Tick and Dot help Arthur try to control his flyaway supersuit as the Pyramid Gang pursues them. Miss Lint has an unexpected caller.

Arthur has his suit and we get some excitement in a certain moth suit. Compared to a lot of the previous epidoes this one feels a bit more action packed mixing some jumor with it all as various folks track Arthur and his adventure.

Overkill, Ramses and the Pyramid Gang, and the Tick are all after Arthur and the suit in their own ways that eventually leads to some solid action in what is the first inevitable showdown. But, the episode has fun with that as some tropes are made fun of such as bad guy cliches and good guys at first fighting.

The episode does a good job on contrasting the various heroes in Arthur, the Tick, and Overkill. There’s some conflict, and humor, in that but both aren’t presented enough. That’s a lot of the series in that it feels like it holds things back a bit never fully embracing the humor, the action, or ludicrousness of it all. We get the biggest example in the form of Danger Boat who has so much potential for the over the top nature of it all.

There’s nothing bad about this at all. It’s entertaining and at 20 something minutes an episode it never feels too long or drawn out. But, the series has a theme to it which is that it feels like it plays it safe in many ways and would be better if it just embraced its zany past.

You can watch The Tick now on Amazon.

Overall Rating: 6.95

Tick crashes an Everest family party to convince Arthur’s sister Dot of her brother’s super-heroic destiny. Another more dangerous party-crasher arrives to threaten Arthur and his family.

It’s taken four episodes, but here we finally see some of the humor I expect in a live action The Tick series. The episode takes Arthur to a birthday party for his father where he’s confronted by Miss Lint who needs his help regarding the mysterious suit. The humor is both physical and written and really nails it in a lot of ways.

The Tick comes off as innocent and just plain dumb as he sits enjoying presents being opened in a childlike way that’s somewhat endearing. There’s also his embracing of a homeless person and not remembering a bad guy, this Tick isn’t so much a goofball as he’s pure innocence.

Then there’s some physical humor regarding Arthur’s super suit that’s fantastic as it mocks heads up displays and wearables. It’s just gooy and done in a way that had me snickering.

Then there’s Overkill and hist boat which feels like the worst update to Knight Rider ever… or maybe the greatest.

None of this is laugh out loud funny but it has the underlying silliness of the original two versions. This is just the dry sarcastic brother of them all. It’s a dierent sort of Tick, but one I’m really appreciating in its reserved sense of humor.

You can watch The Tick now on Amazon.

Overall Rating: 7.0

Arthur takes a break from hunting the Terror and tries to get back to his safe, normal, and unheroic life as an accountant unaware he’s being stalked by the menacing vigilante Overkill. Tick confesses to an existential crisis.

Overkill has become the focus of The Tick, in a way, as Arthur attempts to go back to his normal life and the series feels like it’s really getting going. Overkill is an anti-hero who’s keen on killing the bad guys.

The Tick continues to make it its own thing as The Tick attempts to get Arthur to be his sidekick and Arthur just wants to be alone. This isn’t a series with lots of fighting of colorful and goofy villains. Instead it’s a muted version of everything and a bit on the serious side. The superheroing is rather limited.

The episode has a lot that’s set up but at the same time ins’t that exciting. Arthur loses the suit, the Tick wants to get Arthur to help him, Overkill hunts Arthur, but the episode feels like it’s just set up for what’s to come. That’s not bad in ay way, it’s just very different in a lot o ways.

The episode has me still interested in seeing what’s next and the more I don’t compare it to what’s come before it, the more I enjoy it. While it’s not the comedic joke a minute I was expecting, it’s still a fun and entertaining addition to the live action superhero genre.

You can watch The Tick now on Amazon.

Overall Rating: 6.95

Tick and Arthur have a run-in with local villainess Miss Lint and her gang, who will stop at nothing to get back the mysterious supersuit that Tick took from them and gave to Arthur. Dot, Arthur’s paramedic sister, moonlights for an unsavory business.

So far, this iteration of The Tick is much darker than previous live action versions, it’s different, and that’s not a bad thing. One thing that stands out is Griffin Newman‘s Arthur who feels more like the focus of the series as opposed to the sidekick.

What’s particularly great about this take on Arthur is the series willingness to play with his mental state leaving the viewers to guess as to if the Tick (played by Peter Serafinowicz) is even real. The answer is revealed by the end but for much of the episode I was questioning the reality of it all.

The series’ shift in character focus also changes the story to be about a person dealing with PTSD and struggling in the world. It’s interesting in its own way. The series shits the focus as well in that in other versions it’s the Tick we wonder about his mental state. Here, he’s just a big blue idiot.

The second episode is dark, really dark, especially at the end emphasizing this isn’t The Tick of the past and even then, it has me wanting to come back for more.

You can watch The Tick now on Amazon.

Overall Rating: 7.1

In a world where superheroes have been real for decades, an accountant with mental health issues and zero powers comes to realize his city is owned by a global super villain long-thought dead. As he struggles to uncover this conspiracy, he falls in league with a strange blue superhero, who may or may not be a figment of his own imagination…

Debuting as part of Amazon‘s latest Pilot Season and now streaming its first full season, The Tick has been updated in many ways and some of it works, and some of it doesn’t. I’m a big fan of the comic, original animated series, and first live action iteration, and have been looking forward to this debut.

For those who have might not have seen the previous iterations, the series focused a lot on both The Tick and Arthur with The Tick being the one you’re wondering about his mental state. In this version, it’s Arthur who is the one whose grasp on reality is tenuous after trauma earlier in his life. And that trauma and spin had me wondering if The Tick actually existed, or if he’s a figment of his imagination. That’s an interesting twist, and that coupled with some directorial choices, the episode is much darker than I expected.

Peter Serafinowicz steps into the suit of The Tick and Griffin Newman is Arthur Everest in this version and both are entertaining, though Newman really stands out as Arthur. It may be due to the fact that most of the episode revolves around him, but his acting is really entertaining and he feels like the sad sack he’s supposed to be. Serafinowicz is ok as The Tick, though the dialogue doesn’t feel quite as bizarre as past iterations. There’s not enough of him to really judge his version, but so far, it just is ok.

The outfits of the two are ok though I’m not sure I’m a fan of the textured look of The Tick’s. Arthur’s, which we see at the end looks updated and pretty solid, making more sense than what’s come before.

The episode goes a bit darker as I’ve said, but it doesn’t play with that darkness for humor. There’s a bit there, but it doesn’t quite go far enough to be comical, it’s just a darker version of The Tick.

We don’t get a whole lot in this episode and I’m not quite sure it makes the case to continue, but I’ve missed The Tick, and I want to see more. There’s a lot laid out, but it’s just one episode, so the payoff is thin and few (many of the jokes of previous live action versions had jokes playing out over many episodes). Still, the groundwork is there for what looks like it could be an entertaining new take on the classic character.

You can watch The Tick now on Amazon.

Overall Rating: 6.8