REVIEW -- Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man -- Episodes 6, 7, and 8

Episodes 6, 7, and 8 of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man premiered on Disney+ on February 12, 2025, continuing the consistent rollout of multiple episodes since the series' debut on January 29, 2025. The season finale with final two remaining episodes in this premiere season is set to air on February 19, 2025. 

Episode Summaries:

** SPOILERS BELOW **

Episode 6: "Duel with the Devil"

Lonnie is kicked off the football team as he continues to skip practice and school classes. He refuses to explain why to Pearl. Peter invites Harry and Nico to spend time at his home in hopes that they will become friends, but their clashing personalities make it difficult. While Norman attends a charity dinner, he learns that someone is breaking into Oscorp and sends Peter to investigate. Peter finds the vigilante Daredevil, who believes Norman is hiding something sinister. The two fight, which ends with Daredevil knocking Peter unconscious. When Peter wakes up, Norman explains that his former associate Octavius is behind the technology that criminals have been using and he believes Octavius hired Daredevil to steal from him. While Peter is away, Harry accidentally reveals to Nico that Peter is Spider-Man. She confirms this when Peter returns, and leaves upset that he hid this from her. Lonnie is followed by Gargan's second-in-command, Carmilla Black, and returns to the 110th Street gang's hideout for protection. She tracks him there and informs Gargan, who is equipped with scorpion-like armor by Octavius.

Episode 7: "Scorpion Rising"

At school, Nico ignores Peter's attempts to apologize for keeping Spider-Man a secret. Peter and Norman deduce that Octavius is using gamma radiation for his technology and begin to trace it around the city to try locate him. Harry takes Nico out for food in an attempt to get her to forgive Peter. The two begin to bond after he teaches her how to drive and they engage in a street race against an unruly driver. While she still has a hard time forgiving Peter, Harry tells Nico that Peter kept his secret to protect her. Nico apologizes to Harry for how she treated him before and calls him a friend. Pearl learns of Lonnie's involvement with the 110th Street gang from Andre, and confronts Lonnie at their hideout. As Lonnie tries to push her away, the gang is attacked by Gargan, now calling himself Scorpion. Tracking the radiation in Gargan's armor, Spider-Man rescues Pearl and Lonnie. Norman, distracted with finding Octavius, provides minimal assistance in the fight and Peter is severely injured by Gargan. Norman locates Octavius and then sends a glider to rescue Peter before the latter is killed.

Episode 8:  "Tangled Web"

Peter is shaken after his fight with Scorpion and questions whether he can win. Norman gives him an ultimatum to step up as Spider-Man or lose their partnership. Peter breaks down in front of May, and she expresses her wish that he still had his uncle Ben to turn to. Norman sends Octavius's location to Thaddeus Ross, the United States Secretary of State, who arrests Octavius for violating the Sokovia Accords with assistance from Iron Man. The next day, Peter goes to Pearl's house to help with an assignment. Lonnie visits and informs her that the 110th Street gang is going after Scorpion. Pearl breaks up with Lonnie when he refuses to leave the gang. Thanks to a tip from one of Mila and Mikhail's associates, Dmitri Smerdyakov, the gang learns of Octavius's abandoned warehouse and plan to use his tech to combat Scorpion. Without Ben, Peter turns to Norman for advice. Norman believes Peter lost to Scorpion because he is holding back, and tells him that with great power comes great respect. Harry reveals to Peter that he had Oscorp's scientists develop a new red and blue Spider-Man suit for him.

The Verdict:

Episode Six continues following Lonnie Lincoln's downward spiral as part of the 110th Street Gang with him being kicked off the football team after skipping practice and time at school. His relationship with Pearl becomes strained at this point too since he's been keeping her out of the loop of what has been preoccupying all of his time. Lonnie spends most of the episode evading being tailed by the Scorpions' second-in-command, Carmilla Black, until the other members of 110th Street Gang aid him in returning to their hideout. Unfortunately, that's exactly what Carmilla Black wanted as she informs Gargan of their hideout's location. At that very moment, Gargan is in the middle of being suited up by Octavius with scorpion-like armor.

Meanwhile, Peter attempts to get both Nico and Harry to become closer friends by having them hang out with him at his home. Aunt May is hilarious in this scene by making a not so subtle suggestion to watch the R-rated VHS tapes that she pulled for them to watch. May being the "cool" aunt is an understatement, but given the fact that Nico has been Peter's best friend for so long, she's confident that they wouldn't get into much mischief anyway. 

