Idol

DVD, Smallville S9 (Idol)

There were too many ideas and themes in this episode. But they were all good ones, so although it feels like a big bag of assorted sweets jumbled up together, the overall experience is probably to make this the best episode of the season so far! It began and ended slightly iffy, Lois' extreme dream at the start or her vision-of-the-future coma at the end rather jolted the cool narrative, which apart from them pretty much hits all the bits you'd want in its madcap dash at cramming in so much, so they may have felt a little out of place, especially the future vision which Lois continues to see of Chloe dead and other apocalyptic events, which just isn't of interest. What is, is the question of how Clark was going to get out of this one? His reputation is becoming tarnished by someone impersonating him and either getting it wrong or deliberately maligning his good character. Then when he calls Lois to try and set things right, the only mouthpiece he has to the world, she either freezes him out or, the second time, a glitch means she hears his real voice in the last sentence he says! I wasn't enamoured with the idea of someone trying to mess up The Blur's image by using his Father's 'S' shield image as a brand for Twitter, Facebook, et al. (although, for obvious reasons I like the idea The Blur has a blog!), social media would have still been a novelty back when this came out in the late 2000s. It looked all set to be a typical evil villain taking apart the good guy in the most devious and despicable way he could: by subverting the identity for his own ends.

That's one theme, and it makes you realise that, yes, an anonymous, faceless identity does have its limits and weaknesses, because it can be faked and used in a defamatory way (though you'd think the city would notice that this Blur is acting out of character when leaving his symbol in spray paint or lights when before he always did it in fire). That could have been the key theme we explored, but no, we're dashing off to see the culprits before much time has passed, and it appears to be another 'famous' character, or characters I should say, as they came across as a brother and sister, Zan and Jayna, with wacky powers - he could turn in to ice or steam, and she could morph into animal forms. The way they were played and the slamming together of fists to create their powers all pointed to an established mythology, though I'd never heard of them - someone called them the Wonder Twins, and I can imagine their being some sort of badly named duo in the DC archives, but I certainly had no knowledge of them and would have appreciated some kind of context or backstory (for example, who was the Father they mentioned?). They're always dropping in an established superhero here or there and never really explaining them. Not that the episode would have been improved if it had been about them, I think it would probably have taken away from the real story, but I do like a little context, at least. And another theme of The Blur inspiring fans that want to help people like he does, and be heroes, was worth exploring further, showing that guidance is required and they can't just go out and be heroic without any thought or planning.

Their real purpose, apart from pleasing the comic readers, was to cause Clark to inadvertently be revealed to Lois as The Blur, but fortunately she was seeing a psychologist about her dreams at the same time who was able to give her professional opinion about Lois' mind converging the two personalities into one. And because Lois is a bit ditzy and, in the kindest way, simple, she would do that, and it makes sense, and she can believe that explanation herself. It becomes a great sequence of her discovery of the secret, that realisation of Clark as the man of her dreams, leading to a classic 'Superman' film moment of Lois Lane hanging off the Daily Planet building and Clark having to choose between saving her and saving his identity. I didn't get a sense of that choice hanging heavily on him, and I'm sure he would have saved her regardless if the Wonder Twins hadn't arrived to support their idol, both by covering the area in fog, or preventing the dodgy DA from escaping. But it's Lois' self-sacrifice that stands out as one of the best moments ever for her character: she totally believes Clark is The Blur, and is willing to fall to protect his secret - you can't buy that kind of devotion! It almost makes you think Clark should just own up and admit it after she's proved herself, but it's never easy to have someone in on the secret, and their life may never be safe again - then again Lois claimed to know The Blur so it's as bad as if she really did. Which she did. But now she thinks she was wrong.

