The Las Vegas Strangler Part II

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S2 (The Las Vegas Strangler Part II)

Personally, I think this was a slightly better episode than Part I, mainly because they dispense with the joviality and romance and get seriously into the action with some tragic turns and a happy ending. But first I'd like to look at that ending - as heartwarming as it was that S&H sent the money Hutch accidentally won during their casino trip, to Vicky's little disabled girl, and refused to tell Dobey, it doesn't explain what was going on with Starsky and Vicky or what the fate of the Strangler was. Did he plead mental illness like the unfortunate Lantz (a copycat who attacked a woman in the same style, while taking credit for a string of bizarre and impossible terrorist acts), or was he banged up forever? It looked like he was just unconscious when Hutch knocked him off the net. And as for Starsky, did he have second thoughts about Vicky when he saw she had a daughter, or was she unhappy that he was a cop? The reason their friendship wasn't continued, we're supposed to assume, I think, is that they lived too far apart and Starsky had to go back to his normal life, but it didn't make any sense for what had happened, and this is where the series could have done with a jot more continuity to its episodes instead of pressing reset and heading into a simple conclusion that doesn't tie up all the loose ends, even if it does sweetly tie up the one it does focus on.

The action's well handled and assisted by a tense score, the first time what would become the familiar background score for danger (dum doww down, tsh, tsh, tsh, dum doww down, tsh, tsh, tsh), is used, first in the opening scenes of the recap, then when Eugene silences his Mother. With a shotgun. There's also an excellent guitar picking score during the hunt for Eugene in the machinery above Circus Circus, perfectly capturing the mood of tracking a dangerous foe. Of course, the action is defused in true S&H style with a comedic drop onto the high-flying trapeze acrobat's net, but they made very good use of the locations this time, fully utilising the vast setting of the gambling hall, the large emptiness of the abandoned stage area, and the mad dash through the service corridors or rooftop shootout with a crazy man. It gives this part of the story an epic quality that Part I aspired to, but didn't truly have because it felt like they were going in and appearing in locations, not fully using them. Even when the location isn't important in story terms you're getting a visually wider impression, such as when S&H are talking at the casino while in the background, dancers on horses are sky-railing above them, throwing out balloons.

As important as the spectacle is S&H's partnership, really in evidence here, where they depend on each other's judgements in the midst of life and death situations, but also pushing them to the state where they flare up against each other. To be fair, they were both suffering from the draining effects of the heady mix of all-night parties, babysitting Jack, and doing their police work before anyone else got strangled. How much sleep did Starsky actually get, because we see them come in to find Jack in bed, then Hutch curls up on the sofa to 'keep an eye on him,' while Starsky's been summoned to play taxi service for Vicky (driving while tired - police officers should know better!), then he gets a snooze when he and Hutch are at the hospital after Jack's been shot, which I think is that evening, as we see the shootout with Lantz takes place in darkness. He may have had time for a nap before the final confrontation with Eugene because that seems to happen in the morning (Sunday), Eugene and his Mother preparing for Mass first, then Eugene arranging to meet Iris. But certainly, by the time Starsky shows his irritation with Hutch, he's not had time for a sleep. Holidays just aren't what they're cracked up to be!

Hutch was proved right about Jack, in that he wasn't the Strangler. He couldn't have been, because he was too stupid and led a lifestyle that was close to being off the rails. The tragic revelation (coming out in an excellent scene with the doctor, who sells the role even though it's such a minor part of the episode), is that Jack's dying from a brain tumour, which explains his hyperactive behaviour, his bluster and the drive to have fun while he can. He's totally blocking out the reality of life by living one long party, and even worse, it puts him in the spotlight as a possible suspect. The Strangler not only damages his reputation in the eyes of the police, he also physically kills him. At least Jack went out trying to protect Vicky, even though it was probably more a case of the instinct of self-preservation that made him wrestle with Eugene, who then pushes him over the bannister to his untimely death. If you look at it as a heroic act it wasn't a bad way to go, but what takes away the satisfaction of the scene is that he never knew that S&H weren't after him, as he wildly told Vicky, and was never able to talk about his condition with his old friend, making the death unresolved as well as needless. If the writers had been concerned as much with the impact of his death as with keeping him in the frame as a possible Strangler by hiding him in Vicky's car, it could have been a satisfying end to his 'arc,' if you can call it that.

