1x13 Mind Games (Part 2)

[7.6/10] I again appreciate the ambition of this one, and the lengths to which the episode was willing to go. This episode feels like Spider-Man: The New Animated Series’s version of the famous Gwen Stacy story, and I actually really liked where they went with it.

It’s not like we know Indie that well, but at least she’s been a significant part of Peter’s life for a handful of episodes, so her being taken out of the picture is striking. And I have to admit, the move where the twins use their powers to have Spider-Man throw Indie off a building, thinking it’s the Gaines sister, totally caught me by surprise. It’s a gut punch, one that not only hurts Peter Parker deep down because someone he loves is seriously injured and he’s the cause, but also makes Spider-Man even more of a pariah because, to the world at large, it looks like Spidey is a wanton brute who just hurt an innocent bystander.

I’ll admit, a lot of the plot up to that point didn’t do much for me. For all the rigamarole and effort the show put into the last episode to convince Spider-Man that Kraven killed MJ and send him out for revenge, Spidey basically pieces it together in five minutes of quizzing Kraven and the cop who has it out for him, which makes the whole build up to that moment seem superfluous.

(As an aside, I’ll add that having pretty recently watched the 1990s Spider-Man cartoon, it’s really odd that MTV or the studio brought in Ed Asner for a Spider-Man show, but decided to have him voice a random cop rather than reprise his role as J. Jonah Jameson, and it throws me off every time his character’s on the screen.)

That said, one of the strengths of this series has been its direction, lighting, and editing, and this was no exception. The fight with Kraven in particular was especially well done, with a nice use of shadow to make Spider-Man seem literally darker when he’s trying to take out his enemy, some cool angles that make Spidey look more sinister and imposing, and even some interesting framing when Spider-Man is strangling his foe with his webs that highlight the precariousness of the situation. Whatever this show lacks in the design department, it makes up for in using its CGI setting to create some impressive and memorable shots.

That said, I wasn’t a big fan of the confrontation with the twins, in terms of plot, performance, or anything really. Neither Kathy Griffin nor Jeremy Piven seemed to have this voice acting thing down, as both sounded stiff as hell. Spider-Man fighting a pair of Killgrave equivalents could have given the show a chance to be creative in the fisticuffs and plan, but it’s the usual smash and punch situation. And while the Gaines sister making Spidey think she’s Indie again while driving the truck is another minor gut punch, it ends with a convenient death that Spider-Man doesn't have to take responsibility for. (Though I’d be lying if I said him rushing away from the explosion didn’t look really cool.)

But for all my complaints, the business with Indie, with Peter questioning whether Spider-Man is a force for good or not, really carries the day on this one. My old joke about the 1990s series was that Peter was ready to give up being Spider-Man every third episode. The New Animated Series not only waits on that until now, but really earns it, creating a situation where Spider-Man is blameless, but would pile on himself for the consequences of the situations he’s in, and the situations it puts the people he cares about in.

I haven’t loved every minute of this show. The designs and animation are pretty ugly; the stories are mostly standard issue, its romantic pairings were eternally inconsistent, and the voice acting outside of NPH is surprisingly and broadly off. But it had visual flair in terms of its direction out the wazoo, it made NPH into a nicely convincing version of the wall-crawler, and here, it used the twelve episode’s worth of stories that led to this point to create a significant ethical and personal choice for Peter Parker.

When he tosses his suit in the river, and sees his reflection, there’s weight because of what he’s been through and the effect it had on those around him. Spider-Man: The New Animated Series certainly had flaws, but it earns that moment big time, and that alone is almost able to mark the show as a worthwhile chapter in Spidey’s history on the screen.