Marvel's Spider-Man Episode Twenty-Five: The Hobgoblin, Part Two

The Hobgoblin, Part Two

First Aired: February 18th, 2018

Synopsis: Spider-Man and Hobgoblin are teaming up to take out the remaining members of the Sinister Five, Doctor Octopus and Rhino. They go after Rhino but Hobgoblin falls unconscious midway through the fight; after he recovers for long enough to defeat Rhino he insists that he's fine. Peter heads to school, which Doctor Octopus soon breaks into in order to get his old equipment. Peter calls in Harry for help, but after they defeat Doctor Octopus Hobgoblin attacks Spider-Man before escaping. Afterwards Peter calls Harry but gets Norman on the phone, who insists that Harry's been sleeping all afternoon. Norman goes to check on Harry and Harry doesn't remember fighting Ock; Norman suggests that Harry's subconsciousness is coming through as a result of the various serums he tested on himself to try and heal Norman. Afterwards Peter goes to see Harry who insists that he's fine, and tells Peter to give him some space for his own safety. Shortly afterwards Harry attacks Peter as the Hobgoblin again, dropping a bridge on him.

Thanks to a flashback of Uncle Ben giving him the strength he needs, Peter's able to save himself from the bridge, and is approached by Miles afterwards, who put a tracer on Hobgoblin and says that he's worked out that it's Harry. Spider-Man follows the tracer to the hidden lab where Kraven the Hunter captured him, and is attacked by Hobgoblin within. As they fight Harry enters the room, moments before Spider-Man unmasks Hobgoblin, revealing him to be Norman impersonating his son. Norman keeps fighting Spider-Man but Harry opposes him and a fire soon starts. Harry saves Norman and Spider-Man, but then tells Norman that he won't work for him. As Norman cries out for Harry there's an explosion which he's caught in which seemingly kills him. In the aftermath Harry is promoted to the CEO of Oscorp, which Peter wishes him luck with. Peter goes to Horizon where he discovers a statue of Spider-Man is being erected, and Max Modell says that it's going to be hard to tarnish his image.

Subplots:

• After Peter leaves Harry, now the CEO of Oscorp, Harry finds a voice message from Norman Osborn (it's ambiguous whether it was pre-recorded, or whether Norman survived somehow and left it). He tells Harry that he's left some things for him, and Harry opens a door which glows an ominous green.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• When Doctor Octopus attacks Horizon High, he attacks lab #319. The corresponding issue of Amazing Spider-Man is...a random issue where Spider-Man has to fight some of Justin Hammer's villains. Dammit, writers, do you not understand the purpose of random numbers in Marvel properties by now??

Review: I like the idea of what this episode is going for, but like the previous one it stumbles in a few places. The discrepancy between Harry's actions and words would be a lot more interesting if it weren't incredibly obvious that it's Norman using the suit, and the whole thing just really doesn't have enough time to set everything up. Compare it to Harry being the Green Goblin in Spectacular Spider-Man - that had several episodes setting up the reveal, and it made sure to put in red herrings like Norman and the Green Goblin appearing in the same place at the same time, making what was really going on questionable. Here, the episode just shouts, "Harry's subconsciousness is acting up! Untested serums!" and then assumes that that's a good enough excuse for us.

The ending of the episode stumbles a bit too - as mentioned, the voicemail that Harry gets from Norman is really ambiguous; is it supposed to be a reveal that Norman's survived but is stepping away from Harry, or is it supposed to be something that Norman set up earlier? Presumably the green glow is something to do with the Green Goblin equipment - but what does it matter, given that Harry and Peter are still friends and their friendship is stronger than ever? The entire bit at Horizon High after this scene tries to be a cap on the series so far, reminding us how far we've come since the first episode, but it feels fairly unnecessary and doesn't really do anything for me.

Still, I can't hate this episode. Miles and Spidey work quite well here, we wrap up things with the Sinister Five fairly quickly so that we can focus on the Hobgoblin business, and seeing Harry and Peter working together so well at the start of the episode is so damn enjoyable. Harry turning his back on his father is satisfying (albeit a little repetitive given that last episode he also reaffirmed his friendship with Peter), and Norman being out of the picture does give him some potential for some new stories. It's not the best season finale I've ever seen, but I'd be lying if I said that it wasn't competent enough to keep me interested in the series.