Marvel's Spider-Man Episode Twenty-Seven: Take Two

Take Two

First Aired: June 18th, 2018

Synopsis: Spider-Man fights a mercenary named Paladin at the Oscorp construction site and defeats him, but the footage he tried taking for the Daily Bugle is poor quality. On his way to school Peter gets a call from Harry who's in Europe, and says that he needs the Daily Bugle money or he'll have to drop out. At Horizon Doctor Octopus shows up, but reveals that he's here to redeem himself and admit his mistakes after being released from prison, asking for his old teaching job back. Max Modell turns him down, but lets him pack up his lab. Later that day Max announces that Horizon will be working on the neuro-cortex, a robotic brain which simulates the human mind and can revolutionise things. Elsewhere, Anya tries curing Alexei of being the Rhino but is unsuccessful. Peter, meanwhile, sets up a drone to record footage of him as Spider-Man. Later, Silver Sable breaks into Horizon with the Wild Pack, consisting of Paladin, Puma, and Battlestar, and they steal the neuro-cortex.

While going after the Wild Pack Spider-Man finds a restrained Doctor Octopus, who says that he tried to stop them. He offers to stop the Wild Pack with Spider-Man, but Spidey rejects him. After taking his film footage to the Daily Bugle and getting paid, Spider-Man tracks down the Wild Pack by looking for the neuro-cortex's unique heat signature and is able to find them. Doctor Octopus shows up, having tracked them using the same method, and the two team up to stop the Wild Pack. They're able to get the neuro-cortex back, and while returning it to Max Otto speculates that he could use it to calculate the chemical formula that could cure Alexei. He's allowed to do so and is successful, and as a result is allowed to return to Horizon to teach. Elsewhere, the Wild Pack are in prison and unhappy, but Silver Sable says that their client's plans are long-term.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• As mentioned, the Wild Pack here consist of Paladin, Battlestar, and Puma. Puma's never been a member of the Wild Pack in the comics (and, side note, how wild is it that Puma's never been on a Spider-Man show before? I know he's not the most iconic villain, but you'd expect him to have shown up before now).

Review: As far as establishing what the second season will be going for going forwards, this one doesn't do too bad a job. Doctor Octopus is back, and I think that the episode does a good job of justifying why the school would hire him again. Peter's successfully worked out how to get his camera stuff working for the Daily Bugle (which he weirdly says will help pay for "this month's" tuition fee - school works like rent, now?). We've got the Wild Pack and their mysterious client lurking in the background. None of this is bad, and it all leaves room to grow and be expanded.

Probably the biggest concern - and one that seems frighteningly possible - is that the Wild Pack's client will turn out to be Doctor Octopus, and the whole thing will be a setup to make himself look trustworthy. I hope that isn't the case - I can take or leave a more heroic Doc Ock, honestly, but I'd rather we get a new villain masterminding stuff, like, say...I dunno, Mysterio? We've got room to try something new, so why not try it? I guess I shouldn't judge the episode too harshly based solely on my speculation, but hey, I was right about Norman Osborn. (Why was he trying to release that gas, anyway?)

Anyway, I'd say that overall this one turned out alright. There's this running thread throughout the episode about famous scientists who made mistakes but things turned alright in the end, which is compared with both Ock and Spidey, but while the episode is trying to use that as a positive message it doesn't really feel like it applies to them that well. Spider-Man's mistakes in the episode basically boil down to him screwing up the Daily Bugle footage the first time, and Doctor Octopus allegedly changing from a supervillain to a good guy is a bit different to not nailing the design of the light bulb the first time. It's clunky, but I guess it doesn't detract from the episode that much overall.