Me Time
First Aired: July 1st, 2012
Synopsis: Spider-Man fights and defeats Whirlwind, although unbeknownst to him Whirlwind contacts Doctor Octopus during the fight and reveals that he was intentionally supposed to draw out Spider-Man. Afterwards, Spider-Man is scolded by Nick Fury for causing collateral damage, and brushes off Fury's suggestion to go do some training. At home he finds that Aunt May's gone home for the weekend, and while he's initially excited that he has the place to himself he finds a tiny camera from SHIELD and is enraged. When Spider-Man confronts Fury, the latter says that it's to keep him safe, but that's not good enough for Spider-Man and he hands in his SHIELD web shooter to Fury, telling him that his weekend is his and that he doesn't want to be watched. Doctor Octopus is berated by Norman Osborn for not having made any progress with his Spider-Man project, so Ock goes after Spider-Man himself, attacking him at a carnival.
After a lengthy fight, Spider-Man is defeated by Doctor Octopus and taken back to his lair, which is underwater. He wakes up and realises that Nick Fury had a point when talking about surveillance for Spider-Man's security, and manages to break free before Octopus can start dissecting him. This time Spider-Man's the victor, but unbeknownst to him, Norman Osborn feels that he can't afford to have Ock traced back to him, so he remotely blows up the base. Spider-Man manages to get through and call Nick Fury, but the base is filling up with water around him. Ock nearly drowns, but Spider-Man goes after him shortly before falling unconscious. He wakes up in SHIELD custody, and Doctor Connors reveals that Spider-Man was found holding onto some of Ock's technology. Spider-Man apologises to Fury for being so dismissive of the surveillance, and compromises to only have one camera, outside the house. Fury agrees, and also agrees to delete the existing footage he has within twenty-four hours, but just before it is deleted, shows Spider-Man's team embarrassing footage of him.
Review: I wouldn't call this my favourite version of Doctor Octopus, but I do really like what they've done with him here. He feels like something out of a horror movie - he talks and moves like a total creep, and between this and all of his other brief appearances, he really does come across as obsessed with Spider-Man. We don't get any of his backstory, but there are some tantalising hints - Norman mentions that he gave Ock his tentacles, at one point he stops to look in a mirror and comments that "I was handsome once," and he has some vents on his chest apparatus that appear to help him breathe. I also noticed that he rarely if ever stands on his legs, choosing instead to stick to his tentacles for mobility.
Unfortunately, as cool as this version of Ock is, the episode just can't decide what sort of tone it wants to take. Most of the time he's portrayed as competent and creepy, but in the middle of a fight we'll suddenly get a cut to a chibi Spider-Man making some lame joke - and this happens multiple times, too. Another weak spot is Spider-Man wanting time to himself - it's a legitimate desire, but when we see him alone in his house he's just goofing off, and it's hard to believe that this is what he's so keen to do when he has a quiet minute. And what's with him going on the rollercoaster in his Spider-Man outfit other than it lets Ock identify him when he's out and about?
Just like last episode, the ending also kind of ruins things. We've dealt with a decent enough moral dilemma, everything's worked out, but let's have Spider-Man's team being complete dicks to him for no reason other than a really bad attempt at comedy. Needless to say, it's not funny, not to mention out of character for all of them not named Sam Alexander. If I had to sum this episode up, I'd say that it's a mixed bag- the good parts are pretty good, arguably some of the best we've gotten so far, but the bad bits are pretty weak and feel like some pretty lazy writing's going on.
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