[8.0/10] Pretty easily the best episode of thus far. I love the horror feel of this one, with a lot of cues from Poltergeist and a hint of David Lynch in there as well. The sense of Electro/Max stalking Sally, testing his electro-transforming powers on his former professor, and then eventually trying to turn Sally were all really creepy and unnerving. Plus, the animation, design, and direction with Electro was good here, with his face emerging through smoke, static, and other shocks creating a very haunting effect.
Plus, while Spidey basically defeats him using the macguffin du jour, I like that it requires both some cleverness and self-sacrifice for him to do it. Spider-Man deciding to use himself as a conduit when he can’t reach the lead of the battery to Electro is not only a nice bit of heroism for the web-head, but it creates a nice reason for Harry to have second thoughts about his hatred for Spider-Man.
That’s the theme of the episode -- if you couldn’t tell from Spidey giving a Captain Kirk-like wrap up at the end of it. I don’t necessarily buy it for Electro. Sure, the guy is lonely and he’d been through a lot, which complicates him some, but he was also willing to risk killing at least three people, and overriding the agency of the woman he claimed to love which, suffice it to say, didn’t exactly endear me to him despite his troubles. That said, Harry understanding that there’s layers to Spider-Man is an interesting development.
Part of what makes me reticent to vindicate those complications in Max’s motivation is how disturbing it is when he’s trying to change Sally. Beyond just the ghastly image of her skeleton flashing in that swirl of electricity, her pleas to Electro to let her go made my skin crawl. It’s a little manipulative, but it created emotional stakes in the clash between hero and villain that the show’s struggled to muster otherwise so far.
Overall, Electro is clearly the show’s best villain, bringing out both visual creativity and interesting M.O.s for both good guy and bad guy in both of his appearances, and this is definitely the high watermark for Spider-Man: The New Animated Series thus far.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2018-08-04T04:54:15Z
[8.0/10] Pretty easily the best episode of thus far. I love the horror feel of this one, with a lot of cues from Poltergeist and a hint of David Lynch in there as well. The sense of Electro/Max stalking Sally, testing his electro-transforming powers on his former professor, and then eventually trying to turn Sally were all really creepy and unnerving. Plus, the animation, design, and direction with Electro was good here, with his face emerging through smoke, static, and other shocks creating a very haunting effect.
Plus, while Spidey basically defeats him using the macguffin du jour, I like that it requires both some cleverness and self-sacrifice for him to do it. Spider-Man deciding to use himself as a conduit when he can’t reach the lead of the battery to Electro is not only a nice bit of heroism for the web-head, but it creates a nice reason for Harry to have second thoughts about his hatred for Spider-Man.
That’s the theme of the episode -- if you couldn’t tell from Spidey giving a Captain Kirk-like wrap up at the end of it. I don’t necessarily buy it for Electro. Sure, the guy is lonely and he’d been through a lot, which complicates him some, but he was also willing to risk killing at least three people, and overriding the agency of the woman he claimed to love which, suffice it to say, didn’t exactly endear me to him despite his troubles. That said, Harry understanding that there’s layers to Spider-Man is an interesting development.
Part of what makes me reticent to vindicate those complications in Max’s motivation is how disturbing it is when he’s trying to change Sally. Beyond just the ghastly image of her skeleton flashing in that swirl of electricity, her pleas to Electro to let her go made my skin crawl. It’s a little manipulative, but it created emotional stakes in the clash between hero and villain that the show’s struggled to muster otherwise so far.
Overall, Electro is clearly the show’s best villain, bringing out both visual creativity and interesting M.O.s for both good guy and bad guy in both of his appearances, and this is definitely the high watermark for Spider-Man: The New Animated Series thus far.