I’m going to preface “Frankette” by saying I was a bit shocked by the ending. Not entirely, but the buildup to Brainiac being the season finale villain was being hammered home so much that I wasn’t expecting him to fizzle out this episode.
I enjoyed the dynamic between Harley and Ivy this episode. We got to see a volatile argument play out due to extenuating circumstances. Both of them wanted to honor Frank in their own way and butted heads (to put it mildly). It was nice to take a break from the lovey-dovey stuff they’ve been doing in previous episodes. That said, I think Ivy’s normally the one who expresses extreme anger when she’s upset. Harley’s been more of the pushy one between the two of them. I think their fallout at the end of “Frankette” is reparable. If it isn’t, that’d make for an interesting story.
On to Frankette herself. Her birth was hilarious. Frank giving a sermon at his own funeral just so she could pop out of the soil over his grave was done in a way I’d only expect from Harley Quinn. I’m not entirely convinced Ivy genuinely cares for Frankette outside of Frank telling her to rescue Frankette. Their moment at the end of “Frankette” was heartwarming, but I think Ivy is still seeing Frank, despite her initial rejection of Frankette. I think she’s getting there, but “Frankette” happened over the course of a day.
I enjoy Lena being the main villain of Season 5. Her taking over Brainiac’s ship at the end of “Frankette” for her own best interest was very much in character. I’m excited to see where else Harley Quinn is going to take her.
Side note: Bane is the best babysitter.
Kyra’s Take
Season did a great job covering “Frankette’s” plot points, so I won’t get into too much detail. Harley Quinn has a knack for heel and face turns. These turns happen numerous times during a season, but the showrunners find ways to keep them fresh and unexpected.
Parenthood has been a not-so-hidden theme for Harley Quinn’s fifth season. The show took a detour a few weeks ago when it explored Bruce’s relationships with Dick Grayson and Damien and the Joker with his stepdaughter. Harley Quinn followed that episode with one of Brainiac’s family and loss. It was only a matter of time before Harley and Ivy would be thrust into parenthood. Heck. Harley babysat Shaun the Shark a few times before Frankette made her debut. Even Bane makes his return with his adopted daughter Goldilocks in this episode. Despite her shocking origin, Harley Quinn’s creative team built up Frankette. Those “detours” that I mentioned before weren’t detours at all.
Harley Quinn’s creators do a fabulous job of world and character-building. Lena stays true to herself. Perhaps, we should’ve seen that she would become Season 5’s main villain. But are we sure Harley Quinn doesn’t have another turn or two for the balance of power to shift again? A lot can happen in three Harley Quinn episodes. I could see another tectonic shift. Superman and Lois Lane are still in play. Harley and Ivy’s relationship is on the rocks again, and that tends to add a little spice.
Harley Quinn needed to inject some turmoil into Harley and Ivy’s relationship. I agree with Season that the fallout at the end of this episode should be reparable. Harley and Ivy working through their problems is a strength of this show. It shouldn’t be easy for the power to make amends. Only time will tell. My biggest gripe is that this season of Harley Quinn only has three more episodes.
Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
Hello, one and all! First of all, I love you. I’m sorry I missed you on Valentine’s last week, I promise to buy you something next year, babe. In the meantime, let’s talk about something different. What else is February known for? Black History Month.
I usually make “Top” lists for the posts I make on this site, but I won’t be doing that here. Since I’m as White as an albino moth in a snowstorm, I don’t think it’s my place to judge the “Top” 5 Black History Month Movies. Instead, I made a list of 5 movies about Black experiences that I watched and enjoyed this month. I hope you understand.
Without further delay, let’s discuss some movies about one of America’s most commonly misrepresented, underappreciated, and deeply resilient minority communities.
These films aren’t in any particular order. All are worth a watch, I promise
Marshall
Starring everyone’s favorite Black Panther, Chadwick Boseman (R.I.P., legend), Marshall is a story about America’s first Black Supreme Court Justice: Thurgood Marshall. While not the story of how he became a Supreme Court Justice, it goes into detail about one of the landmark cases he oversaw: The State of Connecticut vs. Joseph Spell.
