Review: Marvel’s Spider-Man “Critical Update”

Doctor Octopus, who has recently taken over Spider-Man’s body, now finds himself living life as a hero, yet is still getting used to it, but almost makes no effort to hide that it isn’t him. Despite his more ruthless methods of crime fighting, he’s about to be tested by rising crime boss Sand Girl (Sofia Carson of the Descendants franchise) who decides to unite the underlings from what’s left of the arrested crime lords and vengefully strike at Spider-Man in retaliation to taking a couple New York Mafia’s (Including her mentor “Hammer-Head”). Meanwhile, Peter’s consciousness is facing some troubles of his own while being stuck inside the sophisticated hardware of the Robot that swapped them out…

Our Take

The episode does excel in terms of consistency as it never makes you forget how different Octavius is to Peter in a number of ways. From making a sophisticated breakfast, to instantly completing a pop-quiz in a matter of seconds, to how he talks, to even the level of tracking skills he has to easily find Sand-Girl in a scene that felt almost like I was watching a CSI episode with Spider-drones.

While I purposely left this out to avoid spoilers in the previous episodes, Peter’s consciousness is currently stuck inside the head of a robot that swapped him and Octavius’s minds but at least makes an effort to remind the Audience that this change possibly won’t last as long as the real Parker is still around which makes sense given that this story is intended as a 5-part mini-series.

The Battle with Sand Girl while somewhat short, got the point across how far Octavius will go and could’ve been a lot worse if Miles didn’t interfere, but At least Miles is quick to figure out something isn’t right about Peter and is making an effort compared to Gwen & Anya who just tell Miles rather than tag-along or investigate themselves. The only one who seems ironically ok with this change is J. Jonah Jameson who usually very hypocritical regarding his hate for Spider-Man which often always bothered me about Jonah as a character. I mean why keep taking pictures of someone you utterly despise?

Overall an ok episode, but with the way it ended, I’m now left with more questions than answers to how Peter will somehow be back in his body as it isn’t looking good after something that happens later in the proceedings, yet I’m still compelled to watch to find out.