EPISODE REVIEW

Episode #24: Subtext
Original Airdate: November 4th, 2009

Determined to be a better boyfriend to Liz Allan, Peter Parker wishes he could help her brother Mark Allan. But when Green Goblin blackmails Mark into doing his bidding, neither Liz, Mary Jane Watson nor Spider-Man may be able to save him!

Credits
Written By Nicole Dubuc
Directed By Kevin Alteri
Music by Lolita Ritmanis, Kristopher Carter, Michael McCuistion
Animation By Dongwoo animation

Voices
Josh Keaton as Spider-Man/Peter Parker
James Arnold Taylor as Harry Osborn
Eric Lopez as Mark Allan
Vanessa Marshall as Mary Jane Watson
Steve Blum as The Green Goblin / Blackie Gaxton
Dee Bradley Baker as Dr. Curt Connors
Jeff Bennett as St. John Devereaux
Brian George as Miles Warren
Eric Lopez as Mark Allan / Molten Man
Alan Rachins as Norman Osborn

Review: Stu - This episode finally sees Mark become The Molten Man, one of the old school Spider-Man villains. No one has done with MM for a few years and he’s never been animated before. Previous episodes have planted seeds to show that Mark was a bad, erm, seed, and the episode is told in mainly flashback forms as it switches back and forth from Mark at the bookies with Blackie to his transformation sequence and Peter and Liz’s troubled romance.

I’ve never had a great deal of time for The Molten Man but he’s portrayed nicely here. Cheeks designs has a lot going for it and there’s some striking visuals in the fight in Montana’s bar – I don’t especially feel sympathy for him like the writers were probably intending but it’s not to be held against the scribes – I don’t think they were ever really intending to go for a full on Mr. Freeze story here.

I will say that I do like that they’re not afraid to mess up the Spidey model – we’ve seem his costume ripped, shredded and now burned. I’ve no idea why but I love seeing battle damaged Spidey – must have something to do what that awesome action figure I had as a lad. The handprint burn on Spidey’s chest was a nice touch.

MJ gets more of a spotlight in this episode than most of the others. In a rather bizarre twist, MJ has been used less than Gwen and Liz – I think Gwen is the most interesting girl in the show but since her introduction, we’ve not seen MJ do much of anything romance wise with Peter – she seems to spurn the advances of all the blokes in the show until Mark came along. I went into the show assuming that he would end up with MJ eventually but they’ve managed to avoid it – maybe they realised that Peter getting with the hottest girl at school is a tad well, anti Peter Parker but more than likely, they realised he’d be more entertaining, chasing Gwen (even if he is with Liz.) Remember how at the end of my Spider-Man Romance Retrospective I expressed that I didn’t see how happening in this show? I will proudly take a slap across the face on that one!

Subtext stands as a highly entertaining episode which simply leaves you with a craving to see even more of The Green Goblin and his inevitable rematch with Spidey. I presume we’re heading for a season final showdown with Spidey and Goblin with a bit of Osborn thrown into the mix. Bring it on!

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