130. Spider-Man
Spider-Man (2002)
Director: Sam Raimi
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco
Synopsis: Middle-aged teenager Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is just trying to self-narrate his way through high school while helping to support his financially-strapped and devastatingly adorable Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) and Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson). Failing to notice a genetically enhanced “super spider” that he—and the audience—was just told about because he was distracted by longtime crush and literal girl next door Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), Peter gets the worst spider bite imaginable and has a nightmare about DNA (and SKULLS!). But it turns out this nightmare might be a dream come true because he’s absolutely ripped now and can climb walls and squirt out sticky strands of (ahem) “webbing” from his wrists. After Uncle Ben is killed by a criminal that Peter chose not to stop because he was too busy being pouty, Peter takes on the mantle of Spider-Man and uses his gross but cool powers to be a hero to the people of New York! Meanwhile, Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), the incredibly rich scientific genius, owner of Oscorp, AND father to Peter’s best friend Harry (James Franco), also gets ripped thanks to his own hubris and the most inefficient drug ingestion system ever devised. But Norman loses his grip on reality and morals (if the industrialist ever even had any, am I right, comrades?) and becomes the Green Goblin, terror to the people of New York! Now Peter must balance just being a regular guy with regular-guy problems with being the one person who can stop the Goblin from being kind of an asshole to everybody (but in a MURDERY way; there’s stakes, baby!).
Bechdel-Wallace Pass? No
“It’s wine o’clock somewhere, Spider-Man!”
The Episode
We recall Spider-Man (2002) and learn a valuable lesson about power and responsibility. We talk about Macy Gray, intellectual property, and we all do our best Green Goblin impressions.