[8.1/10] So let’s get the things I didn’t like about this out of the way. First off, I am again pretty disappointed at where the show went with Eddie Brock. They turned him from someone who had genuine grievances with Peter Parker who otherwise seemed like a good and decent guy (see: him taking Gwen to the dance) into a garden variety resentful jerk. He seems like he becomes an asshole out of nowhere, even before the symbiote takes hold and starts fluffing his negative emotions. It weakens the power of the turn, and it’s a big shame because the show seemed to have a really interesting angle brewing.
In the same way, it seems super convenient that Spidey just happens to end up at a belltower and discover that sound waves hurt the symbiote. He seemed to go there for no reason other than that the plot demanded it.
I’ll also admit that I was kind of bored at seeing Spidey’s origin story again. That’s not something I can really fault the show for though. When you’re on your fourth Spider-Man T.V. show, and third film series, it’s just hard for the usual “got powers, bad wrestling promoter, Uncle Ben dead” routine to have much impact anymore.
But I’m willing to forgive that because of how well the episode portrays the struggle for Pete’s soul between Uncle Ben and the symbiote. I am a sucker for when shows get symbolic and elliptical, and the images of Ben and the symbiote fighting it out, pulling Peter in opposite directions, really worked on me.
For one thing, I like the black and white dreamscape the show uses to connote that this is going on in Spider-Man’s head. The show does a good job at balancing straight exposition of the origin story with more impressionistic elements showing that this is something of a fever dream. It makes the moment where Spidey has his epiphany, and turns back into color, meaningful both as a symbolic form of self-actualization and as a contrast to the symbiote’s own traditional black and white color scheme.
I also really liked the emotional punch of the symbiote trying to feed Peter negative memories -- all the hardship and degradation he’s suffered -- while Ben is trying to feed Peter memories not only of people he’s saved, but of the friends and family he has who support him. At a time when the show is flattening Eddie Brock as a character, it’s deepening Flash, and i like how he’s part of the catalyst for Peter realizing he does have these connections and people who care about him, something that then spills into his psyche and his conception of Uncle Ben and the values his uncle instilled in him.
The episode makes the struggles between Ben’s values and the symbiote’s self-serving impulses a little too literal at times (the tentacle fight feels like some executive demanded that the episode have more action), but it still carries weight in the whole. (And it doesn't hurt that Ed Asner is practically Spider-Man royalty at this point, with Uncle Ben being the third character he’s voiced on a Spider-show.)
Overall, the Eddie-to-Venom transition is a little too quick and underwhelming given how much good build there was to it, and Spider-Man’s origin can’t help but feel kind of tedious to an old pro like me, but the meat of the episode -- the battle between light and dark in Spider-Man’s head -- wins the day and is truly moving at times. A great indication that this show has a handle on what makes Spider-Man distinct as a character, and how it’s what’s between his ears rather than shot from his wrists.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2018-09-16T19:12:30Z
[8.1/10] So let’s get the things I didn’t like about this out of the way. First off, I am again pretty disappointed at where the show went with Eddie Brock. They turned him from someone who had genuine grievances with Peter Parker who otherwise seemed like a good and decent guy (see: him taking Gwen to the dance) into a garden variety resentful jerk. He seems like he becomes an asshole out of nowhere, even before the symbiote takes hold and starts fluffing his negative emotions. It weakens the power of the turn, and it’s a big shame because the show seemed to have a really interesting angle brewing.
In the same way, it seems super convenient that Spidey just happens to end up at a belltower and discover that sound waves hurt the symbiote. He seemed to go there for no reason other than that the plot demanded it.
I’ll also admit that I was kind of bored at seeing Spidey’s origin story again. That’s not something I can really fault the show for though. When you’re on your fourth Spider-Man T.V. show, and third film series, it’s just hard for the usual “got powers, bad wrestling promoter, Uncle Ben dead” routine to have much impact anymore.
But I’m willing to forgive that because of how well the episode portrays the struggle for Pete’s soul between Uncle Ben and the symbiote. I am a sucker for when shows get symbolic and elliptical, and the images of Ben and the symbiote fighting it out, pulling Peter in opposite directions, really worked on me.
For one thing, I like the black and white dreamscape the show uses to connote that this is going on in Spider-Man’s head. The show does a good job at balancing straight exposition of the origin story with more impressionistic elements showing that this is something of a fever dream. It makes the moment where Spidey has his epiphany, and turns back into color, meaningful both as a symbolic form of self-actualization and as a contrast to the symbiote’s own traditional black and white color scheme.
I also really liked the emotional punch of the symbiote trying to feed Peter negative memories -- all the hardship and degradation he’s suffered -- while Ben is trying to feed Peter memories not only of people he’s saved, but of the friends and family he has who support him. At a time when the show is flattening Eddie Brock as a character, it’s deepening Flash, and i like how he’s part of the catalyst for Peter realizing he does have these connections and people who care about him, something that then spills into his psyche and his conception of Uncle Ben and the values his uncle instilled in him.
The episode makes the struggles between Ben’s values and the symbiote’s self-serving impulses a little too literal at times (the tentacle fight feels like some executive demanded that the episode have more action), but it still carries weight in the whole. (And it doesn't hurt that Ed Asner is practically Spider-Man royalty at this point, with Uncle Ben being the third character he’s voiced on a Spider-show.)
Overall, the Eddie-to-Venom transition is a little too quick and underwhelming given how much good build there was to it, and Spider-Man’s origin can’t help but feel kind of tedious to an old pro like me, but the meat of the episode -- the battle between light and dark in Spider-Man’s head -- wins the day and is truly moving at times. A great indication that this show has a handle on what makes Spider-Man distinct as a character, and how it’s what’s between his ears rather than shot from his wrists.