From the Archive - Catch-22 Review:

Written May 2019

Catch 22 is a six-part drama adapted from Joseph Heller's Novel of the same name. For those unfamiliar with the story, the narrative follows Captain John Yossarian, a bombardier during World War II. He has become disillusioned with the war effort and wants to leave. But Yossarian's commanding officer keeps increasing the number of missions the airmen must complete to finish their tour. The series follows Yossarian and his friends as they complete more dangerous missions that verge on the absurd. Yossarian makes several attempts to gain leave due to medical reasons, which ultimately fail. Yossiarans has to continue his missions, forced to witness the death of friends and ultimately becoming increasingly traumatised. Yossarian makes desperate pleas with his doctor to be signed off duty because he is insane, but the catch-22 is if a man declares that he is insane, he must be a sane man because no sane man would be a bombardier, to begin with…

This stylish and absurdly dark comedic series is executively produced by George Clooney, who also directs two episodes and stars as Schiesskopf, Written by Luke Davies and David Michôd, and stars Christopher Abbott as the lead Yossarian.

The comedic style evidenced in the trailer initially drew me to the series. I think we can all agree we have probably consumed enough World War II content for a lifetime. However, we must continue to acknowledge the atrocities that occurred to prevent a third global war; most films and TV about the topic can seem stale and overdone. From the promotional material, Catch-22 brought something fresh to the genre. I had never read the book, but I gather that much of its tonal significance is generated from the source material. I cannot say how true the series has stayed to the source material. Still, specific structural changes have been made, and the writers have tried to bring the story into the 21st century, especially regarding the female characters. All this said, I love the series, and it is one of my favourites of the year. The series is a perfect blend of satire and insanity to capture the ridiculousness of the bravado of war. The series scrutinises what lengths men are pushed to during the stresses of wartime and what lengths they will go to to rid themselves of the madness. The standout of the series for me was Christopher Abbott's performance. Having seen him for the first time in The Sinner, it was a joy to see him tackle something a little different. Abbott perfectly captures the complexity of his character, to be the only one to recognise the insanity of war and unafraid to be deemed a coward for wanting to leave. As much as many of us would like to believe we would be a war hero if time called for it, Yossarian reflects our most human instincts, and Abbot brings the heart and warmth the character needs. Due to his performance, we, viewers, invest so much into Yossarian, and his downfall is even more poignant. To summarise, Catch-22 is well worth a watch and those who missed the point and were expecting an old-fashioned war series, did you read the title?