Marvel's Spider-Man Episode Five: Party Animals

Party Animals

First Aired: September 2nd, 2017

Synopsis: Spider-Man's attacked by a Spider-Slayer, and while he fights it he gets a call from Harry Osborn. Harry wants to share some big news with Peter when they meet up, but Peter can't make it due to the Spider-Slayer fight, and says he'll hear it later. He's able to stop the Spider-Slayer, which unbeknownst to him was being controlled by Alistair Smythe on behalf of Norman Osborn. At school, Peter discovers that Harry's big news is that he's been cleared of all charges and is back at Horizon. A dance is organised to celebrate, and on Saturday, the day of it, Peter meets up with Harry beforehand. Harry hasn't told his father what's happening yet, and can't at the moment as he's in a meeting. The meeting is with Raymond Warren, who wants a faculty position at Osborn Academy. He tells Norman that he's done some experimentation on a Horizon student - Alexei, last episode - and when the results kick in that evening he'll record it. Norman is keen on the idea. Once Warren's left, Norman tells Harry that he's disappointed that he's returning to Horizon.

At the dance, Alexei needs to run into the bathroom, and he transforms into Rhino there. While that's happening Harry gives a speech and confesses that in spite of the dance and the celebration, he'll be staying at Osborn Academy. Rhino bursts into the dance and Peter changes to Spider-Man. He knocks out Rhino and the students identify that Rhino is Alexei. As they analyse his blood Gwen realises that his transformation is reminiscent of her uncle's work, and rushes to his house. Spider-Man goes after her and is attacked by the Jackal when he reaches her uncle's house. While they fight Gwen finds a video of Warren transforming, and is able to use a serum to transform him back to normal. Spider-Man then returns to Horizon, where Alexei has recovered, but is able to use another serum from Warren's house to transform Alexei back. In the aftermath, Warren is arrested, and Peter comforts Gwen over the betrayal she feels. Peter and Harry meet up, and Harry confesses that he can't say no to his father.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• When Peter and Harry meet up before the dance there's a gag about Harry seemingly being good with bow ties, before it's revealed that he just bought a clip-on. It's probably unintentional, but it could be a reference to the fact that in Harry's really early appearances, he wore a bow tie all the time.
• It's mentioned that Raymond Warren was behind spider experimentation at Oscorp, which presumably means that he's responsible for the spider which bit Peter and gave him its powers.
• There's an absolutely horrible line as Gwen transforms Warren back into his human form - Spider-Man says, "The Jackal is Professor Raymond Warren?", to which Gwen replies, "Worse - the Jackal is my uncle!" It's very redundant and reiterating information that we already know, and it feels like they wanted something stronger for Gwen's line but couldn't think of anything better.

Review: The more interesting stuff in this episode is its character work, I think. Harry deciding to stay at Osborn Academy is presented as something that he's ultimately doing to keep his father satisfied, so I'd be keen to see some conflict around that in the future, or alternatively, a reveal that Harry prefers Osborn Academy to Horizon. Peter comforting Gwen towards the end could either be a sweet character moment, or the first step on the way to romance - I'd be fine with either. There's also a neat connection made in that Warren got Gwen into science, meaning that both Peter and Gwen were influenced strongly by their uncles.

I like that the fight with Rhino isn't dragged out too much, and that the solution to transforming Alexei back is fairly simple, but it feels like an understated part of the episode. The real conflict is with the Jackal, but it doesn't really work for me - Gwen finds out who he is too quickly, and transforms him back without him even really feeling like a threat. The show could have built him up a lot more, or used him to create many more supervillains, but he's already been metaphorically unmasked and dealt with. I'm sure that he won't disappear from the show completely, but it feels like a pretty big waste at this point, overall.

I guess I'd call this one average, if I had to call it anything - there's nothing offensively bad here, and while the Jackal does feel like a waste at this point, I guess that subplot isn't being dragged out too much. Spider-Man's enjoyable as always, and there's some neat comedy moments from Miles in this episode as he tries to share trivia about rhinos. Honestly, while it didn't blow me away, if the show maintains quality like this, I'll be adequately satisfied...although I wouldn't say no to Rhino's design being fixed up to look a bit better.