When Jack's pretty much cleared of being the Strangler (since why would he go all the way to Vicky's apartment rather than strangle her in the car as he at first seemed to be doing), Eugene makes his shocking appearance in the role. The violence of his attack on Vicky and Jack jerks us back to reality after the relatively sanitised shootout, where only Jack is shot, and even then he can run away, while S&H use their teamwork and athleticism to foil Lantz. Here, Vicky's smacked into a wall and Jack plummets to his death. I'm not sure it was the best way they could have revealed the Strangler, but it was a good enough choice thanks to the violent reaction and shock of the way he bursts out of the door. Eugene hadn't been in the episode to that point so it relies on the audience remembering the guy from the first episode, even though that was a fairly inconspicuous role. I didn't remember many of the details of this episode, so I had the theory Jack was a drug dealer and Eugene was making deliveries for him, and that's how the whole thing fit together. What I still don't understand is why Eugene did what he did. We hear that his Father died and his domineering Mother has continually criticised him over the years, only caring about 'real' men, as she talks about the macho type.

That particular line is actually in a humorous scene when Starsky shamefacedly buys stockings for Vicky at the store, but it adds to the unpleasantness of Mrs. Pruitt that began in the previous episode, so that by the time Eugene carries out the shotgun murder of his Mum we're almost on his side, not literally supporting what he does, but understanding something of why he did that, which I suppose can be brought over into the explanation of why he killed the girls. It was a bit of a tenuous link connecting all the murdered girls together, but if you look at the plot as a whole it was pretty well worked out, giving us side avenues of suspicion, with Lieutenant Cameron (this time making sure he wears grey trousers rather than the tan which gave us the visual inclination of him being the villain, added to his cold exterior, though nowadays having the lead officer of an investigation hiding his connection to one of the victims wouldn't be allowed!), S&H having time to enjoy themselves a little, and with this concluding part of the story, adding in action to the mix, which is why I feel this part was more satisfying - it showed S&H at their best.

After the recap of Part I (a new addition since there hadn't been a two-parter before), the cliffhanger is resolved in a weak way, the Strangler opting to leave Vicky's room instead of finishing her off there. It's difficult, because when you have a cliffhanger that looks so desperate, how do you resolve it without giving away the baddie's identity or killing one of the main guest characters? I thought Starsky or Hutch were going to knock on the door or something would happen to frighten the attacker off, but now I think of it, it does add to the Strangler's creepiness factor that his victim was in his power, but he chose to defer violence until he decided the time was right. It means he's got his own rules, not a mindless murderer. There could be a case to say he had things in common with Lantz, who was deluded and clearly had mental problems. I love Starsky's way of speaking to him about such horrible crimes as if he should be applauded, gaining his simplistic trust, though at the same time, the methodical and careful way he says each thing gives a hint of the distaste behind the words he's saying. Hutch gets to use his wits too, when the doctor asks how close he is to Jack, and rather than admitting he doesn't know him that well, he concentrates on the facts: they were at school together and the three of them are now sharing an apartment.

The doctor was such a well-performed role, and that was the difference with this part of the story, as opposed to the first - things are serious this time, you don't get the comedic characters you expect from the series, not even the drunk at the casino, whom I was expecting to appear and take some of Hutch's money out of the slot machine. Lantz is the only one to be considered in that category, and he was to be pitied or taken down, a dangerous, if damaged man. Jack's oddness is at last explained so there's really no one to take those traditional crazy people roles. One character that returns from the previous episode is the dancer, Iris. If there was a moral of the story it's probably 'don't mess with redheads' (as Kira would confirm on 'DS9'!) - out of all Eugene's victims she's the only one we see fight back instead of screaming and falling to her quivering knees. She throws him off and legs it, gets taken down in a rugby tackle (another brutal moment), but she survives. It's S&H's arrival that stops Eugene, but Iris did herself credit for her quick reaction and fighting spirit. I was wondering how she was going to be strangled in such a large empty space since the Strangler could hardly creep up on her, but she made the mistake of walking onto the stage where he was hidden behind the curtain, so you could say the sin of pride (she was practicing being the lead in this Mr. Green's production), had a bearing. The line 'must be seen by Mr. Green' for some reason, probably because it rhymes, always stuck in my head for this episode!

