Aired last sunday, the 6th episode of Ultimate Spider-man, titled "Why i hate the Gym", pits the webhead against one of marvel universes' most notorious assassin: The Taskmaster. So how did this latest episode fared? Keep reading to find out.
The Story of this episode revolves around Doc Ock hiring Taskmaster to identify and capture Spider-man. Knowing that the webhead goes to midtown high, Taskmaster disguised himself as the new Gym teacher, while trying to analyze the student movements in order to discover Spider-man secret identity.
The story was written by "Man of Action", the studio behind the famous animated shows "Ben 10", "generation rex" and other. And while this series has so far showed an incompetence in presenting a coherent, well written episode, i would say "why i hate the gym" is simple enough to work as a coherent, yet very simple, plot. Taskmaster, who is having his first, ever, animated debut, is well written, and unlike Spider-man, his personality is spot on.
Unfortunately, like the episodes before it, the jokes are mostly not funny, forced, and out of place. And while some of them do work, the constant pausing the plot, in order for Peter Parker/spidey to explain everything we see in details, as if the audience lacks the minimal brainpower to know what is going on the screen, really cripple the show and most of the time brakes its, already struggling, pace. I will also note, that the video game references, mainly the "FIGHT" text and sound is getting very old and tiring, and stopped being funny in episode 2.
The last part of the episode, forces Spidey and White Tiger to join forces in order to defeat Taskmaster. In a very unexpected move from the Ultimate spider-man series, the webhead uses his intelligence to defeat the super villain. A first since this show has started.
In terms of animation, much like the preceding episodes, "Why i hate the Gym" delivers on the action and character movements. This series, is without a doubt the most beautiful and fluid incarnation of a marvel comics character.
Voice acting is also pretty good, with Clancy Brown voicing Taskmaster in a very menacing yet delightful fashion.
So how did this episode fair? Even though the tone is still very juvenile, this is by far the best Ultimate spider-man Episode, which isn't much since all the previous episodes are mediocre at best.
Likes:
- Great animation
- Taskmaster is menacing
- Fun to see Batroc the leaper
Dislikes:
- Way too simple plot
- The spider cycle SUCKS and makes no sense at all!!!
- Unfunny jokes.
- Annoying White tiger
- The tone of the show is too kidish
- JJ Jameson constant rant on giant tv'ss in the streets of new york has gotten old after 2 episodes.
Summary:
Compared to previous ones, the 6th episode of Ultimate Spider-man is a big improvement and stands as the best one of the show. But as a huge Spider-man fan, i had really high hopes for this series, being that it is the first Spidey show done by Marvel. Unfortunately, the kiddish plot, unfunny jokes, and out of character personalities are really making this Ultimate spider-man quite mediocre.
SCORE: 6.5/10 (Okay)
Scores for previous episodes:
1- Great Power:
6/10
2- Great Responsibility:
4/10
3- Doomed:
3/10
4- Venom:
4/10
5- Flight of the Iron Spider:
6/10