I’ve been following the resurgence of nationalism and reactionary violence for longer than I was even aware of. As a woman who was playing online video games in the early 2010s, I was exposed to a lot of the vitriol of the people who would later become the neo-Nazi “alt-right” as figures like Steve Bannon recognized the potential in politically weaponizing them. I nearly made a documentary on them in 2015 for my MA, which would have been an interesting project to look back on after the 2016 election. Nowadays, their rhetoric is more mainstream than it has been since World War II, and the conversations they are forcing us to have are genuinely terrifying.

Ben Edlund’s newest installment of The Tick is a comedy show, so it might seem a little strange for me to be contextualizing it with a discussion about Nazis. Its satirical take on the superhero genre is funnier than ever, with a decade of mainstream superhero films behind it, and the characters living out the tropes are played with such earnestness that the viewer feels none of the distance from them that satire can occasionally result in.

But the world of The Tick is not all jokes and heartfelt moments. Where the first season had an over the top villain concerned only with the destruction of his superhero nemesis, the second asks the audience to consider what happens when the institutions supposedly protecting humanity start stripping away who is considered human to begin with. Sure, the government scientist doing unethical experimentation is a trope unto itself, but the way in which the story engages with discussions of the “alien” and the “subhuman” sets up John Hodgman’s Doctor Agent Hobbes with an ideology born of eugenics and fear — which brings us back to the neo-nazis. He is concerned with the “genetic chaos” of Categories, the in-universe name for superpowered beings, and believes his role is to contain and control them. It evokes a century and a half of violence around the globe fueled by the dehumanization of the oppressed. Anti-hero Overkill (Scott Speiser) and Lobstercules (Niko Nedyalkov, voiced by Liz Vassey), the lobster-person from Atlantis, are brainwashed and mind controlled through technology to serve him, as many people are recruited to modern white supremacist groups through internet memes and “ironic” racism and anti-semitism that can lead to a genuine turn toward hate.

While I have no real insight into the creatives’ minds beyond what can be taken from the work, the parallels feel intentional, especially when taken in conjunction with the painstaking effort by the narrative to offer empathy and depth to each of the heroic characters, regardless of species or origin (I hesitate to say “humanized,” because anthropocentrism is in conflict with this philosophy). Lobstercules, while initially assumed to be a supervillain, is revealed to be a victim of coercion forced to commit crimes when she rescued a group of sailors who then kidnapped her children. Dangerboat (Alan Tudyk), an artificial intelligence program, is given an episode centering on his PTSD, the conflict of which is only resolved when lead character Arthur (Griffin Newman) recognizes his own grief from loss reflected in Dangerboat and stops calling him “just a boat.” And of course at the center of the show is the titular Tick (Peter Serafinowicz), who has no origin story at all. Whether he’s human or not is unimportant to his character; all that matters to him and to us is that he is a force against evil.

In a political climate where a serious topic of debate is whether or not it’s okay to punch a Nazi, The Tick’s season finale offers a measured and nuanced answer. It asks us to have compassion for our friends and family who are at risk of being preyed on by neo-Nazis, but it still falls firmly on the side of kicking that unrepentant Nazi that’s after them to the curb. In fact it’s Arthur, the only hero that Hobbes sees as human, that ends up tackling him to the ground in defense of his Category teammates, just as all of us should use our privilege to defend those more marginalized than ourselves. But when thirteen year olds are falling down the alt-right rabbit hole, it’s worth considering that a little empathy might go a long way in combating the radicalization of our loved ones. The Tick does not fight back against his brainwashed friends. The Tick chooses love, and tells us that we should too.

The Tick has not been renewed by Amazon for a third season, but the cast and crew say it’s not dead yet; if you like it, join the#SaveTheTick movement on social media!