Spider-Man: Nah. Game's good, Gobs. Just getting acquainted with the "rules".
Green Goblin: Rule 1: Spidey must splat!
Spider-Man: Rule 2: Ignore rule 1!
Spider-Man is in a heated battle with the Green Goblin's "pumpkin-head" henchmen as they raid a warehouse for weapons. Though Spidey captures the majority of them, they provide no information as to where the Goblin is, and one of the pumpkin-heads also escapes with a truck's worth of guns. All Spidey knows is that he needs to save his missing friend Harry Osborn from his own Globulin Green-induced insanity.
Back home, Peter Parker apologizes to Liz Allan for missing the school play due to "work". Liz tries to be supportive and subtly hints that perhaps Peter's emotions for her are actually meant for someone else... like Gwen Stacy. Peter's love-life issues are interrupted by an urgent call from Gwen to meet her at her house: Harry Osborn is with her and he needs his help.
Peter arrives to find Harry sitting on the couch. Harry explains his addiction to Globulin Green to Peter and Gwen and how he believed himself to be the Green Goblin as a result of the chemical warping his mind. However, Harry now claims that the Green Goblin is a separate person from himself and had kidnapped him, explaining his recent absence. Harry is encouraged by Gwen to confront his father Norman for help. After Harry leaves, Peter and Gwen spend some time recognizing their feelings for each other, unaware that Harry is listening with a jealous expression.
Back at the Osborn home, Harry begs Norman for help but isn't getting any. Spider-Man, however, shows up and accuses Norman of being the Green Goblin, recalling last Halloween when he saw Norman exit a secret passage in the home... which turned out to be a wine cellar instead of a supervillain lair. Norman calmly defends himself by stating that he was present when the Green Goblin stole the inhibitor prototype device from Oscorp and walks away.
The balcony suddenly explodes and the Goblin flies in with finger-zappers blazing. After a short fight that ends with the Goblin's escape, Spidey confronts the Osborns again. With both of his prime suspects innocent, Spidey asks them if anybody else has access to Globulin Green. Norman mentions Donald Menken, an employee at Oscorp, but Menken has vanished and his company records were erased.
The next day at M3, Peter's feelings for Gwen only grow deeper, and he is ultimately forced to end his relationship with Liz. Though she publicly makes a show of the break-up to save face with her peers, Liz is privately brought to tears. At E.S.U., Peter and Gwen meet with Dr. Curt Conners but are saddened to learn that he and his family are moving to Florida and his research is now in the hands of Dr. Miles Warren, whom Curt's wife Martha does not seem to trust.
That evening, Spidey is given Menken's location by Norman and pays him a visit, with Norman and Harry following via helicopter. When Spidey confronts Menken, gas suddenly floods the apartment, knocking them both out as the Goblin arrives. What follows is a heated battle above the rooftops of New York as Spider-Man and Green Goblin go to war with each other. With the water towers converted into pumpkin-bomb cannons and armed pumpkin-heads both on the rooftops and in aircrafts, Spidey is clearly overwhelmed by the onslaught and is barely able to keep up. Eventually, Spidey pulls off the Goblin's mask and reveals his true identity... as Norman Osborn!
Initially confused at seeing two Normans, Harry remembers how he apologized to them last night - the one thing Norman Osborn never does - and unmasks his passenger as the Chameleon, who promptly escapes. Back with Spidey, Norman explains that he had been Green Goblin the entire time, having treated himself with Globulin Green in gaseous form to circumvent the side-effects. He then brings up the events of last October when the Goblin stole his own inhibitor from Oscorp, when, coincidentally, Chameleon was disguised as Norman that night to steal company secrets for a business rival. Norman also took advantage of Harry's Green addiction as a way to dissuade suspicion towards being the Goblin, having dressed an unconscious Harry in the costume and broke his leg to give him the limp that Norman faked that night. In his defense, Norman claims that it was all to protect Harry and make him into the man he was meant to be. Spidey refuses to believe this, countering that Norman only cared about himself.
Norman charges at Spidey, but Spidey snags a pumpkin-bomb and stuffs it into his glider's tailpipe. The blast causes Norman to fly out of control and crash into one of his pumpkin-bomb cannons, creating a horrifying explosion that both Spidey and Harry are made to watch.
At Norman's funeral, Peter, Harry, and Gwen pay their respects, but Harry bitterly blames Spider-Man's inaction for the death of his father. Fearing a relapse to the Green, Harry quickly - and a little too conveniently - turns to Gwen for support, leaving Peter unable to be together with her. In spite of all the losses and misfortune, Peter's only consolation is that the city will never be threatened by the Green Goblin again.
