Spectacular Spider-Man Episode Four: Market Forces

Market Forces

First Aired: March 22nd, 2008

Synopsis: A van is captured by Montana of the Enforcers, and it turns out to contain an advanced suit that Montana is going to wear. The next day, Peter finds that Aunt May is still behind on paying bills, and that she wants him to meet their neighbour's niece Mary Jane Watson, which he's opposed to. Peter goes to Harry's place to tutor him, and discovers that he's gotten an invitation to the school's Fall Formal. Peter debates asking Mary Jane to it, Harry's thinking about asking Gwen. Peter also gets an email to the Daily Bugle, telling him to collect his pay cheque, and when he's there Jonah asks for more photos of Spider-Man. While Peter's getting his pay cheque, he also ends up flirting with Betty Brant. Swinging out later as Spider-Man, two of the Big Man's thugs - Flint Marko and Alex O'Hirn - commit a robbery and intentionally let Spider-Man follow them. Spider-Man's attacked by Montana wearing his new suit, calling himself Shocker. Shocker manages to get Spider-Man into a rubbish compactor and activates it, but unbeknownst to him Spider-Man survives it. Unfortunately, Spider-Man's pay cheque got destroyed in the process.

 

The next day at school Harry's annoyed at Peter for ditching their studying session, so Peter promises he'll make up for it that night. After school Peter gets a new pay cheque and meets Robbie Robertson, who suggests that Peter get a new camera. When Peter tries to do so he finds that the store is getting robbed by Marko and O'Hirn, and tells them as Spidey that he wants a rematch with Shocker. He ends up getting a new camera at the expense of not helping Aunt May pay the bills, but also realises that he unintentionally ditched Harry again. Later he asks out Betty to the Fall Formal since he feels they've got a good rapport, but she gently turns him down as she's too old for him. There's suddenly a strange tremor, which Peter guesses is a clue from Shocker, and tracks him down to an abandoned theatre. They fight, and Spider-Man manages to win by tricking Shocker into destroying pillars which hold up the other floors, bringing them down on him. At the Osborns', Harry is annoyed at Peter ditching him again, but Norman tells him to man up and take control of his life. He then meets with Hammerhead, the Big Man's main lieutenant, and it's revealed that Norman tipped them off about the Shocker suit as it would hurt one of his business rivals. The Big Man wants Norman to create new supervillains so that Spider-Man will be distracted fighting them rather than stopping ordinary crimes. Back at the Parkers', Peter brings money from the Daily Bugle to Aunt May, even though she wants him to buy a new camera.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Peter and Betty Brant originally dated in the comics (she was, in fact, his first girlfriend), which is presumably the inspiration for him asking her out in this episode. In the comics the age gap between the two is much smaller; she dropped out of high school to work for the Daily Bugle since her mother was sick.
• Aunt May wanting Peter to meet Mary Jane, only for him to be horrified by the idea, is also out of the comics.

Review: Changing Shocker from being Herman Schultz to Montana is one of those changes that annoys me initially, but then when I stop and think about it, what's the real harm done? It's a lot more eloquent to give the suit to an existing character, one who could already do with a bit of an upgrade, and as much as I like classic Shocker, it's not like he's got a very memorable personality or much that's that unique to him.

No, making Montana this universe's version of Shocker is fine. The real qualms I have with this episode are twofold: firstly, the episode is really unclear about what's going on with Peter's camera. He goes to buy a new one and the shop is closed, then shortly afterwards is home and after debating giving money to Aunt May, decides to keep it for the camera. When he meets up with Betty later he says that he's got a new camera, but then the end of the episode treats it as if he doesn't have one. He might have theoretically returned it to the store, but it's not made clear; the whole situation is a bit more confusing than it should be.

The other qualm, a more minor one, is the sense of timing. It's not made apparent unless you stop and think about it, but what exactly is happening in-universe here? Peter ditches Harry the second time so that he can go to the Daily Bugle; did he really have no time to tutor him first? When he meets Betty outside the Daily Bugle with Schrodinger's New Camera the last thing we saw him do was talk to Aunt May about the bills; is this the same night or a different one? Has he had time to see Harry, or did we skip an entire day of school? The events are very much happening as the plot requires them, and it feels like there are hours going on between Spider-Man scenes where he's not actually doing anything, despite having things to do.

None of the above is a dealbreaker, though. We've got the most entertaining fight since the first episode and a clever way to defeat Shocker, and a lot of subplots are being introduced. Flint Marko and Alex O'Hirn are fully established as the local thugs, setting them up for the next few episodes, Harry's been prompted to grow a spine, the Fall Formal's been brought up, and Norman Osborn is now working with the Big Man. If you don't find any of these intriguing then I don't know what to say. This is good stuff.