By Geno McGahee
David Banner (Bill Bixby) takes a lot of jobs that are underneath him. You’ll often find him washing dishes or cleaning floors, but he was one of the top doctors in the world. It has to be tough on him to take these menial jobs, but not all jobs are as easy as they seem. Banner landed a job working in construction and did a shitty job and caused quite a bit of damage. He was moving a crate by himself and it fell on him and he hulked up and destroyed everything. He had no reason to be pissed at anything but himself for the crate dropping on him. I know what he was thinking: “I’m David Banner. I’m way smarter than these meatheads that ride fork trucks all day. My left nut is smarter than most of them. Anyone with a 40 IQ could do this job.” That sort of thinking fucked him. He moved that crate and boom. He obviously is not cut out for construction but now has a healthy respect for the profession.
Hulk-chasing, pain in the ass reporter, Jack McGee (Jack Colvin), has a new partner at work. Another writer, Fletcher (Michael Conrad), now has to share a desk and assignments with poor Jack. It’s not a welcomed addition and he especially doesn’t like how dismissive this new asshole is when it comes to the Hulk. “Hard to see something that is not there,” Fletcher notes, which is absurd. I get why some people don’t buy Sasquatch…even though the evidence suggests he exists, but to deny the Hulk existing when they have tons of pictures of him running around? These pictures are clear too! I think that Fletcher was just trying to get under McGee’s skin or into his pants.
When Jack gets assigned to another story, a phone call comes in that Fletcher receives. There has been a Hulk sighting in Atlanta. Fletcher books a flight and grabs McGee’s file and heads down to Georgia to see if he can do what his partner couldn’t…prove the Hulk is too legit to quit.
Like in most Hulk episodes, they have one character that should have never been added. Usually, they add them for comic relief, but they are never funny. You’ll have some drunk asshole see the Hulk and then look at the booze and throw the bottle or something along those lines, but here, we have Stella (Jan Sterling). In the defense of the show, I have not gone into the south very much. I’m a New Englander. So, my idea of how a southern person acts and speaks may not be correct, but I have to believe that the Stella character here is way off. It’s as if she walked off of GONE WITH THE WIND and it is so fucking annoying. The cast is pretty strong in this but every time that this bitch comes on the screen, it takes me right out of it. Why did the Hulk series do this? They always had the need to add something shitty to every episode.
Fletcher pretends to be McGee and meets up with Stella and she not only saw the Hulk, but she knows where he lives. When Fletcher gets a glimpse at the suspect, he is shocked. Somehow he knew David Banner and when he comes face to face with him at his apartment door, he challenges him on it. Banner denies it at first, but then Fletcher whipped it out and it was pretty surprising. Well, he whipped out a picture that is and it was strangely a glamour shot of Banner. What is Fletcher doing with this? I know he wants a story, but the fact that he knows Banner and that he carries around a picture of him at all times is creepy. If this took place in 2018, I would bet my house that Banner would yell “get out of here and stop sending me dick pics!”
With no other choice, Banner allows Fletcher in and agrees to be interviewed about his Hulk experience, and this is when the episode nose-dives quickly. Now, if you’re not a Hulk fan and this is the first episode you see, then it may be OK, but the endless flashbacks and recounts of shit I already know took up 80% of this episode. The only breaks were when Fletcher had his own flashbacks about his dying child. The only difference between the two sets of flashbacks is that people echo every word in Fletcher’s.
As Banner goes on and on about his past, he notices that Fletcher is looking at him funny. Concerned, David must have thought that the guy had a hard on for him, but when he pried, the truth came out about his daughter passing. The two began to get along and David even noted how refreshing it was to finally let somebody know of his secret. Unfortunately, all of this shit has brought McGee into town with a tranquilizer gun and the goal to date-rape the Hulk or whatever. Another unfortunate thing is that McGee is teamed up with that annoying cow Stella. Why? Why Hulk writers why? I’m not happy with you.
McGee begins to break in to the apartment with an axe, which is not cool. He is a reporter and, as far as I know, they are not allowed to use axes to break into apartments. Fletcher looks out for Banner as he plans the escape, but as he crawls through the window, Banner cuts his hand and that brings the Hulk for the first time in the episode (not counting flashbacks). He destroys the building and jumps out, which is good news for McGee. He can say Hulk fucked the door up. As Hulk is escaping, McGee tries to use that tranquilizer gun, but Fletcher attacks him and seems to be grinding on top of him. I’m not a fan of McGee, but the last thing I want for him is to be cornholed by this douche.
McGee falls from the building and is caught and saved by the Hulk, which is so fucked up. This asshole has been fucking with Banner forever and he is largely the reason why he has to travel so much. The minute he gets settled down, McGee shows up and he has to jet. Now with McGee falling head first to his death, he opts to save him? No. You let that prick hit the pavement and splatter his brains all over the place. Your biggest problem is gone and you have no guilt. The guy fell. You did not push him. But this did not happen and McGee lived and probably has no intention to stop his quest to ruin Banner’s life.
INTERVIEW WITH THE HULK is a very lazy episode, relying heavily on past footage and stories to float it to the 45 minutes. When you add in the terrible Stella character and the emptiness of the episode as a whole, it’s difficult to recommend this one.
Rating: 3/10
