A Coffin For Starsky

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S1 (A Coffin For Starsky)

The title sends shivers down the spine, and the opening was suitably horrible, as a cackling fiend, masked by the dehumanising and distorting stocking wrapped around his head, injects Starsky in a nightmarish sequence that sets this up to be one of the horror episodes. But this episode sets up a lot of things and never delivers. In terms of freakishness it begins and ends with that first scene, and though it's hard for Starsky to be fighting for his life, it's really more like investigating for his life, a softer distinction. This could have been one of the best of the season the way it was set up, and it was a good enough idea that it was followed by similar tale 'The Game' in Season 4 (though that time it was Hutch who was dying), and you could even draw parallels with the series finale, 'Sweet Revenge,' though Starsky's up and about in this one. They could have played with his failing condition, yet determination to stay on the streets, but the only drama to be had is when he saves his partner's life at apparent cost to his own, by shooting dead Vic Bellamy, the man who knew the compound of the deadly injection.

Even then, though there promises to be action, this is the only act against danger in the story. They do take on a couple of doormen, but the outcome was never in doubt there, and their lives weren't on the line. Hutch's turnaround from being hunter to hunted when the baddie realises he won't shoot him to protect the information he has, was a good idea, but it could have been built up into something that spanned the episode, with Bellamy acting like he can't die, knowing his value. They put the notion into our heads that he's not very bright, so that didn't assist in making him such a strong villain as, say, George Prudholm in 'Pariah.' That was a similar story of a man wanting revenge for the death of his son, though this time the killer is only working for the embittered mastermind. If he's so stupid, how was he able to sneak into Starsky's place without waking him? At first, I wondered why he didn't simply have him killed, but then I realised Jennings wanted Starsky to suffer and know his death was coming.

That opening was impressive because it shocked and gave us no time to get into the episode - it's just Starsky alone in his personal space (on only the second visit to his home we've had), which makes it all the more terrifying. As soon as I saw Vic with his plaster cast, I remembered he was the guilty party, but I give them credit for at least trying to give the story a bit of a twist, leading the audience to believe he's out of the picture. Perhaps an avid viewer of crime or detection dramas wouldn't be fooled, but this series didn't often make complex stories. The real villain, Professor Jennings, protected from suspicion by his reputable and renowned position at the university would have made a better focus for the story than Bellamy, John McLiam's small scene bristling with malevolence, hatred and grief. It's disturbing to learn Hutch would have been the next victim and it's only the man's cowardliness or self-hatred that stopped him from jabbing Hutch when he comes to confront the old man. If only he'd been given more to do, at the expense of the 'surprise,' he would have pepped the episode up.

It's another of those moments when you realise what a difference having an extended cast around S&H would have made - if Cheryl had been a recurring character who'd cropped up several times in the season instead of being there on cue to service the plot, the reveal of her Father being behind the attempt on Starsky's life would have had much greater shock value. Even the supposed cast members, Huggy and Dobey, don't get in on the action much, the size of their roles seen to decline over the course of Season 1. Dobey wears his hat (a Trilby?), to visit Starsky at the hospital (the grey hat not matching his brown suit!), but it was his office, more specifically where the doors lead to, that confused me. One opens on to the main office where S&H 'work,' the other's supposed to lead to a corridor, but it appeared to be another room where Hutch goes for coffee, or am I just confused? Huggy (I still miss his bar and restaurant), promises to do all he can to help save Starsky, but does he come up with that vital piece of news from the street, or get himself into difficulties mixing with people that are no good, for the sake of his friend? Well, he may do, but we never get to see it, and he's not mentioned again, as if his only purpose was to set up the funny tag scene where he rings up police HQ to tell Dobey Starsky's holiday is booked.

Due to the nature of the story, Starsky's life hanging in the balance, there isn't a lot of room for funnies (though I couldn't help thinking when Hutch asks Starsky if he's having second thoughts about leaving hospital, that Hutch maybe should be having second thoughts about letting his partner drive!), and thanks to the kind of sleazy places they visit in their quest for the man who attacked him, this comes across as one of the episodes set in the seedy side of the city. Though there are also subtle improvements in technology - what I think is the first sighting of a desktop computer, a guy using it at HQ behind S&H, though this isn't enough to make the episode shiny and optimistic. But even the negative aspects of the two of them alone against low-lifes doesn't come to anything, they're never in immediate danger except when Vic's shooting at Hutch, and with Dobey and the force to back them up with information and moral support (he even calls Starsky Dave, for once!), there's no real sense of them battling a dark city with little hope. They continue their flagrant disregard for rights, by beating up the door staff, ransacking the rooms of Vic's newly-minted widow and smashing through equipment in Martini's 'studio.' It seems like they're going too far when they start leaning on Martini to laugh after busting up his joint, until you realise they need to hear it to know if he was the man they were after.

So with no popular references to speak of (unless you count Starsky humming what sounds like 'Singin' In The Rain' as he twirls his cane), no real quirky characters (unless you count Sweet Alice, who wasn't being quirky this time - I'd forgotten she came back after being in 'The Hostages,' but she wasn't as memorable as the really weird Orange, for example), a hint of horror (that doesn't play a part again), action that doesn't happen often (I was so sure Vic would smash through the glass skylight!), and even a pool which is very visible, yet no one jumps into it (again, I was so sure a guy would come charging out of Alice's, leading Hutch to take him down in the water), all you can rely on is the deep friendship shown between S&H, at its strongest whenever one of their lives is threatened. It's touching that with his last ounce of strength as he rolls out of bed, Starsky rings his partner, and Hutch keeps his morale up through the episode. They even share a knowing look when talking about who they can trust, and it's this that means the episode does have some value in the wider scope of the series. Maybe they were all tired this far into the season, but it just feels like an excellent premise wasn't handled well enough to make it another 'Pariah.' We never even got to see a coffin!

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