SPIDER-MAN - Episode 26 - How I Thwipped My Summer Vacation
Hello True Believers and welcome back! MARVEL and Disney XD's SPIDER-MAN has returned for Season 2, hopefully filled with fun, banter, and some great battle animation. Peter Parker and Miles Morales are kicking it at the beach, just relaxing and making plans for the rest of the summer. Some bullies come by and actually kick sand in Miles' face. Peter just laughs because obviously they are both Spider-Men and could take them easily but also because getting messed with by bullies on the beach is on his "summer to do list". The bullies not getting the nerd response they're used to and are weirded out so they leave. A hot dog eating contest is about to start when Peter sees the Black Cat sneaking around under the stage. She steals the prize money from the contest and takes off!
Spidey ditches Miles and gives chase. He catches up to the cat on a rooftop and tries to talk her into surrendering. Doing so he makes the big mistake of looking her in the eyes, allowing her to ZAP him with her bad luck power. Spidey immediately trips following her, then a gargoyle he's web-slinged onto cracks off, and he eventually falls into a bunch of potted plants. Black Cats bad luck gets him good.
Meanwhile Miles has fun building a sand castle back at the beach.
Spidey chases the Black Cat but lands in a manhole. Ouch! He eventually gets her to a construction site where he fools her into Zapping herself with her own bad luck power. Spidey webs over her eyes so she can't get the arriving Police, but has to walk back to the beach after getting some dirt in his web shooters. Aww, bad luck bummer. Bye Felicia!
Just as Pete walks up, Miles is finishing winning the Hot Dog eating contest. Miles gets all the money!
Peter and his Aunt May attend a game at the local baseball stadium. Turns out May is a Superfan even though Peter couldn't tell a cleat from a horseshoe. The super awesome Home team starts uncharacteristically losing so it seems the Black Cat's bad luck has stuck with Peter for a bit. While grabbing some snacks he witnesses a strange man controlling the baseballs to help the visiting team. Hmmmm....maybe it wasn't the bad luck. Well of course Spider-Man has to investigate.
Spidey swings in and we meet a comic book character most recently seen in the feature film Spider-Man:Homecoming, The Tinkerer. This version is drastically different in that this one is much sillier and is simply motivated by wanting his loser team to win a baseball game. There is a nice little action chase scene here where Spidey pretty much avoids food and other random items the Tinkerer throws at him. Spidey ends up webbing him up in the locker room and Peter eventually makes it back to Aunt May with snacks. Amusingly she thinks he's a jinx as all the horrible play ceased when Spidey removed the Tinkerer. Poor Pete can't catch a break.
Later on Pete tries to relax and kick it a bit with his friends at a Ross Caliban concert but of course Pete sees Ross being grabbed and thrown in a van by some big scary thug guys. Geez, trouble just follows Peter wherever he goes. The van delivers Ross to the crime boss Hammerhead and his birthday having son. Ross is the entertainment and the brat wants him to sing for him. Spidey of course breaks up the party and is pleased to find out Ross and he are big fans of each other. Spidey saves Ross and battles Hammerhead and his men but hilariously its the kid who gives him the most trouble. The little boy looks like a mini-me of Bruce Lee with his yellow and black outfit and nunchucks and he kicks some "Crazy Monkey Ninja Boy" butt. Nerd complaint here! I didn't buy the kid getting the spinning backflip kick in on Spidey to start their battle. Ummmm what about his Spider Sense? Wouldn't that have activated? Or was he not really enough of a threat? Nerd army let me know your thoughts. :)
Peter and Miles have gone camping with Gwen and Anya. They're roasting marshmallows and having fun but Pete is forlorn and upset his summer hasn't gone the way he planned. After Miles tries to start another not scary story the girls head to bed. Eventually Pete's alone and is, AHEM!, surprised by a large Owl-Boy who flies off with a cooler full of food. Spider-Man gives chase!
The two animal based characters battle each other in a nice little action scene. Spidey webs his foot to the ground but the creature just rips out of it. It flies off but Spidey jumps on its back. In a funny moment the Owl-Boy rotates his head around 180 degrees to look at Spidey. Super creepy! They hustle some more but Spidey eventually gets the upper hand and learns the creature's name is Nocturnal and he's the result of a freak lab accident just like Spider-Man. Sadly though this person didn't have the friends and family that Peter has around him and he was rejected. He's been alone, scared, and is starving. Of course Peter gives him the food and makes a new friend in the process. Great to see in the credits Owl-Boy voiced by the legendary Yuri Lowenthal. The next morning Peter apologizes for being a downer and didn't realize he was having the great time he set out to have in the first place.
Back in the city Peter is getting ready for school to start in a week. He gets some bad news from Max at school that he won't be the lab assistant this year. That means school won't be paid for so Pete's going to have to get a job. While sitting at the coffee shop he goes over his options. What follows his a cute little sequence in which Peter goes on a bunch of interviews. Unfortunately he's called out of each one due to some disaster or attack that Spider-Man has to deal with. We see the Scorpion on a rampage, only to be quickly webbed up and dealt with. Pete has sand from the Sandman coming out of his clothes, Green goo from Spider Monsters? all over him, electricity running through his hair from Electro, and ends up in an interview with a large bank bag of cash he has yet to return. Eventually he runs into his old friend Randy Robertson who offers to get him a hook up from his dad at the Daily Bugle and just like that BOOOOOOOM! Hello J. Jonah Jameson! Peter ends up JJJ's office with Eddie Brock and an offer of payment for pix or video of Spider-Man in action. With a smile on his face Pete thinks he just figured out how to pay for school.
This was a great welcome back episode showcasing many locations and new characters. We get Black Cat, The Tinkerer, Hammerhead, Nocturnal, Ross Caliban, and a bit of Scorpion right out of the gate. It really had no new overall story arch they were trying to introduce, but was more of a few separate, smaller stories to highlight some new people. Or Owl-boys. I feel in one sense they were all just a set up for the ending and introducing J. Jonah to the mix. Which is fine by me. PARKER!!!
