Another winner from Hulk writers, and story editors, Karen Harris and Jill Sherman, and it also happens to be one of my favorite episodes of the series. Why? Well, it's got a worthy and very credible adversary - in this case a deranged psychologist who has nothing less in mind than the controlling of his patients' minds with a controversial surgical technique. Sure, it smacks of The Manchurian Candidate, but it's eerily believable here. Everyone in the hospital seems to be under his spell, and he can oppress any troublemakers simply by keeping them in a constant, heavily drugged state and saying they're insane, like he does to David.
Lots of other good stuff going on here - I liked the way they didn't waste any writer's time setting up David's situation: he starts off as an orderly (it's explained that the head nurse noticed his credentials and promoted him from janitor) and he goes from there. And there's a clever take here on the witnessing of David's transformation - a bunch of patients literally see him change back from the creature. But of course his identity's safe, since who's going to believe mental patients? And maybe I'm wrong but that scene where the Hulk throws a safe out the window to break free from his "Quiet Room" seems an awful lot like the (spoiler alert!) scene at the end of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest when the Chief hurls that sink out the window to allow his escape. I'm just saying.
If I had any qualms about the show, it would have to be that I the doctor's master plan wasn't 100% clear or credible. The videotape he took was of a guy whom he ordered to shoot a girl, but that guy should've been someone he just operated on, to make it clear. And maybe some more realistic explanation of how the surgery does actually affect behavior, instead of some scientific gobbledygook, could've helped.
But overall, a very solid show. And, despite its time period (they were still calling mental health facilities "sanitariums") it's not too dated. Two excellent hulk-outs, one involving a straitjacket, the other a frustrating phone call as the heroine is undergoing a very involuntary surgery. Penultimate season two show is no wonder why the series was a ratings dynamo and was easily picked up for season three.
BTW: That videotape is an actual VHS videocassette. Since this is early 1979, it's most likely the first time the mass viewing audience ever saw such an item. It was definitely the first time I ever did.