Spider-Man: The Animated Series Episode Forty-One: The Sins of the Fathers, Chapter 14 - Turning Point

Turning Point

First Aired: November 23rd, 1996

Synopsis: Annoyed by Madam Web, Spider-Man tells her to stop interfering in his life and to leave him alone, since he's perfectly happy as he is. Elsewhere, the Green Goblin is working on minituarising the time dilation accelerator, and he robs a truck to draw out Spider-Man. He disappears, and while Spider-Man searches for the Goblin, the Goblin stalks him, using the time dilation accelerator to disappear so Spider-Man doesn't detect him. He ends up seeing Spider-Man unmask as Peter Parker. After unmasking, Peter meets with Mary Jane, who tells him that they've been invited to Harry Osborn's birthday party that evening. They go there, and Peter's surprised to discover that Harry only invited them because Norman pressured him to. Norman drops hints to Peter that he knows his identity, and when he implies that he's about to reveal it to Harry's guests, Peter starts a fire to get everyone out. He starts a fight with Norman, who has already changed into the Green Goblin, but Norman's able to capture Peter.

 

Peter manages to get out of the cable the Goblin has him tied up in as they fly around the city, and the Goblin disappears using the time dilation accelerator. Peter, now in his Spider-Man costume, thinks that the Goblin is going after Aunt May, but instead the Goblin captures Mary Jane and takes her to the Brooklyn Bridge. After Spider-Man trying to appeal to Norman Osborn fails, the two of them fight, and the damage from the Goblin's explosives damage the bridge. It shakes enough that Mary Jane falls off, and into a portal created by the damaged time dilation accelerator. Spider-Man is furious, and the Goblin tries getting away with a portal of his own, but the time dilation accelerator is damaged enough that the portal is unstable. Spider-Man tries saving the Goblin from it, but the Goblin tries hitting Spider-Man with his glider, which only ends in him getting knocked into the portal. In the aftermath, Spider-Man calls out for Madam Web, and when she says she can't help him, he tells her to never contact him again. She says he'll leave him alone for now but will come for him one day.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• The scenes of Norman taunting Peter at the party are based on similar scenes from Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #2.
  
• The Green Goblin stalking Peter to discover his identity, and tying him up with wire then taking him around the city, are based on scenes from Amazing Spider-Man #39.
  
• Mary Jane being taken to the Brooklyn Bridge and dying disappearing into a portal is based on Amazing Spider-Man #121.
• The Green Goblin trying to kill Spider-Man with his glider, only to fall victim to it himself, is based on the climax of Amazing Spider-Man #122.
• After Mary Jane's disappeared into the portal and Spider-Man is furious, he tells the Green Goblin that "You'll pay, Osborn! If I have to chase you forever, you'll pay!" No word on whether he'd chase him to the ends of the earth, though.

Review: This episode goes to show what makes the Green Goblin/Spider-Man relationship so, so good in ways that other cartoons just haven't managed to capture. On paper, "Oh no, not the father of my friend who I'm sometimes really close with and who sometimes disappears for years at a time," doesn't sound that interesting, but the scenes at Harry's party are absolutely fantastic. Norman's absolutely ruthless, both in those scenes and as the Green Goblin, and he's a threat in a way that only Venom comes close to being. Gosh, I really wish we could get back to this version of Norman in the comics, because I don't think I've been too impressed with him since around Dark Reign.

That being said...while I did like this episode a lot, there's definitely a feel that something's lacking in it, especially when comparing it to how strong the previous episode was. I know that MJ and the Goblin can't actually die because of the network censors, but that doesn't mean that it works in the episode's favour, and the entire sequence of the Goblin nearly getting sucked into the portal is a little drawn-out. Things feel a little rushed after Mary Jane disappears into the portal - itself a bit abrupt - and it never really hits the heights that The Night Gwen Stacy Died does. I know that's a hard bar to clear, but the show did set itself up for the comparisons.

Ultimately, I am pleased with the episode though, and while the Green Goblin's presence in the show had less screentime than the Hobgoblin, I was consistently entertained by him and pleased with how he was portrayed. They certainly made the most of him. Mary Jane was a little more vanilla, but I can't deny that she's still the best love interest of Peter's; while the circumstances of her death are a little underwhelming, she herself will be missed.