“The Beginning of the End” is a pretty weighty title for a comedy show. We know the show has been picked up for a 10-episode 2nd season already, so there’s little fear that we won’t see these characters (or this column) again. The finality of it is an illusion, and if you peek ahead, the title of the next episode even imbues the whole thing with some hope. But for now, we’ll be talking about the penultimate episode of The Tick season 1, and crossing our fingers that the finale satisfyingly wraps it all up next week. As always, there are spoilers for this episode found below, so you’ll want to watch it before reading. I’m just gonna go ahead and assume you did.
1. Superian spills
As the VLM marches on, Superian recovers on Arthur’s couch and we learn an awful lot about him in just a short amount of time. Superian has been presence since the very first episode (remember his appearance on “Whoopi”, the Whoopi Goldberg hosted daytime talkshow?), but we haven’t really learned much about him. He’s basically “Superman” in creator Ben Edlund’s world, but with a comically aloof personality and just a little bit of vanity. In this episode, we kind of see where that comes from.
In a surprising moment of honesty, Superian admits that he was only so outwardly adamant that The Terror was dead because it helped him soak up the adulation of the masses. Perhaps the big bismuth helped give Superian a little verbal diarrhea? Whatever the case, it’s a big deal that Superian would be so forthcoming, showing a flawed side of him that isn’t exactly sinister but doesn’t necessarily endear him to us. That is, until he expresses regret about what he’s done. Ultimately, he tells Arthur that he wants to be a better person and I think both Arthur and the viewers can generally believe him.
2. Destiny Duo
When this half-season kicked off, I remarked that I wanted to see “The Tick and Arthur” together again as the dynamic duo we’ve known them to be across decades now. For my money, the show is at its best when these two are bouncing off of one another, and the chemistry between Serafinowicz and Newman is probably its strongest aspect. We’ve now spent the better part of the season with the Tick continually exasperating and relying upon Arthur, while also pushing him out of his comfort zone and causing him to take charge of his life. The standard pattern of this has been to reveal an insecurity in Arthur, have the Tick proffer something ridiculous in an attempt to shake Arthur out of it, and ultimately having the Tick spout something about “destiny” or some such unquantifiable thing. In “The Beginning of the End”, not only do the Tick and Arthur overtly acknowledge the emotional bond they’ve built, but Arthur begins to believe in the Tick’s version of destiny. He embraces it with a wavering voice and fear in his eyes, but he embraces it nonetheless, and The Tick remains at his side every step of the way as they prepare to take on the VLM. It’s a strong moment.
3. Wrecked ’em? Damn near killed ‘im
Ey, I thought it was funny that they had to pick Big Bismuth particles out of the Tick’s ass, what do you want from me?
4. Super-Psychosexual
Ah yes, the “superhero sexual politics” trope rears its horny head in this one. Long hinted at in the history of superhero comics, but made famous by Alan Moore’s “Watchmen”, it was only a matter of time before the idea that costumed vigilantism is some sort of stand-in for sex would make its way over to The Tick, especially with this being a more mature interpretation of the fiction. In “The Beginning of the End”, Miss Lint tortures Overkill with electricity and he responds with a very convincing mix of agony and ecstasy. Several not-so-coded references are made to “doing this all night” and things of that nature. The kind of stuff you’d only miss if you were less than 12 years old or half-asleep.
I’m not about to write an essay on the psychosexual politics of superheroes, as it’s been done before by people a million times smarter than me who don’t recap comic book shows in their spare time. But I do want to point out how it throws a weird wrinkle into what I had pegged as a budding relationship between Overkill and Dot Everest. Dot finds Lint and Overkill, uh, doing their thing, and it’s as obvious to her as it is to the viewer: there’s some messed up, unresolved shit going on here. What seemed like an easy pick for a face-turn, “get-the-girl” opportunity for Overkill has become a lot more complicated. He’s still got some stuff to work out.
Continued below5. “Spoon!” watch
Superian: Am I flying right now? I feel very “up.”
Walter: That’s a fun word to say, isn’t it? “Croissant.” I also like “pamplemousse.”
The Tick: Vaya con destiny, Amigo.