Featuring fantastic acting while outlining Marshall’s quick wit and ability to navigate a system that’s stacked against him, it really kept me invested. The courtroom drama aspect was compelling. Granted, one of my favorite movies is 12 Angry Men, so take that for what it’s worth. This film will keep you on the edge of your seat, just don’t Google anything. Spoilers!
12 Years a Slave
Y’all knew this was gonna get heavy at some point. While not for the faint of heart, 12 Years a Slave is certainly a gripping story that makes you want to see the main character escape with his life. Detailing the real-life experiences of a man named Solomon Northup (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), he was originally free until he was sold back into slavery for, you guessed it, 12 Years.
Going through different masters with varying levels of cruelty on his quest for freedom, Northup can never be safe until he makes it back to his family in the North. If you’re up for the brutality portrayed in the film, I’d say this is a great one to watch detailing both Black struggles and Black triumphs. Also, be prepared for an incredibly racist song to be stuck in your head until you die. I said that and now it’s back in my head. Frick.
13th
I wanted to put one documentary on this list. I was torn between this film and I Am Not Your Negro for the longest time, but I went with 13th because it details problems that actively face the Black community today and outlines ways we should approach fixing them. If you have the time, I still recommend I Am Not Your Negro, but for now, let’s talk about 13th.
As the title suggests, this film documents the impact the 13th Amendment to the Constitution has had on our society. The same Amendment that banned slavery in this country is the same that made it okay as punishment for a crime. And we wonder why there are so many Black people incarcerated. This film explains it far better than I could, and the facts it contains are far beyond what any White person is prepared to face. I know I wasn’t, but that’s why I’m recommending it.
Malcolm X
In case you couldn’t tell, I’m a big fan of provocative films that challenge the way I see the world. What better way to do that than with one of the most controversial Civil Rights Leaders in history? Spike Lee’s 1992 biopic about the life and times of Malcolm X is an emotional powerhouse. Denzel Washington gives a career-defining performance as the titular historical figure, and it’s just as epic as it sounds.
You’re gonna need a huge chunk of time to watch this one, but I promise it’s worth it. Despite being 3 and a half hours long, Malcolm X never left me bored. This film has everything including the good, the bad, and the ugly of a great orator’s life. My favorite part is how the film portrays him as an imperfect human who managed to make a huge impact on society through his experiences. If you like that kind of stuff, I bet you’ll love Malcolm X.
Shaft
I know I exude a distinguished film historian demeanor. At least I think I do. I’m cool, right? That doesn’t mean I don’t like to have fun. That’s what Shaft is to me. Fun. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of racial themes in this film as well, but it mostly focuses on the star power of everyone’s favorite NYC Private Investigator from the early 70’s, John Shaft. I’m tellin’ y’all, this cat, Shaft, is a bad mother–
What? I’m just talking about Shaft.
This month, revisit the awesomeness of Gordon Parks’ cinematic adaptation of Shaft. Bumpy Jonas’ daughter has been kidnapped and it’s up to John Shaft to find her. Will he be able to do it? Is it possible Ben Buford was behind it? And how many women will John have sex with? All these questions and more in Shaft. You’re with Shaft every step of the way, and it’s an unforgettable ride. I love this movie, and if you haven’t seen it, I hope you’ll dig it, too.
With that said, those are my 5 movies for Black History Month. Are there any I missed? Absolutely. If I were to list each of my favorite Black films here, this post would be essay-length. If there are any y’all would like to discuss, let us know your favorites in the comments. We’d love to hear from you! Or if you’d just like to discuss movies, I’d be more than happy to oblige. Have a great rest of your Black History Month and always keep an open mind. 😉
We didn’t release a news post last week. Kyra was sick with the flu. That’s also why our coverage of Captain America: Brave New World has been lacking. We’ll get to it as soon as possible and figure out this news thing quickly.
Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here, and we’re back with some Geekly News. We have several stories to get through, so let’s get started.
Spider-Gwen Joins Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Season Two
Season and Skye wrapped up their coverage of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s first season, and the final episode had plenty of easter eggs and loose story threads for the next season. You should check out their reviews if you haven’t yet. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s creative team dropped a bombshell the day after the final episodes hit Disney+, Gwen Stacy/Spider-Gwen joins the Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man mayhem in season two.
We don’t yet know if Gwen will be a transplant from another dimension like she was in the Spider-Verse series or if she already exists in Peter’s universe. The spider that bit Peter and gave him his powers crawls into another student’s backpack. Perhaps that student is Gwen.
Who knows? Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man injected some life in the MCU, even if it is an alternate reality and I can’t wait for the second season. Spider-Gwen or Ghost-Spider would be a fantastic sprinkle on top of this sundae.
New Avatar: The Last Airbender Series (Avatar: Seven Havens)
A new Avatar cartoon is coming to Nickelodeon and Avatar Studios. Avatar: The Last Airbender creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko celebrated Avatar’s 20th anniversary with the announcement of this new series. Avatar: Seven Havens will be a 26-episode, 2D animated series following a young Earthbender who is the next Avatar following Avatar Korra.
Avatar: Seven Havens will be split into two seasons. Both seasons will consist of 13 episodes and be called “books.” No cast has been announced yet. This is the first mainline TV series from Avatar Studios who are also developing a full-length animated movie based on an adult Aang on a new adventure and set to premiere in theaters on January 30, 2026.
Elon: Make Video Games Great Again
Elon Musk has been busy tinkering with the United States government and tweets hundreds of times daily, but he’s found the time to circle back around to his idea about making an AI-based video game studio. Musk confirmed this past week that he still plans to make an xAI game studio, tweeting, “It’s got to be done. Make video games great again!”
There’s a lot to cover about Musk’s motivations and how he intends to run this new video game studio. Frankly, there’s too much to cover, so I’ll be brief and try to stay neutral. Spoiler alert: I’ll fail. The politics behind Musk starting a completely Artificial Intelligence video game studio stems from an ideology of anti-diversity, anti-equity, and anti-inclusion. I failed already. I wanted to spell out what DEI stands for because it’s easy to dismiss an acronym. The Musk superfan who tweeted his support for an xAI game studio stated that diversity, equity, and inclusion ruined video games. The world’s richest man doesn’t need a reason or encouragement to not pay employees and use artificial intelligence for all aspects of a video game.
I’m done ragging on Musk and his superfan, for the most part. The topic of AI in video games has been hotly debated. Some AI processes that don’t involve GenAI have been deemed useful enough to be used with little controversy. However, that is not true for GenAI being used in artwork, cinematics, script writing, and so on with most developers and studios. If Musk’s idea is to make an entire game based around xAI tech, that raises many questions about how that would work and what the program would produce.
Perhaps this is a coincidence, but video game developers have increased their use of artificial intelligence during the current downturn in video game quality. If anything, AI could be one of the factors in poor video game quality. But it’s not the only one. Work environments have come under fire in recent years. A lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion in video game workspaces has led to hostile work environments. Crunch culture has crushed numerous video game releases. Every studio wanting their share of the live service model has also hurt; not every studio has what it takes or needs to make a live service game. In the current environment, video game publishers have fired talented developers with a smash hit.
In short, video game companies need to show more humanity.
Marvel Rivals Lays Off Seattle Development Team
I may not have given Marvel Rivals the highest marks in my review a month ago (you can check out that review by following this link if you want), but the game is a smash hit. The only game that compares to Marvel Rivals’ hundreds of thousands of concurrent Steam players is Fortnite. Marvel Rivals is that popular. And Marvel Rivals’ developer NetEase laid off their entire Seattle office.
