Catch-22 Season 1 Episode 2 Review: A Difference of Opinion
Kevin Lever
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Sometimes, procrastinating leads to more headaches than the thing you're avoiding.
Yossarian learns that the hard way on Catch-22 Season 1 Episode 2 as he finds new ways of avoiding his priorities.
Unlucky for him, though, it only makes him more agitated.
Yossarian treats the camp hospital like a place of relaxation, enjoying a good book and some peace and quiet.
The boiling point and explosion at the endlessly talking man has Yossarian taking out his frustrations.
The reason he attacks him is likely a combination of stress and annoyance, as Yossarian realizes he can't find peace even in a place made for it.
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The one thing Yossarian's wants most is quiet, from the looks of it.
He retreats on the beach to a quieter area, he retreats to the hospital, and he goes for a walk alone in Rome after buying a magnifying glass.
He's a solitary character, one who does not want a loud life.
That makes bombing missions his worst nightmare.
It's what makes him run when Cathcart warns of the next mission being the most dangerous.
Yossarian's fight or flight kicks in, the worry that's been building for two episodes now.
He is looking for anything to keep him preoccupied, and running seems to be the solution, whether for now or permanently.
The conversation between Major Major and Colonel Cathcart becomes one of the more memorable moments of the episode.
Cathcart: Sergeant Major, step forward. Sergeant Major, congratulations, I'm hereby promoting you to a Major. Congratulations, get in.
Major: Sir, uh...
Cathcart: You're a good man, you've earned it, you worked hard.
Major: Yes, sir, uh... Does this mean, will my duties be any different?
Cathcart: Will his duties be any different, Colonel?
Korn: Of course, sir, he's a Major!
Cathcart: Of course, you're a Major. We don't just hand out promotions, willy-nilly!
The wordplay and promoting Major to save from embarrassment is both absurd but fairly plausible.
In this world, it's almost as if everyone fails upward, where bumbling through and managing to stay alive is half the battle.
Major Major's hope to avoid everything his job requires is a sign he's more aligned with Yossarian's views than those of Clevinger.
Even after promising to help Yossarian, he tosses the leadership manual aside to check out the model ship.
Cathcart's mistakes, meanwhile, make for some excellent comedy.
It's not hard to imagine he is the one who mistook Major Major's name after getting upset over missing a bombing target (which happens to be Vatican City) and his difficulty to cipher Milo's complicated but lucrative business opportunity.
Cathcart makes decisions rashly, and his continuous addition of more missions is likely just as rash.
It's out of instinct rather than strategy.
The hour spends a lot of time in leisure.
Yossarian spends time in the hospital, Major wastes the hours away alone in his office, and the men enjoy their time in Rome in the building requisitioned by de Coverley.
Milo's growing empire is one of the show's more impressive feats for a character.
It's hard to tell if he overexplains everything to confuse those he wishes to snare into his enterprise, or if he's thinking on a much higher level than all of us.
Cathcart's wincing stare after Milo explained the trickle down economics of his shipments said it all.
Milo is approaching a "too big to fail" scenario where his many contacts and sources are going to leave the base stocked to the rooftops.
It's good Milo has found something he's undeniably good at doing.
His combination of olive oil and salt on the tomato is good enough for Cathcart to approve, and he seems the type who is hard to impress.
The conversation between Clevinger and Marcello is an interesting hook.
Clevinger: You talk like a madman.
Marcello: But I live like a sane one.
Both characters idolize their respective country, seeing their own country as stronger for completely different reasons.
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It's pitting naivety and wisdom against one another, when both have their place and have strong views.
Clevinger and Marcello come at life differently.
Marcello considers adapting in order to survive the more viable option, while Clevinger sees the brute force of idealism as the more important view.
Clevinger has been going through a change since Catch-22 Season 1 Episode 1.
He no longer questions everything, and he's more resolute in his views.
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He's so resolute that Yossarian finds himself without a friend to whom he can speak candidly to anymore.
Their walk down the runway leads to a stiff difference in opinion as Yossarian's wishes to break free of the missions rub Clevinger the wrong way.
Clevinger has become a believer in what they're doing, and he believes they are doing the right thing.
It makes the talk with Marcello more potent, as it shows how far he's come since he got charged with insubordination by Scheisskopf.
His disappearance, then, becomes a sad turn of events.
Just as he's becoming more refined and fascinating, he's taken from the show (potentially).
Losing the person he's closest to leads to even more loss in Yossarian's life and could lead to an interesting path with his psyche.
Ending things with an even more dangerous mission is a terrifying thought.
What could possibly be more dangerous than what we've seen?
It's enough to make Yossarian run, and it will be fascinating to see what's next for him.
What do you think he will face next?
Let us know in the comments!
