Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
09.00 The Incredible Hulk
10.00 Sledge Hammer
11.00 Dark Skies
The Incredible Hulk. Episode 5. "Of Guilt, Models, and Murder" Did the Hulk murder a model?
It starts well, and has a structure unlike any other Incredible Hulk episode, but it doesn't make any sense and is a bit of chore to sit through.
Unlike the previous episode which I find very hard to watch this one has a lot of elements that I quite like. It starts off with David Banner transforming back from being The Hulk to find a dead model (Deanna Lund) in the room with him. What happened to her? Did he/The Hulk kill her? In flashback we see David walking by a mansion and running to assist when a girl (the dead girl?) cries out for help over and over.
It's a solid start and there's nothing else in the whole TV series quite like it. Next: we see David coping with guilt and contemplating turning himself in to the police. However, from watching the television news he discovers that the official story of the model's death doesn't match with events that he, himself, remembers from before his transformation so he goes undercover with the owner of the modelling agency to uncover the truth.
And this is where the trouble starts. David easily gets a job. And, literally, within his first minutes on the job he overheads significant conversations and gets talking to two main players in the murder (Jeremy Brett and Loni Anderson) who completely and utterly bare their souls to him about stuff that should be kept private.
Then David makes a crazy deduction, from a box of matches he found in his pocket(!), and turns out to be completely right. For no reason that makes sense to me. Not only that, but the real killer shows up and makes a full confession that David catches on tape recorder. Crazy, crazy stuff.
So, in no way that I can see, does this seem/feel/look/sound/behave even slightly like an episode of The Incredible Hulk. It's obvious that they were still finding their feet with the formula and, based on this, they just didn't have it. This is absurd. In later seasons, even the weak episodes are watchable and 'good' and true to the spirit of the show. Not this one.
It even ends with Jack McGee taking credit for David's detective work. I like McGee and he doesn't normally behave in a sleazy manner, so this is out of character.
Sledge Hammer. Episode 8. "Over My Dead Bodyguard" Trunk is targeted for a hit.
Harrison Page is always funny as Hammer's angry boss, so it's a treat to have an episode that has him in every scene. Having Hammer protect Trunk from a hitman is brilliant in it's own right (since there is so much comedy conflict between the two characters anyway) but having all of them happen while Trunk is trying to get back with his ex-Wife is a stroke of genius. Great writing from Mike Reiss and Al Jean.
Plus, it gives Hammer a chance to make a few quips about marriage and wifes and so on. And I love it when he does that.
Dark Skies. Episode 2. "Moving Targets" The aftermath of the JFK's assassination.
A direct continuation of the pilot. It finishes off the story of events in November, 1963, and tells us what exactly happened at Roswell. It also does a much better job of establishing what M12 is responsible for, and what they are not responsible for. The pilot made it look as if they were behind the Kennedy death, but this chapter puts that to rest. From this point on, we know that they are good guys. Good guys who get their hands dirty, yes, but good guys nonetheless.
Kim is still being written as a bland character, but John's cool and the episode is fast paced and full of action and suspense.
Highlight? Sledge Hammer (brilliant)
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The Incredible Hulk, Sledge Hammer, Dark Skies
