“First Steps”
Review
The second season of The Spectacular Spider-Man has provided one great episode after another and “First Steps” is no exception. This episode was pure fun. And if you have yet to watch this series this episode is a great jumping on point. With all the intercuts to the messages all of Peter’s supporting cast had to Flash on his birthday gives the viewer a great sense of the personalities of the various characters. Each message was great and some of them were really funny that help give some of the characters some screen time that they have not had in the second season.
After last week’s episode were Peter and Liz got together at the end of the episode we got to see the aftermath of what happens now that they are together. We see Sally’s over reaction to how Liz, a cheerleader, is now going out with a loser like Peter and the disappointment look on Gwen because Peter picked Liz over her. And just to make things more interesting Harry also came back this episode to make the love triangle into a square as it looks like has become interested in Gwen. Between the scenes at Peter’s school and Flash birthday later it looks like Peter’s personal life will be getting much more attention in future episodes.
Also with Harry’s return it will be interesting to see how the Green Goblin factors into what Doc Ock and Tombstone are doing right now. Unlike Harry Peter remembers everything that Harry did as Green Goblin and to see him on his constant guard now that Harry is back should make future interaction between the characters very interesting. And if Harry does become Green Goblin again it should mean trouble for Spider-Man, Doc Ock, Tombstone, and the whole city.
Now was it just me or did Sandman’s story in this episode feel like what Spider-Man 3 should have been like. With Harry back, Sandman as the main villain throughout the episode, and Eddie coming back it felt as though the creators were taking a jab at Spider-Man 3 by showing what it could have been like.
The creators of this show did a good job showing that the Sandman isn’t completely a bad guy and does have some redeemable qualities. And I loved all of the action scenes with Spider-Man and Sandman’s battles as it did a good job showing off both characters powers. In the end though it looks like Sandman did redeem himself with a hero like sacrifice that may mean we may see a changed Sandman in the future.
And it was good to see after much teasing Eddie has returned to torment his former friend. I really liked all the ways Eddie was messing with Peter’s head by appearing everywhere Spider-Man was and then disappearing as soon as Peter turned around. It did a nice job adding a little psychological aspect to it and now that Eddie is going to get his symbiote it looks like Venom will be back in the next episode.
Overall this was another great episode of The Spectacular Spider-Man that did a good job balancing Peter’s personal and Spider-Man life. And if you have yet to watch this show this episode was a good jumping on point and also be sure to pick up the complete first season on DVD that will be out in a couple weeks.
Episode Rating – 8.8/10