Member-only story
Locking your problems “in a mental glacier under a thousand tons of solid mind ice”
on entering therapy, finding community, making meaning
I’m not normally a laugh out loud type. I can be the buzzkill at the party who is always looking for the deeper meaning, the larger implications, how some comment is part of a larger, declinist narrative about society.
But then there’s The Tick. And I laughed out loud during a particular scene in the first episode of the second season of this tongue-in-cheek superhero series.
You don’t need a whole lot of background on the story except to know that one character is battle-hardened; he is injured physically and mentally. His response has been to adhere to a strict “warrior’s code”. He goes by the apt name of Overkill (aka Mr. Stabby). Yes, he does have a bit of an itchy trigger finger.
So he is sitting with Dot, a love interest. They are having some drinks … well, actually they are chugging whiskey from a bottle. In their conversation, Dot stumbles on a sensitive subject and Overkill responds,
“Doesn’t matter. It’s my problem. I’ll deal with it.”
Dot says, “Oh, c’mon. You can tell me.”
Overkill dryly responds, “No, I’ve been trained to lock my problems in a mental…
