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Spider-Man: The New Animated Series Episode Review

Episode #102, "Keeping Secrets"
Original Episode Airdate - July 18th, 2003
Spider-Man catches The Talon, a female thief responsible for a series of high-risk robberies in the city, in the act of robbing a high-rise apartment. While The Talon gets the best of Spider-Man and escapes, Spider-Man sees her face without her masking goggles. Meanwhile Harry Osborn, best friend and roommate of Peter Parker, has been keeping to himself for the past few weeks and Peter Parker and Mary-Jane Watson are concerned. Concern turns to excitement when Harry reveals he's been seeing someone he really likes, and wants to introduce her to Peter and MJ over dinner. When Harry's new girlfriend Cheyenne Tate arrives she turns out to be the Talon but only Peter is aware! Fearing Cheyenne will ultimately hurt his friend Harry, Peter -- as Spider-Man -- tries to convince The Talon to change her ways. Ultimately, a confrontation takes place between The Talon, Spider-Man and the police. The Talon is freaked out when Spider-Man calls out her real name during the melee and she panics and disappears into the night. Later, Cheyenne calls a perplexed Harry to tell him she's leaving town, maybe for good and she can't explain why.



Credits
Screenplay By: Rick Suvalle
Directed By: Vincent Edwards
Music By: John Digweed, Nick Muir and William Anderson
Animation By: Mainframe
Guest Starring: Eve as The Talon/ Cheyenne, Ed Asner as Officer Barr and Jennifer Hale as Newswoman

Review and Media by Stu:
In this episode, we see another created-for-MTV villain, not one of the famed comic villains. The interesting thing what that she was originally supposed to The Black Cat, before Eve was cast and MTV ordered the character be changed to reflect her a little. So not only were we screwed out of an interesting villain, but we got a fingernails on chalkboardboard style voice to boot. Thanks MTV. I love you, too.

Now, despite what the above paragraph says, this was a classic example of what makes Spider-Man, Spider-Man. A difficult choice, allow his somewhat depressed friend, who still is having trouble coping with the loss of his father, to be happy, or apprehend the criminal? The great thing about this version of Spider-Man is he doesn't quickly jump to his conclusion of what is right and what is wrong. He does this because nearly every time he makes one of these decisions someone is hurt. He tries to reason with her, unlike most heroes. He wants his friend to be happy, but knows he will get hurt if he allows her to continue.

Despite a potentially heartbreaking plot, the humour in the episode is still present, and is actually a little stronger than in previous episodes. Whether Talon is mocking our spandex-clad hero or Peter is mocking the spoilt little rich girl, there are plenty of laughs to be found.

Once again, we are treated to some great animation, particularly the fight in the construction scene with Spidey twirling, jumping and propelling himself around the steel framing. Talon's design was pretty uninspired. Whether they had to rush to change it from Black Cat or not, I'm unaware, but for a series with such strong visual, both the villains designs, both the villains designs, Talon & Cheyenne, were simply mediocre.

The most disappointing thing about this episode was the ending. While it was nice to see some more tension building between Spider-Man and the cops specifically officer Barr portrayed by the wonderful Ed Asner, the ending we got was still crap. She got shot and got away. That's it. I was hoping she wouldn't die, but at least that would've been something.

Still, it was an entertaining ride, which was unfortunate victim of an abrupt ending.

Screenshots






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