At the airport, the Connors are off to start their new life in Florida, while a stewardess apologizes to a passenger for a delay in his flight to Grand Cayman. He tells her not to apologize and replies slyly, "I never do."
This episode provides examples of:
- Almost Kiss: Once again, Peter and Gwen are about to kiss after confessing their feelings for each other, but this time they stop as they're still with their respective partners and they decide to break up with them in order to officially be a couple. While Peter does so with Liz, Harry overheard them and, during Norman's funeral, takes advantage of his grief and fear of relapsing by manipulating Gwen into staying with him.
- Banana in the Tailpipe: In this case, pumpkin-bomb.
- Bittersweet Ending: More heavy on the bitter. Spider-Man defeats the Green Goblin, whose true identity has been Norman Osborn the whole time, and saves New York. However, he sent Norman plummeting to his death, which he and Harry witness in horror. This causes Harry to hate Spider-Man, who's wracked in guilt over killing Norman and leaving Harry without a father. Even worse, Peter's personal life is now at its lowest point as, along with said guilt, his friendship with Harry is very likely strained due to both his newfound hatred of Spidey and Harry manipulating Gwen into staying with him upon learning of her and Peter's feelings for one another. Peter and Liz's relationship ends on a painful note and it's likely that she will hate him once more. In short, Peter is mostly alone. Meanwhile, due to Curt being blackmailed by Miles Warren, the Connors are forced to leave the lab and relocate to Florida, leaving the lab to Warren, whom they don't trust, and the last scene reveals that Norman somehow survived the explosion as he boards a plane.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Played with; after Norman's exposed as the Goblin, he explains how he fooled everyone to Spidey. Of course, given that they're still doing battle, he's probably just trying to distract Spidey. Who he's, y'know, trying to kill. And it's not like he's explaining any upcoming plans, so he's not actually risking anything.
- Bookends: Norman Osborn's final line here is the same when he encounters Peter from the very first episode.Norman: Don't apologize. I never do.
- Boring, but Practical:
- One of the Goblin's attempts to kill Spider-Man is surprisingly mundane; he knocks Spider-Man off a rooftop and counters all his attempts to break his fall so he'll go splat when he hits the ground.
- How did Norman not have a limp the night Goblin injured his leg? As he points out, it’s very easy to fake a limp.
- Canon Character All Along: Norman is indeed the Green Goblin after all.
- Creator Cameo: Greg Weisman provides the voice of Menken.
- Did Not Get the Girl: Peter breaks up with Liz to finally be with Gwen, only for Harry to put a halt to that after Norman's supposed death.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Norman is heard in a phone call with a man named Gargan... as in Mac Gargan, aka the Scorpion.
- Gambit Roulette: Norman reveals everything about Goblin during his fight with Spidey. Almost all of it was around convenience and quick-thinking.
- He only took small gaseous doses of the Globulin Green formula instead of a full batch like Harry did, so he doesn't lose control and blackout.
- As Goblin, he found Chameleon disguised as Norman while Goblin was stealing Oscorp tech and decides to hire him as a body double.
- He conveniently found Harry blacked out on the Green, connected to his improved athleticism and intelligence, which allow Norman to put the Goblin costume on his son. He then broke his own son's leg to match the limp he claimed to have feigned that same night escaping Spidey, all to throw off suspicion.
- Guilt-Tripping: Harry does a subtle version by disguising it as Oblivious Guilt Slinging. He knows Gwen intends to break up with him, but he pretends otherwise and says it's a good thing she's with him after what happened with his father, or he'd lapse back into addiction. As intended, this guilts Gwen into not breaking up with him.
- Imposter Forgot One Detail: In his debut, Norman claims that he is never one to apologize. When Harry sees the unmasked Goblin with Norman's face, he slowly recalls his dad apologizing to Spidey a night earlier, becomes suspicious and unmasks... The Chameleon.
- It's All About Me: After learning that Norman framed his own son as Green Goblin at one point, Norman made an excuse that he did it to protect Harry due to leniency. Spidey instead accused him of using Harry to save his own sorry butt.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Spider-Man's reaction to destroying the glider causing Norman to crash into one of the pumpkin-bomb cannons, killing him (seemingly).
- Mythology Gag:
- The Connors family decides to move to Florida. In the comics, that's where Curt was born and where they originally lived when the Lizard first emerged.
- This epic finale includes borrows a lot of cinematic elements from Spider-Man:
- Spider-Man dodges Goblin's razor pumpkin weapons with the same mid-air acrobatics he does in the film
- The battle damage that Spider-Man suffers in his fight with the Green Goblin looks like it came from the climax of the movie.
