David Banner(Bill Bixby) is traveling through the forest, trying to recover from the latest hulk-out, when he is caught up in a forest fire that has been raging for three days. David comes under immediate suspicion by the firefighter in charge, since he has no proper account of himself, and it appears that the fires are being set by an arsonist. Meanwhile, Jack McGee(Jack Colvin) shows up in search of the Hulk, and is also enlisted to fight the fire, and also resolves to discover the arsonist responsible. Last episode of the third season is perfectly serviceable if mostly unremarkable, though does make interesting commentary on the nature of heroism.
2 Reviews
A low-burning fire
flarefan-8190630 November 2017
This generally very solid season fizzles out with this episode, which recycles a theme from "Mystery Man, Part 2": forest fires. Conspicuously padded out with stock footage (most of which looks like it was shot in the 1940s), this episode has all the usual elements of a Hulk episode, but none of them build up enough tension or catharsis to be compelling.
David is roped into serving with a firefighting squad led by the tough-as-nails Wilson. Also in the squad is the pyromaniac Randy. The episode makes an awful lot of Randy being a female firefighter, and for me this rang false. I grew up in the 80s, and while there are a few jobs that I perceived as "men's work" when I was young, firefighter was never one of them.
The fire is tough to put down because an arsonist keeps resetting it. While helping a hurt firefighter, David happens to be right near the latest ignition, and he spots Randy there too. This fits in nicely with Randy's disturbing pyromania, but the real culprit is someone else. This might have made a decent twist, but the mystery of the arsonist's identity is never played up in a compelling way, and the answer doesn't make nearly as much sense as Randy being the arsonist would have. David's decision not to tell Wilson about her suspicious behavior doesn't make sense either, since it's obvious that Wilson wouldn't have jumped to conclusions.
Oh yeah, McGee is around too, but though he gets plenty of screen time, nothing really happens with him besides getting a canteen of water from David. This reflects the pattern of the episode: lots of plot threads which never pay off, or even build up in an exciting way.
David is roped into serving with a firefighting squad led by the tough-as-nails Wilson. Also in the squad is the pyromaniac Randy. The episode makes an awful lot of Randy being a female firefighter, and for me this rang false. I grew up in the 80s, and while there are a few jobs that I perceived as "men's work" when I was young, firefighter was never one of them.
The fire is tough to put down because an arsonist keeps resetting it. While helping a hurt firefighter, David happens to be right near the latest ignition, and he spots Randy there too. This fits in nicely with Randy's disturbing pyromania, but the real culprit is someone else. This might have made a decent twist, but the mystery of the arsonist's identity is never played up in a compelling way, and the answer doesn't make nearly as much sense as Randy being the arsonist would have. David's decision not to tell Wilson about her suspicious behavior doesn't make sense either, since it's obvious that Wilson wouldn't have jumped to conclusions.
Oh yeah, McGee is around too, but though he gets plenty of screen time, nothing really happens with him besides getting a canteen of water from David. This reflects the pattern of the episode: lots of plot threads which never pay off, or even build up in an exciting way.
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