Review: Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. "The Hunted"

This is one of those episodes that leaves almost no impression on me. It's bad, don't get me wrong, but not offensively bad. Not bad in such a way that it leaves me angry, it just leaves me thinking that the episode was a waste of time. And you know what? It is.

Speaking of wastes of time, I hope you don't harbor hopes of ever seeing the baby Gooms again, even with the ending telling us that Hulk would be keeping an eye on them. I mean, let's check the track record.

Talking Jet- Never seen again 
Crystal- No mention 
Devil Dinosaur- Barely shows up; inconsistently called "Rover" 
The Leader- Is he still in the Gamma Base?

It makes me wonder why I should tune in week after week when the stuff that happens week after week doesn't ever matter. As an ongoing story, this episode fails. As a stand alone episode, it fails just as hard.  Arkon was a boring villain. It's the "Most Dangerous Game" schtick mixed with the "Cosmic Hunter" schtick. Poorly.

As a way to make this Review not be ridiculously short an exercise in creativity, I asked myself how to make this episode better.

1. Get rid of the baby Gooms. 
2. Make this episode be about Hulk forming a herd with the classic Kirby monsters. Goom, Googam, Zzutak, X, and the Glop. And you know what? That last one would be a nod to continuity, because the Glop was originally called "the Hulk," then was later renamed after the more famous Hulk came along.  
3. Make Arkon more crafty. Make him smart. Make him someone who could conceivably trap and kill the Hulk. Just make him something worth watching.  
4. Cut back on the senseless destruction with the others at the base. Seriously, She-Hulk is supposed to be the level-headed one. Why was she using a bazooka to take out a cricket? It's not funny and it's out of character.  

I wish this episode were either much better or much worse. Really. I don't care which. If it's better, then I enjoy watching it. If it's worse, then I can at least rip it a new one. As it is, all I can do is apologize for not having enough material to snark at. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Here, I'll leave you with a comic reappearance by Goom as an apology.

What? You want context? You get no context.

See you next time.