Ultimate Spider-Man, Season 1, Episode 25: Revealed; Episode 26: The Rise of the Goblin
Again, I'm not 100% sure if I'm going to continue reviewing the second season. I'll definitely watch it in the future, but I'm not sure if I'm going to review it as extensively as this.
Anyway, this two-parter episode ends up with the transformation of Norman Osborn into the Green Goblin, which is kind of an obvious thing to do, but at the same time, so much time ends up being given to the Osborn conflict that a lot of the other storylines that have been subtly built up across the season sort of fizzles out. Which is a shame, because this season finale actually starts off pretty fantastically.
"Revealed" starts off with a pretty great sequence of oh shit, things are getting real. Building up on the dual threats of Dr. Octopus and Norman Osborn, both built up pretty well across the series with consistently good writing, the actual conflict ends up being pretty awesome. It starts off with a reaffirmation of poor Harry Osborn as feeling pretty lonely in the world, as Peter is forced to ditch him to go Spider-Manning, while Norman is being his usual dick father self. Long story short, after an action scene where Team Spider fights against a bunch of Dr. Octopus's robots, Spider-Man gets kidnapped and taken into Dr. Octopus's lair.
And Dr. Octopus is... poor man has been transformed into an even more pathetic and sorry-looking form, losing his hair and all those fancy-looking armour in his body. It's a genuinely creepy appearance, and his monologue about how the bad guys have won and that they'll make an army out of Spider-Man's blood, the brief fight between Octopus and Spider-Man, as well as Norman Osborn revealing himself, are all very well done. The buildup for both Norman's obsession with Spider-Man as well as Dr. Octopus's long-building anger at Norman ends up all playing out pretty predictably, but all three voice actors are amazing in acting out their roles, and even the cutaway gags serve to actually add a bunch of levity without ruining the tension -- something that a vast majority of this series sort of fail to do.
And then Dr. Octopus sort of reveals himself as the new big bad, or at least attempts to -- he doublecrosses Norman, and stabs him with the new superpower serum that combines Spider-Man's blood with Venom's, and turns Norman into the Green Goblin, which in this incarnation is this hulking green monstrosity. Considering that Venom in this continuity is straight-up just a genetically modified monster from Spider-Man's blood, I really feel that the show could've probably made Green Goblin's mutation make a bit more sense by throwing in Hulk blood in it, but eh, whatever.
There's definitely a huge moment of tension as the Green Goblin shows off his power, and is apparently reduced to a somewhat Hulk-level of intelligence. He knows enough that Dr. Octopus is his enemy (although Otto sort of scuttles away and disappears after Norman beats him), he knows enough to use that lightning gauntlet he used a couple episodes back, and he's certainly strong enough to throw around Spider-Man and his buddies through a pretty damn badass fight scene that wrecks the Oscorp building.
Episode 25 ends with the Goblin in the wind, our heroes defeated, Harry panicking at the apparent death of his father, and Spider-Man declaring that he's failed as the "Ultimate" Spider-Man, and that he's going to fix his mistake... alone.
It's an amazing setup, building up a new villain (even if how Otto is sort of shoved aside is a bit poorly-done) and setting up a pretty dramatic cliffhanger. It's kind of your silly "abandon the team, and then make up with them in the third act of the next episode" bit, but it's still well done. Hell, the episode even opens with Spider-Man gushing over how well-done the teamwork and dynamic within the Junior Avengers has became, only for everything to go to shit at the end of the episode.
It's episode 26 that kind of feels problematic. After all that buildup in the previous episode... we start off with Green Goblin hunting down Harry, seemingly driven by... instinct, maybe? It's not made entirely clear, but we jump straight into action with Spider-Man fighting the Goblin in front of the school to rescue Harry, and then dropping the truth bomb that the Goblin is actually Norman Osborn. And then almost immediately and without any fanfare, Spider-Man just ends up accepting the Junior Avengers' help. Also, the Green Goblin randomly develops intelligence in this episode, which I felt could've been foreshadowed a lot better in both the previous and this episode. It feels pretty strange, and sort of a huge tonal shift from what Norman Osborn has been throughout this season.
The conflict in this episode is Harry Osborn, I guess, who's convinced that SHIELD is trying to kill his father, nevermind the fact that Norman has been mutated into a giant hulking beast, while Green Goblin still really wants to hunt down Harry (it's ambiguous if he actually does have some sort of attachment to Harry, or if he wants the Venom symbiote). And a combination of Spider-Man flubbing his lines (no, really) in a very painfully-scripted scene and Green Goblin's attempts at getting through to Harry, Harry ends up being convinced that Spider-Man is responsible for his father's transformation and all that... and ends up transforming into Venom halfway through the episode, causing Spider-Man to be trapped in a three-way battle between Venom and Goblin.
Eventually, Spider-Man does break through to Harry, getting through with lines like "family doesn't try to mould you into something you're not", and managing to rescue Harry from Venom. Green Goblin reiterates how disgusted he is with Harry, steals a piece of Venom and a bunch of glider technology from SHIELD, and buggers off. And it's... both of these are very anticlimactic. Norman suddenly gunning for the Venom symbiote, or how he even knows Harry still has some Venom within him, honestly feels like it came out of nowhere.
And the episode really could've worked in the whole "family won't mould you into something you're not" deal. As much as Spider-Man insists that the Junior Avengers are his family, they do very little in this two-parter, basically showing up as extra bodies for fights, drops some one-liners, before being swept aside. It's actually even worse than in the rest of the season, and it's kind of baffling. Maybe the episode would've worked better as a three-parter, with a second part between "Revealed" and "Rise of the Goblin" where Spider-Man works solo and realizes how much he misses his new family, and how they're willing to give him the space he needs? It would also explain Green Goblin's motives a lot better too. I dunno -- "Rise of the Goblin" genuinely just feels like it's paced very weirdly. It's like one of those superhero TV season finales that end up focusing too much on building a new status quo (the Junior Avengers crash in the Parker residence! The Helicarrier is destroyed! Harry hates Spider-Man! Green Goblin is a thing! Curt Connors loses an arm!) instead of actually resolving the conflict it set up.
Still, the actual animation part of this episode is genuinely well done, and while episode 26 kind of drops the ball in my opinion as far as being a good season finale, both parts are honestly still pretty entertaining, as messy as it is.
And that's my view on this season as a whole. It's... it's messy, there's no doubt about it. The show doesn't find its voice until around halfway through the season, with a lack of balance between jokes and seriousness, and some really bad jokes along the way. It really struggles to find anything to do with the supporting cast, trying so hard to make Spider-Man feel special and the main character, while also wanting to include an ensemble cast. At the end of the day, none of the Junior Avengers except maybe Danny feel like real people instead of cardboard cutouts. Fury is a bit better, but not by much. Still, for all its faults, the season does manage to deliver some genuine winner episodes, and their take on Venom, Dr. Octopus and Norman Osborn (if not the Goblin) are pretty damn well-done. The season has some stinker episodes for sure, but what season doesn't? Overall, while it's certainly flawed, I did enjoy my romp throughout this season. Definitely found it far, far more enjoyable than its sister-cousin show, Avengers Assemble, in any case.
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