The Tick review: Britain’s own Peter Serafanowicz leads this new Amazon pilot, an artful parody of the superhero genre…
Our full The Tick review continues below.
At it’s core, the third of three new shows in this series of Amazon Prime pilots – The Tick, is a brave attempt at recreating the subversive nostalgia of the original series twenty-two years ago. But this version of that cult-classic, that nigh-on indestructible blue bug is absolutely perfect for today’s superhero-saturated culture.
Ben Edlund, the original creator of The Tick is back once again to bring him back to life in a superhero-comedy that necessitates the same sort of understanding and mindset as Deadpool in order to be truly appreciated. It’s a silly-kind of humour that takes itself just as seriously as it does the genre – which is to say, not very much at all. However, the show is most notably the darkest incarnation of The Tick yet, and with that in mind, it’s an iteration tinged with black humour.
In some ways, the show is like Kick-Ass, in it’s mindfulness of the existence of superheroes in a hyper-real world does for the every-man, and in this case, his reindeer. It’s rambunctious in it’s attempt to be subversive, if not simply by showing the contrast between the likes of The Tick himself, and flagship bringer of peace and justice – Superian who is one ‘M’ short of a lawsuit. It’s not before long that we meet Arthur, a seemingly troubled man, who – as we quickly learn – has a very troubled past. It brings into focus significant – and perhaps realistically justifiably – motivations for our protagonist, and yet The Tick himself remains to be a mysterious, and seemingly unappreciated force of nature that manages to sway Arthur with bombastic talk of destiny.
The thing is, every line delivered by Peter Serafanowicz feels like an out of body moment, as if he is simply an avatar channelling a slightly unknowing all-knowing entity. He’s absolutely fantastic, and every word is a grandiose, insightful series of dialogues that never really feel present, as if slightly outside human understanding. It feels like he’s stuck on a bridge between arrogance and ignorance, and is entirely confident that everything’s going to work out just the way it’s supposed to. If true, it’s certainly somewhat sad, considering Arthur’s father got crushed by the ship of the Flag 5 – a team of superhero’s that Arthur himself wanted to join, and now never can.
The entire pilot is fraught with uncertainty as it features a variety of tones, and it owns every single one. Unlike the tonal dissonance of say, Suicide Squad, the pilot is satirical and yet, completely sincere, it’s a live action, campy cartoon of a show, but still a deadly serious portrayal of a cult-icon from a bygone era. Having used The Tick before as a way to satirise superheroes at the time, Edlund’s decision to bring him back to address the superhero-saturated screens of today was a splendid idea, and one well received. If we can take anything from this, it’s that The Tick serves an artful parody of the superhero genre. It was easily an example of something ahead of it’s time, but now, in 2016, it’s back and – provided it gets a series order – it’s here to stay.
The Tick review by Matthew Ceo, August 2016.
Amazon’s The Tick, I Love Dick, and Jean-Claude Van Johnson pilots are all available on Amazon Prime as of Friday, August 19.
