[7.7/10] This is the first one of these double-stuffed episodes that’s genuinely felt like one story rather than two vaguely-related stories stitched together. You can still more or less separate this into “pre-Norman Osborn reveal” and “post-Norman Osborn reveal” segments, but there’s more of a sense of build and payoff between the two halves, which makes this one work better.
In the first half, you have Peter and Gwen tracking down the potential whereabouts of Jackal on the one hand, and Anya and Miles investigating what’s going at the school (more specifically) the teacher’s lounge, after new Principal Connors has instituted a bunch of draconian changes.
Neither of them is that engrossing, but they’re fine. Peter and Gwen fighting a bunch of “goblin shark” hybrids who they have to defeat by luring into various regeneration tubes is some good foreshadowing for later. They also confirm that Jackal is back, which is a necessity I suppose, and it gives Gwen a personal stake in all of this.
On the other side, Miles and Anya finding Dr. Connors’s secret lab is necessary for plot movement, but again, not terribly interesting. We mostly learn that Connors is reporting to a Big Bad, which we already knew.
Still both sides build to the reveal that not only is Norman Osborn alive, but that he’s being regenerated as a combined Venom/Jackal Serum recipient into the “Dark Goblin.” (Not for nothing, the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon did pretty much the same thing.) The reveal is fine. It’s not a shock that Norman’s still kicking around, and his “author of all your pain” reveal for the events of this season require a lot of convoluted exposition. But a souped up Goblin still works as a Big Bad.
Business picks up in the second half though. I like each of our heroes having to face someone with whom they have personal business with. Gwen fighting her Uncle Raymond is probably the least interesting, since we’ve already done that more or less, but there’s at least some unnerving scariness from him wanting to turn her into a Jackal to realize her “potential” which is something.
Anya’s is probably the worst of them. I like the idea that she has a jealous and/or resentful step-sister who’s become the Tarantula (who looks a lot like the old spider-slayer bot in that vein.) But for that to mean anything, we’d probably need to have met the step-sister earlier than five minutes before she becomes plot-relevant. Likewise, the Chameleon reveal comes out of nowhere, with essentially no setup, and feels like a pretty cheap out.
That said, there was hardly any more setup for the Swarm reveal, and I still really enjoyed that. The notion that the hand-picked enemy for Miles turns out to be his father, who blames that Spider-Man for endangering his son, only to be shocked that this Spider-Man is his son, is a cool Star Wars-like moment, It’s elevated by good performances from the actor and even some cool framing with the two of them standing perpendicular to a building. It’s a moment that shouldn’t work, but does.
Peter’s standoff with the Dark Goblin is a little less availing, but still works. Bringing in Harry for the save is a good call, but Dark Goblin does little beyond snarl and monologue. There’s a solid “power of friendship” theme to the whole deal, with the rest of the Spider-crew showing up to save the day, and I like that they have to lure him into the regeneration chamber to neutralized the supersized version of him, which builds on the first half of stolen student work and Spidey’s experience with the goblin sharks.
The “my strength is my friends and nobody’s shown up to help you, Norman” bit is pretty blunt as closing morals go, but it’s fine for a show aimed at a younger audience. The fact that they get it all on tape to exonerate Max is a little convenient, but it works to wrap things up. Overall, this is a solid conclusion to the season’s arc, in a way that makes me wonder what more the show has in the tank for its final hour of the season.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-10-06T00:27:00Z
[7.7/10] This is the first one of these double-stuffed episodes that’s genuinely felt like one story rather than two vaguely-related stories stitched together. You can still more or less separate this into “pre-Norman Osborn reveal” and “post-Norman Osborn reveal” segments, but there’s more of a sense of build and payoff between the two halves, which makes this one work better.
In the first half, you have Peter and Gwen tracking down the potential whereabouts of Jackal on the one hand, and Anya and Miles investigating what’s going at the school (more specifically) the teacher’s lounge, after new Principal Connors has instituted a bunch of draconian changes.
Neither of them is that engrossing, but they’re fine. Peter and Gwen fighting a bunch of “goblin shark” hybrids who they have to defeat by luring into various regeneration tubes is some good foreshadowing for later. They also confirm that Jackal is back, which is a necessity I suppose, and it gives Gwen a personal stake in all of this.
On the other side, Miles and Anya finding Dr. Connors’s secret lab is necessary for plot movement, but again, not terribly interesting. We mostly learn that Connors is reporting to a Big Bad, which we already knew.
Still both sides build to the reveal that not only is Norman Osborn alive, but that he’s being regenerated as a combined Venom/Jackal Serum recipient into the “Dark Goblin.” (Not for nothing, the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon did pretty much the same thing.) The reveal is fine. It’s not a shock that Norman’s still kicking around, and his “author of all your pain” reveal for the events of this season require a lot of convoluted exposition. But a souped up Goblin still works as a Big Bad.
Business picks up in the second half though. I like each of our heroes having to face someone with whom they have personal business with. Gwen fighting her Uncle Raymond is probably the least interesting, since we’ve already done that more or less, but there’s at least some unnerving scariness from him wanting to turn her into a Jackal to realize her “potential” which is something.
Anya’s is probably the worst of them. I like the idea that she has a jealous and/or resentful step-sister who’s become the Tarantula (who looks a lot like the old spider-slayer bot in that vein.) But for that to mean anything, we’d probably need to have met the step-sister earlier than five minutes before she becomes plot-relevant. Likewise, the Chameleon reveal comes out of nowhere, with essentially no setup, and feels like a pretty cheap out.
That said, there was hardly any more setup for the Swarm reveal, and I still really enjoyed that. The notion that the hand-picked enemy for Miles turns out to be his father, who blames that Spider-Man for endangering his son, only to be shocked that this Spider-Man is his son, is a cool Star Wars-like moment, It’s elevated by good performances from the actor and even some cool framing with the two of them standing perpendicular to a building. It’s a moment that shouldn’t work, but does.
Peter’s standoff with the Dark Goblin is a little less availing, but still works. Bringing in Harry for the save is a good call, but Dark Goblin does little beyond snarl and monologue. There’s a solid “power of friendship” theme to the whole deal, with the rest of the Spider-crew showing up to save the day, and I like that they have to lure him into the regeneration chamber to neutralized the supersized version of him, which builds on the first half of stolen student work and Spidey’s experience with the goblin sharks.
The “my strength is my friends and nobody’s shown up to help you, Norman” bit is pretty blunt as closing morals go, but it’s fine for a show aimed at a younger audience. The fact that they get it all on tape to exonerate Max is a little convenient, but it works to wrap things up. Overall, this is a solid conclusion to the season’s arc, in a way that makes me wonder what more the show has in the tank for its final hour of the season.