Aldrius writes...

****Spectacular Spider-man season 2 spoilers***

***Avert your eyes!!***

Ramble: Engineering 101

These reviews are taking me forever to write out, I don't really have that much to say about each individual episode so I'll just write the reviews about arcs instead.

Here we have Engineering 101. I really liked this arc, I think. The mystery was kinda absent and hard to follow, but of course I think establishing that the Big Man is not necessarily Foswell, Shocker is not Herman Shultz and 'Harry Osborn is the Green Goblin' made it so that we could believe it might be someone else.

I think I just found it too silly to believe that Dr. Octopus' arms were the Master Planner. Which is what it seemed like you were going for. The mystery also was given too much breathing room, there wasn't enough called into question. Though I guess that was true of the 'Big Man' mystery as well, it didn't seem like as much of a... mystery? If that makes sense. But maybe that was just because I didn't know that Foswell was the Big Man in the comics, so I had no real suspects. (Unlike the Master Planner arc where I had one, maybe two suspects with the Chameleon.)

At first I didn't really enjoy this arc that much. Reinforcement is probably my least favourite episode in the entire series. There wasn't a whole lot of plot development and outside of the first five minutes and the last two minutes, nothing really changed or progressed. I also didn't feel the action, while exemplary as usual, made up for this fact. I find the gigantic robotic dragon...especially puzzling.

Blueprints and Destructive Testing were fun diversions that introduced new villains while connecting them to the overarching plotline of the Master Planner. I actually liked Kraven's design as a 'mutant' and I thought it made his character development a whole lot more visceral. Though I hope to see some more depth injected into this in *crosses fingers* season 3. I definitely don't agree with many who want to see this change reversed, however.

Warren is an interesting creature, I don't know a lot about his character from the comic. But he makes a good enough anti-Dr Connors with his experimenting for money and his carrying a handgun around wherever he goes.

Really nice direction by Kevin Altieri here, especially with the scenes in the lab. It's so cool that he got the threat of a handgun into a scene without having to make issue with standards and practices. And there was this one great shot focusing on the lion's eyes. I love scenes where people square up against eachother without actually fighting, and merely one-up eachother with their demands. They're so much more interesting than actual fights.

Calypso was also very cool. Another character I hope to see more of in the future, though it's strange to me that she just disappeared. The drum motif that accompanies her is also very cool, and gives the character a sense of power that I appreciate.

Shear Strength is very cool, though. It was nice to see the Vulture and Electro taking up major roles in this episode, giving certain villains their own spot-light episode to accompany the major sinister six episode. This is also where I (and I believe the rest of the fandom) began our secret love affair with George Stacy. The guy was cool last season in Persona and Nature vs. Nurture, but here he's sticking it to a super-villain to ensure his daughter's safety, and who doesn't love that?

The end to this arc is both disheartening and interesting. I kind of like Liz, though she's... really wrong for Peter. Good for her for sticking up for herself anyway, though Gwen really could and should have done the same beforehand.

Overall a pretty rocky, but overall good arc, I enjoyed it immensely and hope to see more in the future!