[5.2/10] Well that was a disappointing ending to what’s otherwise been a fun and imaginative arc. This was basically just Power Rangers plotting. Hero gets into scuffle with villain. Villain transforms and whole team has to take them on. Then villain gets big and team has to call on the heavy artillery to defeat them. It’s not a note for note copy of that structure, but this is basically just one big scuffle (or at most, two big scuffles), without much story or character or anything to them.
I gotta admit, I’m pretty damn tired of Goblin as a vanilla antagonist at this point. He just snarls and does the whole “I’ll get you” routine over and over again, and I’m out of patience for him and Spidey’s constant efforts to fight/save him. Norman Osborn was interesting when he was Iron Patriot, but reverting him back to his old schtick added nothing. And turning him into the Spider-Goblin, so Spidey can just punch and kick him some more in a different form, is gimmicky and didn’t do much to juice the proceedings either. Pretty sorry as a conclusion to Gobby’s grand plan.
Hell, defeating Spider-Goblin came down to a nigh-literal “reverse the polarity” setup. It’s not like there was any real cleverness to defeating him. It’s just a bunch of Spideys throwing punches and then Electro does his thing. There’s something superficially cool about the various Spider-people from different dimensions coming together, but the novelty wears off quickly when it’s just one big action scene.
At least there’s the minorest of twists with Electro emerging as the episode’s Big Bad, but even there, it’s more undifferentiated skirmishes, with a dull helicarrier mecha thrown in for good measure. There’s some mild cleverness to Spidey fighting Electro with insulated gloves, and they at least set up the whole “I can’t get grounded” thing for Electro, but it’s still such a basic solution to the issue without any verve or creativity.
There’s also a lot of convenience in how Spidey’s able to use the siege of the perilous to open the specific portals to everyone’s home world. The whole lesson of this escapade being that “Spider-Man matters” is too bland and broad to have much meaning, and all the other Spideys patting our Peter on the back feels strangely self-serving.
Overall, this was a bit of a thud for what’s otherwise been a really enjoyable Spider-adventure, and speaks to this show’s inability to close out its major arcs in a satisfying way.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2019-01-29T04:27:47Z
[5.2/10] Well that was a disappointing ending to what’s otherwise been a fun and imaginative arc. This was basically just Power Rangers plotting. Hero gets into scuffle with villain. Villain transforms and whole team has to take them on. Then villain gets big and team has to call on the heavy artillery to defeat them. It’s not a note for note copy of that structure, but this is basically just one big scuffle (or at most, two big scuffles), without much story or character or anything to them.
I gotta admit, I’m pretty damn tired of Goblin as a vanilla antagonist at this point. He just snarls and does the whole “I’ll get you” routine over and over again, and I’m out of patience for him and Spidey’s constant efforts to fight/save him. Norman Osborn was interesting when he was Iron Patriot, but reverting him back to his old schtick added nothing. And turning him into the Spider-Goblin, so Spidey can just punch and kick him some more in a different form, is gimmicky and didn’t do much to juice the proceedings either. Pretty sorry as a conclusion to Gobby’s grand plan.
Hell, defeating Spider-Goblin came down to a nigh-literal “reverse the polarity” setup. It’s not like there was any real cleverness to defeating him. It’s just a bunch of Spideys throwing punches and then Electro does his thing. There’s something superficially cool about the various Spider-people from different dimensions coming together, but the novelty wears off quickly when it’s just one big action scene.
At least there’s the minorest of twists with Electro emerging as the episode’s Big Bad, but even there, it’s more undifferentiated skirmishes, with a dull helicarrier mecha thrown in for good measure. There’s some mild cleverness to Spidey fighting Electro with insulated gloves, and they at least set up the whole “I can’t get grounded” thing for Electro, but it’s still such a basic solution to the issue without any verve or creativity.
There’s also a lot of convenience in how Spidey’s able to use the siege of the perilous to open the specific portals to everyone’s home world. The whole lesson of this escapade being that “Spider-Man matters” is too bland and broad to have much meaning, and all the other Spideys patting our Peter on the back feels strangely self-serving.
Overall, this was a bit of a thud for what’s otherwise been a really enjoyable Spider-adventure, and speaks to this show’s inability to close out its major arcs in a satisfying way.