The Specialist

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S2 (The Specialist)

It started out promisingly enough with a shady, sharp-suited man seeing his wife gunned down in front of his eyes in a terrible police mistake as S&H and two of their fellow cops shoot at escaping robbers. It had a potentially devastating enemy at a level of technical skill far greater than the street punks they usually have to deal with, one who changes his appearance to blend into society, has an expert level of weapons knowledge and those specialised weapons at hand. It all sounds a bit like Prudholm from 'Pariah,' a personal enemy out for vengeance. It all sounds a bit Jason Bourne or John Rambo: someone that's been pushed to the limit of his sanity or beliefs, discarded by the organisation that made him who he is, that's left him to live out a mundane life. Then the trigger event happens: his wife, the only thing keeping him sane, is taken from him. So what followed should have been a thriller as S&H find themselves increasingly out of their depth. They even had the opportunity to build the tension with two expendable 'redshirts,' the other cops involved in the shooting, before Drew put all his attention on S&H. Yet that level of suspense, that palpable fear of an unstoppable force coming for you never reaches anywhere near the Bourne or Rambo films, or even 'Pariah.'

One thing that lets the side down is a lack of resonance that affects us, deepening the dips in this roller-coaster: when young William McDermont is blown sky high, his old Dad is sad and we hear of a young daughter now Father-less, but it's not presented in a way that gives us reason to care too much. The same with the other officer's assassination when Drew pops some poison in his drink at a bar - it's just an orchestrated scene, one with a sense of horror as we see the realisation of pain in his face as he dies, but not giving us a reason to empathise or building up the suspense. It also becomes almost comical that Captain Dobey and the head of Drew's former organisation, Arthur Cole, go 'undercover' (the Captain in a white boiler suit, Cole with sunglasses!), as plumbers to ferry S&H to their 'safe' location at the Country Squire Motel. Why would these two important (and recognisable! - Drew would know both of them!), men be involved in that way? I liked it for giving Dobey something to do outside his office, especially with no sighting of Huggy Bear this time - they probably didn't want S&H to have too much help, to increase their sense of isolation…

While Alex Drew is very much of the same mould as Bourne and Rambo, he has one distinct difference, namely, that he kills innocent men because he considers them guilty, even though he doesn't know which police officer fired the stray shot that killed Mrs. Drew. So the story we know so well from those films is seen from the other side in that it's those in authority under threat, not the special agent. I got the impression Cole was one of those typical high-up military special operations guys who were happy to wipe out their 'mistake' by wiping out their creation, very much in line with those films, and was overly sure of himself and his resources in tracking down his man, even knowing the guy's capabilities. S&H are shown to have compassion for Drew whose head has apparently been turned by his enforced retirement allowing paranoia to creep in, making him believe in assassination squads out to get him. As Starsky notes, in a way he's just as much a victim, and the real guilty party, Cole, can't be arrested. At the very end, in Dobey's office, Hutch voices something that is very relevant for today: he asks what Cole believes in, and gets the reply of the continued strength of our nation. Hutch then responds to Cole's assertion that's what Hutch should believe in, too, by saying 'not at your prices': when liberty is chipped away, when governments take paranoid actions, that's when things have gone too far, and even threats to the nation as a whole shouldn't be used as excuses to curtail personal freedom.

If only such a theme as that had had full play in the episode it might have elevated the writing to another level, but it's just a little throwaway exchange at the end, and that's what the episode is made up of: little throwaway exchanges. S&H make the episode worth watching as usual, but if you took them out of the picture (as Drew was so hoping to do), you're left with an average story. I felt myself prompted towards memories of several episodes of the series - the oil fields mentioned as the showdown between S&H and Drew had me expecting those pit head oil machines as seen in 'Texas Longhorn,' though in fact the oil fields outside of Mandalay Heights turned out to be more of a factory complex, which nonetheless made for the best part of the episode. I was also put in mind of one of those early Season 1 episodes where they walk into some kind of massage parlour or similar kind of thing and push past the girls to the back room and the bad guy. It was 'Flashy' Floyd at the 'Chapel of Bodily Invigoration' as this week's slimy head of a sleazy business to which S&H pile on the pressure. That whole scene was extraneous to the plot and seemed just an excuse to have some girls running around in short clothing.

That wasn't the only questionable part of the episode, as demonstrated expertly by Starsky's incredibly unprofessional behaviour to the female officers he works with. For one, he cosies up to Officer Hagen when she brings some files for him (a refrain predictably returned to for the episode's cap in which you knew the jokey moment was going to involve Hagen - although I was confused in the moment before she arrived as I thought the guy laughing with S&H was the cop that got killed in the bar!), and in a completely unrelated moment, pats another female's behind with a file (I think it was the same female officer named Sarah in 'Vampire' who gets Hutch coffee) - it makes me wonder if this was something Paul Michael Glaser ad-libbed as a joke on the background extra as this isn't the first time he's done that (he did something similar in 'Little Girl Lost'), so maybe it was a personal gag, who knows? It just seemed inappropriate, and speaks to the vast changes in societal values in even just thirty-odd years. On the other hand, one of the girls at the 'Chapel' does the same thing to Starsky, and Sally Hagen shows her physical superiority by throwing both Starsky and Hutch to the floor (the only time Hutch's place is seen), with martial arts, so I assume they were redressing the balance. Still, two wrongs don't make a right, right?

