Marvel's Spider-Man Episode Forty-One: Critical Update

Critical Update

First Aired: September 22nd, 2019

Synopsis: Peter awakens within the Living Brain and sees it all as digital data; as he realises what's happened he wonders where his body is. Meanwhile, some gangsters discuss how Spider-Man's more ruthless than before. He then appears and beats them up, then discovers that Sandman's daughter, Keemia, is organising a meeting of them. The next day Aunt May notices that Peter's acting differently before Otto heads to school, ready to impersonate Peter. His friends notice that he's acting differently, but don't work out anything conclusive. During lunch he investigates Keemia, while Max Modell starts clearing the neuro-cortex of viruses when he finds some unrecognised components. Peter manages to stop the antivirus software using its kill code, but Max starts a hard reset when he sees what's happened, forcing Peter to hide in the flash memory.

Meanwhile, Doctor Octopus is able to find where Keemia is and goes after her. Miles follows him, suspicious of Peter's behaviour, so Ock intentionally ignores a falling man to try and lose Miles. Ock reaches Keemia, trying to merge all of the gangs together, and to his dismay she manages to trap him in an electric cage which fries his web-shooters. Miles arrives and Ock manages to escape, then succeeds in electrocuting Keemia and turning her into glass. Miles stops Ock from shattering her. In the neuro-cortex the flash storage starts to get deleted to Peter's shock, and he has to escape using an emergency program put in by Doctor Octopus which takes him into Horizon's network. Doctor Octopus goes to J. Jonah Jameson and tells him to stop harassing him all of the time, which makes Jonah approve of him. Later, Max calls Peter into his office to talk to Peter about his late tuition fees. Otto is disgusted that he doesn't get a scholarship automatically, and quits Horizon.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Keemia is repeatedly referred to as Sandgirl, with the implication being that it's now her codename. I'm not a fan.
• When Ock notices that Miles is following him, Miles is, naturally, in his own Spider-Man costume. Ock presumably knows who Miles is thanks to Peter's memories, but he's still very understated and casual about the fact that Miles is the second Spider-Man; whatever reaction he had to the initial discover has happened offscreen.

Review: Like last episode, this one feels a bit like it's going through the motions. We've established that the Superior Spider-Man is going to do good now, so it's time to show how he differs from Peter - he's more brutal, he's approved of by J. Jonah Jameson (for some reason), and he's utterly clueless as to how bad his impersonation of Peter Parker is. None of it is horrendously bad, but like I said, it definitely feels like we're going through the motions, and given that that's two episodes in a row where this has happened, it's wearing a bit more thin.

Keemia's return is unexpected, and to be honest, I could have done without her. Having her try and unite the gangs against Spider-Man is a good idea, but she feels like the wrong character to be doing it. The only really interesting moment she gets is when she's able to trap Spider-Man in an electrified cage - Otto's completely taken by surprise, and it would have been good to see him unravel under the pressure more, or realise afterwards that he's still got a lot to go. The moment doesn't get all of its potential out which is disappointing.

Something that I am positive about here is that Peter hasn't been erased for good - he's still in the neuro-cortex (and then Horizon's network), trying to fight back. It feels justified, and is better than the original comic, where he was back, then erased by Otto again, then back yet again. While the cyberstuff he deals with is comical at best, I am genuinely keen to see how he'll get out of his situation and eventually return to his body. It's something to look forwards to, at least.