Ultimate Spider-Man, Season 1, Episode 19: Home Sick Hulk; Episode 20: Run Pig Run
A pair of simpler, fun episodes, I think. Episode 19, "Home Sick Hulk", starts off with a pretty rocky premise and a very shaky first half. It seems like a pretty generic eye-rolling "oh, silly Spider-Man" bit as Spider-Man ends up having to take care of a sick Hulk that's hidden up in his room while trying to hide, y'know, a Hulk from Aunt May. The show compares this to a generic "secret pet" sitcom plot, complete with a montage of young Peter losing multiple pets as a child, but the way that Peter jumps back and forth and insisting Aunt May rest her leg and not set a foot into the second floor is hilariously similar to a teenager trying to hide a girlfriend. Hell, Aunt May even comments as much. It's pretty fun, yes, even if it's a bit too silly for my tastes.
The second half of the episode ends up being a whole lot more well-written, though. See, the Hulk arrived on New York after battling a group of alien robot crab monsters called the Phalanx (traditionally X-Men enemies and way more Ultron/Terminator humanoid robots instead of crab-bots). But when Hulk gets sick, Spider-Man decides to not trust Nick Fury and decides to hide his friend in his house.
Bit of a dumb decision and I question how Spider-Man managed to get Hulk into his room without that pesky SHIELD camera outside his house catching it. Or if it's even a good idea since bringing the Hulk into a goddamn rural environment is dangerous even without the alien army chasing him. But eh, rule of funny.
Spider-Man and Hulk end up going on their own personal battle and destroy the Phalanx mothership (with a bit of generic antibody-against-the-invaders nonsense), with an actually well-done bit where Spider-Man trusts Hulk with his secret identity and Hulk's constant affirmations that despite him being the Hulk, a monster that doesn't really like friends, he does like "Bug Man". And when Nick Fury does show up, ready to arrest the Hulk, Spider-Man comes between Hulk and Fury and stands up for his buddy. It's a pretty awesome moment, and while the Hulk initially rejects the proposal, apparently respects Spider-Man enough as a friend to come back and reconsider Fury's offer. It's a pretty well-done and well-written episode, honestly, and I do think that having this be Hulk and Spider-Man's second rodeo does a fair bit to explain why Hulk was so quick to trust Spider-Man. Definitely a pretty solid episode.
Episode 20, "Run Pig Run"... it's a bit m'eh, I think. Loki returns as a villain, turning Spider-Man into a pig-man, casting him as a talking pig that is the prey in an event known as Asgardseria, otherwise known as the Wild Hunt. And, yes, that's actually from Nordic mythology -- Witcher and Elder Scrolls merely borrowed from it. Impressive bit of mythology respect there, considering how regularly Marvel animated adaptations butcher the mythology.
And yes, you could write an essay about how utterly impractical Loki's plan is, and how many chances he has to murder Spider-Man, but this is a 'fun' episode and Loki is kind of a dick that's liable to sabotage his own plans just to get a more spectacular victory. And hoo boy, sabotage his own plans, he did. It's pretty ridiculous just how many times Loki has a chance to actually murder Spider-Ham throughout the episode, but eh, sure, why not.
I actually don't think the real Spider-Ham stuff is as funny as Frog Thor, but that's probably because I find frogs funnier than pigs. We get some pretty hilarious lines from Thor that justifies this whole Wild Hunt thing, with Thor noting that he can't go against an event that Odin himself has set, while insisting that Spider-Ham is actually a human "would be exactly what a talking pig wouldst say".
The humour tended to actually be more miss than hit for me this time around (Loki and Thor are consistently funny, but Peter's lines fall flat more often than not), although we do get a couple of pretty badass battle scenes featuring Skurge the Executioner and his two thin archer buddies as they chase Spider-Ham and clash against Thor and the Junior Avengers.
And motherfucking Phil Coulson dual-wields giant space cannons that he keeps behind the diplomas in his principal office. It's Clark Gregg's always-excellent subdued delivery that really sells it, initially berating a confused Thor about bringing the threat into a school. "But you are the Son of Coul! I thought you could handle it", Thor says, evidently confused... and then Coulson arms himself and goes "of course I can handle it." Badass. Coulson tends to be played as a wet blanket or the butt of a joke in Ultimate Spider-Man, but this bit? This bit is pretty awesome.
Anyway, while the show mostly just throws pig puns and jokes at us, surprisingly this episode does involve a pretty fun moral lesson and theme. Thor tells Spider-Ham that he shouldn't let pride dictate his actions, basically throwing Spider-Man's words back at him from that Frog Thor episode, which is a nice touch of continuity. Spider-Man ends up being impressed and touched that everyone in SHIELD has basically banded together to protect him from the Asgardian hunters, putting themselves in harm's way to protect him, in stark contrast to the initial opening of the episode where he goes on a 'woe is me, everyone hates me' bit.
It's a wacky episode that, while I don't think is actually wacky enough, does end up delivering a couple of pretty fun scenes and a couple of pretty badass scenes. While by far not the best episode in the season, not by a long shot, I do think that this episode is enjoyable for what it does.
No comments:
Post a Comment