Recap: Things Take a Dark Turn in New Installment of “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man”

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is starting to get intense as we come down the home stretch. Norman is starting to look into Otto Octavius as a potential foe and Daredevil is starting to look into Norman for hiding something. Meanwhile, Peter is stuck in the middle while also trying to figure out his own personal life. And it’s starting to look like things are only about to get worse.

The episode opens with Peter trying to smooth things over with Nico. She ignores him though and it’s clear their friendship is on the rocks. Pearl finds Peter and asks what’s going on. He says he messed up and asks her about Lonnie. She says she doesn’t know anything because he’s been ignoring her. Peter comforts her the two share a moment before he runs off to Oscorp. Pearl gets a text from Andre asking her if she has time to talk.

At the 110, Lonnie asks why no one is worried about the Scorpions. Donovan tells him they’ll be ready if they try anything. Lonnie takes a call from his mom who asks why he never came home. He lies to her again and they brush it off. Donovan lets Lonnie know they have his back and nothing is going to happen.

Peter meets with Norman and they work together to try and track the energy used by Octavius’ weapons to find him. Peter suggests solar energy and Norman laughs and doubts that Octavius has “managed to harness the power of the sun." This is a reference to Spider-Man 2, in which Octavius uses that line. Peter figures out that Octavius is using gamma radiation and moments later they receive an alert for sever gamma radiation in the area. Peter starts to suit up and asks about Harry. Norman tells him Harry is taking care of a personal matter.

Harry rehearses what to say outside of Nico’s house before her foster mother interrupts. She calls Nico down and she scowls when she sees Harry. He tries to apologize to her but she shrugs him off. He offers to take her to get food and he tries to apologize again over pizza. Nico says she is worried about Peter moving on and leaving her behind. The two argue for a bit before Harry gives up and offers to drive Nico home. When she gets in the car though, she apologizes and the two seemingly start to become friends.

Spider-Man swings through the city searching for the gamma radiation before Norman points him in the right direction. Meanwhile, Nico tries driving Harry’s car. A woman pulls up next to them and talks some trash about Harry before Nico stands up for him and agrees to a race. A man on the side of the street begins live streaming what’s happening. He identifies himself as Klev, the same live streamer form the bus fight in Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

They race and the woman begins pulling ahead before a car pulls out in front of Nico. She panics before her necklace flashes and they magically avoid the car. This hints at her eventual magical abilities. Harry turns on “track mode" in his car and they smoke the mystery woman. Nico apologizes after they win the race but Harry tells her how awesome it was before they speed off again to avoid paparazzi.

At the 110, Pearl arrives to see Lonnie, much to his surprise. She sees the gang packing up guns and starts screaming at Lonnie. She pleads with him to leave with her but he sees Donovan looking at them and he refuses her help. They’re interrupted when Scorpion breaks through the wall, wearing his new Scorpion suit. He begins tearing through the 110s, killing one of them before making his way to Donovan. Lonnie jumps in to save him but Scorpion catches him this time. Spider-Man leaps in just in time to save Lonnie. The 110s and Pearl flee while Spidey takes on Scorpion.

Harry returns Nico home and it seems as though the two have become friends. Nico apologizes to Harry but says she is still mad at Peter. Harry explains that Peter was just trying to protect her and nearly utters the “with great power" line. The two share a fist bump before Harry leaves and tries to call Peter.

Peter is a bit too busy to answer the phone as his fight with Scorpion rages on. Scorpion hits Spidey with a knee that does some damage. Norman is noticeably distracted during the fight but Peter finds a solution on his own and webs Scorpion up. Norman congratulates him and quickly hangs up. However, Scorpion breaks out of the webbing and now Peter has now support and no more webs. Osborn locates Octavius but Spider-Man is in trouble in his fight with Scorpion, who eventually impales him with his tale.Norman gets an alert and reaches back out to Peter.

Peter desperately asks for help, but Norman has disappeared from his office. Scorpion approaches and Spidey tries to fight back, but the villain hits him again and again. Scorpion pins him down again and raises his tail for the death blow. He is distracted by a screech though and looks up to find a glider diving down at him. It hits Scorpion and distracts him before calling to Spider-Man and eventually flying him away to safety as the episode comes to a close. It appears Norman has at least some of that iconic Green Goblin tech at his disposal after all. What other secrets is he hiding?

This episode certainly had a different energy. The series has been light and fun to this point but now things are starting to get serious. Not only did we see a character get killed for the first time, but Spider-Man himself was nearly another casualty. It will be interesting to see how this show is willing to go with this kind of tone.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is now streaming on Disney+.