When The Tick left us half way into its first season, we were left with the cliffhanger of knowing that Arthur had been taken in by The Terror, but not knowing precisely what his plans were, or if it would effect the others when they found out. The drama unfolds quite quickly in the seventh episode, as Arthur begins investigating quickly, and Dot, the Tick, and Overkill gradually learn of the news and race to find him. The result was an episode that had plenty of suspense, but enough light moments to keep viewers from feeling too anxious.
The star of this episode is absolutely The Terror. He was already an eccentric villain, but in this episode, he is just so gloriously weird that I would defy anyone to not love him. The best part of this comes in a hilarious parody of Whiplash, where Terror is being berated just as Miles Teller was by JK Simmons for his imperfect drumming, but in a twist we find out that Terror was ordering him to berate him, and is dissatisfied with his performance. The scene is funny as hell, but it also throws us off for a second, as we wonder just briefly if The Terror has a boss, but of course, that couldn’t possibly be the case; The Terror is too unique a character to answer to anyone.
As for Arthur, he first finds Dr. Karamazov at the facility. He talks to him about the suit, and gains information about its powers, but most importantly, he realizes that he is also a prisoner of The Terror. Lint sens Arthur free — all part of the The Terror’s plan — and he takes Karamazov with him (the poor guy has to carry him). At this point, we don’t know where Karamazov’s true allegiances lie, so releasing him from the facility is a bit of a risky move. It makes sense; though, after being tortured by The Terror himself, he develops a natural instinct anyone else he believes could be endangered by him. Again, Arthur has continued to develop more and more moxie, and a greater courage behind his moral compass. He’s still neurotic, but he has enough gumption that we can root for him as a protagonist rather than just wanting the dude to chill out a little bit.