The Hulk Breaks Las Vegas

DVD, The Incredible Hulk S1 (The Hulk Breaks Las Vegas)

For a man on the run, Banner so often gets involved with things that it would be hard to keep a low profile in, but then, that's why he's a hero, it has nothing to do with him turning into a green superhuman. With this one we come to the question that's been posed since the pilot: will Jim McGee, reporter at The National Register finally uncover his identity? It looks like the game is up several times, and there's a great tension running through between Banner's wish to help, and his need to keep away from his reporter nemesis - this time he's forced into making contact, even saving him! Those things alone make the episode highly watchable, but they should have made for a better episode. Unfortunately the extraneous characters and running around don't do the drawn-out story many favours. We have a Mr. Big called Edler who just happens to run the casino that David's been working at for a week during his stay in Las Vegas (did the Hulk really break Las Vegas? Does one gambling table count?), and he keeps being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or needing to be in that wrong place.

A certain Ed Campion has evidence against Edler (what exactly, I'm not sure), so ends up in a hit and run, and who should be close by but Banner, who rather than keep out, of course uses his medical knowledge to assist. I must say I'd have thought the ambulance man and the doctor he meets at the hospital would have pressed him on his detailed knowledge of medicine a little more, rather than just assuming he was a very gifted amateur! The episode mainly revolves around this evidence and who's got the key to the locker in which it's hidden. McGee gets pulled into the story quite naturally through a fellow reporter and (presumably), his wife, who appear to be friends of his, or at least friendly colleagues. Not that you'd know it from the way McGee coldly reacts to their harassment, barely any comfort to Wanda and no obvious intention to visit Ed in the hospital where he lies in a coma! For McGee the story is the only thing that matters. The only flash of humanity we see in him is when he's excited to finally be confronted by the Hulk and doesn't want to frighten the creature off, and then it's more like professional curiosity than concern for himself, Wanda, or the creature. On the other end of the scale he has a sharp tongue when the hotel reception clerk proves not to have much of an eye for detail, not remembering the man who left McGee an envelope (Banner).

I really thought this was going to be the episode when McGee realised Banner was alive and well - if he's been going to all the locations the Hulk had been seen then he must have made the connection with this mysterious man called David that keeps cropping up under different surnames (this time Banner doesn't even use a new cover, only going by his first name), especially as he likes to interview all the people around the scene. It's amazing that Banner was able to keep working at the casino after the events - as his friend Cathy said, McGee had been around bothering people with questions a lot, so how come Banner didn't move on immediately? When he's forced into a car by Edler's man, Lee (whom I was wondering about being a relation of Michael Dorn's, as there was a similarity there), which already contains McGee, you think the game is up, but no, true to form, the reporter didn't go quietly and got socked! And earlier when Banner has to get to McGee to warn him of impending danger. But what would happen if he did know the creature was Banner? How would he react? Will he now have a better opinion of it after it clearly saved his life from both the quarry pit and the thugs? Probably not, knowing his type, but I hope it makes him more dedicated to track it down as his integration into the episode made it better than it might have been.

Technically, the episode wasn't as impressive as 'Terror in Times Square' where we got to see Hulk dashing through New York - this time we're only treated to some obvious back projection, both in the Hulk's run, and some in-car views, which is a shame, but I suppose Vegas isn't as iconic in terms of its city aside from tacky blinking lights. The Hulk-outs weren't done badly, but the best moment within them was by far when the bully, Edler, who's just beaten Banner over a bannister in a surprisingly brutal and one-sided fight, taunts David who he's seen fall down the stairs into darkness, and then this big shape looms up and he gets his own medicine right back! The second Hulk-out was more urgent, but the fine gravel that was poured over Banner and McGee by Charlie (played by Charles Picerni who I know well from multiple roles on 'Starsky & Hutch,' most notably as Starsky's stunt double!), looked like more of an inconvenience than a life-threatening situation (though I wouldn't encourage an open-mouthed roar of displeasure just when it's being tipped over you as Banner lets forth!). I wonder how Banner recovered from his bullet wound? Maybe in shrinking back to his normal dimensions the bullet popped out, or it could have just been a graze…

The point of the story was a bit incidental, with everything revolving around a document in an envelope rather than more personal danger, but I suppose there're only so many of these situations you can put Banner into that he can help out, yet not reveal himself. I don't see the formula changing, though, and that's the way it is, but it must grow into something else to have lasted for five seasons, or whatever the number is? I liked that Banner was seen to deal with the repercussions of becoming the Hulk, such as when he has to talk to police officers who move him along or borrows clothes from a kindly mechanic - it shows that it doesn't always work out simply for him, the real world after effects need to be dealt with. And as ever I should have guessed that he would lose the slot machine, friend Cathy let him have one last go at, just before it's time for him to be moving on. He always makes new friends, but he can never keep them, and that bittersweetness is what makes the series more than just a standard action or detective show.

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