Marvel's Spider-Man Episode Six: Sandman

Sandman

First Aired: September 16th, 2017

Synopsis: Peter is at Coney Island with Anya, Miles, and Gwen. They run into Flash Thompson when a sandstorm starts, and eerily enough, it has a face. Peter changes to Spider-Man and stops it from knocking down a ferris wheel, but Anya drops the V-252 she has with her. When Spider-Man touches it he gets a jolt. Peter's friends make a coagulation gun which he takes as Spider-Man and uses on the sand. It forms into a human form and asks for help before an impulsive Flash destroys it. The next day, Peter goes to Horizon with a sample of the sand, hoping to discover what was going on. While he tries to coagulate the sand, calling Harry for help in doing so, a girl that was on the ferris wheel the previous day and had been chased by the sandstorm gets into a limo with a thuggish-looking man with a flat head. Peter returns home to finish sorting out the sand, but unbeknownst to him, the V-252 gets out of its container and attaches itself to his clothes.

At Peter's home the sand monster appears and damages a wall, but Peter changes to Spider-Man and takes the fight outside. He mixes his successfully ionised sand sample in with the monster, which causes it to form into a human shape. The man, Flint Marko, explains that he was trying to save his daughter, Keemia, who was on the ferris wheel and he chased. He used to work for the criminal Hammerhead, but when he made mistakes Hammerhead tried killing him with sand filled with toxic waste. He survived and it turned him into what he is now. Spider-Man and Flint go to save Keemia, but it turns out that she has sand powers herself - she was affected by the toxic sand when she went looking for her father - and she's working for Hammerhead. Keemia resents Flint and seemingly kills him, before trying to do the same to Spider-Man. The V-252 coats Spider-Man's body, giving him a second wind and letting him fight back. Although he defeats Hammerhead and some thugs, Keemia escapes. In the aftermath Peter's friends at Horizon are panicking because the V-252 is missing and ask Peter to help look for it, since it was last seen with him.

Subplots:

• One of the reasons the Horizon team want to solve the mysteries of the V-252 is because they want to present it at the upcoming Stark Expo. Harry also mentions that he'll be there.
• When Peter calls Harry, Harry's on a familiar-looking flying glider which he appears to be tinkering with...

Miscellaneous Notes:

• When Flint mentions that he worked for Hammerhead, Spider-Man says that he's heard of him. There's been no mention of Hammerhead the entire series, and Flint could have easily exposited a little about Hammerhead to explain who he is to the audience, so it's a bit of an odd choice to make.

Review: To be honest, I'm not usually that big on Sandman's daughter stuff - whether it be the daughter of Spider-Man 3 or the comics version of Keemia - as it bogs him down a bit. Comics Sandman had depth and sympathy added to him long before either version was introduced, and so she doesn't feel entirely necessary. This episode's version of Keemia, however, is a bit of an exception to the rule - she adds a good bit of mystery to the episode, changes Sandman from being a villain into being a flawed father, and the twist that she's willingly working with Hammerhead is quite good.

Less good is the reveal that she's got sand powers herself. It's possible that she'll end up permanently being this show's version of Sandman (kinda like how Electro got replaced by his girlfriend in the comics for a bit, before there was that one backup strip that resurrected him super casually) which I guess adds a bit of a spin to the formula, but it doesn't do a lot for me. I dunno, I guess I'm open to her being an interesting character and I'll judge her properly after seeing her some more, but right now I'm feeling a bit iffy on her being a recurring villain. I guess one thing that does work is that it brings in a Sandman who's more around Peter's age, and she's mentioned to be smart, so she might be able to do some science stuff in a contrast with Peter.

Other than that, the episode's pretty alright. It does plod along a bit and feels like it doesn't really pick up until the sand monster turns into Flint, but the stuff with the V-252 is pretty interesting. It looks as though the show is going to take a leaf from Spectacular Spider-Man's book and have Peter use the symbiote for several episodes before he realises its flaws, which I'm so damn okay with. It worked well there, and I've got no reason to believe that it won't work here.