Interview with the Hulk

It wasn't technically the last episode, but episodic TV didn't work like that in those days. In my personal canon, it's the end of the series.

It's quite touching that David is able to unload his burdens on Emerson Fletcher, who has his own burdens, and burdens that might be heavier than David's.

Some seem to think it's unbelievable that Fletcher instantly recognizes David Banner as a renowned scientist, but Fletcher was explicitly a science reporter before his own personal collapse.

It also may seem weird that the various scientists David encounters don't recognize him on sight, yet Fletcher does. But again, Fletcher's job as a science reporter was to instantly recognize the people in the field by face. Most scientists then, and now, are more interested in ideas than faces.

Fletcher does make a good point to David that he really should reveal his plight and that there would be a wealth of resources to help him. The story does ultimately fall to the reality of this buffoon (that we love!) Mr McGee, but you do believe it Fletcher had another day or two to talk to David, he would convince him.

But, within the world, David does know that while he revealed his secrets to Fletcher, Fletcher completely honored his word not to reveal anything.

At the National Register, Emerson Fletcher(played by Michael Conrad) a colleague of Jack McGee ends up stealing the latest report of the Hulk in order to redeem his career. When Mr. McGee(Jack Colvin) and Mark Roberts(Walter Burke) find out about it, Jack goes in hot pursuit of both him and the lead, which amazingly leads Emerson directly to Dr. David Banner(Bill Bixby) whom he is shocked to find alive, and the Hulk. Fletcher blackmails David into giving him an exclusive interview about his four-year ordeal, which he does, not realizing that he works for the Register... Outstanding episode is among the best and most revealing, as Banner opens up finally about why he ran, and his all-too accurate theories on what motivates the Hulk. Fine performances by Conrad and Bixby highlight this pivotal episode, which would have worked nicely as the series finale...instead ten episodes remain.

David (Bixby) is working at a construction site when he's nearly crushed by a container - the Hulk saving the day, but not before the event is witnessed by a nosy neighbour (Sterling) who promptly contacts the newspaper to report her Hulk sighting. Meanwhile, the now laconically lazy former high-profile journalist Emerson Fletcher (Conrad) picks up Sterling's tip meant for Jack MacGee (Colvin) and ends up discovering that David Banner is indeed the Hulk.

While Fletcher initially coerces Banner into giving him an exclusive interview revealing the entire Hulk story, he gradually comes to respect and admire his strength of character, a quality absent in Fletcher's own existence for reasons that are later revealed. Conrad (the original desk sergeant from "Hill Street Blues") is dynamic as the burly, yet sensitive newsman with more underlying integrity than his actions suggest, and it's a great shame that he died prematurely only a couple of years after this episode first aired.

It's one of those vintage episodes where the appearance of the Hulk isn't obligatory (no offence to big Lou); the story and characters provide the stimuli to carry the show to its always poignant, and this case especially, fitting conclusion.

Previous reviewers seems to regard this as a great episode, and I can see why. It's McGee-heavy, which lends it the illusion of continuing the series plot as well as giving Jack Colvin ample opportunity to strut his underutilized acting chops. The drama is high, and reporter Emerson Fletcher paralleling his life story to the Hulk adds thematic validity. This ep undoubtedly carried far more impact when the series first aired than it ever can now, as a rerun.

But while I understand the popular opinion, I can't agree. I've often said of an episode that I found more to like about it upon second viewing, but in this case, the opposite is true; watching "Interview with the Hulk" again has convinced me that it is not slightly overrated, but grossly overrated. When you get down to it, the plot is simply "McGee finds the Hulk (again). The Hulk eludes McGee (again)." So how do they fill the running time? With Emerson Fletcher, a National Register reporter who gets a few days lead on McGee and interviews David. This provides an excuse for lots of clips of previous eps and flashbacks from Fletcher's trite and contrived story about his dead daughter. Heck, *everything* about Fletcher is contrived; if you're hoping for a satisfying explanation for how a respected scientist became a tabloid journalist, forget it. The premise is that scientific research and newspaper journalism are basically the same thing.

Moreover, the timeline is perplexing. A comment from McGee at the end gives an estimate of the episode's overall time frame, but how long certain events took and why remains a mystery. Then there's Stella, a character so ludicrously cartoonish that she recalls the series's worst bits. Only Bixby's profoundly moving delivery keeps this ep from being a complete waste of time.