The Party
First Aired: August 8th, 2003
Synopsis: University student Max Dillon is blindfolded and unable to hear in the back of a limousine by some jerks from a fraternity, led by Doug Reisman.When they stop for hot dogs he breaks free and manages to drive the limousine, but since he can't see it's chaotic, and he's only saved from landing in a pile of wet cement by Spider-Man. Later, at university, Peter Parker is late for a lecture and scolded, and when he gets asked to a party by Harry Osborn and Mary Jane, says he'll be late but they're sceptical that he'll show up. Peter talks to Max Dillon who tells him about what happened with the limo, then tries talking to Reisman, since he wants to join their fraternity. Max is invited to the party that's going on that night. That evening, Peter tells Harry that he doesn't think he can come to the party since he was scolded in class, and Harry reveals that and Mary Jane have a bet as to whether Peter will show up - Harry doesn't think that he will.
At the party, Max is taken away by the fraternity and their joining ritual, but they all vote that he shouldn't join as an excuse to perform the rejection ritual which involves shooting Max with paintballs. Max runs out of the party and climbs up a ladder to a neon sign, which gets hit by lightning, which spreads to him and gives him electrical powers. He returns to the party and attacks Doug Reisman before yelling at everyone at the party, but Spider-Man shows up and fights him. He quickly finds that Electro electrocutes him when he's punched, so webs up his hands and tries again. When Electro starts crying from this Spider-Man sympathises, but Max disagrees and starts attacking people again. Spider-Man finds a convenient transformer nearby and jams a grounding cable into Max, causing him to disappear. The next day, Peter, Harry, and Mary Jane visit Doug Reisman's grave since he died. Peter says that he showed up at the party so that Mary Jane wins the bet, but stays behind at the grave to angst. Unseen by him, a nearby lightbulb glows blue, the same colour as Electro.
Review: I think the general idea behind this episode is a good one, but it kind of doesn't really manage to execute the intentions well. Electro's obviously intended to be a parallel to Spider-Man, but he's so bloodthirsty once he gets his powers that it's really hard to sympathise with him. Even before he gets his powers he's still kind of a jerk who's whinging about how no one gets him - Peter's friendly to him, and when he gets punched by Reisman and tells Max not to associate with Reisman as a result, Max just sneers that Peter's jealous that Reisman wants to be friends with Max and not Peter. You just know that he's the kind of guy who complains when he gets friendzoned.
Electro also gets his powers in a weird way - he sees a sign with his name on it, climbs up to see it up close...because?... and then finds out that the whole thing says MAXIMUM SHOCK right before he gets his powers. It also might be an American uni/fraternity thing that I'm not getting, but I find it hard to believe that if a guy came out of a room covered in paint and obviously not happy that everyone would laugh at him. The show almost seems self-aware of this - at one point Max comments that college feels like high school - but even if they are then it doesn't really justify any of this.
You might have noticed that I'm talking a lot about Max Dillon, and that's because there's not really a lot of Spider-Man here. There's just enough for a bit of a basic setup, and we get two sequences with him in his suit, but beside that there's not really a lot from the titular hero. Overall, the most praise I can give it is that I think the show's heart is in the right place and that it's got potential, but the episode is botched enough that throughout most of the episode I felt slightly confused more than anything.
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