The third season of The Incredible Hulk offers 23 episodes.
1) Metamorphosis
A popular shock rocker is dissatisfied with her life. David saves her from an accident after which she wants to keep him around. The others in her life seem to worry only with their own fame. Jack shows up to get the low-down on a non-Hulk-related story (for once) though of course it leads to him crossing paths with his favorite jolly green giant.
-This one is little more than an excuse to get the Hulk on drugs. The drama could be much better and the rock concerts come across rather cheesy. There’s too much music in the episode, and rock music is treated as something of a taboo. It’s probably my least favorite episode of the season.
2) Blind Rage
A mysterious chemical renders a man blind and puts him on his death bed. A cover-up is under way, but David is on the case. When he himself gets infected he will need his brain for a cure and Hulk’s brawn to fend off the Army.
3) Brain Child
A young prodigy escapes the institution that cares for her in order to find her mother. She runs into David, of course. Being that both are so much smarter than the average person they get along easily at first. Then David starts figuring out what's going on. What’s the right thing to do: help her find her mother or return her to her current legal guardians? Even with their considerable combined intelligence they find that sometimes the heart is more powerful than the mind.
4) The Slam
David has been arrested and sent to a backwater prison camp. It seems the people running the place have a scheme of collecting inmates using whatever underhanded tactics are necessary and using them as cheap labor for profit. When the prisoners’ escape plans fail they blame it on the new guy, David, but he’d rather stick around to help them than beat them to a bloody pulp as the Hulk and run off. A reporter team is sent to investigate the camp with Jack as a part of it. Where is David supposed to run to hide from him now?
-This is one of my favorites of this season.
-Charles Napier, who I’ve liked in numerous roles (including other Hulk characters), turns in a great performance.
5) My Favorite Magician
David may have found a helpful serum, but he is on a strict administration schedule. He unexpectedly finds himself a magician’s assistant, but when a trick gone wrong brings out his green side the magician disappears – with David’s all-important serum. David teams up with the magician’s daughter to chase him down, and they’re all about to find themselves in the middle of a con plot.
-This one is fun partially because of the star-studded cast: Ray Walston (who has partnered up with Bill Bixby before), Anne Schedeen (of ALF fame), and the legendary Scatman Crothers. Incidentally, the title is a nod to two other Bill Bixby shows. Can you guess them?
6) Jake
David gets into the world of rodeo as a medic. Jake is one of the best around but is getting on in years. David stumbles across a good old-fashioned cattle rustling involving Jake’s brother. Now he’s in the middle of a family dispute and in the sights of the criminals.
7) Behind The Wheel
David is taking a job as a cabbie. Why is the boss so eager to hire someone of David’s questionable background? There’s shady business going on with David in the middle as usual. Before David can run off none other than Jack McGee shows up as his next fare.
-There’s a great scene of Hulk tearing apart a car garage. The scene with David and Jack is particularly fun.
8) Homecoming
David’s home town makes news with its troubles, and David makes a trip home. His childhood is revealed as he relives memories, and he reconnects with his family who until now has thought him dead. His sister needs his help, but David is afraid of drawing attention. He’s more concerned with the rift between him and his dad, but the wound is too deep to be easily stitched.
-I thought some of the drama and acting could have been better, but it’s neat to see David’s past developed a little. The ending scene is heartbreaking but fitting.
9) The Snare
A hunter lures David to an island to be human game in a hunt. When the hunter sees the Hulk, the green giant becomes his would-be prize catch.
-Simple yet twisted, this is the kind of story that can only work in a Summer blockbuster or a comic book story. While this story has shown up in many incarnations I prefer it more with the Hulk in the mix.
10) Babalao
David, working as a nurse, finds himself in a world of medicine, cons, and Voodoo. Of the opposing groups one side’s trying to help others while the other is trying to help themselves. What happens when Hulk meets Voodoo? Meanwhile, Jack finds that hunting Hulk in the middle of Mardi Gras is even more of a challenge than usual.
-While maybe not as dark as the Voodoo world found in “Fresh Bones” (X Files season 2) it’s still something of a turn for this series.
11) Captive Night
David has job in a large department store, and his boss has it in for him. When two brothers plan a late-night heist it becomes a hostage situation with David in the sights to become the fall guy. Trapped inside with no way to call for help he can’t just let the Hulk break down a wall, he has to think of the other hostages.
12) Broken Image
David has an evil twin who wants to pin all his illegal deeds on his innocent look-alike. When Jack comes knocking David finds himself face to face with the two people he’d most prefer to avoid.
