[7.1/10] Not as resounding a success as the first two installments in the arc, but good enough. With Agent Venom going on and on about how untrustworthy Scarlet was, you just knew he was going to turn out to be innocent. That meant the mystery the episode was setting up felt pretty false from the getgo. Still, I’m glad the show dealt with the fact that it would be questionable, at best, how Scarlet would be received by all the people he betrayed.
I gotta admit, I kinda of hated Kaine as the alternative explanation though. It was initially cool to see him show up all tentacle-y and ready to absorb all the spider-men and -women. But his Frankenstein routine got old fast, and the whole push-and-pull for control of the slayers between him and Scarlet was equally tiresome.
I’ll admit, there was the germ of a good idea there. I like the fact that Kaine doesn't trust humans because they hurt him and his kind, and there’s interesting subtext in him having questionable feelings about Scarlet given that he’s “half-human.” There’s some prejudice themes there that feel more X-Men than Spider-Man, but it’s still a solid concept. But it gets lost in absorbing baddies and turning into a big mishmashed behemoth to have to fight. And the whole “let’s just blow him up by overloading him with too much power” is a tired trope.
Still, I like that after all his doubt, Agent Venom is the one who realizes his misjudging Scarlet and tries to fix things. And while the all-spider battle royale bit starts to feel a bit tepid after a while, there’s initially some juice to it too.
Overall, this one is fine. The “who’s side is Scarlet really on?” thing is a dull misdirect, and Kaine turns into a generic snarling monster really quickly, but there’s some good action and solid enough ideas in play.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2019-04-05T23:18:48Z
[7.1/10] Not as resounding a success as the first two installments in the arc, but good enough. With Agent Venom going on and on about how untrustworthy Scarlet was, you just knew he was going to turn out to be innocent. That meant the mystery the episode was setting up felt pretty false from the getgo. Still, I’m glad the show dealt with the fact that it would be questionable, at best, how Scarlet would be received by all the people he betrayed.
I gotta admit, I kinda of hated Kaine as the alternative explanation though. It was initially cool to see him show up all tentacle-y and ready to absorb all the spider-men and -women. But his Frankenstein routine got old fast, and the whole push-and-pull for control of the slayers between him and Scarlet was equally tiresome.
I’ll admit, there was the germ of a good idea there. I like the fact that Kaine doesn't trust humans because they hurt him and his kind, and there’s interesting subtext in him having questionable feelings about Scarlet given that he’s “half-human.” There’s some prejudice themes there that feel more X-Men than Spider-Man, but it’s still a solid concept. But it gets lost in absorbing baddies and turning into a big mishmashed behemoth to have to fight. And the whole “let’s just blow him up by overloading him with too much power” is a tired trope.
Still, I like that after all his doubt, Agent Venom is the one who realizes his misjudging Scarlet and tries to fix things. And while the all-spider battle royale bit starts to feel a bit tepid after a while, there’s initially some juice to it too.
Overall, this one is fine. The “who’s side is Scarlet really on?” thing is a dull misdirect, and Kaine turns into a generic snarling monster really quickly, but there’s some good action and solid enough ideas in play.