[7.7/10] Venom is probably the most notable Spider-Man villain of them all, especially at his height in the 1990s, so how the show pulls off a villain like this one matters. And the results are mixed, but generally positive.
One problem for a longtime Simpsons fan like myself is that Hank Azaria voicing Eddie Brock, and complaining about his hard luck life can’t help making the character feel like some combination of Moe Szyslak and Kirk Van Houten. And while the idea of Brock and the symbiote both feeling jilted by Spider-Man in a way is a neat idea, but the dialogue gets hokey and full of clichés quickly with Venom’s various jabs.
Still, the most commendable thing this episode does is make Venom feel like a serious threat, whose defeat is not inevitable. While each of the members of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery thus far have had interesting backstories or neat gimmicks thus far, none has really felt like anything Spider-Man would ultimately overcome, and that lowers the stakes.
But Venom is better at everything Spider-Man’s good at, and knows all his secrets to boot. He’s not only bigger, faster, and stronger than our resident web-crawler. The symbiote’s connection to Spider-Man means not only does Venom not set off the spider sense, but he knows Spider-Man’s secret identity and who his loved ones are. That means he’s not just a physical threat to Spider-Man, but a threat to expose Peter Parker to the world, and to harm Mary Jane and Aunt May. That raises the stakes in a meaningful way.
But most of the fighting itself is pretty standard. There’s bits about the different strength of their webbing, and it’s cool to see Venom punk Rhino and Shocker like they’re nothing to help establish his increased threat level, but it’s the usual beat-em-up action most of the way through.
That said, the final bit is pretty clever, both because it creates a unique setting for Spider-Man and Venom to throw down, but because the (somewhat convenient) probe launch ties in nicely to the sound-wave weakness and finds an elegant way to send the symbiote back where it came from.
Overall, it’s a satisfying conclusion to this little saga, even if Venom himself is a little hit or miss.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2018-01-20T21:52:52Z
[7.7/10] Venom is probably the most notable Spider-Man villain of them all, especially at his height in the 1990s, so how the show pulls off a villain like this one matters. And the results are mixed, but generally positive.
One problem for a longtime Simpsons fan like myself is that Hank Azaria voicing Eddie Brock, and complaining about his hard luck life can’t help making the character feel like some combination of Moe Szyslak and Kirk Van Houten. And while the idea of Brock and the symbiote both feeling jilted by Spider-Man in a way is a neat idea, but the dialogue gets hokey and full of clichés quickly with Venom’s various jabs.
Still, the most commendable thing this episode does is make Venom feel like a serious threat, whose defeat is not inevitable. While each of the members of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery thus far have had interesting backstories or neat gimmicks thus far, none has really felt like anything Spider-Man would ultimately overcome, and that lowers the stakes.
But Venom is better at everything Spider-Man’s good at, and knows all his secrets to boot. He’s not only bigger, faster, and stronger than our resident web-crawler. The symbiote’s connection to Spider-Man means not only does Venom not set off the spider sense, but he knows Spider-Man’s secret identity and who his loved ones are. That means he’s not just a physical threat to Spider-Man, but a threat to expose Peter Parker to the world, and to harm Mary Jane and Aunt May. That raises the stakes in a meaningful way.
But most of the fighting itself is pretty standard. There’s bits about the different strength of their webbing, and it’s cool to see Venom punk Rhino and Shocker like they’re nothing to help establish his increased threat level, but it’s the usual beat-em-up action most of the way through.
That said, the final bit is pretty clever, both because it creates a unique setting for Spider-Man and Venom to throw down, but because the (somewhat convenient) probe launch ties in nicely to the sound-wave weakness and finds an elegant way to send the symbiote back where it came from.
Overall, it’s a satisfying conclusion to this little saga, even if Venom himself is a little hit or miss.