Mission: Save the Guardstar
Synopsis: The Spider-Friends investigate a robbery at an electronics place being instigated by a woman that secret government agent Iceman identifies as Lightwave. She's demonstrates the ability to create and control light, and is able to get away with some electronics. Iceman refuses to say who she is, but Spider-Man and Firestar manage to find out shortly afterwards when they're recruited by SHIELD to stop her. It turns out that she used to be a SHIELD agent before she defected, and that she wants to gather devices to enhance her power so that she can take over the defence satellite Guardstar. What no one knows is that she's been hypnotised by a mysterious shadowy figure to do so. When she next performs a robbery, Spider-Man's isn't able to stop her because of Iceman, who helps her. He explains to Spider-Man and Firestar that she's his half-sister. Shortly afterwards, Iceman anticipates she'll go to an old carousel she liked and meets her there, but she defeats him when he tries to talk to her.
Iceman is taken to Lightwave's headquarters and seemingly hypnotised, although he's immune to the process since ice reflects the light used to do so. When they head out to steal the final component they need he tricks Lightwave into using her powers, alerting Spider-Man and Firestar to where they are. Unfortunately, the rest of the Spider-Friends are defeated and the third device is stolen. The Spider-Friends are taken to be brainwashed, but Iceman blows his cover and saves them. It turns out that the villain behind Lightwave is the SHIELD agent who recruited Spidey and Firestar, who wants to control Lightwave who will control Guardstar, which has just launched. The SHIELD agent and Lightwave head into space on a rocket so that she can take control of Guardstar when she's closer, but the Spider-Friends manage to get onboard. During the inevitable fight, Iceman's knocked into outer space and is at risk of dying, but Lightwave's brainwashing is broken through and she saves her brother. In the aftermath, while Spider-Man says that Iceman saved everyone, he says that his sister coming back is what saved everyone.
Review: Given that this show is ostensibly about Spider-Man, it's a bit weird that the final episode decides to focus on Iceman - makes you wonder whether or not they knew that this would be the last one. Retconning in a half-sister is a little awkward, given that she was never mentioned in Iceman's origin, but I guess that we can handwave it that there was no reason for him to mention her. (Although then again, given that she's also a mutant, maybe Iceman should have mentioned her. Hmm. I don't mind the character of Lightwave, but I'm not sure how much I like her connection to Iceman. And, yes, I know that the real reason she wasn't mentioned previously is because she didn't exist at the time).
If there's one thing this episode does brilliantly, it's the twist. I spent the majority of the episode wondering which comic book villain would be the one brainwashing Lightwave, only to be pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be the SHIELD agent (who has a name, but does anyone care what it is?) There's a little bit of awkwardness in that the reason given for him recruiting Spider-Man and Firestar is so that he could keep an eye on them, but I've heard worse reasons.
I can't say that this is the most spectacular episode of the show - a lot of the fights are a bit bland, Iceman is tight-lipped about Lightwave to start off with for no reason other than drama, and as mentioned, Lightwave is inserted into his backstory awkwardly. Still, I do like her character, and in spite of its weaknesses, this is probably the strongest season finale we've had of all of the shows I've checked out so far.
Next time: with this fairly iconic series finished, I'll be posting a retrospect of the entire series, giving my overall thoughts on it, discussing how it compares to the 1981 series of Spider-Man, and listing the best and worst episodes. I hope to see you there.
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