The Beast Within

One of the best points of this series is that it takes the viewer to a variety of interesting settings, and usually there's a plausible reason for David to be there. In this ep, he takes a job at the zoo so that he can swap ideas with the veterinarian there.

After a weak start to the season, this one pretty much hits all the right marks. There's lots of intrigue (why are the villains arranging the deaths of the zoo animals?), we get to see Dr. Banner working in his own element as a scientist, we see the Hulk as both savage and gentle, the anti-social Dr. Baxter is beautifully characterized and given a heartfelt portrayal by Caroline McWilliams, and there's a tense near-encounter with McGee which David weasels his way out of in a pretty clever manner. There's also some good humanity here as David first gets close to Claudia through science, then builds up her confidence and encourages her to start interacting with other people, all without being the least bit condescending.

While I'm not quite ready to award this one "masterpiece" status, the only problem here is a common one of the series: the second transformation into the Hulk is too convenient, sort of a deus ex machina. Other than that, this is a splendidly written episode with Bill Bixby at the top of his game.

David Banner(Bill Bixby) travels to a zoo and gets a job as a cleaner, but really seeks to enlist the help of Dr. Claudia Baxter(played by Caroline McWilliams) who is doing research on aggression in animals, in hopes that they can isolate the aggression in him that leads to the emergence of the Hulk. Unfortunately, there is a mysterious rash of animal deaths, and her research is threatened with cancellation. Even worse, her boss(played by Dabbs Greer) is involved with illegal animal selling, and both her and David's lives are put in jeopardy as a result... Good episode shows how David will accept any job to reach his goal of a cure, though the inclusion of the gorilla is almost silly, but fight between it and the Hulk comes off fine.

David 'Bradburn' (wonder whether he ran out of surnames starting with "B") begins working at a zoo where research is being conducted on animal aggression. David learns that a corrupt zoo official has been smuggling diamonds, within the animals, into the zoo.

A young scientist named Claudia Baxter (Caroline McWilliams) is framed for the animal deaths and David is locked in a cage with an aggressive gorilla. Eh, you know what happens ... shirt ripping time!

Another top tier episode with a good setting -the Zoo- which is a good place for Hulk to show his savage side; he tangles with a gorilla(obviously a man in a suit) and flings the bad guy with abandonment, and also shows a gentle side with a young girl who gives him peanuts and cradles a tiger cub. Strong plot, and a great performance by Caroline McWilliams as the antisocial scientist.