Unfortunately, the episode’s other major change exists at the expense of established characterization. It’s a perfectly fine sequence that tries really hard to be funny and mostly lands at amusing, but it’s an example of a relatively solid addition for the series. While Heller details Yossarian and Orr’s trip with Milo in the novel, Davies and Michôd invent the Oran deal for the series. He doesn’t tell Yossarian that the Caliph believes he’s Nelson D. Milo wants Yossarian to pose as a wealthy American industrialist to help smooth the deal. There’s a lengthy sequence in Episode 4 where Milo, Yossarian, and Orr travel to the Algerian port city of Oran to convince the Caliph to let them buy the native dates in bulk. Frankly, this isn’t a terrible change considering the medium’s constraints, and it helps that Daniel David Stewart makes his character’s savvy nature feel compelling. They characterize his war profiteering as ridiculous and charming without showcasing its nastier edge. In the miniseries, however, Davies and Michôd treat Milo as a purely whimsical character. It’s worth noting that Heller characterizes Milo in the novel as an amoral snake who embodies the most noxious brand of capitalism. Now, Sicily is the third-biggest exporter of Scotch. It doesn’t matter that the Palermo citizens are too poor to afford Scotch Milo brings it there anyway to raise the stock price. The people of Palermo have elected Milo the mayor because he brought Scotch to Sicily. Yossarian and Orr learn that Milo is treated like royalty in many places around the world because he has brought goods to their land, which inflates their stature in the global marketplace. This provides Clooney with the opportunity to lovingly film the Italian countryside and offers an amusing diversion from the action on base. Much of the episode follows Yossarian and Orr as they help Milo make deliveries and conduct business around the globe. Some don’t make a lick of sense at all.Įpisode 4, the first of two episodes directed by George Clooney, represents the first of a few major instances where Catch-22 breaks from the novel. With that said, not all creative decisions are created equal. It’s acceptable, nay essential, that certain scenes be excised and characters pared down in order for the miniseries to work. A work like Catch-22 requires many changes to get around the novel’s structure and style. Any literary adaptation will necessarily have to make changes to the source material to fit a different medium.
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