After the show's midpoint, in which Cat Hardy discovered Ben Reilly's top-secret identity, episode 5 of Spider-Noir grants meaningful insight into the titular character's background. He was granted his powers toward the end of World War I, soon after learning the Germans were conducting experiments on prisoners of war.
We actually get a flashback of Ben in battle, and we see how he got his powers. He was bitten during the war by a half-spider, half-human soldier, and for years thereafter, Ben struggled to feel like an actual human.
A nice moment ensues as Robbie leverages his footage of the battle between Leyden and the Spider to get rehired by the reputable Daily Bugle. He even gets his own desk, and after reestablishing himself as a journalistic tour de force, Robbie joins up with Ben to question Dr. Alethea Faber, a character introduced here in episode 5.
Every metahuman at some point visited Dr. Alethea Faber at a hospital in Queens before developing their powers, and the group comes to further revelations about her mysterious operation. In particular, Ben manages to steal one of Faber's files, albeit not without a little bit of adversity. He was nearly caught by Faber and her secretary Ogden, but he managed to hide the files under his coat and escaped by pretending to be a mental patient.
There's a fair bit of action in episode 5 as Sandman and Tombstone team up to break Dirk Leydon out of prison. Also known as Megawatt, this character was introduced in the episode prior, and he was revealed to harbor the ability to store and release electricity. He also harbors a particular way with words, bringing a sense of comedic relief to the uptight nature of Silvermane and company.
He joins their coalition, and meanwhile, Ben and his team find out that every metahuman will physically deteriorate if they continue using their powers. This means they'll die, and while Dr. Faber has been allegedly trying to find a cure for the metahumans, her mysterious experiments are only making them worse.
In an attempt to save her newfound love interest, Cat Hardy divulges to Dr. Faber that Ben is actually the Spider. She's convinced that Dr. Faber can find an actual cure if she could examine the Spider, and this would thus save the life of Ben, Sandman, Tombstone, and Megawatt, let alone the other metahumans who visited the hospital in Queens.
Continuing to showcase a focus on technical filmmaking, Spider-Noir episode 5 is certainly entertaining. With only a few episodes left, the story is starting to heat up.
Overall, there's some meaningful character development with Cat Hardy in particular. Learning Ben's backstory also offers some explanation for his behavior and what makes him tick.
We also have Silvermane's coalition of metahumans growing in size and power, pointing the audience in the direction of a large confrontation around the corner. As we've seen so far, though, there's no telling what episode 6 has in store for this Prime Video superhero series, but one thing's for certain: Show Snob will be there to cover it!
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