User Reviews

In the same year as her most recognizable role in WKRP in Cincinnati, Loni Anderson guest starred on The Incredible Hulk as a model caught up in a tangled web of blackmail, deceit, and murder. Taking the last name Blaine this go-around, David Banner finds himself in the mansion of a cosmetics magnate, realizing that he has just transitioned back from the Hulk, trying to recollect what happened. A model named Terri Ann lies dead on the floor of a bedroom as furniture and furnishings are destroyed and scattered throughout the room. Did the Hulk cause this? Was the Hulk responsible?

Strong opening emphasizes that even though the Hulk is powerful, can obliterate whatever is in his path, and cause harm to others when necessary, David Banner is still in this body…and David Banner is not a killer. So who is the killer? I think Bixby shines in the part of Banner during episodes like this where he is tormented by the cloudy fog that comes in transitioning to the Hulk. The concern that the Hulk could kill or seriously hurt does bother him and Bixby shows this. The relief that the Hulk isn't responsible for the murder, getting a *type of* confession from Anderson who was in that room when Terri Ann was murdered (a chauffeur named Sanderson (Ben Gerard) was also there, as was Terri's lover, James Joslin (Jeremy Brett), the owner of the mansion) Bixby displays David just hoping that his humanity perseveres, and when learning it does grants him another reprieve from the ongoing struggle that he faces day in and day out. Anderson really proves here that her bimbo act was just that…she has a devious, conniving character right here that is quite a juicy part. Anderson gets one of those confession scenes with a pompous and prideful delivery; this "I got you" speech that David must endure after trusting her. It is a nice bit of treachery.

But I think the start of the episode is so compelling, even if we know the Hulk wasn't responsible, what a way to immediately drop us into another harrowing situation for poor David Banner. Coming down from the Hulk, the green contacts still in, the episode unravels what happened in a "mystery unfolds" method that really sets this whole story off. Not just that, but you get differing accounts of what happened from both Anderson and Brett (two from Anderson!), with David Banner himself recollecting bits and pieces. The salvage car yard has the Hulk trying to halt a hydraulic lift from crushing him and Sanderson (those responsible for Terri's demise attempt to bound and gag Sanderson and David, placing them in a car to be crushed in order to silence them). I think the use of Jack Colvin's reporter is ingenious this go-around as his tape recorder actually captures a confession, and his car is stolen amusingly by David! Too funny. David taking the job of a valet in order to get closer to Joslin and his entourage is his best temp job yet. How the show can sometimes take this sojourning *man alone* character and thrust him into difficult scenarios, many times inadvertently (in this episode, David hears a cry for help while walking down a road near the mansion where the murder takes place), is part of the appeal, I think. Bixby's soft-spoken delivery and intuitive expressiveness are perfect for his calm intellectual, in comparison to the grunting, growling mute monster that emerges from him at the most opportune (and sometime inopportune) times.

The Incredible Hulk has a legacy of "dark" episodes sprinkled throughout the series' run (Deathmask, Veteran, among others) and this episode may be the first to take steps, however subtle, in that direction, as David Banner seriously contemplates a possibility that his gargantuan green alter ego have killed someone. Emerging from a metamorphosis with a young woman dead in his arms, David must solve the mystery of what really happened to her.

The psychological tension plays effectively on the fear of blacking out (or in this case, hulking out), only to wake up with no idea where you are or what you may have done, the loss of control over one's actions, and the psychological disruption of sudden, acute memory loss.

Unfortunately, the whodunit structure is somewhat undermined, as the episode cheats a bit with multiple "flashbacks" showing various accounts of what *could* have happened, with nothing to clearly differentiate whether we're being told lies or truth. Nonetheless, the ideas are engaging and the direction solid, clear, and attentive to defining some intriguing characters in spite of the script's structural issues.

Curiously, a couple of reviews allude to poor acting without going into specifics, and it's a claim that could do with some elaboration when the supporting cast includes Loni Anderson and Jeremy Brett. Since Brett would, several years later, find his career-defining role as Sherlock Holmes in the Granada TV series based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories about the greatest detective on earth, it's a striking coincidence that Brett stars in one of the Hulk's few mystery-based episodes. Brett is suave and wields a commanding presence in his character, certainly a stand-out among the Hulk's guest stars, and perhaps his turn would get more attention if not for the fact that Anderson is such a huge name in American TV.

I was a Holmes and Brett fan long before I came to the Hulk, so it was uncanny at first to see him transplanted from Victorian London to play opposite the big green guy, but Brett is well-cast and usual reliable, delicious self, albeit liberated from Victorian period wardrobe in favor of 70s leisure suits.

Even if you aren't particularly a fan of the Hulk, the episode may be worth watching if you're interested in seeing Brett in a different, far flung role.

In contrast to the comics, the Hulk of the TV series is almost invariably a force for good. For all David Banner's angst about his condition, when he turns into the Hulk, he does the same sort of noble things he does as Dr. Banner, just with strength instead of brains backing him up. This is the only episode this season to challenge that status quo, with a chilling opening in which David wakes up in a strange house with the last traces of the Hulk still fading from his body, and a dead woman just a few feet away.

The ep takes care to quote back Elaina's argument from the first film, that the Hulk won't kill because David Banner wouldn't. But without coming right out and saying it, it also makes us question her assumptions. Is it really true that David would never kill in any circumstances? And even if so, how can we know that the Hulk wouldn't do anything David wouldn't?

Unfortunately, the episode shows little interest in addressing these questions, as we're told that the Hulk is not the killer only halfway through, and it's obvious that he didn't do it even before that. Once Banner recalls hearing the victim scream for help just before he Hulked out, any viewer can surmise what happened: The Hulk tried to save her, and arrived too late.

This is still an entertaining episode, and there's a decent twist before the end, but "Who dunnit?" is just not as intriguing a question as "Did the Hulk do it?" And in a touch of the ironic, the climax features one of the most utterly convenient transformations into the Hulk yet. Again, this is an entertaining watch, but the squandered potential is tragic.