Monday, April 30, 2012

Ultimate Spider-Man Episode 6 Review

Episode 6 of Ultimate Spider-Man was titled, "Why I Hate Gym". In this episode, the Taskmaster is hired and goes under cover at Midtown High School to find out the identity of Spider-Man. White Tiger and Spider-Man have to work together. Ultimate Spider-Man Episode 6 Why I Hate Gym first aired on Disney XD on April 29th 2012, as part of the Marvel Animated Block on Disney XD.

Ultimate Spider-Man Episode 6 Why I Hate Gym Review

It is now time to review Ultimate Spider-Man Episode 6 Why I Hate Gym. As always there will be information of the spoiler nature, so if you intend to see the episode, now it may be a good time to get out and resume reading this review after the fact.

Episode Summary

On the orders of Norman Osborn, Doctor Otto Octavius, hires a master assassin known as the Taskmaster to infiltrate Midtown High and find out which of the students might be Spider-Man. After an unfortunate action with the regular gym teacher, The Taskmaster appears incognito with his attempt to find out which of the students are Spider-Man.

The three potential suspects come down to Harry Osborn, Danny Rand(aka Iron Fist), and Flash Thompson, with Peter Parker naturally throwing the obstacle course to preserve his secret identity. Meanwhile, the Taskmaster takes out Caulson and uses the S.H.I.E.L.D. defenses around the school to his advantage.

Spider-Man and White Tiger investigate the school and find Caulson tied up in his office, warning them about the Taskmaster.

The Taskmaster's ability to copy powers works to his advantage, as he copies the powers of Iron Fist, and also manages to duplicate Spider-Man and White Tiger, but some well intended trickery involving gadget switching manages to trick Taskmaster (who had previously offered Spider-Man a job, fully intending to double cross his employer), the limits of his photographic memory being exploited.

Taskmaster is tied up but he manages to escape. Octavius is not happy and wrecks the lab, as there is no Spider-Man at Midtown High as a student.

Episode Review
Well I did think that while there were some things to cringe about in this episode, overall it was a couple of steps above recent efforts. A lot of that had to do with Clancy Brown's performance as Taskmaster.
White Tiger seemed to be a bit more tolerable in this episode. Whether or not that will stick, who really knows.

Spider-Man's strength is his creativity and really that is played up well in this episode. He might not be a master of many fighting styles but he can think on his feet and adapt.

Taskmaster is a great villain but the problem is that a flaw of the photographic memory is when you rearrange the details than the photos would be useless. Of course, he was badass getting away. Hopefully he'll be back eventually.

I swear, I have no idea why people in entertainment think that all children do in gym class is play dodge ball. Given the flaming legal liability that dodge ball can be if some kid gets hurt in the sue happy world we live, it was limited to maybe select times and obviously we would get in trouble if we hit someone above the chest or below the belt. Of course that varies from school to school.

Cutaways are a mixed bag in the past for Ultimate Spider-Man and this one has no exception.

Final Thoughts and Rating

Um, 6.5/10, I guess. There were a few high school gym cliches that annoyed me and actually the villain being as good as he was bumped this episode up. You can watch Ultimate Spider-Man Episode 6 Why I Hate Gym on Disney XD On Demand and new episodes every week on Disney XD at 11:00 AM Eastern Time as Part of the Marvel Animated Block on Disney XD.

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