One thing Eugene did was break a habit of the series: we see him making the phone call to invite Iris for a casting meeting, from the side of an outside pool, but no one ends up falling into it! I wonder why he did that? It may have been to avoid his home number being traced, or it could have been somewhere he hung out, watching the people, who knows? That neatly (or not), brings me onto the usual questions I throw at the series, namely names. Or to be precise, pop culture references. We have a nod back to the film star game Iris played in Part I (in case you'd forgotten who she was, since she only had that brief scene at the beginning with Sharon, the girl who was murdered), with Buster Crabbe, Constance Bennett and Barbara Stanwyck all mentioned, and no, I still don't know all the names. But I do know the ones night manager of the store, Mrs. Pruitt, speaks of (in her rant about men being sissy's nowadays): Clark Gable and Tyrone Power. And you can't get much less sissy than Eval Knieval, the famous stunt biker whom Starsky mentions, I think, before he falls onto the net.

The car door failing to shut after being slammed a few times was a bit of a running gag, usually a derogatory comment on Hutch's banged up old motor, but this time it's the sports car S&H continue to use, the Torino again only seen in the stock footage parked right outside police HQ in the end scene. Hutch's embarrassing and unintentional winning streak is back again, and while Dobey's there for his single scene appearance, Huggy doesn't even have that honour, nor are there any changes to the credits montage. I thought the guy that played Lantz (Seth Allen), was familiar, but I suspected it was me remembering his face from this episode, but actually he'd already been in the series in Season 1 ('A Coffin For Starsky'), and his character this time had a connection with another first season episode where a similarly crazy villain was worried about UFOs (the Man of Foil in 'Lady Blue'). And in terms of the stunt guy, he could be seen driving the car wildly across the road when S&H are speeding to Circus Circus, and his biggest exposure came when he did the high fall onto the net, Soul's double once again so much harder to spot, though it was him doing Hutch's high fall, and the jump down from the net.

One aspect of reality the series doesn't always bother with, is how many bullets a gun can hold. I was thinking just that when they had their rooftop engagement with Lantz, how you don't see people reload, but then Hutch catches him in the middle of reloading. Later there was an even better example when Hutch notes that Eugene's fired his sixth and final bullet during the chase above Circus Circus, and I like that those details came into it. The same with the frightened little dog that runs out of the garage, yelping, when S&H find the car with Mrs. Pruitt's body in it. One detail that escaped their notice was when Jack and S&H go to track the 'Strangler' who's trapped on the roof - a woman exits the lift, then they enter and it cuts to the empty lift, but you can clearly see in the previous shot a man is standing in there! It was also comical how huge the lift is, large enough for them to fight inside, but then again, this is Las Vegas! Also, as soon as the little girl was introduced you could guess they were going to end up giving the money to her because that's the kind of irresponsible, but kind action they'd take. I also felt the store bag Starsky spots in Vicky's apartment was too convenient and too quick of him to realise the significance of. It was used to wrap up the plot quickly and get to the chase (literally), not to say I had a problem with it.

I have to say that the writing was probably an improvement over a lot of Season 1, cannily put together, and was not a disappointment as a big opening number to bring us back to the series. It's also useful because it leaves us looking forward to seeing S&H back to their usual haunts and doing their usual things. The action was bigger than usual, the different feel of the locations used to excellent effect, and importantly, the casting was very well selected with characters you'd be happy to see again. It has to end happily, it's what the series tended to do, and if I complain that things wrap up too fast, I also accept that was the style of the time and in comparison it's a very well rounded, even exciting episode that shows the leads at their best: a good start to a season that would sustain such levels of goodness.

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