The Tick S01E03 "Secret/Identity" Recap

In a flashback, we learn about how the 28th amendment was enacted to protect the anonymity of superheroes due to an unfortunate incident in which a superhero was forcibly unmasked and his real identity was revealed to the public. Afterwards, the Terror and his men broke into the man's home and killed his loved ones and destroyed his home and livelihood.

Arthur attempts to make up a serial number to confirm his being a superhero but the officers are called out to observe some surveillance footage that confirms Arthur's story about a masked man being the one to kill the men in the alley. The officers identity the man as Overkill, a notorious super villain. This revelation terrifies Arthur even further but he is released from custody.

Tick meets up with Arthur and tells him he thinks he took too murderous of an approach to dealing with the henchmen but Arthur informs him that he wasn't the one who killed those men and that Overkill was the one who did it. Arthur also tells him he's done trying to convince the world that the Terror is still alive and that he just wants to go back to having a normal life. Arthur goes back into his damaged apartment alone and is confronted by Miss Lint, who was lying in wait for him. She confronts him about a particular news clipping that connected an old explosion in a lab sixteen years ago with another more recent one. Arthur admits his theory of The Terror still being alive but Miss Lint is certain that if that were true, she would be the first to know. Miss Lint tries to get Arthur to take the suit off and shocks him unconscious. He has a nightmare of his father being killed by The Terror and then wakes to find that Miss Lint is gone as is the suit. Overkill is shown to be watching him but does nothing when he sees that Arthur isn't wearing the suit anymore.

Arthur heads out but stops at his local corner shop on the way. He tries to pay back the money for the poncho he took but the man instead asks him to deal with Tick, who has refused to leave and begun making friends with the man's mother, who is cooking him food. He tells Tick he was right about Overkill but still doesn't want to be the one fighting against evil. He encourages Tick to do it himself.

Dot drives Arthur to work and reminds him that their stepfather Walter is having a birthday party that they must attend.

Some of Ramses' men come into the corner shop to get an extorted payment but Tick stops them and orders that they leave, despite the shop-owners repeated attempts to give them the payment. This doesn't go over well with Ramses, who has Miss Lint come in again. He reminds her that she needs to get the suit back per his orders. Lint mentions how there is a theory floating around that Terror is still alive but Ramses dismisses this, as there were remains found that were matched to his identity.

Tick visits Arthur at work and reveals that he has been suffering some sort of head trauma and thus only been able to recall that he is Tick and a superhero but he's not able to do this investigation to find Overkill without Arthur's intelligence. Arthur sends him away so he can finish the rest of his work day but will help him later. However, the work day is interrupted by the arrival of Overkill, who corners Arthur and once again demands the suit but reveals that he wants it to go after the Terror. Tick then shows up to save Arthur. Overkill attempt to attack him but inflicts little to no damage on Tick until he grabs one of Tick's antennae which are shown to be a sensitive nerve point for him. Overkill then further exploits this weakness to throw Tick out of the building.

The Tick is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.