The Incredible Hulk (TV Series) Homecoming (1979) User Reviews

Best episode of Season 3 so far

[markymark70 · 8/10 · 22 June 2009]

For the very first time (and it has taken 2 and half seasons to get this far) we have an insight into David Banner's family. Banner returns home to his Dad and sister for Thanksgiving and during his time there we find out that his relationship with his father didn't exactly run smooth.

I won't go into the episode details here - as I found them an aside to the bigger picture to be honest. Some hokum regarding property development and buying of local farmer's land sits into the story but the background on Banner himself is fascinating. He struggled to get away from the farm when he was younger - abandoning farm life for the career of a doctor. But more lies beneath. Banner and his Dad didn't exactly see eye to eye since the death of his mother from - what Banner thought - was a curable condition. The fact that Banner carries around this family turmoil with him as well as the considerable problem of the Hulk is a real eye-opener for us - the audience. The man seems almost saint-like at times and always seems to do the right thing - but this episode shows us that he has baggage like the rest of us.

Even McGee turns up at the end - he REALLY should be putting 2+2 together at this stage - and it makes for a genuinely thought-provoking episode. The series needed more of this type of story-telling in my humble opinion as the episodic adventure-type thing every week tires a little after a while. More back story, more family interaction, more McGee, more focus on getting a solution to his problem would have made the series a lot more REAL.

Good episode this one - 8/10.

Banner comes home

[ODDBear · 8/10 · 5 November 2008]

Not wanting to spend another Thanksgiving alone, David heads to his home town and shares his secret with his sister and, not intentionally, his father.

"Homecoming" is one of those great Hulk episodes from the very solid third season. The drama aspect which fueled the series is full on here and it's all very well played out by Bixby, Dinah Muldaur as his sister and especially John Marley as David's father. As we get to see here, David has some wounds to heal where his father is concerned.

The only negative thing here is that the episode is really too short. This would have fitted perfectly as a two-parter and the resolution does feel a bit rushed.

Spoiler.

In the end David doesn't get the luxury of spending Thanksgiving with his family. This is very indicative of how David's ultimate fate was as virtually nothing went in his favor and he seems like the ultimate cursed individual. Really heartbreaking stuff.

End of Spoiler.

Thanksgiving

[AaronCapenBanner · 8/10 · 20 November 2014]

David Banner(Bill Bixby) decides to go back to his childhood home in Grail Valley Colorado for Thanksgiving, even though both his sister Helen(played by Diana Muldaur) and estranged father(played by John Marley) believe him dead after the Culver Institute explosion. Stunned but pleased to learn he is alive, his sister tells him that their family farm is being targeted by real estate developers and threatened by a plague of bugs. David helps out as much as possible, but still has trouble with his father, but after the Hulk makes an appearance, the inevitable arrival of Mr. McGee(Jack Colvin) threatens his chances of spending Thanksgiving dinner with them... Heartfelt and revelatory episode has fine performances and bittersweet end, even if it is too short and over-plotted.

Family Matters

[flarefan-81906 · 10/10 · 2 May 2017]

One of the series's best episodes. David foregoes his routine of small time jobs and potential cures to spend Thanksgiving at home with his family (who still think him dead since the events of the first pilot). The trouble is, Mom died when David was a child, and there's still bad blood between him and Dad because of it. For the requisite dose of danger, a wealthy developer wants to get rid of the Banner family farm by any means necessary.

The criminal plot line works just fine, with David working his scientific stuff in the realm of entomology, but it's merely a light diversion from the exploration of David's past and his family. This could easily have been throwaway material, but writer Andrew Schneider's first solo story for the series (he co-wrote "Behind the Wheel" and did the teleplay for the superb "Haunted") serves not only as first rate family drama, but as a look into what makes Banner and the Hulk tick. Like the comic book series, "Homecoming" makes it clear that radiation didn't create the Hulk; it just set him free from the dark confines of Banner's mind.

The dialogue between David and his father is so startlingly realistic that I found myself thinking of arguments I've witnessed between different generations of my own family. Bill Bixby's superb acting is such a fundamental, consistent element of the series that it can't be mentioned in every review, and in fact is too easily taken for granted, but he outdoes himself here in his show of vulnerability, anger, and frustration. That David wants to reconcile with his father but can't overcome his own foibles is in the script, but without Bixby to bring it out it wouldn't be nearly as poignant.

Mirroring real life, the problems between David and Dad are left unresolved. Dad may never come to accept David's decision to be a scientist, and David may never learn to open up to his family, but that doesn't stop the three of them from loving each other just the same.

One of the more touching episodes and Hulkouts of the series

[kwbucsfan · 10/10 · 2 July 2014]

This was one of the more touching episodes of the Incredible Hulk; particularly when his sister sees him become the Hulk after a nightmare and fully understands why he lets the world think that he's dead and when the Hulk runs to DW Banner's farm and overturns they hay wagon and DW chases after the Hulk with a rifle not knowing the Hulk is his son. And also when his father sees that David becomes the Hulk hanging on the side of the plane. The powerlessness that his father must feel knowing that there is nothing he can do to help his son is heart wrenching. David and his father had some fences to mend and his father has a very difficult time understanding why David isn't forthcoming about his problem. It was also heart wrenching in the second Hulkout when DW sent the Hulk away