Well, what a start Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has gotten off to! The long-awaited animated series made its presence felt on Disney Plus after much anticipation (and a name change to go along with it) as audiences prepared to see yet another entry in the long-standing legacy of animated Spider-Man shows.
As far as starts go, the series kicked off strong, with a fun, entertaining, and compelling premiere episode that set the stage for a very interesting series. We aren't in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's primary earth (Earth-616) here but we are set on an adjacent earth, so there are some similarities between this world and the MCU. The big difference, however, is that Peter Parker is recruited by Norman Osborn instead of Tony Stark - a decision that sets his life on something of a different, and yet potentially similar trajectory.
On that note, let's dive into the second episode of the series, titled "The Parker Luck", and recap all of the events that went down as Peter Parker had an unexpected visit from a very special visitor.
*** This article contains SPOILERS from Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man episode 2. Don't read on if you don't want the episode spoiled for you. ***
The Parker Luck
The second episode of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man picks up right where the previous one left off: With Norman Osborn standing in Peter Parker and Aunt May's apartment. It's a big moment for Peter, who recognizes his famous visitor but he doesn't know why he is there. May, on the other hand, doesn't know who he is, and that creates a funny exchange in which Peter is embarrassed by that.
Osborn seems warmer than his typical animated counterparts, offering Peter an internship at Oscorp due to his brilliant mind. Peter can't believe it, and honestly seems a little afraid to accept it, but he does. May tells him to ask whether he would earn money for the internship and Norman implies that all of those involved will be taken care of - which is a win-win result for all. There is one condition, however: Peter must report to Norman Osborn himself when he signs in.
Of course, that doesn't happen. He arrives slightly late and, in typical Parker luck, his ID photo catches him off-guard, making for quite the memorable photo. But that's not his biggest issue, as he ends up being told by the man behind the desk to meet the other interns in the lab and, in spite of his best efforts, he isn't allowed to meet Mr. Osborn.
Peter arrives late only to be greeted by his fellow interns. They are Asha (who is from Wakanda), Jeanne Foucault, and Amadeus Cho. They are then greeted (well, that's putting it nicely) by Dr. Bentley Wittman, who is a moody teacher. A very moody teacher. They are all given assignments to perform, which will decide which division they end up interning at. Peter's classmates are assigned to their divisions first, leaving him unsure of where he's going. However, he soon finds his way to Doctor Carla Connors, who is excited to be working alongside him at Oscorp's Energy Research division.
Things go very well for Peter with Doctor Connors. After telling Nico about it, she and Lonnie invite him to a party to celebrate the success of the football team - with Lonnie calling Pete his good luck charm. Peter agrees but, as we've learned in every superhero project ever, heroics soon prevent that from ever happening. While taking a break and chatting with the other interns, he sees a report about an arson fire downtown and decides to leave Oscorp, suiting up as Spider-Man in the stairwell.
Spidey enters the burning building and confronts the arsonist, who is calling himself Butane. He has advanced weaponry that screams professional, even though Butane is not exactly a professional. The fighting ensues, which mostly revolves around Spider-Man dodging the fire blasts, trash-talking his opponent and saving a lot of nearby animals from the flames. Just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man things, you know.
In the end, Spidey returns to Oscorp, but he is late and is reprimanded because of it. Dr. Wittman takes far too much glee in the moment, particularly when Peter gets summoned to Norman Osborn's office. It looks like it's the end of the road for the short-lived internship as Peter couldn't show the commitment to it that he promised Mr. Osborn. But that's not exactly how things play out.
Upon entering Osborn's office, Peter immediately apologizes for skipping out on the internship, but Osborn doesn't acknowledge that. Instead, he turns the computer in front of him to face Peter and, there it is, on the screen: Peter himself in the stairwell getting changed into his Spider-Man suit. He simply asks: "So... you're Spider-Man?". And the episode concludes.
Norman knows Peter is Spider-Man
Needless to say that the ending of "The Parker Luck" was a game-changer. A big moment that managed to even outdo the first episode's conclusion, it gave us the moment that the whole series was building towards: Norman Osborn knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.
We pointed out before about how one of the main plot points of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is to show us what would happen if Peter met Norman instead of Tony Stark, and this episode took that further. While Tony Stark already knew Peter was the webslinger in the MCU movies when he attempted to recruit him at his aunt's apartment, it appears that Norman has figured it out after that. He knew Peter Parker first, and that is undoubtedly going to make for an interesting dynamic.
But let's just point out the elephant (or, well, Goblin) in the room, shall we? Norman Osborn is not Tony Stark, the Green Goblin is not Iron Man; so what kind of repercussions could Osborn's discovery of this secret have on Peter's life? We're not sure if Norman has advanced to the Green Goblin levels of villainy in this world (or if he ever will), perhaps he genuinely is trust-worthy in this universe. We'll have to wait and see, but it goes without saying that Osborn's reputation precedes him for a reason.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has reached the crucial story point that it was building towards, which makes the next episodes all the more intriguing. Wherever the story goes from here, the stakes are undoubtedly set to be a whole lot higher. And that makes us even more ready to see the next episode.
Good Luck Peter Parker!
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man airs new episodes on Disney Plus on Wednesdays.