NetEase released a statement earlier this week, explaining the layoffs were made as part of “organizational reasons” and to “optimize development efficiency for the game.” This doesn’t make a lot of sense. While developers often bring in extra talent to release a game and then cut ties with contractors after the game releases, Marvel Rivals has the most aggressive release schedule for new characters in a hero shooter. Season 1 has seen the release of the entire Fantastic Four. Overwatch, which Marvel Rivals often gets compared to, releases one character during the same period. Marvel Rivals releases four times as many new characters. Yikes! The video game industry has experienced numerous layoffs in recent years. Even the biggest studios cut the size of their teams or close entirely, but these studios often do that when a game isn’t successful, or the company makes a blunder. NetEase has a runaway hit on their hands and to the best of my knowledge hasn’t made a huge mistake with another title or financial decision, and this still happened. Success doesn’t make one immune from getting fired.
Note: NetEase is a Chinese-owned company. Firing their United States branch may make financial sense if the company worries about international trade uncertainty. Ahem. Tariffs.
Retailers Help Dutch Tabletop Game Publisher Splotter After Tariff Uncertainty
Video games aren’t the only entertainment industry that may be affected by new tariffs. Tabletop games have had their issues, too. Food Chain Magnate publisher Splotter says, United States distributor GTS canceled a “large order” for its game Indonesia on short notice, citing uncertainty over further charges to import tariffs in the United States.
US President Donald Trump hiked tariffs on imports from China (where the majority of board games are manufactured) by 10% at the start of February, and last November threatened Chinese goods with 80% tariffs, in addition to a blanket 20% on all imports to the United States. China has responded with a tit-for-tat tariff increase for several types of US products, and Trump’s subsequent threats of further hikes for sectors such as automobiles have made international trade unpredictable.
Splotter, a small Dutch tabletop publisher, said on February 17 that almost all the United States retailers who offered pre-orders for the third edition of Indonesia were having their supplies met through GTS, meaning United States customers would not receive their copies. Designer duo Doumen and Wirsinga (of Splotter) said that a string of United States and Canadian retailers have reached out to secure direct orders from the company, while other distributors and publishers have aided the small business.
Founded in 1997, Splotter specializes in heavy—and I mean heavy—strategy games. Indonesia was first released in 2005 and is the second-highest-rated Splotter game on BoardGameGeek. Second only to Food Chain Magnate.
Elden Ring: The Board Game Coming to Retail Soon
In 2022, Steamforged Games successfully funded a board game based on the smash video game Elden Ring. For years Elden Ring: The Board Game was only available through Gamefound and secondary markets (resale), but the game will become available at most game shops next month. Steamforged Games has a long history of adapting popular video game franchises to board games: Dark Souls, Horizon Zero Dawn, Monster Hunter World, and Resident Evil.
Real talk. I’ve never played a Steamforged Games adaptation of a video game. Their games tend to have high production values and a price tag to match. Many of their base games (specifically the ones I mentioned above) are at least $100. The Realm of the Grafted King is Elden Ring’s official core box. It’s priced at $200. Two expansions function as standalone games. Presumably, one can play the game with either of them. Weeping Penisula costs $120, while Stormveil Castle costs $130. These prices don’t include optional upgrades. So, yes. Steamforged Games can get expensive, extremely expensive, but if you have the money and the inclination, Elden Ring: The Board Game will be available at game stores in March 2025 or on their website https://steamforged.com/collections/elden-ring-board-game.
MetaZoo TCG Returns with Richard Garfield and Skaff Elias
The original MetaZoo TCG was launched in 2020. Despite the pandemic, MetaZoo found moderate success until the original publisher MetaZoo Games had to file for bankruptcy last year. The card game centers around creatures known as “Beasties” which are inspired by cryptids and other figures from mythology and folklore like Bigfoot, Mothman, and the Jersey Devil. The game’s art style resembled the Pokémon TCG, while its play style felt like Magic: The Gathering. Another company took over the MetaZoo IP and intends to relaunch the game this year. All this is standard fare, but the names involved in MetaZoo’s relaunch have caused the TCG world to buzz.
