HYDRA Attacks, Part Two
First Aired: February 21st, 2016
Synopsis: Spider-Man and his mysterious ally, who calls himself the Scarlet Spider, fight some HYDRA goons, during which Scarlet Spider reveals that he knows of Doctor Octopus. He was kidnapped by Ock and experimented on years ago, but he eventually managed to escape. He reluctantly agrees to team up with Spider-Man if it means that he can get revenge on Ock. Meanwhile, on the modified helicarrier, now dubbed HYDRA Island, Doctor Octopus frees Boomerang, Batroc, and Kraven, and says that whoever finds him Spider-Man will have a place on the new Sinister Six. In the city, Spider-Man and the Scarlet Spider see SHIELD Academy students being hit by a mind-ray which hurts them, but since they can't deal with the goblin soldiers guarding them they head to Oscorp. Kraven appears but they defeat him and keep going. Meanwhile, Doctor Octopus is threatening Harry and Norman Osborn, and wants Norman to become the Goblin again and be the head of the goblin army. To his surprise, though, when he injects Norman with a serum Norman reveals that he's made a cure and can't be changed back again.
Spider-Man and the Scarlet Spider arrive and save Norman and Harry, but Doctor Octopus gets away in the process. Norman is able to modify his cure so that it will transform the foot soldier goblins back to normal, and Spider-Man and the Scarlet Spider head to Times Square and stop all of the goblins there. Moments after freeing the SHIELD Academy students, however, HYDRA Island appears and hits everyone with more mind blasts. Spider-Man, Scarlet Spider, Iron Spider, and Venom are all somehow immune due to their spider-sense, so they take a jet that Amadeus conveniently had lying around to get to HYDRA Island. After sneaking inside they fight Doctor Octopus and Arnim Zola, and Ock is knocked out of the sky during the fight. Zola reveals that he can't be defeated as he's integrated himself into HYDRA Island, so they set the thrusters to full blast and leave HYDRA Island to fly off into space, dooming Zola. They escape in Amadeus' jet, and in spite of Scarlet Spider's loner attitude, he reveals that he'll be sticking around.
Review: This is a weird observation to note, but if I've noticed it then it's worth commenting on - this episode has a strange fascination with throwing people out of places. When Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider save Norman Doctor Octopus gets thrown out the window, when they're fighting on HYDRA Island Ock gets smashed through the floor, and towards the end of the fight Kraven the Hunter (who magically reappears on HYDRA Island) is knocked out of HYDRA Island. It's a pretty blatant way to lazily end the fight, and as should be apparent, it gets repetitive as the episode goes on.
So there's one lazy bit of writing in the episode. What else do we have here? The show takes out the SHIELD Academy characters from the story, and after they're saved immediately takes them out again, making the victory meaningless. Amadeus Cho magically has a jet that he apparently built in his spare time, and somehow in spite of having total control over HYDRA Island Arnim Zola can't turn off the thrusters. In a vacuum most of these things would be fine, but they all add up enough to make me feel as though the episode isn't trying very hard.
Two things I will praise, however - firstly, I love that Norman has taken measures to stop turning back into the Green Goblin. I've said before that Norman previously seeking redemption for his actions was really enjoyable, and this is just as good, not to mention smarter. Secondly, Scarlet Spider is great in this episode. He's basically Spider-Wolverine - a gruff loner who insists that he's not friends with these people yet keeps doing the right thing anyway. I'm keen to see more of him in the following episodes, and I hope we get a look at who he is underneath the mask.
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