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.
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.