Review: Ultimate Spider-Man S01Ep07:"Exclusive"

Ultimate Spider-man is by far one of the most controversial shows of the last decade, many people are hating for what it is, going as far as posting their criticism on Jeph Loeb's Facebook page as we reported couple of days ago (click here to read the full story). The 7th episode of the show aired yesterday. Titled "exclusive" the episode features the incredible hulk and the web head teaming up against ZzzaXx, a being of pure energy from the Hulk's rogue gallery. So how did this episode fair? Keep reading to find out.

The story of the episode revolves around Hulk coming to town and smashing midtown New York. While first trying to stop the green goliath, Spider-man, who was in town been interviewed by Mary Jane, discovers that Hulk was in fact fighting Zzzaxx, and not just destroying the city. After some fun, amusing, moments between the two Marvel heroes, the two agreed to team up against the energy monster. After our heroes won( and spidey convinces S.H.I.E.L.D that Hulk was a hero not a villain) the episode ends with, what might be a controversial plot point, making Mary Jane land a freelance job with the Daily Bugle.

Written by Man of Action and Dani Wolff and directed by Alex Soto, "Exclusive" sets itself apart from the mediocre past episodes by two main points: 1- The episode has no cut-away gags and 2-The obnoxious spidey teammates, are nowhere to be seen (except for a few seconds in high school). Now the first point is probably due to the fact that the whole episode is seen through the lens of Mary Jane's phone camera, mimicking movies such as Blairwitch project, and the recent "Chronicle".

"Exclusive" mostly works, from a story standpoint, unlike previous episodes, it has a coherent story and follows a, somewhat, logical plot. If only the rest of the series is also filmed through Mary Jane's camera, so we dont get any more of those 4th wall breaking joke who are killing the series.

Mary Jane getting a freelance job with the Bugle is what bugs me a bit. Since this takes a huge part away from Peter's life, whom we always knew as the Spidey photographer. But since Peter Parker is almost non existent in this series, it is not that big of a deal, compared to Mary Jane who seems to be going the Lois Lane way (from Super-man) rather than the modeling hot redhead we all know.

Animation is as usual top notch, and the first person camera view is well executed, and quite original for an animated show. The action is amazing and hulk does smash things, which is always awesome to witness.

As far as voice work, Fred Tatasciore lends his voice to the incredible Hulk much like he does in the excellent Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes. And just like Steve Blum is the ultimate wolverine voice, Fred convices us through this episode that he is the ultimate green goliath's voice. The rest of the cast have all done a great job, especially Drake Bell, who seems to be getting more comfortable voicing Peter/Spidey.

Likes:

- No cut-away and 4th wall jokes

- No stupid, irritating teammates (no nova, no white tiger YAYYY!!!)

- Felt like a classic Spider-man team mate comic issue.

- Hulk was fun

- The whole episode filmed through MJ's phone camera is quite original and mostly well executed.

- As usual great animation.

Dislikes:

- No introduction about who the evil energy man (ZZZaXx) is.

- At the first sign of trouble Spidey calls shield, as if he is incapable of doing anything alone.

- Mary Jane getting  a free lance job at the Daily Bugle, while it should have been Peter Parker.

- Hulk has side burns!

Summary:

This is the best Ultimate Spider-man episode and a huge improvement from the series past. With no 4th wall breaking humor, and no spidey teammates cramming the show, this episode almost gives you hope that this series is getting better. However after seeing what we have for next week's episode all hope falls apart, since next week's "Back in Black" pits Spider-man and HIS OBNOXIOUS TEAMMATES against Harry Osborn's new alter ego: Venom! (Yep, Harry Osborn is now venom how crappy is that?)

Final Score: 7.5/10 (Good)