” and saving Overkill by confidently using her newly developed powers of precognition. The Everest siblings seemed to be the emotional center of the show, but the finale really points out how much “family” in general is a central theme. As Dot and Arthur reconnect with their mother, and Walter/John Wu finds forgiveness for his secret-keeping, even the Tick gets in on the group hug, becoming a de facto member of the Everest family. I’ve said it all along but The Tick found a sense of warmth and empathy in season 2 that it exuded all the way to the end, never turning into something cynical or afraid to be itself.

3. “There’s the Lint we know and know!”

Perhaps the most satisfying closure that the season finale had to offer came in the way of Miss Lint’s character arc coming full circle. Honestly, I thought about all the ways Miss Lint’s story could go and I never came to this conclusion, and nothing I thought of was as good as what the show decided to do with her. The episode begins with Hobbes making Lint an offer that she seemingly can’t refuse: leadership of the Flag Five (and the keys to the proverbial castle). The show does a brilliant turn by potentially putting Lint in the same situation she was in during season 1: that of a villain “team leader” doing all the dirty work and getting little of the credit. Then, it was in full villain mode for The Terror, while here it would be in bureaucratic villain cleanup for Hobbes himself. Without calling too much attention to the similarities, the viewer themselves can see the potential dissatisfaction with her lot in life. When it’s revealed that Lint is using her new role to steal A.E.G.I.S. equipment out from under Hobbes’s nose, distracting him just long enough for her lackeys to get the job done and escape, and basically setting up Hobbes to be easily dispatched by Arthur, it’s a huge fist-pumping moment. Lint is a villain again, but it didn’t happen the way I thought it would.

Continued below

4. “Thrakkorzog.”

I don’t have too much to say about this one, but I wanted to tie up one loose end that I had mentioned in my last column: we finally find out what’s up with the black hole heart in Commander Rathbone’s chest. Apparently it houses a tentacled Lovecraftian horror (and some of the show’s best special effects, by far) that has the ability to jolt Rathbone back to life. The Tick lets its freak flag fly one last time.

5. “Spoon!” Watch

The Tick: “Wow! That was an amazing nipple ride!

Overkill: “I have more words. You are the people…in my life. Goodbye.”

The Tick (his final line on the show): “Spoon!”

That’s right folks, he finally said the thing. And I have to say, it sounded pretty damn good coming out of Peter Serafinowicz’s booming Tick voice. It’s probably the last time we’ll see this version of The Tick again, and I can’t think of a better way for him to go out. Thanks for the memories, Tick. And thank you, dear readers, for following along.


//TAGS | the tick

Vince Ostrowski

Dr. Steve Brule once called him "A typical hunk who thinks he knows everything about comics." Twitter: @VJ_Ostrowski

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