Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Season 1, Episode 8: Tangled Web
This is a nice little 'pre-finale' episode, where after his disastrous defeat at the hands of the Scorpion last episode, Peter ends up being quite rightfully traumatized after what seems to be this incarnation's first real brush with death. And again, both the main MCU and this cartoon has been quite insistent on showing that this is a teenaged version of Peter Parker, in what's essentially his first year. Having had such a sound defeat, his fancy Future Foundation costume broken beyond repair, and being woken up to Norman Osborn in the hospital... it's somewhat humbling for poor Peter, especially when Norman tells Peter to stay down and recover, and let the law enforcement hunt down Scorpion. Norman also quite unsubtly notes that he doesn't really care about catching the Scorpion, but his target is Otto Octavius. And showing that he cares much more about what he can or cannot use, Norman shows barely any concern to Peter's well-being (both physical and mental) and tells him that their cooperation is over if he can't deliver.
And it's a pretty well-delivered 'impostor syndrome' episode mixed with a bit of Peter's own swirling doubts about Norman. And the thing is, he's kind of also pushing away people around him. His little Osborn internship clique (which the show has more or less treated as background noise after the original introduction) is celebrating over his successful experiment, and even jerks like Dr. Wittman and Amadeus Cho are grudgingly congratulating Peter, but he's not interested. When he goes home, he is unsuccessful in hiding his injuries from Aunt May, leading to a bit of a breakdown about how he's letting people like Norman and Nico down. I did really like these scenes -- ultimately it's not something that we haven't seen in a lot of the other Spider-Man material, but it's a good one nonetheless.
Peter, meanwhile, tries his best to get along with his life, working on a science project with Pearl Pangan... and stumbles into a conversation with Lonnie. Again, the Lonnie storyline was something I wasn't sure about at first, but the story of how he ends up being 'in too deep' with the 110th is delivered surprisingly well. Even when presented with the need and the route to escape, like someone dependent, Lonnie ends up insisting and trying to convince Pearl (and maybe himself as well) that the gang needs him and he owes it to them to stand by them. It's a very stark contrast to his attitude a handful of episodes ago, where he's all but strongarmed to be working for them. I also like that the show adds a bit of a scene of Peter talking to Lonnie, making sure that the inter-character dynamics are established... it's a nice way of showing even out of costume he's still trying to help.
And this conversation with Lonnie brings back a thought about Uncle Ben. I really do think not having that classic origin story with Uncle Ben's death right after Peter gains spider powers is a huge mistake in any retelling of Peter's origin story, but this is at least an all right compromise.
Peter ends up confronting Norman (who, again, in another telling way on how he views people around him, shoos Harry from the discussion) and asks to be given another chance to be a good hero. Unfortunately, Norman's advice to Peter is meant to build him up to essentially be an unquestioning tool, leading to an actually well-done corrupted catchphrase: "with great power, comes great respect". Without respect, Peter doesn't have anything. And he needs to stop being afraid of his own strength and stop holding back.
Which, done properly, is actually honestly a not-bad advice! And that's what makes this incarnation of Norman so deliciously dangerous. Like, being afraid of your own strength is a good motivational tool for people with imposter syndrome, or for people without confidence when they are performing in like, sports or a speech or something. Not when you're encouraging a teenager with super-strength to essentially shrug away the possibility of killing the gangsters he's fighting!
Norman, of course, treats pep talk and mentoring as essentially another meeting. Deliver the sales pitch, and move out. He's certainly not handling it the way a father figure or a mentor should. But Harry steps up to bat, and starts punching holes in the huge cloud of insecurity around Peter's head. Harry tells Peter that "Norman stopping working with Peter" isn't the end-all-be-all, and all but says that it's a manipulation tactic from his dad. After all, Peter Parker is Spider-Man before all of this Oscorp business, and what Spider-Man decides to do should be up to Spider-Man. And the episode's final shot is the two new best friends deciding to respond to a small-time threat (something Norman would've ignored, with his tunnel vision at catching Otto). Harry reveals that he's used Peter's sketches to create the iconic red-and-blue suit. That's cool, and a nice way for Peter to grab back his identity and destiny after the emotional wringer this episode put him through.
(It's also kind of nice that while Harry wasn't being actively doing it to show up his dad, the fact that Norman thinks so little of Harry to constantly wave him off has done a lot of harm to Norman's attempts at manipulating Peter.)
While all of this is going on, by the way, I actually do like that the world actually does still move on while our hero is on a mental break. In the first half of the episode, we get a scene where Otto is attacked by a group of policemen, leading to a bit of a fun action scene as he activates his machinery to stall the policeman... only to get stomped to the ground and arrested by Iron Man. It's a nice little reminder that this is still a bigger world, and while Tony and Ross didn't do much, I do like that we're getting some outside involvement here and there; especially since narratively Otto isn't that important to Peter yet.
In a bit of tying in together the various cast members, Lonnie and the 110th investigate where Scorpion got his super-mech suit, and gets a tip from Dmitri Smerdyakov -- now dressed up in full Chameleon regalia. Chameleon doesn't get another appearance after this, but it's a nice setup for a future antagonist. He reveals to the 110th the location of Otto's now Otto-less hideout, which is a nice escalation in the fight.
Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:
- As with many other Spider-Man material, the title page homages The Amazing Spider-Man #50, a.k.a. "Spider-Man No More!"
- Before he was arrested, Otto was attempting to purchase vibranium -- vibranium being sold a lot on the black market is a recurring plot thread in the MCU. The SWAT team also cite the Sokovia Accords from Civil War at him.
- Iron Man's armour is based on his Silver Age look, notably with the mouth-slits on his mask. Tony Stark also has a mustache like his comic-book counterpart, as opposed to mimicking Robert Downey Jr's facial hair.
- Chameleon dons a somewhat 'pragmatic' version of his comic-book's white-skinned mask.
- Harry yells Mary-Jane's traditional comic-book catchphrase, "go get 'em, tiger!"
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