By Geno McGahee
I don’t know why David Banner (Bill Bixby) always wants to get rid of his Hulk side. I know it’s the plot of the show and that they have to kind of go with it, but if the people that fucked with me were right in front of me. Then, I blacked out and when I awoke, they were all fucked up, I would keep that problem. I would do what I could to use it more often. The person that purchased 16 items at the 15 items or less line would be in big trouble. The garbage man that said my garbage can was too heavy would have had it shoved up his ass. I hope one day I can have this problem. David Banner…you don’t know what you got until it’s gone my friend.
In the 1978 episode “LIFE AND DEATH”, Banner is out thumbing the roads again when he meets up with the very pregnant, Carrie (Diane Cary). She is headed to a special clinic while David is heading to the hospital for some special treatment to get rid of the Hulk DNA in his veins. They get a ride together and when David sees where she is going, he is immediately suspicious. He encourages her to go to the hospital instead, but she refuses. She has a side deal with these people and she’s going to stick to it.
David goes to the hospital and meets up with Dr. Rhodes (Andrew Robinson) and it’s a friendly meeting. Rhodes has been experimenting on animals and wanted a human test subject and David wanted the Hulk gone. Maybe they can help each other. Unfortunately, Rhodes gets nearly exposed when a woman stumbles into the ER, claiming that her baby was stolen by him. He quickly sedates her, but there is trouble brewing, and it prompts David to revisit Carrie. After jumping a fence, David finds her and tries to convince her to keep the baby. David don’t preach.
As David and Carrie talk in the back yard, Rhodes arrives and starts talking with his partner, Ellen (Julie Adams). They make money selling babies and these two could put an end to it, but they won’t let that happen. The decision is made to kill both of them, take the baby, and continue with business as usual. At first, Rhodes isn’t too big on the idea, but then Ellen mentions prison and you know what happens to skinny doctors in prison, right? Not pretty.
Back at the hospital, Rhodes makes an attempt on the life of Banner, but this only brings out the Hulk. Unfortunately, the Hulk is fucked up and can’t get his shit together. The drugs that were supposed to kill Banner didn’t work, but it made the Hulk woozy. He stumbles around and ends up in an elevator with some old guy with a walker. I was happy that the old guy kept his mouth shut, but his annoying expressions were terrible too. One of the worst things about this series is the forced comedic relief. It is such a good show, but they continually put unfunny shit in here and this guy in with the walker was trying to be that. I wish the Hulk threw him out of the elevator and splattered him against the wall.
As Ellen and Rhodes prepare to kill Carrie, Banner is struggling his way to them, trying to overcome the impact of the drugs. When he gets there, he climbs the stairs, only to fall down and land hard at the bottom. This pisses him off something fierce and the green machine is back, but this time, he’s ready to rumble. He storms up the stairs, and for some reason grabs one of the nurses, Dan (John Warner Williams), and holds him like a baby, as Rhodes hauls ass out of there. Rhodes has no courage. The minute that Dan was grabbed, he was out of there. As a doctor, he probably had shit he could do to disable the Hulk, but he didn’t care. Let the Hulk fuck Dan up as long as he’s safe was his approach. This guy was a real prick.
Thankfully, the Hulk catches that coward, Rhodes, and appears to fist him and then throws him down the stairs. He drops Dan next and runs over to get Ellen, but she just runs away after some very bad acting. Hulk picks up the infant and smiles, before taking off.
Of course, you cannot have a Hulk episode without the cocky Jack McGee (Jack Colvin) lingering around. I don’t get why Banner never turned it on to McGee and just tore him up. Give him a reason not to chase the Hulk again. Whatever the case, LIFE AND DEATH was good, not great. There wasn’t a great deal of the Hulk in this one and I think the episode could have gone a little darker. There was potential for it to be an edgier episode, but they softened it up and there was far too much changing focus to emphasize that the Hulk and Banner couldn’t see clearly. I liked this one, but it’s rather forgettable.
Rating: 6/10