Chloe can attest to the tribulations involved with knowing Clark's secret, and generally she's been incredibly useful as his sidekick or backup. But another theme that's been dallied with before, crops up again: if she hadn't interfered, Clark's secret would have come out or Lois would have died, but she did it by hacking into the cameras at the Daily Planet (which we're fine with since she's always doing that), but also Clark realises she's been hacking into his phone calls with Lois, too, which was how she could create The Blur's voice to add the proof Lois needed that Clark wasn't The Blur. But it's that kind of control, even though for a good reason and cause, that starts to seem unsafe and immoral. The ends don't justify the means when someone's privacy is violated even though it was for their own good, and that's an ever more important theme in today's world as it was a few years ago when this came out - people are far more willing to sacrifice privacy for the ease of communication or services than they used to be and we're heading right into a Big Brother society more and more all the time. Clark isn't happy about it, and no wonder, as she'd already taken liberties by watching the Kent Farm through hidden cameras and microphones, and now this…

What else can we cram into the story? How about District Attorney Ray Sacks who's dealings with the criminal underworld has put Lois on his scent before now, though unfortunately not in any episode - it would have been beneficial if this character had been introduced in a prior episode, at least so we could start to fear for the city, but he's in and out in the space of a single story. We can forgive his short, sharp turn as the evil villain because it's he that sets up the classic Superman moment with Lois hanging from a flagpole - you'd think some of his DNA would have been on Lois since he shoved her off the building, but the series is never the hottest on realism! His demand that The Blur attend his press conference and reveal his identity to the world so he could work with the authorities, rather than as a vigilante, reminded me of the Christopher Nolan Batman films - is it 'The Dark Knight' where they want him to unmask, or did I imagine that? That film's influence has already been felt in the way the city of Metropolis has been shot, a darker palette and the brooding, Batman-like presence Clark's taken on high above the city this season. Again, it's Lois' selfless desire to help The Blur, and now protect Clark's identity, by giving a rousing speech in defence of him, and why he needs to stay hidden, that is one of many great moments in the episode.

When the phone rang to convince Lois she was speaking to The Blur in spite of Clark hovering nearby, I was really hoping it would be Oliver Queen, repaying what Clark did for him back in Season 6 when Clark pretended to be Green Arrow. It would have given great symmetry to the characters, and would have made sense since Chloe could easily have asked Oliver to do that. Instead it becomes about Chloe's growing lack of concern in her all-seeing, all-knowing tactics. What makes these kinds of episodes work over the ones they used to do, that were similar, is that while Lois is easily duped and quick to forgive and forget, Lana never was. It used to be so uncomfortable and depressing seeing the endless circle of Lana letting Clark down or vice versa, or Chloe doing the same, and then it would play out over the course of a season, or half a season, and was such a downer. Episodes like this show that it can be done in an upbeat, inspiring, hopeful way, making you appreciate the characters more and lifting you up with them. That's probably the best compliment I could say about this episode, how it doesn't do what those middle season episodes too often did. All this and a reference to both the pilot episode (Chloe notes Clark's 10,000 friends status on social media shows he's come a long way from being 'scarecrowed in high school'), and 'Star Wars' (Lois responds to The Blur's protestations about not calling her for so long with "There is no try, Skywalker").

If there were more episodes of this calibre in the season it would be a keeper. Unfortunately the ever-present Sword of Damocles hanging over the season is the Kandorians and their plan, not to mention Lois' dark visions, so I don't hold out hope that these anomalous good episodes will become the norm. But I can't help revelling in the quality of them when they do come along - although there's not a lot of stunts, one simple visual that stood out was when Clark steps in to block the smashing fists of the Wonder Twins as they try to power up, meeting his hand unexpectedly in the middle, which blasts them apart and unconscious, a great example of Clark's own power. And we get the glasses of popular Clark Kent mythology. Although we'd seen them before, it was cleverly woven in to provide the 'secret' he tells Lois. And lastly, how can you have Superman merchandise in a TV series about Clark Kent before he was the Man of Steel? Simple, you just show the symbol that has become a brand and is now turned into memorabilia for people to buy. Simple, but plausible.

