[7.6/10] Not quite as strong as Pt. 1, but still quite good. The episode does a nice job of setting up that the symbiote costume is sensitive to soundwaves with the vigilante guy’s blasts, and it comes back nicely. We also get more of Peter being angrier and more dangerous with the symbiote costume, and get the reveal from Curt Connors that it’s sentiment. It’s hard to know how good some of this is, since so much of the symbiote lore is basically baked into the brains of any young man like myself who grew up with the various symbiote characters plastered all over t-shirts and comic books, but the show at least does a solid job of explaining what the deal with this living costume is, with some exposition, yes, but also some good old fashioned demonstrations as well.
I also like J. Jonah Jameson’s part in this. It’s not a particularly deep show character-wise so far, but there’s depth to Jonah, someone who hates Spider-Man but has his own sense of honor. He’s skeptical of the web-slinger, particularly when Spider-Man bursts into the newsroom under the influence of the symbiote and threatens people, but when he finds out that Spider-Man was telling the truth about Rhino, he not only fires Eddie Brock for lying to him, but retracts his million-dollar bounty. It’s a rare bit of humility and grace from the newspaper magnate.
We also get some contrived bits with the introduction of The Shocker (voiced by the incredible Jim Cummings and wearing a ridiculous-looking outfit). There’s more macguffinism with Smythe and Kingpin still trying to get the promethium, only to be hoodwinked by Spider-Man when he defuses a hostage situation with John Jameson in exchange for the surprisingly now-useless rock. It’s serviceable enough plot machinery, but nothing to write home about.
Still, it leads to a good ending set piece at a bell tower, where Spider-Man is harsher than ever, figures out the ringing bell is his best means to escape the symbiote suit, and inadvertently passes it on to a now-ruined Eddie Brock. There’s fireworks in the form of the Vertigo-esque fight, and there’s personal drama in Peter’s struggle with the power and price extracted by the suit. The episode lays the “wait, what did Uncle Ben teach me about power?” bit on pretty thick, but otherwise it’s a fine finish.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2018-01-20T02:38:04Z
[7.6/10] Not quite as strong as Pt. 1, but still quite good. The episode does a nice job of setting up that the symbiote costume is sensitive to soundwaves with the vigilante guy’s blasts, and it comes back nicely. We also get more of Peter being angrier and more dangerous with the symbiote costume, and get the reveal from Curt Connors that it’s sentiment.
It’s hard to know how good some of this is, since so much of the symbiote lore is basically baked into the brains of any young man like myself who grew up with the various symbiote characters plastered all over t-shirts and comic books, but the show at least does a solid job of explaining what the deal with this living costume is, with some exposition, yes, but also some good old fashioned demonstrations as well.
I also like J. Jonah Jameson’s part in this. It’s not a particularly deep show character-wise so far, but there’s depth to Jonah, someone who hates Spider-Man but has his own sense of honor. He’s skeptical of the web-slinger, particularly when Spider-Man bursts into the newsroom under the influence of the symbiote and threatens people, but when he finds out that Spider-Man was telling the truth about Rhino, he not only fires Eddie Brock for lying to him, but retracts his million-dollar bounty. It’s a rare bit of humility and grace from the newspaper magnate.
We also get some contrived bits with the introduction of The Shocker (voiced by the incredible Jim Cummings and wearing a ridiculous-looking outfit). There’s more macguffinism with Smythe and Kingpin still trying to get the promethium, only to be hoodwinked by Spider-Man when he defuses a hostage situation with John Jameson in exchange for the surprisingly now-useless rock. It’s serviceable enough plot machinery, but nothing to write home about.
Still, it leads to a good ending set piece at a bell tower, where Spider-Man is harsher than ever, figures out the ringing bell is his best means to escape the symbiote suit, and inadvertently passes it on to a now-ruined Eddie Brock. There’s fireworks in the form of the Vertigo-esque fight, and there’s personal drama in Peter’s struggle with the power and price extracted by the suit. The episode lays the “wait, what did Uncle Ben teach me about power?” bit on pretty thick, but otherwise it’s a fine finish.
On to part three!