The Spectacular Spider-Man "Growing Pains" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this was a terrific episode. The opening did throw me for a loop since John growing taller seemed out of nowhere. I even questioned if I had missed another episode. Still, seeing him become a super hero and then super villain was a surprising development. The use of the drama auditions didn't worked as well as the camera footage from the previous episode did for me, but it was still a unique way of foreshadowing the events of the episode. I also liked that the police didn't instantly buy that Spider-Man had become a villain when they had already dealt with Spider-Man being framed before. It showed that they weren't going to jump to conclusions like Jameson would. The action was pretty good and even without being infected by those spores, John had gone insane. That was a pretty sad moment. You can just see how broken up Jameson was about it. He clearly cares about his son and seeing him end up like that was pretty sad. Although, it's mostly Jameson's fault that he ended up there, along with Venom. He put the idea of being a hero in his son's head just to get rid of Spider-Man in the first place. He's too hurt and full of pride to admit it.

I still don't quite like the relationship drama, but Harry treating Gwen as a trophy to impress his father was pretty bad. I feel kind of bad for him given everything he went through and while his feelings for her come off as genuine, trying to impress his father with their relationship doesn't put him in the best light. The cliffhanger was so intense. Venom revealing who Spider-Man is would be the next step after framing him didn't work. Overall, it was a great episode and I'm eager to see the next episode.