Saturday 12 April 2014

29: The Disciple (2.17)

1979; 48 minutes
Director of Photography John McPherson 
Written and Produced by Nicholas Corea/James G Hirsch;
Directed by Reza S Badiyi

A family of cops (two brothers and their father) are tipped off by a sleek informer about the whereabouts of a wanted mobster by the name of Lynch.  Instead of taking things in a procedural fashion they decide to storm the place in effort to catch Lynch themselves, not realising that he has set an explosive trap for them.  In the blast the father is killed, and one of the brothers - Michael - is shot as he himself shoots the escaping Lynch.

Staggering into a Chinese philosophy/martial arts club Michael is treated by David, who has just arrived there to visit his old wise-man buddy Li Sung.  Michael embarks on a journey of re-enlightenment as his brother takes the opposite path in the pursuit of vengeance.

A follow up of sorts to the episode Another Path, whereby David actually returns to visit a character he left behind temporarily, primarily for continued assistance with his problem but ultimately to end up helping Michael during his conflict that leads to a confrontation with Lynch.  One brother wants to kill the man who was responsible for the father's death, the other seeks to essentially forgive and get the dying murderer to medical attention.  A slow episode containing two odd appearances of Hulk where his growls sound as if they were recorded inside a large steel drum.  However, some interesting themes are explored.

Number of Fists: ***

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