Catch-22 – Episode 1 Review

Catch-22 is a celebrated satirical novel by Joseph Heller and has been adapted into a six-part miniseries for Hulu. In the UK the show is being broadcast on Channel 4.

The series follows an American bomber squadron based in Italy during the Second World War. The first episode follows John Yossarian (Christopher Abbott), a bombardier who’s trying to get out of his military service with a medical discharge.

Catch-22 was an absurdist novel that savaged military bureaucracy and the first episode captures this. It opens with Lt. Scheisskopf (George Clooney) who was more concerned about the parade than the war and continues from there.

The series attached some incredibly talented people. Luke Davies (Lion) and David Michôd (Animal Kingdom) wrote the series and George Clooney and his producing partner Grant Heslov worked as producers, actors, and directors. The show hooked me immediately with a naked Yossarian walking in the middle airfield and cuts back in time to the parade training.

Everyone involved must have been influenced by the Coen Brothers because the episode has the vide of their films. The dialogue was sharp and hilarious. An early exchanged one airman – Clevinger (Pico Alexander) – answering a rhetorical question which was laugh out loud funny. This was where the episode was at its strongest where the actors were giving the comedic material their full commitment.

Even though the opening episode was comedic – death was an ever-present possibility. One character was introduced just so he could be immediately sent off on a mission. The bombing missions were fraught with danger and the show clearly spent a lot of money on these sequences. The aerial shots were cinematic in quality.

The episode’s job was to introduce most of the characters. This was essential work but it doesn’t allow the episode to stand out as an individual piece. The novel itself was a big, meandering piece of fiction – and within the US the show was released as a whole so that audiences can binge watch. Many audiences outside the US don’t have that option at the moment.

The episode was setting up some of the subplots. An example is Milo (Daniel David Stewart) working his way to becoming a black market dealer and the episode is showing that many of the airmen are looking for a way to survive the war. The characters were mostly in line with their book counterparts.

The first episode does work in hooking you into the series with its humour and character work. But judging from this episode Catch-22 looks like it would be best seen as a whole rather than the sum of its parts.