Rick and Emily Arons, prominent former members of the Pokémon Company, are joining forces with Richard Garfield (creator of Magic: The Gathering) and Skaff Elias (former Senior VP of R&D at Magic: The Gathering). I’m intrigued by these names. But MetaZoo showed promise without these new names. The game had some interesting mechanisms. MetaZoo’s standout feature is its fourth-wall mechanism, where real-world elements, like a player’s seat at the table, can directly influence gameplay and outcomes. I hope MetaZoo brings back some of its original creative team while adding trading card game royalty.
Phew! That was a lot. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. We’re going to do something a little different with this board game list. It’s not a list of starter board games of a specific type. If you want us to continue the starter board game series, let us know. It’s not a top 5 or top 10. Nope. This is a list of 5 great board games with a specific style. Today’s list is 5 Great Word Board Games.
Seeing as this isn’t a top 5 list, the games won’t be in any order. We’re also going to try and stick to different kinds of games within the same style, so this list of great word board games won’t be five different versions of Scrabble…hopefully. Without any further ado, here are the games.
Paperback
Paperback combines the idea of a traditional word board game (like Scrabble) with a deck-building game. Players must make words with the letter cards they draw (or a combination of letters on a card like “Th” or “Qu”) and they earn money with which to purchase victory point cards or more letter cards to add to their deck for future turns. Paperback balances its two elements well. A player who can slay at word games can dominate that section, but a player who has more experience and can shift their strategy to the cards present in the deck-building array (you’ll have different cards most turns) can use that to their advantage.
Paperback allows multiple paths to victory and that sets it apart from a lot of other board games centered around words.
SiXeS
We recently reviewed SiXeS. (If you want to see that review, follow this link.) So, there’s a high probability that SiXeS would make this list. If you don’t want to read the review, that’s okay. We’ll break down the gameplay. SiXeS plays a lot like Scattergories with a twist. Players alternate turns where they want to match the answers to specific questions with their opponents with turns where they want to give unique answers. Unlike other games like Scattergories, SiXeS keeps the gameplay fresh by varying its gameplay each round.
Letter Go!
Like Paperback, Letter Go! combines a word game with another game type. But Letter Go! goes in a completely different direction. It combines a word game with a pseudo-dexterity game. While Paperback’s turns can be slow and methodical, Letter Go! is a real-time race to see who can spell a word using the cards at their disposal while following a rule on their dry-erase board. Some of these rules dictate that you must use your non-dominant hand. Others may say the word’s letters need to be wavy or look like flowers. Even more say that you must repeat all consonants you use but not the vowels.
Letter Go! shakes up the common word game. Just because you can think of a word quickly doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to also obey whatever rule card you draw. Talk about leveling the playing field.
Codenames
I know. I know. Codenames was everywhere for a few years. It’s the gamer’s word game, but there’s a good reason for that. Codenames melds several elements in a fun way. It combines the lateral thinking of TriBond. As the clue-giver, a series of cards with words printed on them stand before you. You can only give a single-word clue accompanied by a number (the number of the cards that match the clue you gave). Your teammates must guess which cards they believe match the clue you gave. But beware, there’s an assassin card. If your teammates choose that card, your team automatically loses.
Codenames has a nice push-your-luck element. As the clue-giver, do you add an extra word or two and make your clue broader? As the guessers, do you continue picking words you think fit the clue or stop after getting one correct? The other team is racing against yours to guess their words. Ultimately, the choice is yours. Choose wisely.
Say Anything
Say Anything is for those who like games like Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity. I don’t care for Cards Against Humanity that much, and I got as much out of Apples to Apples without needing to play it any longer. Both Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity use pre-printed question and answer cards. There are only so many word combinations you can come up with, but what if you could fill in the blank and provide your own answers? That’s exactly what Say Anything does. You no longer need to find the perfect joke answer for a question. You can write your own joke.
