The Incredible Hulk Escape from Los Santos (1978–1982) Online

David Banner(Bill Bixby) is hitchhiking along a desert road in Arizona when he is picked up by two policemen who subsequently arrest him for the murder of a man, whose wife Holly(played by Shelly Fabares) is also being held, as they are both to be framed for the murder by the corrupt police department that the murdered man wanted to expose. After a hulk-out, they escape handcuffed together into the desert, then back at her home, so that they can gather the evidence needed to prove their innocence, and put the crooked lawmen in prison. Exciting if contrived episode once again shows David's amazing bad luck of being in the wrong time and place, though the Hulk is still an excellent crime-fighter!

So many episodes in "The Incredible Hulk" are slightly above average and Season Two's "Escape From Los Santos" is one of them. To be fair, the story here is solid, a lot of plot twists and chases in 45+ minutes and there's little here in terms of lulls. Once again David is falsely accused of murder along with the dead guy's wife (the lovely Shelly Fabares). They get out of jail after a memorable Hulk-out and set out to prove their innocence...and nail the guilty party as well.

Overall Season Two is chock full of decent episodes, fast paced and lively and "Escape From Los Santos" keeps things well in check. This season is the "socially conscious" one, as I'd like to call it (dealing with child abuse, alcoholism, violent sports, insanity and drug addictions) but a few let loose and provided plenty of fast paced action.

The supporting cast here (Fabares excluded) is pretty bad, sub standard acting from guest stars was far too evident in the Second Season (but it got better in Season's Three and Four). The whole story wraps up far too easily but as for action and excitement this episode goes down very well.

This time David doesn't even manage to settle into town and get a job. He's picked up by some small town cops while hitchhiking to be jailed for conspiring with the assistant DA's wife to murder her husband. Once he gets a chance to talk to her, she explains that the assistant DA had dug up evidence of corruption in the local police force, and - Well, you get the idea. If you've watched a decent amount of 1970s TV or movies, you've probably already seen this plot at least once.

Nonetheless, the excitement here is at a strong pitch, thanks to some superbly done action scenes. In particular, David and Holly's escape from a crooked cop - while handcuffed to each other - is one of the most thrilling escapes I've seen in memory. The chase across a gorge is also exceptionally well-done.

The humanity is where this episode falls short of most of the season 2 offerings. It's not that they don't make an effort at it, but Holly's frustration at her in-laws not believing in her innocence feels forced and unconvincing. David merits credit for standing by her when he could have just escaped on his own, but somehow that isn't as moving here, perhaps because the plot isn't as grounded in real life.

Still a fun episode, even if it's nothing special.

A lot of the episodes on TIH follow the same formula but this one diverges a little - enough to make it stand out. It starts with Banner walking along a dusty road and being offered a lift by the police to the nearest town - 7 miles away. The cops have just apprehended a lady accused of murdering her husband. He takes the lift and finds himself behind bars framed for yet another murder he didn't commit. You'd think one of those incidents in a lifetime is enough for this guy - but no.

The fact that the first Hulk-Out happens less than 10 minutes into the episode is testament to the different approach on offer here. He goes on the run with the also falsely accused wife of the victim and the rest of the episode is akin to a chase movie - with a lot of running and car chasing involved.

To be honest - the twists and turns packed into this episode is impressive as it transpires the local cops and the assistant DA are in on some illegal smuggling across the Mexican border. David is captured, breaks free, recaptured, on the run again, almost captured a third time and eventually makes it to freedom whilst all the while protecting the wrongly accused and managing to drum up enough evidence to put away the bad guys. Not bad in 45 minutes I can tell you ! Okay the ending is a little pat and tacked on - but it is a television show and needs to be wrapped up quickly without going in to too much detail. I've seen movies with less plot than this episode !!

I am currently wading through the many episodes on my seasons 1&2 boxset of TIH and this has to be the standout one (bar the pilot of course - but I don't really count that as part of the series) so far. Bixby could / should have been a bigger star than he was. Okay, he overacts / over-reacts sometimes in his performance but he has that quality about him that - with the right script and part - could have turned him into a movie star. A big movie star. But alas he will always be Dr. David Banner to me - and that is as big a compliment as I can pay him.

7/10