I did attempt to read it a few years ago, but I got about fifty pages in and stopped. Honestly, Yo-Yo just seemed like a massive pain in the ass who whined about everything. I remember him being a huge bummer, and I just wasn’t in the mood for that whole Breaking Bad type scenario where everything is awful.
However, after Hulu’s Catch-22, I may have changed my opinion. I LOVED this series. My husband and I binged it over two days and I seriously adore it. I’ve watched it twice over since then.
I’m going to have to give the book another shot, but in the meantime, read on for all the reasons you should watch Catch-22 immediately, even though you are probably going to ugly cry.
TWO WORDS – CHRISTOPHER. ABBOTT. AND YES, THAT IS CHARLIE FROM GIRLS.
Christopher Abbott is SO TALENTED and SO GORGEOUS. I really did not think I would be writing that sentence about Marnie’s boyfriend from Girls. He was cute and all, and you felt bad for him, but I never really gave him a second thought.
Christopher Abbott as Yo-Yo is, I hope, a career-defining part. He is amazing. He makes you go from “YOU IDIOT!” to “I LOVE YOU!” to “YOU COMPLETE AND UTTER IDIOT” in record time. You want to grab Yo-Yo and feed him and cuddle him and tell him everything will be okay, while also hitting him repeatedly in the head for being so dumb and preoccupied and self-centered. Literally, reviewers have compared him to Marlon Brando in other projects and he totally brings that energy to Catch-22. As well as a healthy dose of BDE (Big Dick Energy, © Pete Davidson, 2018)
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be off to watch all of his roles since Girls.
WAR IS HELL
DO NOT get attached to any of the characters on this show, because they may be gone in the next two minutes. We are talking GOT level, “WHAT JUST HAPPENED” sudden deaths. It is a show about WW2, you expect that some soldiers are going to die. But nothing really prepares you for the sudden losses of Catch-22. I got teary multiple times, and I am like 90% dead inside.
The show also explores who the enemy really is in this war, and why they are fighting. Yo-Yo very openly does NOT want to be in Italy, or anywhere else but home. Without giving spoilers, here are two lines that hit me right in the feels AND the brains.
“It doesn’t make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who’s dead.”
“The enemy is anybody who’s going to get you killed, no matter which side he is on.”
WHOAH. I rarely say “SHIT IS DEEP” and actually mean it…but, man, shit is deep.
BUREAUCRACY IS POSSIBLY A WORSE KIND OF HELL
While you are reeling over the sudden deaths and pondering the meaning of life and war, don’t forget to notice the hilarity that is the “business” of war. This is probably one of the more lighthearted themes of the series – the craziness, ridiculousness, and WHY????? of bureaucracy are still happening, even in the face of war and death. My personal favorite – without spoilers – is four words: Major Major Major Major.
