Cartoon Review: The Spectacular Spider-Man Ep. 25 and 26

Since we got two new episodes of The Spectacular Spider-Man this week Andrenn jumped on board to help me out and wrote a review for the first new episode of that night while I will provide the review for the season finally

Episode 25: “Opening Night”

Andrenn’s Review
This episode of Spectacular Spider-man had quite a lot in it. This series has been great at really adding a lot to each episode but this episode was much more stuffed then usual and it works for the most part, until the very end sadly.

First off I want to mention the brilliance in how they handled using A Midsummer Night’s Dream so effectively. When I first heard that was the play they were doing I chuckled to myself as while I hated reading it in Middle school, I now have a lot of affection for this story and it’s my favorite Shakespeare play.

It was used very well here as we got little moments that sort of tied to how the characters in the prison and how the actors in the play may have felt. Use of quotes was great and it just did a great job of showing respect to the play and integrating it so well into the story without making it feel forced.

One thing that really confused me about the setting of Spider-man in a prison is…well, why the hell would he be so stupid as to agree to do this test on the play night? You’re Spider-man! In a prison full of people who hate you! You really think something isn’t going to go wrong?

Now I at least appreciate a decent explanation of why Spidey is in jail, testing the new super cells. Still, it’s a really big night for your girlfriend…I think the test could wait until tomorrow.

Peter just is having the worst luck with his relationship with Liz, I mean seriously, the only way this relationship could be more of a train wreck is if Venom eats her.

I loved Green Goblin in this episode. The writers have really handled him by making him really fun yet at the same time very threatening. It feels very close to the Mark Hamill Joker of Batman: The Animated Series. I know some people may like a more serious and dark Goblin but I love this happy and funny version.

Also having him rhyme was just awesome. More rhyming Goblin please!

Black Cat was great in this episode, everything from her…*ahem* I guess “playful” is a safer term for a kids’ cartoon then sexy. Anyway, from her playful attitude to her more serious sorrow at the end of this episode. It was great finally seeing her get some development here and we are starting to feel more for her and see the human beneath that mask.

Also you know the Parker luck, especially with women? Yeah it’s in full swing here. Man, it just sucks to be Peter Parker. You find a great girl like Black Cat and her dad just happens to be the guy who killed your uncle. That just sucks man. I’ve had some bad relationship luck but that one takes the cake.

This was a pretty interesting twist but what really makes it work is how we humanize Felicia’s father. We don’t see the scumbag monster like we did in the comics. The comics always treated the killer of Uncle Ben like he was the worst person in the world and we all should just hate him and not question anything else about him.

Here we see he really wasn’t a horrible person, just what he did was horrible. He didn’t take any pleasure in killing Uncle Ben and it haunts him still and he feels horrible for it. So much that he actually knows he belongs in jail and accepts that. It was a brilliant twist for the character and it really blew me away, especially with how well the lines where delivered so the emotion of the character really hit hard.

One thing though, did Spider-man give up his secret identity or something? He is pissed at her father and it’s obvious that he mentions that this doesn’t make them even so it would be safe to assume that you figure “Spider-man pissed over Uncle Ben = Spider-man being related to Ben” but I guess maybe that was glossed over.

Seeing all these villains together was a lot of fun. Mostly seeing the little purple gargoyles again! I love those little guys. I’m calling for a spin-off starring them.

Most of the villains where handled well but really they where all just there as cameos when in comparison. Though I did like the nice touch of seeing Molten Man sad to be fighting Spider-man again. A nice little twist for the villain that he really doesn’t like being a villain at all.

Now for the ending, this was my biggest problem with this episode. Goblin says he’s going to go take care of Spider-man, he has him on the ropes and then Black Cat shows up so he just retreats while giggling like the lunatic that he is.

Why? The only real reason is of course that the writers didn’t have enough time to fit in a big fight at the end so they just had him run away. It was really annoying and I was really excited to see a rhyming Goblin fight Spider-man! How fun would that have been? Even if he was tired of the rhymes, we could have gotten some more at the end!

Then there was that final moment between Spider-man and Black Cat. Ouch. I feel bad for Spider-man but at the same time Black Cat’s love for her father outweighs his obvious reason for staying in jail so she can’t see what good he’s doing.

I hope this doesn’t damper their relationship for season 3…assuming there is a season 3 (make it happen Disney!) as she’s a character I really like and with Peter now girlfriend-less (Spoiler for season finale?) I can’t help but hope that Black Cat could become a more important character.