When you’re tired of the same old answers or you don’t want to buy expansion decks for Cards Against Humanity, try buying one copy of Say Anything. The only downside is that you may need to be sober—or at least coherent—to answer the questions.
Say Anything wraps up our collection of great word board games. I’m sure that there are plenty of your favorites that didn’t make the list. Be sure to let us know about them in the comments. And wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
“Bottle My Heart” took a turn this week. I have a hunch about the ending, but we’ll get to that later. Who’s ready for some “Brainiac: The Musical?”
“Bottle My Heart” didn’t take off into too many different subplots and focused on one story line. That was a nice change of pace since we’ve weaved in and out of side stories in previous episodes in Season 5. Since that’s the case, I have a feeling the rest of Season 5 will remain focused as the season finale ramps up.
Lena Luthor switching sides is always entertaining. She didn’t get her end of the deal from Brainiac, so she turned on him. I wasn’t sure how they were going to have the other characters find out about Brainiac, but this was fun. I hope Lena’s true colors stay out for the remainder of Harley Quinn Season 5.
Despite the campiness of “Brainiac: The Musical,” it covered loss. Harley Quinn has covered loss in the past with the death of Mr. Freeze. Frank passed at the end of “Bottle My Heart,” which hit differently than Mr. Freeze’s death. We’ve been with Frank since “‘Til Death Do Us Part” back in Season 1. I’ll admit, some tears welled up when I watched this scene.
On to my hunch. I’m pretty sure Brainiac poisoned Frank in some capacity. At the end of “Bottle My Heart,” Brainiac says, “Now you know what it feels like.” I’m not sure if he poisoned Frank to get at Ivy, Harley, or both of them. He seems more fixated on Harley. Maybe we’ll get some answers next week.
One last question: Did you remember your hemorrhoid cream?
Kyra’s Take
I like how Harley Quinn tied up loose ends last week. The creative team abandoned the Gotham City Sirens storyline and gave that storyline closure, so they can concentrate on Brainiac this week and going forward. I agree with Season that Harley Quinn will (and should) focus on this singular story, with maybe a side story here and there (we might get at least one more Shaun the Shark sighting), for the remaining four episodes.
I don’t know how Alan Tudyk does it. He voices Clayface, portraying Brainiac and singing in a musical with his character’s usual flourishes. Ko–Kooooh! Awesome!
Lena Luthor always looks out for herself. Harley, Ivy, and the gang’s desires match hers for now. I wonder how much Lena regrets telling the gang about Brainiac’s plan to bottle Metropolis. She hopes they will write an expose about Brainiac and alert Metropolis’s citizens of their impending doom. She says as much to Poison Ivy as they watch from box theater seats, but as Ivy says, “This (a musical) is what they came up with.” I like Lena’s jabs at Harley’s costume choice. She would never wear that tacky blazer.
The musical has an effect, but it’s not the one the gang planned. Metropolis citizens sympathize with Brainiac’s story. To be fair, Brainiac and Mr. Freeze’s backstories parallel and both are tragic. Brainiac lost his family. His only tether to his past is Koko, but Koko is long gone. Brainiac: The Musical opens his eyes to this loss, which is heart-breaking, and Brainiac (presumably) poisons Frank. This won’t be the end of Brainiac’s terror.
Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
We’ve come full circle in the season finale of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. I thought we were building up to a Green Goblin debut, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The entirety of Season 1 of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man felt like a pseudo-rendition of the Hero’s Journey. We started with Venom and ended with Venom. Granted, the characters are in different stages of growth now than they were at the beginning of Season 1, but things are calming down while they set up Season 2 of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. It’s debatable how big a role Venom will play in Season 2. I’m guessing we’ll see more Venom given the setup at the end of “If This Be My Destiny…”
Since we didn’t see Green Goblin in Season 1, I suspect we’ll see him in Season 2 now that Norman has Spider-Man’s DNA. We may even see Chameleon in Season 2. While Osborn didn’t go full Green Goblin on us this time, he let his destructive ambition with the space door slip through the cracks.
