The Incredible Hulk
"Of Guilt, Models and Murder"
Originally aired Mar. 24, 1978
Man, what a clumsy title. It's trying to be poetic, I guess, but it never quite worked for me. Anyway, this is the first
Hulk episode written by producer James D. Parriott, who'd previously held that role on Kenneth Johnson's
The Bionic Woman and would go on to have an extensive career (
Voyagers, Misfits of Science, Forever Knight, Dark Skies, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Defying Gravity, Covert Affairs).
It's got a hell of a strong opening, a terrific initial dilemma for David that's impressively handled without dialogue for a long stretch. It puts the audience right with David in experiencing post-Hulk disorientation and amnesia, having to piece together what happened. And Joe Harnell's music is fantastic. Great wordless acting from Bixby too.
The rest doesn't quite hold up, though. David is let off the hook a bit too early, and it becomes a fairly conventional crime story. It's implausible that David doesn't see the obvious hole in Sheila's story (that she was standing way back by the door when he saw her through the window right behind the victim), and the fact that we can see it makes it easy to tell that she's a co-conspirator using him to lure out Sanderson (and that Elkin missed his carefully aimed shot on purpose).
There are some production glitches too. Ted Cassidy isn't doing the Hulk growls, and the growls we get are much less imposing. (It doesn't sound like Ferrigno's voice either, going by his voice work in the '90s
Hulk cartoon.) His palms don't seem to be made up in the car-crusher sequence. And there are some awkward editorial bits, like using optical zooms on obvious freeze frames to make up for a lack of coverage. There's also a shot of David listening to Joslyn on the phone that seems to be slowed down and reversed from an earlier shot. That suggests the director didn't get all the coverage that the producers wanted and they made some fixes in editing.
The high point is getting a guest appearance by Jeremy Brett, who would go on to be one of the most definitive portrayers of Sherlock Holmes. Ironic that he's playing a suspect in a murder mystery. As for Loni Anderson, I never cared for her much or found her at all attractive. And I didn't realize that the briefly glimpsed murder victim was Deanna Lund, whom I definitely did find attractive and then some in
Land of the Giants. I guess I didn't recognize her as a blonde.
Here we have a rare and early example of the show breaking the formula that it had at this point barely established, with David transforming back from his first Hulk-Out as the episode starts...and the details of that Hulk-Out being told primarily through the flashback stories of unreliable narrators. I don't know if it really counts in an example like this, but FWIW, we see the Hulk-Out via David's POV flashback at -43:26.
And we also get a rare, possibly unique instance of David's POV as he begins his Startling Metamorphosis -- a green haze overlaying his vision just before he blacks out.
It seems unusual that David would be transforming back while still in the house...his alter ego's usual M.O. is to bust out of closed spaces and run off when his job is done...but the plot depends on David seeing the evidence of what he fears may have been the creature's actions.
But his job wasn't done. He was so saddened by his failure to save Terri Ann that he just wept over her body while Sheila got away. Presumably he just sat there and cried himself out, then changed back. (Come to think of it, David's cheeks were wet in the opening bathroom scene, though I figured it was just Bixby's reaction to having the white contacts in so long.)
David literally can't walk down the street without getting involved in people's problems...and why the hell was he hoofing through Beverly Hills anyway...?
Perhaps he heard about some promising medical research being financed by a Mr. J. D. Clampett.
In the classic comics, the Hulk had a homing instinct that always brought him leaping back to New Mexico from all corners of the globe. On the show, David has a homing instinct that always brings him back to where he left his duffel bag--He can't lose that duffel bag!
That must be where he keeps his special indestructible pants that not only stay on when he Hulks out, but protect fragile items in their pockets from being crushed. There's no way that tape recorder should've survived in there.
This episode makes use of the time-honored trope of somebody watching the news on a TV in a store window...IIRC, even a recent Daredevil episode had such a scene. I don't think I've ever seen a window display of TV sets that included piping the sound out to the street...has anyone else?
Maybe in the early days of TV, when not many people had home sets yet.
The guy with the British accent--He couldn't possibly be one of the bad guys, could he? Saw that one coming from the preview clips.
But he's Sherlock Holmes! How can he be evil? (Or so one might have asked back in the pre-Cumberbatchian era.)
And here we have further evidence that public knowledge of the Hulk is strong enough to serve as an alibi. Sure he was there, but if somebody tried telling that story in a world that didn't believe in Hulks, they'd only be reserving their spot as Suspect #1.
It would've been nice if the show had followed up on that more, the authorities and the public becoming more aware of the Hulk and creating more problems for David. Instead, it just fizzled out over time.
Hulk throw doggie? Nooooooo!!!
Interestingly, it looked like a real dog rather than something like that giant toy teddy bear in "A Death in the Family." Must've been a well-trained stunt dog.
So apparently getting shot at doesn't get David's pulse racing enough to trigger his change...but a threatening car-crusher does the trick.
Well, it's not just adrenaline, it's anger and desperate need.
I guess we have to assume that David erased the parts of the tape that had his name, and potentially his voice, on them....and that he had the tape rolling while talking to Sanderson, as Loni's confession started when she made a surprise appearance.
We saw him turn on the recorder and put it in his pocket before he knocked on the trailer door. I'm just surprised its mike picked up anything when it was in his back pocket while he sat in a chair.
Between the car theft and the tape, there's some nice humorous chemistry between David and McGee without the two sharing any screen time.
And it's notably the first time David actually chooses to risk a run-in with McGee in order to pursue a goal. That's how important finding the truth is for him.
