RJ Writing Ink

All right, if you are here, then that means that one of two things: you’ve seen Spider-Man: Far From Home, or don’t care about spoilers.

Now that’s that out of the way, I want to look at the what that big mid-credits scene from Spider-Man: Far From Home.

A Secret Is Out

One of the basic tenets to Spider-Man is that he goes out of his way to keep his civilian identity a secret. He lacks the resources that Iron Man has to keep thugs away. While his many incarnations have done a good job of keeping his identity as Peter Parker a secret, the MCU changed everything.

After Mysterio’s defeat in London, one of his associates escaped with a flash drive. That drive contained edited footage that made it look like the Elementals were real. Worse, it showed Spider-Man murdering Mysterio to get control of Stark’s arsenal.

To top this conga line of lies off, Mysterio revealed Spider-Man’s identity as Peter Parker to the entire world, and J Jonah Jameson’s the one who reported it to the world.

Plus side: JK Simmons came back to play J Jonah Jameson again!

What Happens Now?

The way I see it, there are currently two options for Peter Parker at this point.

First option: he’s going to have to go on the run and live as a fugitive from authorities. He won’t be able to go to school anymore. At the least, Aunt May will need to go into hiding.

Second option, and I hope this will be what ends up happening: Peter uses EDITH. Think about it: EDITH can hack into any computer in the world. She could easily get onto the Internet and erase all traces of Mysterio’s video. Without that, there would be no evidence to back up these claims, and Peter could deny them. It’s not like anyone else has seen him without him mask.

If I know the people from How It Should Have Ended, then I think they’ll end up doing just that.

Everything Changes

No matter how you look at this, this changes everything. More than anyone, Spider-Man has fought to keep his identity a secret. The one time he did reveal it during the Civil War event, it ended in disaster. Now that it’s been revealed in the MCU, Peter’s life will get much harder.

Yet, this could end up being a new opportunity. The MCU looks like it’s going to use Spider-Man as its flagship character going forward. Having his identity know could be an interesting angle to work with. I’d be interested in seeing how that turns out.

For now though, the MCU’s on vacation until 2020. They’ll need to come up with a new overarching story soon if they want to keep people interested. Right now, my money’s on Dr. Doom or Kang the Conquerer.

To read my review for the film, click this link.

Amphibia Episode 10 Review/Recap

This At ten episodes in, Amphibia’s first season is at its mid-way point. It’s done an excellent job of building up its cast and the basic premise of its world, but a show like Amphibia can’t stay small forever; it has to grow. In what’s likely the most crucial episode yet, Anne’s world gets a little bigger when she meets the Toads.

Toad Tax

A month’s passed since Anne appeared in Wartwood, and the townsfolk still don’t give her any respect. Then while she’s out shopping with the Plantars, she runs into Toad Soldiers from Toad Tower. They rule over the valley and collect taxes from the villages every year. After seeing how good of a fighter Anne is, they offer to take her with them on tax collecting. Seeing it as a chance to get respect finally, she joins them, much to Sprig’s concern.

It turns out the Toads are a bunch of thugs, though: when the townsfolk can’t pay taxes, they take all their stuff. Despite how they treated her before, Anne discreetly returns some of the townsfolks belongings.

When they get to the Plantar’s, though, Anne draws the line; she saw Hop Pop pay their taxes and refuses to hurt them.

Enraged, the Toads try to kill Anne, only to be stopped when Sprig rallies the townsfolk to protect her. Furthermore, Sprig reveals that Mayor Toadstool had hoarded their tax money for himself, leaving everyone to run him out of town. Anne’s hailed as the town’s protector and hero, but the Toads vow to return with more men.

Prison Break

Meanwhile, far from Wartwood, we see Toad Tower, HQ for the toads and ruled by the ruthless Captain Grime (played by Troy Baker), Sasha’s captor. Despite his best efforts, Sasha manages to sabotage every attempt to press her for information; she’s talked several of her guards into leaving. Just as the fifth one goes to become a one-person band, the tower gets attacked by two giant herons.

Toad Tower’s defenders are overwhelmed by the titanic birds, leaving everyone to take shelter in a vault. Sasha pulls Captain Grime aside and makes a deal: she’ll help get rid of the herons in exchange for supplies and her freedom. Grime accepts her offer, and when he uses her advice about complimenting his troops, their will to fight gets reinvigorated. Working together, everyone drives off the herons and saves the tower, and Grime genuinely congratulates the toads.

He then tells Sasha that while he can’t stop her from leaving, she won’t survive long on her own. So she offers her a deal: become her second-in-command, help her get the valley in line, and he’ll help find her friends and get home. Sasha accepts his offer and decides to have some fun while she looks for Anne and Marcie. Uh-oh.

Review

I said it once, and I’ll repeat it: this is the most important episode to the show thus far, with the show taking on a darker and more serious tone. While danger’s been a part of previous events, I thought it seemed more light-hearted in comparison. Like they followed a “monster of the day” formula, where I knew Anne, and the heroes would be all right.

In Toad Tax, though, Anne almost got killed by the toads. We saw them break her arm and prepare to smash her head in with a hammer. That’s serious stuff. They would have killed her if the townsfolk hadn’t intervened.

Speaking of the townsfolk, Toad Tax marks a shift in Wartwood’s treatment of Anne and shows how far she’s come since coming to Amphibia. Even after they treated her bad, Anne stood up for the townsfolk and tried to get their stuff back. By the end of the episode, she’s gone from village outcast to its protector and hero.

A Look at Sasha

In contrast to this, Prison Break gives us a look at Anne’s “friend” and potential opposite, Sasha, and what I saw of her confirmed my earlier suspicions. Sasha’s good at persuading and manipulating others to get what she wants. She even tells Grime that “if others think you love them, they’ll do anything for you.” That one sentence summarizes her relationship with Anne: she compliments and flatters Anne to get her to do things she wouldn’t want to. Worse, it seems like her experiences on Amphibia have only reinforced her beliefs.

Despite this, we learn that Sasha does seem to care for Anne and Marcie genuinely. As things stand now, though, it feels like Anne and Sasha are on two sides of a fight they don’t even know yet. The toad soldiers vowed to come back to get revenge on Anne, and Captain Grime said villages all over the valley are standing up to them. There could be a full-scale war coming, and Sasha and Anne will have to choose what side they’re on.

Best One Yet

Overall, this was a great episode; my favorite one yet, in fact. The plot developments were on point and we saw some character development. The cherry on top to all this, though, was Troy Baker’s role as Captain Grime. I can’t wait to see where this leads us.

I give “Toad Tax” and “Prison Break” a 5/5

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Click here to see the first episode on YouTube