Tablet of Time
Synopsis: Some explorers find a Toltec pyramic, and inside it the mythical Tablet of Time, which is taken to Empire State University to be studied by Doctor Connors. When it arrives at the docks, Hammerhead is sent to retrieve it by Silvermane, who wants it since it has a formula upon it to make you younger, but is stopped by Spider-Man. Hammerhead is fired by Silvermane, and goes to Kingpin, who starts making plans of his own to get the tablet. When Spider-Man shows up at university to get his neogenic treatment, Connors explains to Spider-Man that if he can decipher the tablet then he can cure Spider-Man's mutation with it. While they're talking, a robot bursts through the wall, controlled by Alistair Smythe, and tries to steal the tablet. Although Spider-Man tries luring the robot away, Smythe is ultimately successful in getting the tablet. During the fight, Connors' arm briefly mutates to the Lizard's and back again.
When Kingpin finds out that Alistair hasn't made much process in decoding the tablet, they decide to capture Connors to do it for them. Alistair attacks Connors' home, but Spider-Man's visiting so that he can talk to Connors about the Lizard transformation. Out of Alistair's sight, Connors turns into the Lizard, and so Alistair captures Connors' wife and says that Connors has to be brought to him within six hours, not realising that the Lizard has dashed into the sewers. Meanwhile, Silvermane hires Tombstone to get the tablet, who's given some advice by Alisa, Silvermane's daughter and fellow student of Peter Parker's. Tombstone captures Vanessa Fisk so that he can use her as leverage against Kingpin. At the same time, Spider-Man goes into the sewers and is lucky when the Lizard touches an electrified train track, knocking him out. Spider-Man takes him to the lab and uses the Neogenic Recombinator to transform him back to Doctor Connors, but it's at that moment that Tombstone chooses to attack the university.
Subplots:
- As was both foreshadowed and predicted, Debbie Whitman is now going out with Flash Thompson, on dates if nothing else.
- Peter also asks out Alisa after she comes onto him, all the while thinking about how Mary Jane's going out with Harry now.
- This episode is loosely based on an arc from Amazing Spider-Man #68 - 75, which introduced the Tablet of Time in the comics.
- In one of the best deus ex machinas I've seen in a while, at one point in the episode, Alistair Smythe has Spider-Man and his mercy and is about to kill him...but wait, Kingpin's calling! That distracts him for long enough for Spider-Man to get away, and it's unintentionally hilarious.
- In another unintentionally hilarious moment, Alistair reveals that he's bombarded the Tablet of Time with light, which has caused it to start emitting radiation, and that his recommendation is that it be destroyed. I guess this is why he's a mad scientist, after all.
The race between Silvermane and Kingpin to get the tablet is a simple enough plot, but it works pretty well, and having Spider-Man caught in the middle feels pretty natural. Better yet is the pacing of this episode, which gives us a few Peter Parker moments to catch our breath between fights. Him angsting over Mary Jane feels perfectly in-character, and while nothing really new happens there, I'm glad we got to check in on that. The appearance of the Lizard was also appreciated, and I'm glad that it was wrapped up within this episode - no need to bog down the plot with more elements than necessary.
Probably the weakest element of the episode is Alisa. We first see her, her face off-camera, meeting with Silvermane, and then she's next seen at university, where she's more or less the point-of-view character. Add in that she's suspicious of Spider-Man and is being flirty with Peter and the "shocking reveal" that she's Silvermane's daughter doesn't really land the impact that it should. I guess that there's room for it to develop into something more solid, but for now it's a bit underwhelming.
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