Review of The Tick: Season Two

By Dave B.

The second season of The Tick (Amazon Prime) picks up almost immediately after where the first season ended. The Terror is on ice (literally), The Tick and Arthur are the hottest superheroes in town, Overkill is tormented by his oath to Tick not to kill anymore, and Arthur’s sister Dot is traumatized by the destruction wrought by The Terror last season and discovering that she isn’t who she always thought she was. While Tick and Arthur battle a new scourge called Lobstercules, a hidden menace threatens the newly reinvigorated A.E.G.I.S, and the villainess Miss Lint recasts herself as the heroine Joan of Arc.

As you may be able to tell, season two of The Tick draws heavily upon season one and viewers who are new to the series will probably need to start from the very beginning to understand what’s going on. Then again, the plot isn’t the most important aspect of The Tick, so understanding what’s going on isn’t strictly necessary to enjoy the show. That’s because most people are familiar with modern superhero tropes and The Tick joyfully skewers them all. Although there’s much less “stupid” humor this season (which is a real shame since that’s my favorite kind of humor, when done right) The Tick ramps up the satire, intelligently showing how ridiculous some aspects of the superhero entertainment industry are, while still demonstrating why many of us love the genre despite and because of those same aspects, such as overly brooding heroes, redemption arcs, and heroes who aren’t really heroes and villains who aren’t really villains.

villains are appealing, to completely absurd and hilarious plot devices like the human furniture cartel. My two favorite elements in this new season are the budding relationship between Dot and Overkill and the steady, rapid decline in the sanity of Superian, the show’s social media obsessed Superman analogue. Dot and Overkill are a great combination as Overkill’s morose and unquestioning acceptance of…just about everything allows Dot the emotional space to discover herself and learn that she doesn’t have to fit into the role that society has always expected of her. And in many ways, Superian is a much more realistic depiction of how Superman may have turned out if he were fully immersed in modern culture. Superian’s decline of popularity on social media sends him on a declining emotional spiral that may end with the death of everyone on Earth as he debates spinning the Earth backwards to turn back time to a point when he was still universally beloved.

In short, The Tick’s second season is fantastic. It manages to become more intelligent than the first season was, while still remaining funny. The characters are truly interesting and well-acted and the plot is engaging enough that viewers will want to see what happens next. It’s far and away the easiest show to binge watch that I’ve seen in 2019 (helped by the fact that the season only consists of 10, 30-minute episodes) and I highly recommend it. If you’ve watched the first season, this one is a must-see! And if you haven’t seen season one, I highly suggest that you check it out. It’s good on it’s own and will make you enjoy season two all the more. 

Rating 8.5/10