Turning Point
Review by Amazing Spidey; Screenshots by Amazing Spidey

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Episode #41 - Turning Point
 Original Airdate - November 16, 1996

Peter Parker and Mary Jane are finally a couple, but there happiness is short-lived as the Green Goblin, armed with a time distorter and the true identity of Spider-Man, seeks to destroy Spidey, by any means necessary.

Review:

This episode is easily my favourite episode of Spider-Man ever, possibly my favourite episode of any cartoon. Back when I first watched this, I remember eagerly anticipating this episode, simply from the wanting to know what would happen after Goblin War. I didn’t have Internet back then, so there were no spoilers to be scared off, everything came as a surprise. I remember being shocked when she fell through the portal. It’s kind of creepy when you think about it I mean, she never really came back. We saw her floating around in the limbo, presumably for the rest of her life.

While it wasn't a season finale for us here in the UK, as season 4 started straight away, Guilty, the aftermath of this episode was executed well, but the series never again lived up to this episode, in either writing or TMS animation, which was beautiful throughout. Especially the end, with Peter unmasked on the bridge talking to himself, with an absolutely perfect delivery from Chris Barnes.

While it was tedious seeing the long, drawn out flashbacks to the bridge scene every single episode for a couple of months the execution of this episode was flawless, changed enough from the comics to remain fresh, so the sense of "We've been here before" didn't overbear the scene.

As said above, the voices also seemed to be of higher quality here, particularly that of Barnes, Spider-Man and Ross, The Green Goblin. He was downright classic at the dinner scene, a perfect mocking/temptation tone whilst threatening to reveal Peters secret to his friends.

This episode however, the censors once again proved to be the bane of the series. FOX should have let them push some boundaries; this episode would’ve been so much better because of it. For example, like how Superman: The Animated Series: Apokolips Now! Episode threw the rulebook out the window, and the episode is highly regarded as series best because of it. If Spider-Man and The Green Goblin’s final fight were allowed to do the same, we would’ve had a phenomenal episode on our hands.

Screenshots: