The Plague Part I

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S3 (The Plague Part I)

This one is, if you'll pardon the pun, a bit of a plague to get through. It's full of seventies drab, like the beige tiled environs of City Hospital, or the dirty streets such as those where renowned assassin, Thomas Callendar, makes an attempt on Roper's life. He's not much of a marksman for someone dubbed 'the prince of hitmen,' even taking into account the effects of the virus on his body, his big moment of success in this part of the story being to stab an associate in the back after being blackmailed for the essential firing pin he needs to do the job on Roper. Now that was a good scene: taking place high above the city at night, atop a building with the lights of other buildings and cars below, glimmering in the blackness, the sound of sirens through the distant night air… It was atmospheric, like a good film, and as I mentioned, proved to be Callendar's only triumph. The trouble with a focus on mob politics as your main draw is that there's no reason to care - why should we bat an eyelid if Roper's taken down by some other mob boss? Let them fight it out amongst themselves, it'll be less work for the police… That would be the argument anyway, though who's to say the innocent public wouldn't get caught up in these attacks, especially if it escalated. So, as if to temper the mob story, there's a more personal side to things when Callendar introduces a virus into the populace by coming into contact with a friend of S&H's, Lieutenant Jake Donner, another of their good friends that we've never met or heard of before…

A better result was achieved at making us care about the ramifications of his death, as opposed to the potential for Roper's, not so much by the camaraderie between Jake and S&H, since they share very little screen time, but with the shock announcement by the doctor that he'd died. Moments prior, we're introduced to his wife, Virginia, who we can see wholeheartedly likes and trusts S&H, and we hear a little of what it's like to be the wife of a cop, always worrying if he'll come home. The scene sells it, as does the strong reactions of the interested parties, Starsky almost angry at the doctor for not knowing what was wrong with him. But then the drabness starts in earnest as S&H are forced into quarantine, having been in contact with the deceased, playing card games until they're freed after seventy-two hours. This was a bit of a bone of contention with me, because if they were considered free of the virus after that time, how is it that Hutch later comes down with it? They say something about after that amount of time the patient is safe, but then they'd let S&H out to roam the city searching for everyone Jake came into contact with, so presumably Hutch was spreading it all around as he went. And it would have been impossible to track down all those people at the airport - don't they count as having been in contact, since Jake was in the vicinity of so many people? Even with the use of Trans World Airlines' most up to date security cameras, they'd never be able to find all those people!

As an aside, it's revealing to see the kind of technology of the time - they only turn on the cameras when instructed to do so, when there's an incident, and a picture is taken every three seconds, a bit like the system at the bank in another two-parter, Season 2's 'The Set-Up.' What developments! It is funny to hear about such 'advanced' equipment for the time, and see the gestation of the things we take for granted today, although it makes the series seem more and more ancient the further tech progresses in our own time. Amazingly, and usefully for the story, Callendar was caught on camera and the airport boss remembered exactly what happened, but then in reality they would have no hope of chasing down Callendar, and very little hope of even identifying him as the cause, so we'll let them off on those counts. But the other thing that doesn't make this much of an episode, to stick alongside the ugliness and the lack of threat, is the waiting. S&H are waiting to be let out of quarantine, then they're waiting around for Callendar to show up; Dr.'s Kaufman and Meredith are waiting for results, or for the next clue to show up; the truck driver's waiting to get back to his delivery… Waiting is close to being bored, and there's so much of it that S&H even comment: Starsky says he finished with that routine in the army (an interesting note on his backstory, which I don't believe we'd ever heard before), prompting Hutch to call back to an earlier conversation about long life, and if you had it you'd develop patience, and have time to think and improve your mind.

