“Accomplices”
Review
Finally after taking a two month break The Spectacular Spider-Man is back for the last half of its second season. And what better way to return than an episode that starts up a gangwar. The writers really did not a miss a beat with this episode as they begin a whole new overarching storyline after finishing up the Venom storyline before taking its break.
This episodes starts up with a great scene with Black Cat trying to an auctioned item but is stopped by Hammerhead, Kingsley, and others than are going to bid on the item. It was great to see Black Cat back and getting to see her again especially seeing another scene with her breaking in somewhere. Probably the only thing that disappointed me about this episode is that we did not get to see more of Black Cat in this episode.
After the Black Cat leaves each person starts’ placing their bid on the item, which we learn are the Rhino specs to create an army of Rhino’s. It is interesting seeing how the creators of this show continue to add more characters to the cast as we saw the introduction of Silver Sable, who is Hammerhead’s ex-girlfriend, and an African-American version Robert Kingsley, aka the first Hobgoblin. These two characters were great additions to the cast of villains for this show. And even though it was the characters first appearance of the show the writers did a very good job establishing them as characters that can stand side by side with already established villains Hammerhead and Doctor Octopus.
The most interesting thing to me about this episode was Fredrick Foswell role in the episode as he disguises himself as a gang leader called Patch to try and get the gangwar story. Any time I see Foswell it is hard not to think of his role back in the Amazing Spider-Man comics where he was part of the Enforcers and tried to become the Kingpin of Crime only to die a hero in the end. While that may not happen in this show, as it is a kids show after all, it is fun seeing the creators use the character in this gangwar storyline as it makes it hard to see what they will do with him as he may end up actually working for one of the gang leaders or not.
Going back to the auction and those involved in the story it was great seeing Silver Sable, Hammerhead, Doctor Ock, and Kingsley all in the room together. All of the chemistry shared by those in the room made up for the lack of focus on Peter’s personal life. And every once in a while it is nice seeing the villains get more focus while Peter’s personal life continues to be a sub-plot in the episode. I just hope we see more of Peter’s personal life take more of a forefront in future episodes as things don’t look good for Peter and his relationships.
Were this episode really went from being good to great was the big brawl for the Rhino specs that dominated the last half of the episode. While the writers do a great job with the Peter’s drama in his personal life what this show does even better is the action. And the action in this episode was spectacular. It was some of the best fights we have gotten in this show as it was very unpredictable what would happen with Silver Sable vs. Hammerhead vs. Spider-Man vs. Rhino. The fight felt like a big action sequence we would get in a big blockbuster movie. As always Spider-Man’s banter throughout the fight was great and really funny especially when Rhino entered the fight.
The ending with Norman was something I honestly was not expecting but it will be interesting to see what Norman has up his sleeve. Norman always has something plan as he seems to be trying to instigate a fight between all the big gangs in New York City.
Overall this was a great episode and it is even better that The Spectacular Spider-Man is back. It will be interesting to see where this gang war storyline goes as there are big name villains that can be involved in the story that can lead to some great action sequences.
Episode Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
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Kevin