Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Season 1 Episodes Ranked (w/SPOILER Review)
The first season of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has finished. That means it’s time to stop and rank all 10 episodes from the season. Let’s get started!
NOTE: This entire post will be filled with SPOILERS related to this season. If you haven’t seen the entire season, do not read this post.
- SPOILER Review: I went into this show with not super high expectations. I didn’t expect this movie to be bad, it just wasn’t something that I was really looking forward to and the trailers didn’t sell me. The early reviews for the season were pretty positive, everybody seemed to be loving this show. The first couple of episodes really didn’t win me over. I described in my review that it felt like it was a greatest hits Spider-Man show. It re-creates Peter Parker’s introduction in Captain America: Civil War, except in animation. Even some of the introductions felt very similar to Spider-Man: Homecoming. For the first episode I was thinking to myself of past Spider-Man projects not about this project. By episode three, I thought they really found their footing and went in some very different directions. The big thing here is Norman Osborn is Peter’s mentor, not Tony Stark. We all know that Norman Osborn turns into the Green Goblin and becomes Spider-Man’s greatest enemy. When you watch the show, you’re constantly worried that something is going to happen. You’re wondering when and if Norman Osborn will turn into the Green Goblin. You even see the ways that Norman is using his power to help himself and Spider-Man. They do that by tying in The Sokovia Accords. It raises the questions, with The Sokovia Accords and The Avengers not being a thing whose world's superheroes? That’s where Norman steps in with Spider-Man. Spider-Man can be the friendly neighborhood superhero because The Avengers are gone. It’s all handled very well and it’s very interesting with the way that it’s done and how it’s different from Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. The other big thing to talk about is Lonnie Lincoln. When he was first introduced, I feel like most people thought that he was going to be the Flash Thompson of the show. Pretty instantly they subvert expectations and become Peter’s friend. Throughout the show he’s very likable, kind, and caring and he’s not the bully you expected him to be. You see his personal life and how much he cares about his brother. He helps his brother but in the process hurts hsi football future and his relationship with his girlfriend. In some ways, he has a more clear character arc than Spider-Man does. It was really fascinating that they gave a side character that shouldn’t be all that interesting, the most compelling character arc of the season. I’m not saying that Spider-Man doesn’t grow and change, 100% does. They do it through Norman’s temptation and manipulation. Norman tells him that classic line “with great power comes great responsibility”, but here he says “with great power comes great respect”, changes one line and that phrase means something totally different. Peter learns from that line, to do the opposite. The writing of the show was a lot more clever and thought through then I thought it was going to be. I don’t think it’s perfect, I wish the season came to a more satisfying conclusion. It wasn’t a bad finale, I actually did enjoy the finale. But I wish we get more payoff, I wish they didn’t leave so much dangling for season two. Season two seems to be the payoff to everything that was set up in season one, that’s frustrating. Overall, this show was a lot better than I expected it to be. It was really good and if you’re a Spider-Man fan, you have to check this out.
10. Amazing Fantasy (Episode 1): In general, I thought this episode was fine. It was a fun and enjoyable enough episode. But I didn’t feel like this episode found enough ways for it to stand out. There’s a lot of scenes in this episode that feel like Civil War and Spider-Man: Homecoming. They recreated Peter Parker’s entrance from Civil War and it was distracting. On those levels, that’s what held this episode back for me. It felt like a greatest hits of Spider-Man, but not in a good way. That was frustrating when immediately by the first episode this show drew comparisons to other things instead of establishing what makes this show unique and different. The nature of a Spider-Man story does provide some fun moments. It does capture a Spider-Man experience. The way Peter Parker is characterized in this show feels like Peter Parker, the struggles he’s dealing with are very relatable. In terms of Peter Parker and Spider-Man they got things right. In terms of the story and what it’s doing, I think it struggled a bit.
9. The Unicorn Unleashed (Episode 5): After some pretty solid episodes with three and four. I thought this episode was still enjoyable, but not as good as I would have hoped. I don’t think the evil gang in the episode is super interesting. I just didn’t really care about them. They weren’t bad, but they weren’t super interesting and it held back the entire episode. I also don’t think of the relationship between Peter and Harry as it is between Peter and Norman. There’s more tension and a sense of dread that comes with the dynamic with Norman. I know that Peter and Harry is a friendship that comes from the comics. But in this episode, it’s not presented as anything super interesting. The stuff that was the most interesting in this episode was with Lonnie and the gang. When the episode was focused on that and the tension that he’s feeling, that’s when the episode shined. Everything else was decent, it wasn’t bad.
8. Scorpion Rising (Episode 7): It seems like people enjoyed this episode more than I did. To be fair, I thought this was a good episode. I really did enjoy this episode. But I think there are a few things that held it back. The big thing, I don’t like the way they wrote Harry in several of these episodes. He’s presented as the out of touch snotty rich brat, but they don’t do anything with that. He just says things that come across as cocky and then they move on. That stuff that just bothered me the way that they did it. Besides that, there were a lot of solid elements in this episode. First up, the fight with Scorpion was very cool. I was surprised at just how bloody they went with it. It shows just how powerful of a character Scorpion is. You get to see Peter at a low point where Norman has to help him. There’s some funny references regarding Doctor Octopus’ ability to control the sun. Spider-Man 2 fans will get that reference. Overall, a good but not great episode.
