David Banner(Bill Bixby) befriends an Asian man named Li Sung(played by Mako) on the road who turns out to be a blind Martial Arts master on his way to his old school in San Francisco after taking a walking tour of America. Once they get there, Li Sung is dismayed to find that a former pupil of his has turned the school into a front for his criminal activities, and becomes determined to stop him, as David helps him, and in turn is taught meditation techniques to control the Hulk, who nonetheless emerges to fight the villains...Memorable episode with a fine performance by Mako and an interesting approach to solving David's Hulk problem.
2 Reviews
Chop-socky Time
flarefan-819068 March 2017
This one sure starts off promising. In an interesting hitchhiking mishap, David befriends Li Sung, a classic blind old wise man with powerful mojo. He offers to teach David some meditation techniques that may cure him of the Hulk.
Li's background and personality are well-developed, his friendship with David is convincing, and his faults make him more realistic and interesting than your stereotyped wise man. He also provides an introduction to a promising villain, Steve, the classic student who has abused what his master taught. When you see this guy punch a plaster head (silly, yes, but it's the focused way he does it), it makes you think the Hulk has a worthy foe at last. The buildup is good, too; Li and David's battle of wits with Steve provides for some intriguing plot.
But it all collapses in the finale. In typical chop-socky style, Li busts into Steve's fortress to tackle him and his army of karate thugs single-handed. The choreography and camera work here is painfully bad, doing absolutely nothing to make it believable that an old man like Li can knock out a horde of dangerous criminals. Moreover, though the Hulk comes to help, all he does is toss around a few thugs that Li already defeated. For all intents and purposes, Banner and the Hulk are absent from the finale, while Li comes off as an absurd Mary Sue. Even Steve never seems to stand a chance of beating him.
The episode closes charmingly, albeit without addressing the issue of Li's vigilantism. Though I really wish it had climaxed better, I enjoyed a good chunk of this ep.
Li's background and personality are well-developed, his friendship with David is convincing, and his faults make him more realistic and interesting than your stereotyped wise man. He also provides an introduction to a promising villain, Steve, the classic student who has abused what his master taught. When you see this guy punch a plaster head (silly, yes, but it's the focused way he does it), it makes you think the Hulk has a worthy foe at last. The buildup is good, too; Li and David's battle of wits with Steve provides for some intriguing plot.
But it all collapses in the finale. In typical chop-socky style, Li busts into Steve's fortress to tackle him and his army of karate thugs single-handed. The choreography and camera work here is painfully bad, doing absolutely nothing to make it believable that an old man like Li can knock out a horde of dangerous criminals. Moreover, though the Hulk comes to help, all he does is toss around a few thugs that Li already defeated. For all intents and purposes, Banner and the Hulk are absent from the finale, while Li comes off as an absurd Mary Sue. Even Steve never seems to stand a chance of beating him.
The episode closes charmingly, albeit without addressing the issue of Li's vigilantism. Though I really wish it had climaxed better, I enjoyed a good chunk of this ep.
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