Catch-22 closes with its sixth episode, building up to its emotional climax for Yossarian.
After parachuting out of a plane at the end of the last episode Yossarian (Christopher Abbott) arrives at an Italian villa bleeding from his testicles. He gets patched up and has a moment of bliss with an Italian family but it has to end when the military finds him.
Throughout the series, Yossarian showed signs of mental distress. There were small signs when he went on missions and in the previous episode, he snaps at his fellow airmen. The whole series has been building up to Yossarian inevitable breakdown.
The tipping point for Yossarian was with his interactions with Snowden (Harrison Osterfield), an 18-year-old tail gunner who goes on his first mission. Through the series Yossarian lost his friends – McWatt, Kid Sampson and Nately who have all died – and after seeing how Nately died – Yossarian tries to spare Snowden from the same fate. But Yossarian inadvertently kills Snowden. Through a combination of guilt and the trauma of seeing the young man die a violent death Yossarian simply snaps.
The death of Snowden was pivotal in the novel – it was constantly referred to during the story before the penultimate chapter where the whole truth is revealed. The series does an excellent job at adapting his scene. We don’t get to know Snowden for long but the emotion was there because of Yossarian’s compassion and attempts to reassure Snowden despite it being obvious that the young man is dying.
The episode acts as an example of the old adage about there being a fine line between comedy and tragedy. The episode starts out comedic with a trouserless Yossarian coming to the villa as a wedding party is leaving and Yossarian screaming when his scrotum gets sew back up. And the episode does continue from their showing Scheisskopf’s ineptitude and him examines Yossarian’s reconstructed ballsack. The line is crossed during the medal ceremony where it turns from Coen Brothers-esque style of comedic exchanges to Yossarian appearing wearing nothing but a hat. A joke that combines comedy and tragedy was when the doctor (Grant Heslov) tells Yossarian that if he had lost a testicle he would have to be sent home. Oh, the cruel irony.
During the series, Yossarian had a testy relationship with Scheisskopf having slept with the senior officer’s wife. Scheisskopf gets his own back by trapping Yossarian in servitude. It’s another factor that leads to Yossarian’s breakdown.
The series does make a major departure from the novel with its ending. The novel ends with Yossarian finding out Orr had rowed all the way to neutral Sweden, giving him hope that he could escape. Yossarian runs away from the base in the hopes of joining Orr. The series ends with a naked Yossarian flying on a mission saying ‘and drop’ to himself over and over again. This ties back to the first episode where Doc tells Yossarian about the Catch-22 where the only people willing to fly missions are crazy, but if anyone asks to get out of missions there are no longer crazy. Yossarian had resigned himself to his fate by willingly going on missions. Plus it shows the cruelty of someone like Scheisskopf who is sending up a man to fly despite the fact he needs medical attention.
The episode was directed by George Clooney, a man known for his love of Italian culture. The opening segment at the villa was basically a love letter from Clooney for all things Italian, i.e. good food, good wine, nice weather, and the close-knit community. It gave Yossarian a brief glimpse of happiness and being away from the War. It does come across a bit like an ad for the Italian Tourism Board but it does get the message across.
The final episode does have high points, especially the death of Snowden. But the series peters out after that as it meanders to a conclusion.
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