Welcome to Multiversity Comics’ “Five Thoughts” on The Tick. Amazon Prime may have dumped the entire series out to us all at once, but this column will be coming out once a week, covering one episode a week, until we reach the end of the season. 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 eighth episode of season two: “Joan!”
1. A Mother’s Love…
I’ve written a lot in this column about Arthur and Dot’s stepfather, Walter, but by contrast not very much about their mother, Joan. Being a secret A.E.G.I.S. agent, Walter has simply been given more to do as a character, while Joan has served the role of merely being the “normie” mom. But just as I’ve praised the show in the past for elevating its supporting characters and giving everyone compelling stuff to do, I have to hand it to the show for finding Joan something significant to do, and for applying the same sense of conscious sensitivity that has been a hallmark of the season. Without Joan’s insight and self-reflection, Arthur himself may not still be in the running to be in the Flag Five. She helps explain away some of the stuff in his file that concerns the interviewer, and it results in a touching moment of mutual understanding between a mother and her son.
But the best scene in the episode occurs when Joan and the Tick are left alone with Lobstercules’s babies, and Tick admits that he has no idea what he’s doing. Destiny has taught him how to be a fighter for justice, but being a “parent” (or even a babysitter, as Arthur more accurately indicates) is completely lost on him. Rather than pretend she has all the answers, especially considering they’re dealing with an entirely different species, Joan assures the Tick that no one really knows what they’re doing as a parent, but that all a parent needs to do is try their best and love their children. That’s an overly simple idea, but the Tick puts a nice point on it (earnest as he always is) by saying that it doesn’t seem like Joan ever makes a parenting mistake. Obviously this isn’t totally true, but it is such a “Tick” moment to have him say something that kind.
2. …and a Walter’s secret
Walter gets some more moments to shine in this episode, too, after finding Dot washed up on the shore after last episode’s big climactic explosion. Just as this episode deals with repairing the disconnect between Arthur and his mother, it does a good bit of work to repair the loss of trust between Dot and her secret spy stepfather (“John Wu”, as he reveals his real name to be). Francois Chau’s performance shines again, as within a very short conversation with Dot, he plays a multitude of emotions. Towards her, he exudes love, regret, apologia, and reassurance, all within the span of just a few lines. It doesn’t hurt that the bit is really nicely written. Dot is upset that he kept his real identity from their family for so long, and Walter understands and acknowledges her feelings, but he also calls it an age old story: the spy who fell in love. You can’t blame Dot for her feelings, and you also can’t really blame Walter for following his. More than anything else, The Tick season 2 has been about finding the understanding between people who may normally clash, and this is another great example of that theme.
3. The Flag Five Finalists
If you think about it too much, you begin to realize that season 2 of The Tick hasn’t really had a ton of bad vs. good conflict. What little conflict there has been mostly low grade threats, in other words there’s nothing even close to the threat of “The Terror” from Season 1. But there has been an undercurrent of unease with the goings on at A.E.G.I.S., and Arthur’s efforts to join the Flag Five have perhaps taken more of the conflict spotlight than any villain or personal relationship between the characters. There were early hints that perhaps A.E.G.I.S. would become problematic, and The Tick still shows concerns to that end in this episode. But it doesn’t feel like that aspect of the show is going to wrap up in just two more episodes. I have a feeling that the idea of A.E.G.I.S. harboring some ill intent in forming a new Flag Five is going to go unresolved – left behind for a season 3 that will probably never come. At this point, and even after a slightly rocky interview with A.G.E.I.S. agent Miranda, the Tick and Arthur are still in the running as Flag Five finalists, but with only 2 episodes left, I’m not sure they’re going to be able to do much with their status within the agency.
Continued below4. Superian Slips Up Again
Superian may have flown off the handle in season 2, but through it all he’s shown a real respect for Arthur. In his defense, the world hasn’t really been listening to Superian. Arthur may be the only one who has. I love how this episode begins by making the viewer think that Arthur could have a breakthrough with Superian: getting him to fly back to the Guatemalan jungle pyramid where he left E. Morgan Pearl stranded and flying him back to The City. But when Pearl stammers out an apology to Superian (instead of the other way around), it’s clear to Arthur that Superian still isn’t getting that his behavior is the big problem now. Again, with only 2 episodes to go, I’m not sure Superian is going to get better anytime soon. It feels more and more like we’re going to be left with a Superian in limbo, or one who perhaps even very much becomes the villain for another season we’ll never see.
5. “Spoon!” Watch
The Tick: “Whoa. I muddled my medulla.”
Arthur: “The Tick wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
The Tick: “Unless that fly was a villain!”
Miranda: “Arthur, it says here you’ve had a documented history of mental illness.”
Arthur: “I was actually kind of misdiagnosed.”
The Tick: “As an accountant.”