This is the only running gag of the episode, and it's not really a gag, more a serious conversation, but it is running, and after opening the episode with it, they neatly refer back to it at various points. It helps that it gains resonance through what happens to Hutch, too: he read in National Geographic about some tribe that lives to one hundred and forty-plus, sparking off the points of view of whether it's better to live healthy, improve the mind and live for another one hundred and twenty years, or, as Starsky prefers, have only sixty swinging years. It's very true to their natures, as Hutch has always been the healthy one in mind and body, while Starsky's less cultured, more comfortable with junk food and doesn't tend to put a lot of stock in exercise (as evidenced by the recent 'I Love You, Rosey Malone'!). This would usually only be banter, but it becomes meaningful thanks to Hutch going down with the plague, though he still plans to be around for one hundred and forty-eight years! That's another thing that hinders the episode, however, as we've seen S&H struck down before and inhabiting a hospital bed (and would again in such episodes as 'The Game' in Season 4), and we know they're going to be fine. It's just an excuse to force one half of the partnership into doing all the work and increasing the stakes for him, but it's not for us because clearly they're going to survive (the clue's in the title, 'Starsky & Hutch,' not 'Starsky, After His Partner Died'). It would have made more sense to give us a new character, make us care about them, and then threaten that person with the disease.

I was wrong about there being only the one running gag, as I've just remembered, like Yoda lying on his deathbed, "There… is… anoth…er." When S&H visit the airport to meet Jake, Starsky parks out front where you can clearly hear a continual announcement not to park there, so it should be unsurprising that when they return, the Torino's about to be towed away, and rightfully so. Starsky flips out the badge (the second time they've been a little condescending after the airport guards want to check them when they set off the metal detectors, and they go all inappropriate on them, with innuendo to the female member of staff, and the guards have to explain that they're only doing their job, as if cops get special treatment, making S&H look most unprofessional!), and the Tow Driver rightfully questions his wish to play favourites, but Hutch says he does, and we can assume it was straightened out and the car didn't get towed - why should they have that kind of treatment, they weren't even there on a call, or anything, just picking up a friend! How does this turn into a running gag? Well, the same thing happens at the hospital when Starsky again butts against authority, protesting at the doctor's orders about putting him, Hutch and Mrs Donner in quarantine, but pleasingly, the doctor is having none of it and says he's the law in this hospital! It can't be good when you want your main characters put in their place, can it?

I was in two minds over whether the episode played up the positive or negative aspects of the city, and came to the conclusion it was a balance of the two - I mentioned the dull, grimy streets, we see Callendar undercover as a drunk (failing even in his cover, as S&H spot, he has rather too fancy shoes for a tramp), there's a whole sequence set on the streets where S&H are on the hunt for anyone who had anything to do with Jake since he got back, and that includes prostitutes, a dodgy magazine stand (Big Ben, the short guy who was the only character you could really put in the wacky category - he wasn't that wacky, either, but had a very tall assistant and was obviously very short, with a sense of humour, and in Season 3 that qualifies! He's a sort of forerunner for Danny DeVito's similar role later in the season), and then there's the fact that you have lots of lower class professions: we get a Tow Driver, a Taxi Driver and a Truck Driver, all three in the credits! But on the other hand we have the airport, which certainly isn't shabby, nor is the hospital or offices of various people (the one where they met Kaufman and Meredith looked like it could be a redress of Dobey's), and to counter the class roles, there are plenty of professional characters, too, with three doctors, and airport staff, not to mention Helen Yeager, who hires out the room to Callendar.

The scenes set here helped to give Callendar (or Steele, as he's known there), a bit more fleshing out, even a glimmer of likability - he immediately develops the beginnings of a bond with Richie, Helen's young son (something which I believe was his undoing in Part II, if I remember correctly), Richie asking in that unabashed way of children whether he really did come from Canada as they'd been told, since his Father went there and never came back. He only winks at the kid, but later, when Richie is more insistent that they follow his wishes about not getting a doctor during Callendar's battle with the disease, he sees an ally, and after recovering, notices that the boy's in need of new trainers and gives him the money for them. For a trained killer it shows that there's another side to him, he hasn't extracted all his humanity in order to do his job. Then again, maybe that's why he doesn't perform as well as his renown would suggest, failing miserably in two attempts on Roper (the first, granted, his eyes went blurry as Roper came out of a pool hall frontage, which looked like a familiar location), missing him in the street when S&H interfere. He really should have done better. Even more so when you consider how good a character he was last season! Okay, so Alex Rocco was Lieutenant Fargo in 'The Committee,' a completely different character, but it was very distracting when S&H meet Jake and then 'Fargo' walks right past - this character didn't seem quite as interesting as Fargo, either. They must have liked him, though, as this time he got 'Special Guest Star' billing!