13) Proof Positive
Jack is a man obsessed, and his new boss won’t have it. Unless he can prove to her the Hulk actually exists he’s no longer allowed to pursue what is most likely an imaginary story. It’s a look at Jack’s life and what chasing the Hulk has done to him.
-This is probably the only episode with no Bill Bixby (not counting the flashbacks). It breaks up the formula of a Hulk-out every half hour and creates a continuity that reaches beyond David. It’s partially because of that that it’s such a good episode. But besides being different it’s just a good story with interesting characters. I like seeing more of Jack as a character rather than a plot device.
14) Sideshow
David joins a carnival after helping a woman in trouble. This particular girl has a reputation for being cursed, always bringing destruction in her wake. It’s evident that someone is after her, and it’s up to David to be her green guardian.
15) Long Run Home
David befriends a wounded biker. The guy’s gang is into some illegalities, and they think that the guy is a rat. This lands David in the middle of a bid for lethal retribution. It’s a story about perceptions.
-This one is slow for a bit, but picks up to be quite good.
16) Falling Angels
David finds himself working in an orphanage and befriends a black girl who is feeling the stings of discrimination. There are shady dealings going on in this place, and the girl’s friends aggravate her negative feelings to keep her from telling David more than he needs to know. That won’t keep him from becoming the target of some dangerous criminals. Meanwhile, Jack tracks David to the orphanage and gets close enough to go through his bag.
17) The Lottery
David befriends a reformed con man, but old habits die hard. He buys David a lottery ticket that wins, but, of course, David has to avoid the spotlight. Can he trust an ex-con to collect for him? I guess not. David goes cloak and dagger to retrieve his winnings. Will he stay on the pursuit when Jack shows up chasing the Hulk?
-It feels a little out of character for David to be so concerned with money. There is a reasoning behind it, though.
18) The Psychic
Did the Hulk put a boy in the hospital? David thinks so. As he watches in stunned horror a psychic realizes his secret upon a chance meeting. Will she turn him in for the reward? Maybe Jack will finally have to part with his $10,000. As David deals with a woman so broken she nearly took her own life he himself considers ending it all in order to protect people from the Hulk.
-Bixby is usually stoic. It’s nice to see him get truly emotional in this episode. He brings the emotions across quite nicely. Brenda Benet, his real-life wife, guest stars. This was about the time of their divorce, and the second to last role she would play before killing herself (ironic I suppose considering that is one of the themes of the episode). The behind the scenes feature on the TVD talks about some of this real-life drama.
19) A Rock And A Hard Place
David is working for a widow suspected of being a criminal. When he’s picked up by the FBI they fingerprint him and discover who he is. The price for their silence is to be their spy. When the criminals find out what he can do they start pulling his strings, too. If he helps one side to keep them quiet the other will out him. Truly this is a rock and a hard place.
20) Deathmask
A serial killer is murdering college girls. David,as the new guy in town, is arrested, and the townsfolk want blood. With his false identity he looks even more guilty. Only one person stands up for him, but the investigator may be too jealous of her romance with David to consider her words rationally.
-This is a darker, more somber episode than usual. This is one of the few episodes in which people actually die. It almost feels like the Hulk dropped into a CSI episode. There’s actually not much Hulk action in this one, but the story and acting make it a strong one. Mystery-wise it’s not as strong. I knew whodunit within the first few minutes of the show. That didn’t keep me from enjoying it, though.
21) Equinox
David works for a wealthy but childishly spoiled woman on a private island. She is forcing David to stay for her annual costume party and is furious to discover she can’t control him. David is trying to get away because he knows Jack has tracked him to the island. The costume element of the party may be David’s best way to hide, but it also provides Jack with a way to sneak in.
22) 9 Hours
David is living in the slums and the friend of a fatherless family. The mob aims to make a hit on an informant in the hospital where David works and strongarm the hero into being their patsy by kidnapping the little kid. A washed-up cop may be David and the family’s best hope for coming out of this without being the reason someone ends up dead.
-X Files regular Sheila Larken guest stars.
23) On The Line
David’s latest Hulk-out leaves him stranded and lost in the woods. He’s rescued by firefighters who are so desperate for help they practically twist his arm to get him to chip in. He befriends a pretty female firefighter with something to prove. The others suspect David is starting the fires they’re fighting (as usual though understandably so), but he suspects the girl. When Jack volunteers to help in order to get close enough to investigate, David must watch himself in order to clear his name (so to speak since nobody knows his true identity) and find the real culprit without being discovered by Jack.
-This isn’t much of a season finale in that it offers no cliffhanger or impact on the series as a whole. It is a pretty good episode, though.