- The funeral at the end of the episode is a reference to the end of the first film, where Harry Osborn swears vengeance on Spider-Man for his father's death and Peter has to break things off with his love interest.
- Gwen Stacy's classic black headband finally turns up in the last few minutes of the episode but throughout the show, she wears a headband and has a similar hair style to her comic counterpart.
- Not Good with Rejection: Peter tries his best to finally break things off with Liz as peacefully as he can. However, Liz counters this with a No Indoor Voice breakup declaration for her peers to hear because she refuses to be the dumpee. She then leaves to cry alone.Liz: You dump me? I don't think so. THAT'S IT, PETEY! WE'RE THROUGH!
- Not So Stoic: When Harry suggests his mom could be the Goblin, Norman shrugs and tries not to laugh. It's incredibly out of character for him, especially in such a tense situation. That's because he's not Norman, he's The Chameleon.
- No, You Go First: Gwen tries to break up with Harry so she and Peter can finally be together, but she decides not to when Harry opens up to her about how grateful he is for her being by his side because otherwise, he would probably have picked up his old drug addiction.
- Not Quite Dead: The final scene of the series, in which a disguised and definitely-not-dead Norman recites his catchphrase as he's boarding his plane.
- Obfuscating Insanity: Norman reveals he's quite sane and been putting on a show of insanity all along as the Green Goblin. The reason? The Globulin Green has a nasty side effect on the user's mental state when ingested in liquid form. He discovered that taking it in gaseous form avoids this side effect.
- Once More, with Clarity: The final scene in "Probable Cause" clarified here. Harry reveals that he has additional vials of Globulin Green hidden in his floor... only to dispose of it all to avoid taking any more.
- Properly Paranoid: After Harry reveals that he was kidnapped by Green Goblin, and that he got rid of the Globulin Green before he was tempted to drink it, Peter's suspicion of Norman being the Goblin resurface. However, it takes some redirections and hard evidence before his hunch is finally proven correct.
- Red Herring:
- Peter assumes Harry is the Green Goblin once again since he's been missing since the school play. However, flashbacks show Harry destroying his own stash of the Goblin formula and then being kidnapped by the villain. This casts doubt on his identity as the Goblin, only for that to be shattered when the Goblin attacks in the present day with Harry in full view.
- Norman gets a call from his assistant, Donald Menken, leaving Spider-Man alone on a balcony just as the Green Goblin attacks. Not long after, Spidey learns Menken is the only person outside the Osborn family to know about the Globulin Green formula and that his datafile at the company has been deleted. Spidey pursues the lead in the episode's second act by interrogating Menken at his apartment, only for a pre-commercial cliffhanger to show Goblin ambushing Menken and Spider-Man.
- The show establishes Emily Osborn as a possible identity for the Green Goblin more subtly. She appears early in the episode just as Osborn and Spider-Man are discussing who the Goblin could be, the Goblin attacks not long after she leaves the room, and then Osborn establishes only Menken and the Osborn family know about the formula that fuels the Green Goblin's power. Since Harry and Norman were seen with the Goblin and Menken is suspected by our characters, an astute viewer might assume Emily is the Green Goblin, at least until Harry posits the theory and Norman shrugs it off.
- It turns out the hidden room which Peter saw Norman exit from back in season 1 is simply the Osborns' wine cellar.
- Running Away to Cry: Liz hides behind a dumpster and sobs after Peter breaks up with her.
- Sanity Slippage: Subverted, as Norman reveals that exposure to the Globulin Green in a gaseous form removes its addictive and insanity-inducing properties. Or at least, so he thinks.
- So Proud of You: After the reveal, Norman is actually proud of how Harry "cowboys up" and becomes a man, for once in the series. This encourages Harry to live up to his dad's standards by emotionally manipulating Gwen. Much like his dad's abuse, in fact.
- Took a Level in Badass: Even without the Green formula, Harry's been pressured by his father into learning how to expertly pilot a helicopter and grown bold enough to crash its tail rotor into an apartment to help save Spider-Man. Previously, he could barely stand up to bullies or study for a test without Peter's assistance; now, Peter is getting his life saved by Harry.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Harry has totally internalized his father's lessons about being manipulative and sly. Here, he uses the occasion of his father's "death" to guilt Gwen into staying his girlfriend, even though he knows she wants to be with Peter.
- Wham Shot:
- Spider-Man unmasks the Green Goblin, revealing him to be Norman Osborn.
- Immediately following the above, Harry unmasks the Norman who's with him in a helicopter after recalling hearing him apologize to Spider-Man the night before - the one thing Norman never does - exposing him as Chameleon.
- The final scene shows a passenger about to board a plane. It's a very-much-alive and disguised Norman.
