The Deadly Imposter

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S1 (The Deadly Imposter)

That time warp Huggy talks about, a parallel universe where things are not as they usually are, could well be the reality this episode inhabits: a place where criminals ask to be busted, Starsky shows romantic intentions to old ladies, and people aren't who they seem to be. The series usually has its quirky moments and wacky people, but there was something in this episode that was off-balance, more than usual. The only running theme is Starsky unable to catch a girl, culminating in the, admittedly funny, yet also daft, end cap, where Abigail Crabtree, friend of old Mrs. McMillan, is taken out by Hutch to the horror of Starsky when he realises she was a young friend, not a contemporary of the aged widow. The episode begins in that vein, too, with S&H showing kindness to the batty old woman, known for making up stories to the police, which does show their compassionate side. It becomes about the protection of vital witness Warren Karpel in a case against Nate Garvin, who just happened to hire a friend of S&H's to do his dirty work of getting rid of the witness.

They actually went through the academy with John Colby, but they didn't know him as well as they thought they did, because far from being a policeman or airforce officer, he's now a hired assassin (who looks a bit like floppy-haired Hugh Grant). He's a cold, calculating killer, but he's introduced to his old buddies again in a jolly scene where S&H surprise him in a locker room (look out for Hutch bumping his head on the phone in that sequence, which must have been unscripted from the way he grimaces and grabs his head!), and the story veers in odd directions with S&H using their weekend to help track down Colby's 'ex-wife,' now married to Karpel. Well, well. I had some difficulty deciding at first whether Colby was a lookalike pretending to be S&H's friend, then I realised he was the guy, but only pretending to be formerly married to Karen Karpel. The moment she finds out Colby isn't her former husband was a shocker, but the story never went far enough into the horror of S&H discovering who their buddy really is. There was no time for disappointment in him, only a 'Mission: Impossible 2' martial arts beach fight.

The ending was undeniably exciting, but never enough about the anger at Colby. It showed Hutch in a professional light when he could easily have shot the guy, instead making his own code of conduct clear - he doesn't kill if he doesn't have to. Colby's line about his prowess at killing and how a man's got to do what he's good at, sounded like a cowboy film, as did the unique angle where we see Hutch shoot from the perspective of the end of his arm, as if it was a computer game. I don't know why such a view was chosen, but the episode never had a consistent style to it. The music of the end sequence was more dramatic than usual, but there were moments that didn't immediately make sense to me. Who were the people involved in the shootout that Starsky defuses? Were they the police Hutch mentions in the journey over? That would make sense, but the way it was shot didn't help because there appeared to be one man lying on the floor being shot at for ages. They must have been running out of time when they got to that bit, or maybe it was second unit (if they even had second unit filming back then), and the effort went into Hutch versus Colby.

Huggy is hardly integral this time (was he at the party at Hutch's place?), but as always, we like seeing him and his place, though he should learn not to go out into the back alley to meet people he doesn't know! He got laid into like a rag doll and his slight, gangly frame made that attack look much more vicious. The last we see of him in the episode he's barely conscious on the ground, so maybe a tag scene to show him at full health again was warranted? I noticed Diane the barmaid in the background, and maybe one or two of the other staff have been in it before, but sadly they didn't bother expanding any of the roles they gave the impression they were going to do early on in the series. We have a mix of upper class rooms with roaring log fires, local shopping areas and beachfront locations, but there's time to visit more rundown places too, with Emile Parouch's apartment joining Huggy's back alley in that category, (so it was more towards the positive city aspect). It was the same old room they've used so often, so it might have been time to move the camera to a different spot to at least attempt to disguise it. Parouch, the numbers man, was quite fun, and another one of those faces I felt I'd seen in another episode, though I could be remembering this one.

Other notable odd people this time are Fifi, the girl at Hutch's party that can't stop screaming when Colby shows up bloodied - fun hearing Starsky threaten to bust her in the mouth if she didn't shut up, but hardly gentlemanly. But then S&H are more likely to be kind and friendly to those they find attractive. Call it a weakness of character. The clumsy bin man was good value, giving us the only Torino related joke when Starsky's upset after he slams his bin down against the car. There are few of these kinds of familiar gags this time, though one would be Dobey getting irritated at S&H, in particular when Starsky has his feet up on the Captain's desk! Also, Colby pretending to be drunk and calling them Husky and Starch, and while not a joke, Dobey asking whether he's talking to Starsky or Hutch. I only spotted a couple of references: Dumbo and The Three Musketeers. The fight in the alley had a big continuity glitch: Colby points to his left cheek for his associate to punch him there, and the guy hits him in the right. Yet Colby later shows up with a bruised left eye! And he should have seen the shadows of S&H hiding round the corner when they invaded the locker room, because we certainly could. Couldn't help noticing  Hutch littering on two occasions - he chucks his paper in the air behind him at the vacant house lot, and later throws his gum out the car window. Shocking.

Colby can be explained slightly if some of his backstory were true. If he really had spent five years in a POW camp, and then two in hospital he might have become a different man, but it's difficult to know how much he was telling his own story or Mrs. Karpel's. Plus S&H might never have truly known him. I believe that was a theme of theirs - often when they met up with old friends they turned out bad or were mixed up in shady business, like Starsky's brother, or the girl he knew from the 'Targets Without A Badge' trilogy. I suppose that was the only reason to bring in a character like that, to provide conflict and a bit of personal mayhem that got to the detectives more than if it were a stranger. Karpel could have done with fleshing out more (though he should have been careful what he said to his wife on the beach - he was clearly 'bugged'!), and not getting to know the characters enough, even Garvin, the big villain, hurt the story. It was also embarrassing to see Starsky leering at girls throughout, but there was plenty of energy that went into the acting from both S&H, and they both seemed especially sprightly and enjoying life.

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