Persona
First Aired: May 17th, 2008
Synopsis: Peter's excited about the black goo that's been found on John Jameson's shuttle, as it's been discovered to be organic. It's been taken to Curt Connors for research, and when Peter's connection to Eddie Brock doesn't let him get in to see it, he decides to check it out as Spider-Man. When he does so he catches a thief, Black Cat, trying to steal it, so he fights her as Spider-Man. In the course of the fight the goo gets loose and attaches itself to Spider-Man's leg, but he doesn't notice. Black Cat eventually leaves when Professor Connors shows up, attracted by the alarm, but since the goo is missing Spider-Man assumes she somehow got it. The next day Spider-Man is accused of the robbery in the Daily Bugle, and when Peter protests he discovers that Connors didn't get to the lab until that morning. Unbeknownst to him, the Connors who showed up to the lab is actually the Chameleon, who's working with two men named Mason and Beck. Having failed to get the alien substance, he asks for his men's help with a new impersonation. The next day as Spider-Man's swinging around, the alien substance spreads throughout his entire costume and turns it black, and as he soon discovers, enhances his abilities.
Spider-Man, in his original costume, robs a bank, much to J. Jonah Jameson's pleasure, but of course it's the Chameleon in disguise, hoping to sully Spider-Man's reputation. Spider-Man goes looking for the imposter and is helped by Black Cat, who guesses that the imposter will be robbing a fancy party on a boat, since it's what she would do. Chameleon infiltrates the boat by disguising himself as Norman Osborn, and soon proves Black Cat correct, but Spider-Man shows up and chases after him while Black Cat takes care of Beck and Mason. Afterwards, Spider-Man debates returning the alien substance, but decides not to, with the justification that it makes him a more efficient crime-fighter. He's grateful to Black Cat for her help and tries convincing her to work with him more often, but unbeknownst to him, she only did it so that she could steal some jewels herself from the party.
Miscellaneous Notes:
- As mentioned, Spider-Man is impersonated and framed for bank robberies. In the comics, that's exactly what Mysterio did in his first appearance.
Review: The high points of this episode - the introduction of the black suit, Spider-Man and Black Cat flirting, the introduction of Chameleon, the future Mysterio, and Tinkerer - are pretty good, but the low points are...okay, they're not that low, but by this show's standards they are. Spider-Man spends nearly two minutes going after Chameleon when he escapes on a speedboat, and as much as the show tries to make it exciting and emphasises how his new suit helps him out, it feels a bit like padding, and is just far too drawn-out. The twist that Black Cat stole a jewel from the mayor is incredibly obvious, and Spider-Man takes far, far too long to realise that the alien has integrated itself into his costume.
After the intensity of the Green Goblin stuff in the last few episodes, it definitely feels like we needed something with a bit lower stakes - even if the black suit is obviously going to grow in importance - so I can understand that, but it still does feel like the episode is drawing itself out a bit more than is necessary. It's a pity, because there's plenty of good stuff here - I particularly liked the way that Chameleon acts like a giant ham when he's disguised as Spider-Man, and the way that we see Mason and Beck assist him in the middle of his crimes.
Overall, I wouldn't call this a bad episode - it's pretty good, in fact - but it it's definitely a bit of a step down, especially given some of the setup done last episode (there's no Mary Jane here, nor is there any sign of Peter working at the Daily Globe). I'm still enjoying this series and I did enjoy this episode, but it definitely feels like there's something missing here, unfortunately.
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