This episode was greatness, about as great as greatness can be great. While it had some little bits that bugged me this is just more proof that this is one of the best cartoons out there right up with the greats. A great episode that shouldn’t be missed.

Episode Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10

Episode 26: “Final Curtain”

Kevin’s Review
This final episode of The Spectacular Spider-Man was both showed a how a show should and should not go out in its final episode of the season all in one episode. Originally when I first watched this episode I kept thinking what the hell was up with the silent episode. The cold opening with Spider-Man taking work well because of how all the action was fast paced and all the characters in the scene were wearing masks and I could not tell if their mouths where moving.

But then after the cold opening for the episode there continued to be no voice-over work, all we got was the music and sound effects. Though I was able to make out what was happening I was left with a similar frustrated feeling that I did with Ultimate Spider-Man #133, the silent final issue of that volume of the series, as I knew I wasn’t getting the full story without the dialogue.

After going on the internet I noticed that it was not me but many people faced the same problem and because I am too impatient to wait to see the episode with dialogue, if Disney XD does decided to do that, I went on YouTube to watch the final episode and man was it one heck of an episode. While I did end up liking the episode without dialogue nut once I was able to hear all of dialogue spoken I was blown away by this episode. This was the best episode of this series so far.

The episode started off with a quick start showing Spider-Man taking down some pumpkin heads to find out were Green Goblin is located. This was a cool way to open as it set up the rest of the episode that was packed with action from start to finish. And this open help to show Spider-Man’s greatest superpower is when he is using his agility and spider-sense in unison. It was a nice display of his power set.

And even though there was a lot of action to be had in this episode the true strength of this episode was how perfectly balanced between the action and character interaction. The writers of this show just did an awesome job balancing both without one part overpowering the other in this episode. It is something rare to find but we couldn’t have gotten it better than we did.

This whole season and really this series we have been waiting for Peter and Gwen get together. And it has been frustrating as a fan to see these two not get together which is actually a good thing. Why is that? It is because though I want to see them together the writers have done a great job keeping them apart by creating situations for them to be apart. Throughout the episode it felt that we would finally see them together and the writers did a nice job stretching it out.

I like that the writers also used Peter and Gwen admitting to one another that they like each other to break up Peter and Liz. I wasn’t too big of a fan of the couple as there was no build up for them to be a believable couple. It was just another hurdle to jump to get to Peter and Gwen.

Also interesting to note is Doctor Connors and his family moving which was sort of building this whole season. It was a nice call back to the comics as he and his family moved to Florida where he originally was from. Though it is a bit weird that we didn’t get to see the Lizard all season long though I hope they do come back at some point.

This also leaves room for some interesting interaction with Miles Warren for Peter and Gwen. Peter and Gwen have not interacted with Miles yet. And with the knowledge of how Miles turned out in the comics it will be interesting to see how the writers work in Miles being Peter and Gwen’s new mentor.

Now with all that good stuff the real star of this episode was the mystery of who was the Green Goblin. I absolutely loved how they revealed it was Norman all along. They through a great serve last season making us think Harry was the first Green Goblin. The way Norman went about just shows how evil he is as he goes through such extremes to make people believe he is not the Green Goblin while making it look like a normal day at the park for him.

And I liked how he used the Chameleon to pose as him after seeing him when he made his first appearance as Green Goblin. It was a good use of a character that has always been a secondary villain.

The final battle between Spider-Man and Green Goblin was just awesome. Norman basically making the whole city a weapon to use against Spider-Man was great way to show how in control Norman is and is not just the usual lunatic. He was much more cold and calculating as he planned out everything.

Even though we knew Spider-Man would somehow win it was great to see him put through the ringer as the heart of a true hero is only shown by the challenge he face. And this one was one hell of a challenge for Peter to face as Spider-Man as he used all of his abilities to win.

And the ending sets up nicely as we Norman fakes his death and leaves NYC for a while.

Also the ending with Peter, Gwen, and Harry at Norman’s grave was a nice homage to the first Spider-Man movie ending. Harry came off as a cold bastard similar to his father as he manipulated Gwen’s heart to make her stay with him even though he knew she wanted to be with Peter. Also it leaves Peter in a no win situation as he basically lost his girl and best friend even though he won the day.

Now hopefully Marvel and Disney does the right thing and renews this show as it would be a shame if they didn’t. Greg Weisman and his crew have built a great set-up for the next season and it would suck if we don’t see a resolution to the open ending we got.

Episode Rating: 10 Night Girls out of 10

Check back next week as Andrenn and me break down the second season of The Spectacular Spider-Man.
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Kevin