Norman takes the night off in a sense too by attending a charity event where he meets with Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross. Talk about the irony and timing there with Captain America: Brave New World set to debut in theaters this upcoming weekend (or already in theaters by the time you read this). It's extremely interesting to see Norman's relationship with Ross in this series and wonder what could have been. Norman offers to aid the government in enforcing the Sokovia Accords and even offers Oscorp resources and technology in the manner, with the icing on the cake being Norman offering Spider-Man as an asset under his employ - with a falsified identity created to boot. Imagine if they brought in Norman Osborn into the MCU in this manner. His involvement in enforcing the Sokovia Accords would have been an easy layup in terms of introducing the Dark Avengers, Iron Patriot (even though James Rhodes wore that armor in Ironman 3), and potentially the Green Goblin without even having to resort to multiverse shenanigans. 

Ross and Osborn's meeting is cut short when Norman is notified that someone has broken into Oscorp, thus prompting him to call Peter to investigate as Spider-Man. This interrupts his friendly group session, forcing him to leave and go to Oscorp as Spider-Man while Nico and Harry are left to awkwardly try to coexist. Nico and Harry's bonding session is pretty hit or miss until Nico offers to give Harry a tarot card reading. Harry ends up blowing this moment when he confesses that he doesn't actually believe in any of that and only wore the jewelry because he thought it looked cool, much to Nico's disgust. This sparks another argument between them where Nico challenges Harry's friendship with Peter since she's known him for so long and they've shared all of their secrets with each other. This is where Harry screws up and shares that Peter is Spider-Man. 

Peter Parker/Spider-Man is just a teenager who is just zipping around using his speed and agility to his advantage in most fights to overwhelm his opponents. Daredevil made short work of Spider-Man, but warned him that Osborn is hiding something. When Peter confides in Osborn what happened, he merely brushes it off and reveals that he has discovered that his former associate Otto Octavius is the one who is behind the technology upgrades for the criminals that he has encountered thus far. Peter foolishly believes the story that Norman tells him about Daredevil being hired by Octavius to steal secrets from him, despite Peter's instincts telling him that Daredevil was a good guy. 

This episode ends with Peter returning home, only for Nico to confront him about being Spider-Man in disbelief with her snatching his backpack and causing his mask and designs to fall onto the floor.

Episode Seven immediately picks up with Peter trying to catch up with Nico at school, but she's clearly pissed off and ignoring him for keeping this massive secret from her. His attempts to reach prove to be fruitless as he confides in Pearl about the situation. Pearl unloads on him about her similar dilemma about being in the dark about what is going on between her and Lonnie Lincoln. They don't get to talk for long as Peter is called away for his "internship" with Osborn while Pearl is messaged by Lonnie's younger brother. 

Norman and Peter work together to figure out that Octavius is using gamma radiation for his technology, but I was amused at tritium (the rare substance that Octavius uses in the Sam Raimi trilogy to build his Fusion Reactor that fuses his arms to his spine in that infamous laboratory accident and kills his wife) and a few other common materials in Marvel Comics and other media being mentioned here. Norman then sends Peter out to start tracking and investigate the source of a large spike in gamma radiation that is being mentioned in the police communications. 

Meanwhile, Harry tries to smooth out things between Nico and Peter by taking her out for food. This seems to only amplify their mistrust issues with each other, until Harry offers to teach Nico how to drive. They even get into a Fast and Furious style street race at random for added hilarity in this scene. They narrowly avoid a fatal head-on collision thanks to Nico's pendant suddenly doing "something" that allowed her to react in time. Interesting to see that the seeds are already being planted for her future in the mystic arts/witchcraft. I wonder if Harry noticed what happened too with her pendant glowing. They finally bond over the excitement with Nico thanking Harry for taking the time to give her a lesson and apologizing for how she treated him before. She notes that she still hasn't forgiven Peter, but Harry has a wise rebuttal, stating that Peter likely kept being Spider-Man a secret from her to protect her. It's dangerous enough just being Spider-Man but when his loved ones are in the crossfire then it's even more dangerous. I should mention that savvy MCU fans will notice that Klev (voiced by comedian Zach Cherry himself) makes a cameo as the bystander who records the street race on his phone. Klev is the same guy who records Shang-Chi’s fight on the bus in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. 

