Date of airing: September 23, 1995 (FOX Kids)
This might be Chapter III of the Neogenic Nightmare saga that makes out the entire second season of the series, but it felt like a simple and normal stand-alone episode, written for the crowd to get acquainted with Mary Jane a little more, due to the fact that she was never more than just a minor recurring character for Peter (as Felicia was more present for him as a love interest, in addition to getting the better stories), and to explain why she and Peter have not started dating yet, even though it sometimes looked and sounded like they were. I was wondering for most of the first season why Peter and MJ were never exclusive, and why the writers always had to go back to Felicia for Peter to get some lip-to-lip action, but I never thought they were giving me answers at some point and turn the Peter/MJ story into a romance. But I guess, when this character pairing is important for the comic writers and readers, it must also be important for the animated series, even if the writers kind of planned with Felicia since the beginning, and I would have loved for the show to go down that route with the blonde instead of the redhead, just for the sake of "not following the current story arc in the comics."
But this episode was great nonetheless, because it did explain some things about Peter and MJ’s relationship while also building towards a bigger version of it. It also managed to create a rather complex and mature story for MJ, making me wonder how the writers and producers thought that their target audience, boys under the age of ten, would even understand what was happening with MJ. Because her story was as close to being a preamble to a LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT episode as it could have been. An episode like this would easily land in the middle of your basic CBS crime procedural.
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| Mary Jane gets the ride of her young life. |
Dealing with abuse and stalker harassment is already a difficult topic in live-action scripted shows, but using the premise for a children’s animated show? Consider me surprised. Morrie was a creep and a villain even without his superpowers, one who was ready to kill people for MJ, because he thought this was the only way for him to prove his love to her. So, the writers went into this episode, thinking that MJ is Jodie Foster and Morrie is Hinckley? There was not much missing and the episode would have arrived at that point, with the only difference that Morris had superpowers and therefore could have wiped out the entire planet to impress MJ. It is kind of a surprise how dark of a character this man was, and you should never forget that this is still a children’s TV show. Coming around with a murderous character who could have been taken from real-life headlines is kind of the thing you do when you do not care about your target audience and just write to your heart’s content. This episode makes SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES a little more special as a TV show, because it happened to be an animated show on a kids’ channel, dealing with topics they probably have not heard of. And sometimes it can be a good idea for children’s programming to explore mature themes, despite the darkness in the story.
I was also happy to see that MJ was able to get Morrie down to the ground all by herself, without the help of Spider-Man – well, most of the time, at least. She held her own against him, and only needed rescuing from Spider-Man when things were seemingly ending on the roof of random New York building number 3614, but when it needed to count, it was MJ who beat Morrie, not Spider-Man. That is one way to make sure that MJ was not just a screaming damsel in distress (like in Sam Raimi’s movies), but an important character for both Peter and Spider-Man, and that she was not just in the narrative to be his love interest. In a way, this episode should have established MJ as a truly regular character, with a steady relationship with Peter, with the writers bringing them closer together with each upcoming episode, until she finds out about his superhero activities (which hopefully happens sooner rather than later, since it is also a story worth telling). And maybe she might even be important for Peter himself, considering what he will be going through for the rest of the season. I am sure he might require a chest to put his head on while crying when he turns into whatever the mutation is turning him into.
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| Arms are made out of hundred percent H2O. |
Hydro-Man was kind of an intriguing villain for hopefully his only
episode (although the rain at the end was most likely a teaser for his
survival and future return, especially since SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED
SERIES never kills off a character), but the writers were conveniently
forgetting the fact that man consists of 70 percent water. Imagine what
someone who controls water could do to a human, and what it could have
meant for the episode if it had gone with real-life science and
chemistry a bit. Then again, maybe I am thinking too much into it,
because I am sure Hydro-Man cannot exist out of saltwater only. After all,
that would be pretty cruel for him when he happens to be standing in
the sun for a long time. He would be like a vampire, only able to exist
at night, since during daytime, he is evaporating and hardening, becoming a rock or a millions of grains of sand. Sandman supervillain origins?
