The Confession

Season 2 jumps back up to snuff with this McGee-heavy episode. It's fast-paced, original, and loaded with strong human interest.

Things jump off immediately as David sneaks in to a restricted access lab. Meanwhile, McGee has a bigger than usual case of the grumps as he's been saddled with an intern, a perky college graduate named Pamela. When McGee and Pamela hit the town where the Hulk was last sighted, Harold approaches them to confess that he's the Hulk. McGee, having spent some time with the Hulk in the Mystery Man episodes, recognizes him as just another lurid confessor, but Pamela, ever the eager beaver and a bit too sympathetic to Harold's desire for attention for her own good, decides to pursue his story.

Now, there's a break in continuity here, since "Mystery Man, Part 2" implied that McGee's editor refused to run the story about a normal man transforming into the Hulk, so Harold would have had no way of knowing about that. But I'll let it slide, because a crank confessing to be the Hulk is an inspired idea which also fits. A tougher problem is that the episode softens McGee up too much at a couple points, especially Pamela's declaration at the end that McGee was her first choice for this internship. So her idol is a tabloid reporter? Seriously?

But the episode more than makes up for this with its strong contrast in how Jack and Pamela deal with Harold. Pamela has only the best of intentions for Harold, but by the end it's clear that Jack's "don't lead these guys on" rule is more merciful for everyone involved.

David Banner(Bill Bixby) becomes concerned when he reads a National Register account of a man named Harold Milburn(played by Barry Gordon) who claims to know the identity of the man who turns into the Hulk. It isn't true, though he was present at the scene of the latest change, and recovered David's torn shirt. Meanwhile, Jack McGee(Jack Colvin) is forced to train an intern(played by Markie Post) who takes an active interest in interviewing Harold, who is a sad man looking for attention, and will get it when David shows up to interview him too... Amusing episode with a nifty notion of Hulk confessors and groupies. Post is appealing here, and a shame her character never returned.