Television Reviews

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends – Along Came Spidey

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends – Along Came Spidey
  • wiki: link

With a new Disney+ show exploring the origins of  the latest version of Spider-Man, Spidey Sunday takes us back to my favorite animated version of Spider-Man‘s (Dan Gilvezan) origin story in the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode “Along Came Spidey.” The episode, which premiered in Fall 1982, hits all the classic moments of the classic Spider-Man origin story while framing it in an extended flashback caused by current events. After Aunt May (June Foray) is injured during a fight between the Spidey Friends and the Shocker (John Stephenson), a guilty Peter considers giving up the mantle of Spider-Man and tells his friends how he got his powers and the important lesson he learned about power and responsibility.

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Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man – The Parker Luck / Secret Identity Crisis

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man – The Parker Luck / Secret Identity Crisis
  • wiki: link | link

The second and third episodes of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man focus on  Peter Parker‘s (Hudson Thames) internship as Oscorp which turns out to be nothing more than the machinations of Norman Osborne (Colman Domingo) to identify Spider-Man from the most likely young suspects and thank him for saving Harry‘s (Zeno Robinson) life. Both Peter’s internship and his mentorship with Norman get off to rocky starts, but there are positives as Peter enjoys working with Dr. Carla Connors (Zehra Fazal) on an experiment and, despite initially turning down his offer of help, discovers how useful Norman can be as an ally when fighting a pair of pretty lame baddies in Speed Demon (Roger Craig Smith) and Tarantula (Anairis Quiñones).

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NCIS: Origins – Monsoon

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: NCIS: Origins – Monsoon
  • wiki: link

While dealing with the murder of a Vietnam vet, Franks‘ (Kyle Schmid) taking a homeless vet under his wing brings back painful memories of aimless time between his service and finding NIS. The episode works as a companion piece to “Flight of Icarus” in exploring Franks’ backstory. The flashbacks of the episode include his first encounter with Tish (Tonantzin Carmelo) which also ties into his current obsession of finding the man who assaulted her. The two pieces fit together nicely when his confession of what he’s been up to, despite previously promising he would drop the case, causes the abrupt end of their relationship.

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Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Raph Thinks It Through

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Raph Thinks It Through
  • wiki: link

Following the same format of the first two episodes of the series, “Raph Thinks It Through” offers a standalone tale for Raphael (Brady Noon) who spends most of the episode strung up by the Purple Dragons who fish him out of the river following his fight with a Mechazoid. Unable to use his brawn, Raph is forced to use his brains (especially after the killer robot tracks him to the gang’s lair). While the dimwitted Hun (Carlin James) was okay, I didn’t love the show’s interpretation of the Purple Dragons, particularly the animation for Angel (Jamila Velazquez), but the episode works well-enough for another one-off focused on one of the Turtles working outside their usual comfort zone while not being able to rely on their brothers.

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Shifting Gears – Jimmy

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Shifting Gears – Jimmy
  • IMDb: link

“Jimmy” is something of a misfire for Shifting Gears which introduces Lucas Neff as Riley’s (Kat Dennings) husband Jimmy. It’s always tricky when introducing an ex after never showing us an example of the couple together. The show never really sells Riley and Jimmy as a couple who would have stayed together for years other than that Riley appears weak in the knees for the man’s musical talent (which we don’t see a single example of on-screen). Nothing here does anything positive for the Riley character. Arriving in time for Carter’s (Maxwell Simkins) birthday, the premise of the episode moves from Jimmy attempting to win back Riley to instead win back his son’s love. Once transitioning to that aspect, which is something even Matt (Tim Allen) can get behind, the episode works better. However, overall it’s quite hit-and-miss.

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