That is something that Lonnie Lincoln finds out firsthand in this episode when Pearl visits the 110th Street Gang's hideout after being informed of what he has been doing by his young brother. Pearl visits and their hideout is attacked by Gargan shortly thereafter with his new scorpion-armor given to him by Octavius. Gargan makes short work of the 110th Street Gang members until Spider-Man swings on the scene to protect both Pearl and Lonnie. He advises all of them to escape while he's dealing with Gargan, who is proving to be much more of a capable opponent than the other criminals he's faced up to this point with Octavius' technology. Regardless, Norman seems pretty nonchalant in terms of Peter's growing anxiety in this battle until he seems to hang up on the call after Spider-Man ties up Gargan with his webbing. 

This is where this battle takes a dark turn. Gargan overheads the armor with the gamma radiation to the point he easily burns away Spider-Man's webbing to free himself and goes back on the attack. Peter is quickly out of options and resources since his webbing has completely run out, Gargan damages one of the lenses on his mask (hindering his visibility), and Norman has pretty much left him on his own while he has prioritized searching for Octavius' hideout over maintaining communications with Spider-Man. Let's not kid ourselves here in the least either. Deducing how to take down these criminals with their tech upgrades hasn't been Peter's strong suit. Without Norman's help, he would have been defeated by Speed Demon (Sanders) and Tarantula (Vasquez) in the third episode. Then he narrowly avoided defeat at the hands of Masaryk (Unicorn) in episode five if it wasn't for Sytsevich's intervention. If his battle with Daredevil proved anything, it's that Peter is in well over his head when it comes to skilled combatants. This was no different here. Gargan wisely took out one of the pillars in the hideout, prompting Spider-Man to grab it to prevent the support beams from coming down on top of them, only for Gargan to take the opportunity to impale Spider-Man with his stinger from behind. 

This ending made for an added somber ending for this episode while Peter's life hangs in the balance and the upbeat music found during the ending credits was painfully absent. The shift in tone here was highly reminiscent of the tonal shift in X-Men '97 at Episode Five: "Remember It". This isn't a kids show anymore. Things got very real and very serious for Spider-Man and his friends. There's no turning back.

Episode Eight opens with Peter being treated in intensive care by Oscorp's private medical unit. He narrowly avoids death but Osborn's team is able to save his life from his near-fatal injuries. It’s easy to miss it, but keep it in the back of your minds that Oscorp’s scientists were drawing samples of Spider-Man’s blood before Peter blacked out from his injuries. It’s safe to assume that Oscorp will conduct some studies on these samples and embark on some sort of genetic enhancements in hopes of creating super soldiers (possibly for Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross) similar to Spider-Man but in the same vein as Octavius’ cybernetic enhancements for criminals in this season. 

I thought Norman was completely heartless to Peter after the fact when he woke up though. How can you tell Peter that he needs to step up his game when the kid almost died following your orders? Peter did everything in his power against Gargan and it still wasn't enough to get the job done. Working with Norman was supposed to level up his game, not send him to the morgue even quicker. Norman's words continue to haunt him as Peter is attempting to navigate his trauma from the battle and just completely breaks down in front of Aunt May when he gets back home. How can anyone not relate with Peter Parker here? Those feelings, fear of failure, and tears of feeling like you're not good enough nor doing enough to please the people you care about and look up to as role models, mentors, friends and family hits everyone like a ton of bricks at many points of our lives - no matter your age. Being the awesome person that she is, May empathizes with Peter's stressful life as of late and compares it with her own hurdles trying to navigate Uncle Ben's death. In comparison to my own family, I see it in my father for the last three years. Those of you who know me personally know that my mother died roughly four years ago and how that has been for my family and I. My father beats himself up a lot about it, despite it being outside of his control as her death was so sudden and out of the blue that no one could have prepared for it. In relation to myself, I constantly feel that fear of failure, whether I'm working on this blog, trying to improve my art, or just trying to aspire for anything of merit with my life. I never feel like I'm doing enough, so I can definitely relate to the massive weight that Peter feels on his shoulders and the stress to make those people he cares about proud of him. You don't ever want to let those people down, no matter the turmoil it takes on your own mental and physical health - despite how that could negatively affect you in the long run. I personally found this theme to be wild for the fact that it's a similar theme - along with imposter syndrome, something else that Peter Parker struggles with in this episode, are themes that are both explored in Captain America: Brave New World by the new Captain America, Sam Wilson. This is a film that releases in the same week (2-3 days no less) from this episode premiering on Disney+. 

