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Spider-Man Commentary: Day of the Jackal, Part 3

"S01E25 "The Day of the Jackal, Part 3""  takes some inspiration from the IRL-series's "Spider-Island Part 5" by setting the climax in a spider-infested Oscorp Tower. In addition the help that (some of) The Sinister Six give in battling the Jackal comes from their appearance in "The Rise of Doc Ock, Part 4," where they are goons working for Osborn, but I changed the tenor and import of their use here. Norman's death scene also comes from that episode. Otherwise, it's mostly mine.

"The Day of the Jackal," and the first season of my alternate continuity as a whole, were intended to solve three problems that I had with the first season:

1. Harry kept yo-yoing between Peter and his dad in terms of loyalty. I wanted to create a sense of steady but encroaching tension and alienation before the final snap. Did I succeed? That's not for me to judge. I have my doubts, but I'm not going to go back and revise the first season to polish it up.

2. In the IRL-series, Norman gets a great death scene in Episode 18, but then comes back in Episode 19 (in disguise) as a mutant spider-monster; gets changed back to human in the course of the 5-part "Spider-Island" arc; is hospitalized; and briefly dons a disguise as the Hobgoblin to menace Spider-Man. It's just a mess. I thought it better to end the season with his implied death, and to use that death to motivate a break between Peter and Harry.

3. The Spider-Island arc is supposed to put paid to the Jackal and his plans, but that arc is followed by the barely related two-part Hobgoblin season finale. It seemed to me better to cut out the Hobgoblin stuff, which could be saved for Season Two or later, and to end the season with the climax of the season-long Jackal plot.