This made-for-TV film is rated among the best episodes of the series, and it's easy to see why. Both plot-wise and thematically there's not much going on, even by the standards of a normal 50- minute episode: David comes to Hawaii to see a special doctor about a cure, he finds out she's terminally ill, while working towards cures for each other's conditions they fall in love, she dies, David feels sad. There aren't even any villains, and McGee only stops in long enough to let you know he's still alive. And yet, the execution triumphs over the concept. Everything in "Married" - the script, the lighting, the direction, the actors, the music - works to perfection. Apparently writer/director/executive producer Kenneth Johnson decided they needed to kick the season off with a moody, throat-gripping epic of the same caliber as the first pilot, and they certainly pulled it off.
Aside from that pilot, this is by far the scariest the Hulk has yet been portrayed. Banner's transitional appearance is utterly grotesque, and the scene in the bedroom, with the Hulk shrouded in darkness and glaring with rage at his wife, is utterly bone- chilling. This is largely thanks to the lighting, as this is one of the few nighttime scenes I've seen which truly looks like night.
The absence of villains works to "Married"'s advantage, as it allows the Hulk to be more consistently portrayed as a disease which curses Banner rather than a hero who always gets him out of trouble. The one exception is a scene in which Banner/Hulk gets into a fight with some partygoers, but this is forgivable because it's an outrageously entertaining scene, whose many highlights include the Hulk lifting a man up by his chest hair. Yeowch!
In the search for a cure, David undergoes hypnosis and confronts the Hulk within his mind, repeatedly trying to contain him. These scenes are starkly surrealistic and compelling, and the Hulk's repeated escapes fill both Banner and the viewer with despair that the beast can never be contained.
But the focus is on the relationship stuff, and Bill Bixby and Mariette Hartley make "Banner falls in love for the tenth time" work. The two are playful, intimate, and utterly comfortable with each other; watch them long enough and you'll wonder that they aren't really husband and wife. An unnamed child (played exquisitely by Meeno Peluce) implicitly adds the theme of children and family to the mix.
And yet of course, Hartley's character, Dr. Caroline Fields, is doomed from the start. She and David put up a valiant struggle for a cure, but we know from the onset that she's as good as dead. Episodic television being what it is, the protagonist can't keep a wife beyond the rolling of the credits, but there's more to it than that. For all their plans and talk of hope, David seems to realize that even the two of them can't possibly find a cure in the six weeks of life Caroline has left. This is reflected in a nightmare he has, and the inevitability of death conveyed in this scene made me feel suffocated with dread.
The fatality of the situation does not take away from the drama, as summed up in Caroline's last words to David: "At least we never stopped trying." In a single moment, we see both the awful tragedy of Caroline's fate, and the fact that it is not half as awful as it would have been if she and David had simply given up.
I do have several quibbles. First, this is a rare instance where a film's plot twist is spoiled by its title; the proposal doesn't happen until 2/3 of the way through, and you wouldn't have seen it coming if it weren't for the title. Second, I feel the pacing shouldn't have been quite so slow in the opening 20 minutes. Finally, while it makes for good drama, Caroline running out of the car in the climactic scene is very contrived.
Nonetheless, this is a gripping piece of work, and reflecting on it afterwards I keep seeing new things to like about it. "Married" shows us that death is inevitable, but that life is incomparably beautiful nonetheless. It's a message that has been delivered many times before, but rarely with such heartfelt poignancy.
Aside from that pilot, this is by far the scariest the Hulk has yet been portrayed. Banner's transitional appearance is utterly grotesque, and the scene in the bedroom, with the Hulk shrouded in darkness and glaring with rage at his wife, is utterly bone- chilling. This is largely thanks to the lighting, as this is one of the few nighttime scenes I've seen which truly looks like night.
The absence of villains works to "Married"'s advantage, as it allows the Hulk to be more consistently portrayed as a disease which curses Banner rather than a hero who always gets him out of trouble. The one exception is a scene in which Banner/Hulk gets into a fight with some partygoers, but this is forgivable because it's an outrageously entertaining scene, whose many highlights include the Hulk lifting a man up by his chest hair. Yeowch!
In the search for a cure, David undergoes hypnosis and confronts the Hulk within his mind, repeatedly trying to contain him. These scenes are starkly surrealistic and compelling, and the Hulk's repeated escapes fill both Banner and the viewer with despair that the beast can never be contained.
But the focus is on the relationship stuff, and Bill Bixby and Mariette Hartley make "Banner falls in love for the tenth time" work. The two are playful, intimate, and utterly comfortable with each other; watch them long enough and you'll wonder that they aren't really husband and wife. An unnamed child (played exquisitely by Meeno Peluce) implicitly adds the theme of children and family to the mix.
And yet of course, Hartley's character, Dr. Caroline Fields, is doomed from the start. She and David put up a valiant struggle for a cure, but we know from the onset that she's as good as dead. Episodic television being what it is, the protagonist can't keep a wife beyond the rolling of the credits, but there's more to it than that. For all their plans and talk of hope, David seems to realize that even the two of them can't possibly find a cure in the six weeks of life Caroline has left. This is reflected in a nightmare he has, and the inevitability of death conveyed in this scene made me feel suffocated with dread.
The fatality of the situation does not take away from the drama, as summed up in Caroline's last words to David: "At least we never stopped trying." In a single moment, we see both the awful tragedy of Caroline's fate, and the fact that it is not half as awful as it would have been if she and David had simply given up.
I do have several quibbles. First, this is a rare instance where a film's plot twist is spoiled by its title; the proposal doesn't happen until 2/3 of the way through, and you wouldn't have seen it coming if it weren't for the title. Second, I feel the pacing shouldn't have been quite so slow in the opening 20 minutes. Finally, while it makes for good drama, Caroline running out of the car in the climactic scene is very contrived.
Nonetheless, this is a gripping piece of work, and reflecting on it afterwards I keep seeing new things to like about it. "Married" shows us that death is inevitable, but that life is incomparably beautiful nonetheless. It's a message that has been delivered many times before, but rarely with such heartfelt poignancy.