After some thinking, I realized something that I forgot to mention. On its own and when compared to the Original Series episode, Last Laugh (considering that both episodes use the same story premise in regards to Ben dealing with his own fears), The Clocktopus is still not a good episode. It still suffers from poor writing and I mentioned other aspects of this episode that also holds it back. However, when compared to other episodes of the Ben 10 reboot show, it is a better episode. Despite the problems that I have with Steam Smythe, I still like the theme of his character and he is at least a better villain than the other villains that were showcased in the reboot. He's just an annoying villain much like with the Weatherheads and, at least to me, the writers just exaggerated a little too much to him or something of the likes. Like I said, there was some potential with this villain. Like I also said before, at least Ben's fear of squids does give him some struggle with fighting Steam Smythe and thus helps to make the conflict a little more challenging. So yeah, even though I find that the episode still had some really poor writing and the episode itself is still not good, it is better than the other episodes of the Ben 10 reboot. However, considering the quality of the other episodes of the Ben 10 reboot, that's not saying much. At best this episode is just average.
