Ultimate Spider-Man, Season 1, Episode 21: I Am Spider-Man; Episode 22: The Iron Octopus
Episode 21, "I Am Spider-Man" is... it's a bizarre episode. It basically another zany episode, but unlike the previous one (Spider-Man gets turned into a talking pig!) this one is just... kind of fell flat on its face. A lot of the jokes just end up being kind of bland or uninteresting, and the concept -- Coulson and Mary Jane sets up a musical about Spider-Man, but a villain crashes the stage show thinking it's the real Spider-Man -- isn't interesting enough. The episode also isn't sure whether it wants to play the identity crisis and a villain attacking a high school straight or not, making it a very weird bit where we're supposed to be tense because Trapster is attacking the school, but at the same time Coulson is aware of this and instead of whipping out those two space bazookas, he just forces the musical to go on.
The episode has a great scene, though, where Flash Thompson, cast as Spider-Man in the musical, ends up getting a crisis of confidence and confides in Peter Parker about how he thinks he's not the right person to play his idol. It's a nice bit of hidden depths for Flash, and Peter's moment of acknowledgement, telling Flash that everyone likes him without all of this grandiose acts of bullying and showboating, is actually a nice, well-written island in the sea of unfunny jokes that's the rest of this episode. Flash sort of sticking up for Peter at the end of the musical is also a nice moment.
Of course, the episode itself is pretty dire, filled with "escapades" and "wacky hijinks" that really aren't that funny, and are dragged on for way, way too long. Honestly, the only times in this episode that I do find myself genuinely laughing is the montage of Marvel comics inspired musical pastiches (Mutant and the Beast!) and when Mary Jane kicks Trapster in the balls for basically trying to solicit a teenager. Overall, a pretty bland episode, honestly, which is extra-sad considering this is supposed to be a fun, zany romp.
Thankfully, episode 22 is basically one of the best episodes in this season, an actually great episode. It helps that it brings together two of the best-written villains in this season -- Dr. Octopus and Norman Osborn, while at the same time bringing back Iron Man, a pretty well-written guest star, and also explores the whole Norman/Harry dynamic that I've praised several times throughout my review of this season. Throw in an actually well-done integration of jokes into the otherwise tense episode, and this episode is honestly what a majority of Ultimate Spider-Man should be, jokes-to-plot ratio wise.
The episode starts off with a pretty fun little moment of Iron Man apparently attacking the Osborn penthouse, with Spider-Man arriving to save Norman Osborn from Iron Man -- or, well, an empty suit. We get a bit of a subtle affirmation on how terrible of a parent Norman is, as well as seeing that he's not a mere harmless businessman but has a goddamn double-barreled gatling gun and a giant shocker glove in his office.
The subsequent little team-up with Iron Man to fight against some Octopus-controlled suits is pretty fun too, but the argument between Norman and Tony is a fun bit. We do get some backstory regarding Dr. Otto Octavius courtesy of Connors, which Norman describes as a brilliant scientist that he thought of as "his son". Between how Norman acts towards Spider-Man, Peter and Octavius, basically everyone is his son except for his actual son, huh?
And Dr. Octopus ends up being the big main villain of this episode, being the one that sent an Octo-bot that hacked into Tony Stark's systems and took over the armours, and stole the arc reactor schematics to power up his own "Iron Octopus" armour. It looks doofy and silly, yes, but it does end up providing a pretty badass fight scene against Spider-Man, leading with Iron Man dispatched and sent into space, while Iron Octopus absconds with both Osborns. Spider-Man follows suit, donning the Iron Spider costume to give himself his own power boost to battle against the Iron Octopus. Won't lie, that's pretty badass.
All the while, Dr. Octopus is ranting about how Norman Osborn is an untrusworthy slimeball that's used him, enslaved him by making him dependent on the mechanical arms, and later discarding him as garbage. The problem is, as Spider-Man points out, Dr. Octopus is also a ranting lunatic intent on killing people and have harmed a huge amount of his allies. From Spider-Man's viewpoint, there really isn't any reason to believe in Octavius's story, and that's what makes it pretty damn tragic. The story behind Octavius and Norman is truly told well. Dr. Octopus is easily one of the best-written character in this series by a huge margin, really selling the tragic villain part without leaning too hard on one end or the other. Octavius' origin story is sad as all hell, and I can honestly say I do root for the good doctor and hope he gets his revenge on Norman... but on the other hand, as peter points out -- he's very much a villain that needs to be stopped.
Which adds into the tragedy of the final scene. Sure, Spider-Man threw Octopus through a couple of buildings (holy shit, by the way), and when Dr. Octopus's body isn't found, everyone just assumes it's a classic case of villain-got-away. But apparently, Norman has captured Octopus, stuck his wounded body in one of those Star Wars healing liquid tanks, and rants about how Octavius has proven his worth and he's going to "welcome [him] back into the family". It's a pretty horrifying moment, and really showcases just why Norman Osborn, despite not being Green Goblin yet, is easily the Big Bad of this season.
And it would've been enough if it's just the Peter/Harry/Octavius piss-off triangle that's the focus of the episode, but both Harry and Tony Stark get a pretty significant amount of screentime as well. Harry's confusion but determination that he cares for his dad and his angry rebuttal at Nick Fury and Tony Stark for their badmouthing of Norman is really well-done. As much as Harry resents his father for being a parent that's never there, he's also pretty angry at anyone who talks shit about his father.
Tony, meanwhile, when he's not snarking at the world, ends up being a pretty damn good mentor to Spider-Man. That final scene where Iron Man and Spider-Man sit on top of a building and basically have a neat little mentor/mentee conversation about trusting your guts, with Spider-Man confiding that he's not 100% sure that Octavius is a lunatic, is definitely well done. It's really hard to believe that Ultimate Spider-Man is meant to be in continuity with Avengers Assemble, considering how insipid and shallow their Iron Man is.
Overall, a pretty damn awesome episode. It uses its guest star pretty well, it develops two of our the season's main villains amazingly, and allows Peter some really well-done characterization as he ends up thinking and analyzing the situation. Overall, pretty great stuff. And we're going to soon enter the endgame for this season, too!
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