One last thing I want to touch on is Dr. Strange. His making an appearance and time traveling with Spider-Man makes Season 1 of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man feel like a time loop. Peter’s own DNA was used in creating Spider-Man. Freaky.
Skye’s Take
These folks really know how to end a season. Going off what Season mentioned, this episode made the season feel much more satisfying. While I hadn’t thought of it as a “Hero’s Journey” before, I absolutely saw it as its own self-contained story. Everything coalesces in this episode which makes the wait feel earned.
Of course, my favorite detail in this episode was how it tied back to the first. I imagine most people who saw this had similar thoughts. What I liked about it was that it proved that this story has been carefully constructed since episode one. As an unassuming viewer, I didn’t know what plans the writers had in mind, but it’s obvious now they know what they’re doing. Kudos!
Also, my inner fangirl went crazy seeing those last-minute developments at the end of the episode. I could list them here, but I won’t. There’s just too many of them. Given what they showed us, I can’t wait for Season 2’s premiere. Sure, I still have small issues here and there with some aspects of the writing, but I think focusing on them is doing the show a disservice.
It’s safe to say that Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has strung me up in a web of childhood nostalgia. Can’t wait to see y’all next time!
Well, we certainly have a lot to unpack in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s “Hero or Menace.” Will Lonnie embrace his life of crime after seemingly taking over the 110? Will Spider-Man’s DNA be used against him? Highly likely. Let’s swing into “Hero or Menace.”
Who knew Big Donovan was such a coward? He seemed fine with taking other people’s lives in one way or another but, when it came to his own, he turned tail and ran. I thought this was done rather well since you never know how somebody’s going to behave when their life is in jeopardy. I’m not sure if Lonnie will become an anti-hero or a straight up villain. I’m leaning toward anti-hero, but that could change.
Nico and Peter making up was a sweet moment. I hope we get to see some spellcasting in the coming episodes from Nico. I feel like she’d fit right in with Spider-Man’s crime fighting. The pacing for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has been consistent, so we may see more of a focus on Nico in Season 2.
Norman visiting Otto in jail to gloat was gold. I know their feud is serious and is affecting people’s lives, but this encounter was comedic for me. I’m anticipated full-on Green Goblin in “If This Be My Destiny…” That sinister cackle Norman gave at the end of “Hero or Menace” is very telling.
Skye’s Take
Alright! We have solid action, relatable characters, big-name villains, and a compelling story. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is coming along well. By this point, the animation has grown on me. That and the frequent build-up for future villains.
In the case of “Hero or Menace,” I was mostly surprised with how Lonnie’s character progressed. At this point, it’s nice to see that he still has enough morality in him to help Spider-Man take down Gargan. However, I’m in no way holding my breath that it’ll stay this way. I’m actually hoping that Lonnie will become full-fledged Tombstone because that would create more complexity for his and Peter’s relationship. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure I’ll still cry when that happens. If you can’t tell, Lonnie’s still my favorite.
That aside, there were a couple standard things in this episode. Not bad necessarily, just standard. They showed Peter and Nico make-up and Spider-Man almost killing Gargan. I think the Peter/Nico thing made sense and fit well in the show. At the same time, it’s a standard friend breakup you know isn’t going to last. Peter and Nico are still cute, but it’s a commonly used trope.
Then there’s the Spider-Man/Gargan battle. I have few issues with this fight. It’s well laid out, tense, and gets you invested in the action. The only thing that’s standard about it is how it ends. Spider-Man has the opportunity to kill Gargan, but Lonnie talks him out of it. While this ties into the struggles we’ve seen Peter go through in previous episodes, the “what it means to be a hero” trope has been done, especially with Spider-Man.
In fairness, this episode got me excited. After seeing it, I can’t wait to dive into the next episode. Stick around and see our review drop at 11:00am.
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