Often on two-parters they show the main actors' credits at the start, but this time they didn't, although they did have the episode title on screen, so there wasn't a lot of consistency. It's better having the actors' names in the end credits as then you can match them up to the characters they played, which wasn't so easy if they were just names without roles. It ends in suitably dramatic fashion, with Starsky, having learned of Hutch's deadline of forty-eight hours, setting out to nail Callendar as the only source of an antidote to the plague, but I didn't feel he sold the unrestrained determination that we've seen before when he's desperate and Hutch is in trouble. He does have a minor argument with Dobey, but the Captain reminds him he can't put the whole precinct on the case as other lives are important, too. So Starsky snaps to it, charged up and fully professional (in stark contrast to the earlier, relaxed and unprofessional behaviour), he wants the Truck Driver's story of having seen Callendar "Clean, clear, and now," and gives a speech to the assembled police, finishing with the sentiment to the Sergeant that his partner is dying with every tick of the clock, and 'To Be Continued' flashes up on screen. It's just that everything was so calm, Hutch taking his wheelchair in good grace, but rather than a feeling of him holding back his fear, it's like he really is quite cool about it, no worries. The growing friendship between Judith Kaufman and him was very much underplayed, mentioned in passing by Starsky, as if this will give us more reason to be concerned for Hutch, but it doesn't work.

The introduction of two doctors (Kaufman and Meredith), from Disease Control, was designed to emphasise the gravity of the situation, but something about the episode doesn't sell this plague as a major threat to the city, as it supposedly is. In contrast to my argument about mob war being too impersonal that they needed a personal story, I think we didn't need Hutch to go down with it, it's always better seeing S&H working together, and although their expertise isn't in detecting disease and coming up with a plan (it would be more in their line to be helping to move people, or quarantine areas of the city that had been affected), they are qualified to be tracking down the culprit to race for an antidote. What if we'd seen the whole city be affected, make it a proper, big two-parter, with cops struck down, a city-wide emergency, the army called in, people looting, people lying in the streets, collapsed… It wouldn't need to be done on a huge scale, just enough to suggest the effect of what's happening. In reality the only street work we see in earnest is when S&H go out on the rounds to track down Jake's recent associations - last episode they had a reporter along for the ride, this time it's Dr. Judith, so at least the quality of their passengers is going up!

The stunt doubles are noticeable here and there, most obviously in chasing the pickpocket at the airport - I was wondering at first why he wasn't played by Picerni (although to be fair he had a visible role in just the previous episode, so even for the imagined short-term memories of seventies viewers that was probably too soon), but then you see Picerni's clearly taking on the stunt chase after the thief as Starsky, through crowds on escalators and such, so it would be tough to double both Starsky and play another role (though I have the feeling he did just that one time, though the episode escapes me). The thief was actually played by one James Oliver, which could be the same actor who played Ted in Season 1's 'Savage Sunday' under the slightly different name of Louis James Oliver - he did seem slightly familiar… If so, he wasn't the only actor to possibly be returning since the doctor who reveals Jake's fate at the hospital was played by David Milton, who may be the same as David Scott Milton who played Officer Edwards in another Season 1 episode, 'Pariah.' One guy who definitely was in another episode was Eric Mason, who was credited as 'Waiting Man,' and whom I assume was Roper's chauffeur, getting into a scuffle with tramp Callendar. He played Rodgers in 'Snowstorm' (coincidentally also from Season 1!).

There's not a lot of examples for our lists, but as well as National Geographic, Jesse James is mentioned (the Truck Driver mentions Callendar went faster than Jesse James on a train). We see the good old leap through the open window of the Torino (which I think had already been done once this season already, in 'Murder On Voodoo Island, Part 2'), when Hutch has to get in quick to stop Starsky from having to slow down any more in the chase for Callendar, and there's also a bit of banter between them about the state of Starsky's car, when Hutch throws an empty coffee cup into the backseat, then complains about the mess back there, so Starsky blames it on him throwing his cups in there. I also noticed that Callendar takes a Beverly Hills cab to his guest house, so does that mean that the place is close to Bay City, or is this somewhere of the same name? Huggy gets a short moment of assistance, none too keen to be flagged down on the street in broad daylight, but if anyone didn't know of his connection to S&H by now then they must be pretty slow! I have the impression the second part of the story was an improvement, which isn't often the case, but I'll reserve judgement until I see it again.

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