7. The Parker Luck (Episode 2): I think this episode feels like it’s own without having to rely on past Spider-Man movies. This episode does give you some classic Spider-Man experiences. There’s a fight in this movie where you have Spider-Man fighting a crook in a pet store. The little images of Spider-Man trying to rescue pets while defeating the villain is a very Spider-Man thing to do. You get more of the struggles that Peter is going through. Where he’s trying to balance being Spider-Man and doing the Oscorp internship. We see those struggles and what that costs him and how that leads up to the cliffhanger of Norman figuring out that Peter is Spider-Man. With Peter attending Oscorp and doing the internship, it feels different enough from other Spider-Man. Oscorp has played a big part in past Spider-Man, but he’s never been an intern. Getting a fun set of new characters that aren’t in past Spider-Man are the elements that make it stand out from past Spider-Man.
6. Tangled Web (Episode 8): This is one of the pivotal episodes of the show as it’s the episode where Peter hears the classic line, but it’s different. When you hear it from Norman Osborn, Peter’s ultimate villain there’s something twisted about that. Peter is learning the wrong lesson from Norman. The showrunner described the show as being the same but different. Those moments are elements that make this show shine through. Peter gets a familiar character, but it’s something just different enough. It’s also fun to see Spider-Man in a populated Marvel universe. You get cameos from Thunderbolt Ross and Iron Man in here, they’re fun cameos. It makes sense as to why you’d see those characters show up in this show. You get tension with some of the other side characters whether that’s tied to Peter or not. It was a very fun and exciting episode that was pivotal in Peter’s journey in the movie.
5. Hitting the Big Time (Episode 4): I felt like this episode started to give us hints of where the plot is going with this season. There’s a lot of fun that happens in this episode, where you get more of Spider-Man working with Norman. You see him start to earn Norman’s trust and you see how this relationship is forming. Even the montage of him trying out different Spider-Man suits shows that. The big thing in this episode that surprised me, is they discuss The Sokovia Accords. Some of the conversations between Peter and Norman where they discuss The Avengers and why Norman is wanting to help Peter be Spider-Man. I just found that to be so fascinating and a very valid reason as to why the city needs Spider-Man. You still start to feel this evilness about Norman as we know him to be this mastermind and villain towards Spider-Man. But right now, he’s helping Spider-Man. There were a lot of elements in this episode that really worked for me and surprised me.
4. Secret Identity Crisis (Episode 3): This episode very much picks up where episode two left off. And I dug the elements present in this episode. The big thing in this episode is you get Norman working with Peter about being Spider-Man. It’s sort of fun seeing Norman being Peter’s man in the chair. Once again, it feels like classic Spider-Man with a guy in the chair, but with being Norman it feels different. Since we know who Norman is from the comics there’s this tension about how much he can be trusted and if he’s actually Peter or helping himself. From there, I dug the stuff that they did with Lonnie in this episode. They really subverted the expectations of what his character was going to be. You think he’s going to be this bully, but he’s Peter’s friend. They show humanity with him, they tie in ideas of racism but fits in the story. It doesn’t feel forced, it fits in there nicely with what they’re doing. Overall, there’s a lot in this episode that I dug.
3. If This Be My Destiny…(Episode 10): This was the season finale and there were a lot of very cool things. It’s fun to see Doctor Strange and Spider-Man fighting a symbiote. Some of it reminded me of classic MCU but in animation form and that was fun. With it being animation, you can get away with more fantastical and crazy stuff happening. The action in this episode feels a bit more grander than it does in the movies. Some of the writing was so clever and how they tied this fight back to episode one and how Peter Parker got the spider bite. That was super clever and creative and how they used Doctor Strange’s powers to do that was very creative and it tied back into what we know Strange’s powers to be. It set up a lot of things for season two, we get a brief cameo from Daredevil in there, that’s always fun to see. It wasn’t as satisfying as I wanted it to be. It feels like season two of this show is the payoff to what was set up in this season. That’s a bit frustrating, I wish we got more resolved in this episode. But overall, this was a very solid and entertaining finale.
2. Hero or Menace (Episode 9): This was a more action focused episode but it also had emotional depth that progressed some of the character arcs forward. You get the action sequence with Scorpion and Spider-Man getting his round two fight with him, a very cool sequence. It’s also important for Lonnie as he gets superpowers and he’s the only one in the gang that actually stays and fights. Everybody else leaves and are cowards, except for him. He does something to help Spider-Man, completing the character arc and providing that voice of reason for Spider-Man in that moment. They kind of recreate the Spider-Man: No Way Home scene with Tobey Maguire stopping Tom Holland from killing Willem Dafoe. I thought that was interesting, it really did provide a true character arc for Lonnie. The cliffhanger ends on a note where we learn what Norman’s plan in all of this is and why he’s helping Spider-Man. We knew that was going to be evil and had a plan all along, here we finally learn what it is.
1. Duel With the Devil (Episode 6): There was a lot that happened with this episode. Given the title of the episode you can probably guess a certain blind hero appeared. It was a pretty cool little fight scene. It’s fun to see two acrobatic characters like Daredevil and Spider-Man fight. Since it’s animation, they can do stuff with Daredevil’s powers that wouldn’t work in live action. Those elements added something fun to the entire sequence. Even having that Daredevil theme from the tv show play did put a smile on my face. This episode puts the question on Peter’s shoulder whether or not Norman is hiding something through what Daredevil tells him. You get the villain side of things starting to become more and more interesting as we learn there’s a history between Norman and Doctor Octopus. You also get Nico learn Peter’s secret, that’s a big deal in terms of their relationship. This episode delivered a little bit of everything and it was a great episode.
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