[8.2/10] Easily my favorite episode of the show so far. Maybe it’s just the presence of actor Clancy Brown as Taskmaster. As he’s shown on everything from Justice League to Venture Bros., there’s something about Brown’s ability to communicate a genteel and calculating menace that elevates any character he voices.
What I like about this version of Taskmaster is that he’s not pure evil. He seems like a legitimate tweener, a wildcard, who has his own agenda apart from the struggle of good and evil between Shield and Osborn/Doc Ock. I always appreciate characters who have their own interests and don’t just fit into a clean dichotomy. He’s clearly villainous, but he also has legitimate beef with Fury and Coulson (or at least what plausibly sounds like legitimate beef), making an argument that the good guys and the bad guys aren’t so different, to where both will double-cross you when it suits them.
It’s not explored that deeply, but it adds dimension to what would otherwise be just another villain of the week, and it adds a new bit of shading to the Shield vs. the villain crew conflict that Ultimate Spider-Man is setting up. His desire to recruit Spidey, and maligning both sides of the hero/outlaw dichotomy portends interesting things in the series to come.
I’m also a big fan of when superheroes can’t just punch or kick their way out of a problem, but instead have to come up with smart or creative solutions to defeat their foes. (This was definitely a strength of the former Spectacular Spider-Man show, which maybe gets a shoutout in this episode?) That’s why I loved the resolution in this one, where Spidey and White Tiger defeat Taskmaster by being clever, not necessarily by besting him through strength of skill.
For starters, the idea that he’s a “combat chameleon” (i.e. can instantly copy your fighting moves) makes for an interesting challenge in and of itself. Taskmaster’s gym teacher infiltration scheme is a little too Bailey School Kids in concept, but makes for good storytelling. But I love how smart Spidey and White Tiger are about it -- not only shutting out the lights so that he can’t see their moves, not only moving the obstacles around so that Taskmaster is out of sorts, but switching gear so that he’s not sure who’s who. It’s a great way to overcome his instant analysis abilities (cheesily but effectively conveyed by putting physics equations on the screen), and shows the best of our heroes, especially after what seemed like a standard “Spider-Man needs to learn the value of training” lesson.
The episode isn’t perfect. The running gags about Coulson wearing briefs is corny and broad as all hell. And the stuff with Flash didn’t blow me away (though each of the angel/devil Spider-Men saying he has the locker-stuffing coming was worth a laugh). But there was a solid core to this one, a bit of complexity and an interesting challenge that made this a cut above.
Overall, a great indication of what this show can be when it gets an interesting villain, a little more complicated in its view of the show’s major conflict, and a unique obstacle with a unique solution.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2018-10-21T22:03:17Z
[8.2/10] Easily my favorite episode of the show so far. Maybe it’s just the presence of actor Clancy Brown as Taskmaster. As he’s shown on everything from Justice League to Venture Bros., there’s something about Brown’s ability to communicate a genteel and calculating menace that elevates any character he voices.
What I like about this version of Taskmaster is that he’s not pure evil. He seems like a legitimate tweener, a wildcard, who has his own agenda apart from the struggle of good and evil between Shield and Osborn/Doc Ock. I always appreciate characters who have their own interests and don’t just fit into a clean dichotomy. He’s clearly villainous, but he also has legitimate beef with Fury and Coulson (or at least what plausibly sounds like legitimate beef), making an argument that the good guys and the bad guys aren’t so different, to where both will double-cross you when it suits them.
It’s not explored that deeply, but it adds dimension to what would otherwise be just another villain of the week, and it adds a new bit of shading to the Shield vs. the villain crew conflict that Ultimate Spider-Man is setting up. His desire to recruit Spidey, and maligning both sides of the hero/outlaw dichotomy portends interesting things in the series to come.
I’m also a big fan of when superheroes can’t just punch or kick their way out of a problem, but instead have to come up with smart or creative solutions to defeat their foes. (This was definitely a strength of the former Spectacular Spider-Man show, which maybe gets a shoutout in this episode?) That’s why I loved the resolution in this one, where Spidey and White Tiger defeat Taskmaster by being clever, not necessarily by besting him through strength of skill.
For starters, the idea that he’s a “combat chameleon” (i.e. can instantly copy your fighting moves) makes for an interesting challenge in and of itself. Taskmaster’s gym teacher infiltration scheme is a little too Bailey School Kids in concept, but makes for good storytelling. But I love how smart Spidey and White Tiger are about it -- not only shutting out the lights so that he can’t see their moves, not only moving the obstacles around so that Taskmaster is out of sorts, but switching gear so that he’s not sure who’s who. It’s a great way to overcome his instant analysis abilities (cheesily but effectively conveyed by putting physics equations on the screen), and shows the best of our heroes, especially after what seemed like a standard “Spider-Man needs to learn the value of training” lesson.
The episode isn’t perfect. The running gags about Coulson wearing briefs is corny and broad as all hell. And the stuff with Flash didn’t blow me away (though each of the angel/devil Spider-Men saying he has the locker-stuffing coming was worth a laugh). But there was a solid core to this one, a bit of complexity and an interesting challenge that made this a cut above.
Overall, a great indication of what this show can be when it gets an interesting villain, a little more complicated in its view of the show’s major conflict, and a unique obstacle with a unique solution.