Yossarian provides him with a few reassuring words and even tells him that it’ll be fun. His name is Christopher Snowden (Harrison Osterfield), and it’s his very first mission. He sees a young recruit waiting by the plane, puking from the nerves. Yossarian might fondly remember his time spent with Scheisskopf’s wife, but it’s the reason why the guy personally checks his testicles so that he can get back up in the air as quickly as possible.Īs depressed as Yossarian is at the thought of returning to the sky, he couldn’t possibly expect what was bound to happen next. However, with Scheisskopf in charge, there’s nothing to be done. He even got Cathcart to agree to send him home on the basis of a nasty deal. He’s pulled every trick and scheme imaginable. The longer he recuperates, the longer it takes for him to get home.īut as Catch-22 has laboriously established, Yossarian is never going home. Now, he’s holed up in the hospital while the mission count continues to rise. If even one of his balls had been blown off, then he could have gone home. (I suppose this counts as symmetry?) Meanwhile, Doc tends to Yossarian’s wounds, admiring his spectacular luck, for the shrapnel merely split the soft tissue of his scrotum but missed both testicles. It mostly scans as an excuse to shoot a gorgeous Italian villa for a few scenes.īack on base, Scheisskopf continues to wreak havoc by forcing all the men to practice parade formations, providing the same speech he gave Yossarian and the rest of the cadets in basic training. It ostensibly shows Yossarian a glimpse of a beautiful world outside of the Army Air Force, one where “family” means something, but it never carries any weight of its own. But this brief respite comes to a close when Aarfy and some soldiers track Yossarian down and bring him back to base.Ībbott gets a good moment when he has to pantomime “uno, due” testicles to the Italian doctor using fruit as a prop, but other than that, the whole sequence feels like a pointless diversion.

While he’s recovering, Yossarian enjoys some good food, beautiful sights, and the company of an attractive woman. He finds his way to a small Italian village where an Italian doctor confirms that his testicles remain intact. The episode begins with Yossarian hanging from his parachute caught in a tree, still grievously injured from his previous mission. The finale is charitably muddled and often completely confounding. But the last episode all but undoes most of my goodwill toward it. A few key performances and solid direction across the board have mostly rendered it a watchable curiosity.

For the most part, Catch-22 has been a good-not-great series, complete with its share of high points and foundational flaws.

Simply put, Episode 6 is a complete mess, save for one stellar sequence, and even that has its share of problems.

Catch 22 book explained