One little gleam of interest can be gleaned from the files Drew has out on his chosen targets, although you can only actually read Hutch's on DVD, as the shot moves and blurs Starsky's, but it is interesting to pause and read the details that the makers of the series probably never envisioned being possible to make out. We see that he was born in Salon, Oregon on 29 May 1948 (meaning he's late-20s here), his address is 2224, Washington Blvd., and his description is: height of 6'2", medium build, fair hair, blue eyes, blond, and has no scars or marks. One thing that stood out was that his city is listed as Los Angeles, California, so does that mean the series is set there and not the mythical Bay City I always thought it was? Considering these were never likely to be read they probably don't need to be taken as gospel. Whether the episode could be classed in the positive or negative bracket isn't as obvious, but I'd probably go with the positive on the whole as we're seeing more luxurious sides of the city, or at least, the motel, restaurant and other places weren't rundown, nor were S&H plunged into the struggle to survive on the street as they should have - they fill their bellies, read, watch TV and take on suit-wearing criminals all in well-lit scenery, so although it's not overtly upbeat, it's mainly a good view of society; residential, clean, etc.

Other episodes springing to mind during the viewing of this one were 'Blindfold' from Season 4, in which Kim Cattrall plays a blinded woman caught in a crossfire like Mrs. Drew, and 'Vendetta' - you'd think Hutch would be more reticent about opening the boot of a car which is possibly rigged with explosives after his hand was severely injured in a malicious blast (so much for no scars…), in the exact same situation. That was a moment I liked from the episode, where they carefully examine the Torino from all angles after becoming suspicious thinking about McDermont's fiery vehicular demise, and I liked that the lack of security at the station's car park was vocalised (just as I liked Floyd's comment that police don't look like police any more!). It also brought what at first seemed to be set up as this episode's running joke, full circle: Starsky's usual quirky reasoning at the beginning as he wonders 'What If?' quickly takes on a more sober accent when he wonders about the events surrounding Mrs. Drew's shooting - what if the robbers had arrived a few seconds later, etc. This then stayed in my mind for when he drops his car keys and serendipitously spots the plastic explosive under the dash, some unspoken subtext I may be reading too much into, but it worked for me.

The ending is another good part and makes for an exciting, action-fuelled finale - if only the rest of the episode had contained this level of brilliant timing and hairsbreadth escapes as S&H do what they do best, working their way round to take out the target, once again doing so without the military bluntness that would have seen the blase Cole take out Drew without a second thought, instead capturing him alive. It made me think of the junkyard sequence from 'Texas Longhorn' and later, the climbing pursuit of 'Murder On Stage 17,' both of which saw them pitted against assailants armed with a rifle. For once we get the impression of danger with S&H respecting the skill of their adversary enough to kit out in bulletproof jackets, something we don't usually see them do. Indeed, earlier in the episode I was led to suspect this definite personal threat to their lives by a highly skilled operative who had never failed in a mission, was affecting them more than their usual brushes with death: when cooped up in the motel, Hutch is seen to be reading the Holy Bible, although while he's improving his mind and soul, Starsky's splayed out across the gap in the two beds watching some police chase on TV, ably presenting the two disparate styles of character!

In terms of the usual collection of oddballs this episode is surprisingly devoid, with the closest being Sally Hagen (played by Linda Scruggs Bogart - I would assume a relation of Humphrey's since she gets 'Special Guest Star' billing - ironic given Starsky's predilection for doing an impression of Bogey!), or a couple of the girls at Floyd's place, though none of these are particularly weird or get the chance to solidify that impression, so I can't really count them. References are also thin on the ground with only Frankenstein (in relation to what Cole's organisation had created), a comparison of Dobey to an elephant and his food obsession ("You should see him eat peanuts" - though he leaves a perfectly good meal when he thinks his men are in danger, so he's got his priorities right), and a swimming pool which, remarkably, no one dives into. One thing I think may come up again is the closeup of Hutch firing his gun during the initial shootout, which looked familiar from the later credits montages, but I could be wrong about that. We also hear a back catalogue of the series' themes, from the resolute action score which is my favourite, from 'The Las Vegas Strangler,' (der dummm dum, didoo doo doo, der dummm dum…) to the equally mood-making tingly tightrope from the second part as they hunt the Strangler in the roof of the casino, to the well used horror jangle of bells and weird notes.

It's disappointing that we never actually found out who was responsible for firing the fatal shot which precipitated Drew's personal vendetta, but you can be sure it would have turned out to be one of the other cops as S&H are too careful and professional to make a mistake like that. Equally, they wouldn't have wanted to lay the blame on one of their deceased fellow officers so were probably happy for it to remain unknown. While there was potential for really good action and strong dramatic moments, the premise was mostly wasted, and the themes that could have been taken and run with, about a secretive government program of super agents that Cole admits was a mistake from inception, and how far the authorities are willing to go to 'protect' their citizens by curtailing freedoms, ripe for exploration, were largely avoided. But once again I'm asking too much of a cop show from the 1970s, it's just that they've shown that they could create well written material and tense drama, so when they fall into the trap of just making a weekly TV series on time instead of realising the longevity and history this would have and be a part of, as is all recorded TV to us now, it feels like a loss, especially compared with the general quality of the season. 'The Specialist' wasn't very special after all, and could just as well have been called 'Targets With A Badge.'

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