1x24 The Attack of the Beetle

[7.0/10] Solid enough episode. I like the premise a lot, with Coulson taking Aunt May out on a date to Peter’s chagrin, only for a supervillain attack to inevitably interrupt things, but I didn’t love the execution.

For one thing, this one went a little too broad for me. Peter had one too many Zach Morris-esque freeze frames to explicate his mental state and wax rhapsodic about how awkward it was to have Coulson dating his aunt. For another, Beetle was a really generic villain in this one. While in his first appearance, Beetle was a consummate badass who could get the better of our heroes, here was just another generic baddie, shooting missiles and not seeming particularly imposing or skilled relative to the average tough.

Again, I like the ideas that Ultimate Spider-Man is playing around with here. Peter realizing that Coulson is actually kind of cool, Coulson having surprisingly cute chemistry with May, and May not wanting to disrupt her young nephew’s life because he means the world to her are all good beats. But the show hits the first two, plus Peter’s whole “not my aunt* thing over and over again, while mixing in a generic throwdown with Beetle. This episode’s heart is in the right place, but the results are just a little too standard-issue.

Overall, a perfectly fine episode, with a little too much broad humor and willing suspension of disbelief required, but otherwise it’s solid at worst.