The 110th Street Gang is tipped off by Mila and Mikhail's associates, Dmitri Smerdyakov (who was one of the Russian criminals who escaped a few episodes ago), they find the location of Octavius' now abandoned hideout and plan to use his technology to fight fire with fire against Gargan's Scorpion armor. I should mention that Smerdyakov is wearing a mask that is reminiscent of the Chameleon in Marvel Comics, so it would be safe to assume that he is going to fill that role as that villain in the near future of this continuity. I think the 110th Street Gang messing with Octavius’ abandoned laboratory is going to lead to Lonnie’s transformation into his comic book counterpart - at least in regard to gaining superpowers. 

In regard to establishing Spider-Man’s villains, I think we need to give this series it’s flowers for setting up a rather stacked rogues’ gallery for Spider-Man deal with sooner more than later:

• Tombstone / Lonnie Lincoln

• Green Goblin / Norman Osborn

• Doctor Octopus / Otto Octavius

• The Lizard / Carla Conners

• Finesse / Jean Faucault 

• Speed Demon / James Sanders

• Tarantula / Maria Vasquez

• Rhino / Mikhail Sytsevich

• Unicorn / Mila Masaryk

• Chameleon / Dmitri Smerdyakov

• Butane 

• Bulldozer (member of the Wrecking Crew)

• The Scorpion / Mac Gargan

• Carmilla Black / The Scorpion II

• The Wizard / Bentley Wittman

Not to mention, we've got an ample amount of Spidey's supporting cast represented to keep things fresh and interesting as well. 

Peter goes back and confides in him about his ongoing dilemma, but Norman continues throwing this stuff back into his face. Norman firmly believes that Gargan only beat Peter because Spider-Man was holding back and pulling his punches. In other words, what Norman is saying here is that if Peter actually killed Gargan (along with all of the enemies that stood in his way) then he wouldn’t have defeated him. He offers a bit of advice and it comes off as an arrogant, self-absorbed remix of Ben Parker's infamous mantra to Peter Parker - "with great power comes great respect". This confuses Peter even more - and rightfully so - with this off-the-cuff advice to give an adolescent who is already struggling with all of the pressure of these high expectations and heavy responsibilities that Norman is placing on his shoulders. At least this series is giving viewers plenty of ammunition to dislike Norman Osborn over Harry in that regard. They laid the breadcrumbs out that Norman was up to something and now we got wind of it since he was obsessed with getting Octavius apprehended before he could expose something about Oscorp or any other potential secrets from their time working together. Fortunately for Peter, Harry is there to provide some more sensible advice. Peter wants to get back into the mix, especially after knowing that Lonnie and the 110th Street Gang are going to take the fight back to Gargan and the Scorpions, but he’s without a costume. Harry assures him that he has that handled as he presents Peter with a new Spider-Man costume - specifically one that fits his tastes and specifications after studying Peter’s doodles and notes from his notebook that has been shown throughout this season on several occasions. In his own way, Harry shows Peter that Norman isn’t always right. He may mean well with the intentions in regards to how he wanted to thank Spider-Man for saving his son’s life and how he supported and optimized Spider-Man’s crime-fighting methods, but how Norman went about it was all over the place. Norman was looking to do things how it works for him and only him. Not once did he take Peter’s feelings and concerns into consideration. The episode ends with a tease at the look of this new costume that will more likely be the iconic red and blue costume that we have come to know and love for Spider-Man. 

I have to admit that I was frustrated when this episode ended there as I was itching to see more, especially when they were ready to show us Peter’s new costume. At the same time, I quickly got over it since we’re entering the season finale next week (or this week by the time you’re reading this), so they can’t show us everything quite yet. Got to have a hook to make us watch the finale, right?

These three episodes have definitely made me a big fan of this series, if I didn't already enjoy the ride enough thus far. Fortunately, we don't have to wait long to see how the two-episode finale wraps things up.