***

A Body Worth Guarding

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S3 (A Body Worth Guarding)

Russian prima ballerina Anna Akhanatova is visiting town to put on her show, and someone wants to kill her. So S&H get the assignment to protect her, so Hutch ends up getting attached, so… so many other episodes had done this story before - just this season alone we'd already had 'Fatal Charm,' another Hutch romance, and 'I Love You, Rosey Malone,' the same thing for Starsky, but going back to Season 2 we'd had 'Gillian' for Hutch and 'Starsky's Lady' for Starsky, as well as the same kind of bodyguard story in 'Long Walk Down A Short Dirt Road,' only that was better because they didn't feel the need to go into the romantic side of things, making it more about the threat and the action. The threat and the action in this episode is limited to a group of Jewish Organisation for Action members picketing the theatre to protest the treatment of Jews in Russia, and a scuffle when the Fascist Party of America try to use them as a cover to take down Anna and blame it on the Jews! Unless you mean the other kind of action - there's plenty of smooching for Hutch (or Hooch as she calls him), so although they bring up some potentially interesting political and religious themes, they're very much shunted into the background for a focus on Hutch's unprofessionalism, once again.

I think that's one of the main things about it that I don't like - while it's fine for Hutch to have a girlfriend and bring some of his home life into the series, when he's supposed to be doing a job, calmly, detached, his full faculties devoted to a serious operation, it's not amusing to see him be so frivolous, lured in by an exotic Russian girl, with no rhyme or reason to it. They start off by quickly souring on each other so that Hutch starts to wish he hadn't been given the assignment, again alluding to some interesting Russia versus The West arguments, but then they soon sidestep exploring cultural differences in exchange for Anna's sudden realisation that Hutch would die to protect her if it came to that. Perhaps she sees it as old-fashioned gallantry, and Hutch (who seems more twangy American than usual, emphasising the difference between them), is suddenly something attractive in this foreign country where she's far from home, and there's probably a bit of the challenge in overcoming his grumpiness towards her, so whatever it is of these factors that draws them together, it happens over a few minutes of talk, and before you know it they're lying by a log fire having an arm wrestle, literally.

Anna wasn't exactly the character I thought she was going to be: a spoiled brat with incessant demands reuqiring constant badgering attention from S&H just to keep her cooperating, but I must be thinking of someone else, because although she starts out stiff and frosty, it's more her hard work and dedication to ballet that comes across. It's not even that she's unhappy with her lot, or can't stand Masha, her instructor, in fact she really doesn't have much to give us reason to feel sympathy for, she's just there, and after going all doe-eyed on Hutch she happily cooperates. This makes the story of her attempted assassination a bit weak since she just does what she's told and the villains, the old Steinmetz, presumably a German, and his willing young American tool, Miller, aren't well sketched creations. The episode is always small, whether they're driving around in darkness which always gives a claustrophobic atmosphere to the city (they couldn't light it very well so everything gets blanketed in darkness), or watching Anna at the ballet (it looked like stock footage to me, the actual ballerina didn't look the same), and because S&H are shown fairly closeup, you know they're not really at a grand hall. The same when we see the real Anna on stage accepting applause, the camera's zoomed in in a poor attempt to disguise the modest dimensions of the theatre. This extends to the times when S&H escort her to or from the theatre, always in the side entrance, a small, dingy side street where the protesters gather.

If you're being generous you can perhaps accept the sudden change in relations between Hutch and Anna, since he'd started the episode off moaning to Starsky about the meaning of life, and missing something. I guess he just wanted companionship, not some deep thing, it was just a mood he was in. But that at least explains the irritation with 'those kind of people,' with beauty on the outside and nothing more, that he was talking about in his disgust at Anna's anti-American sentiments. There the running theme ends and he's soon doting on Anna, the frost evaporating over a cup of tea at 2am, once she's understood she misjudged his rudeness, such as going through doors first - he's just doing his job (though he was doing it with an attitude which was itself unprofessional!). So as I said, you can forgive the sudden change between them, but you can't forgive the small scope of the episode, or that it barely glances over some interesting themes. The America versus Russia debate would have been interesting as an ongoing argument, as we had Anna complaining how unsafe America is, people wanting to kill her, Hutch responding that it's safer in Russia, but only as long as you're following the rules of the state. She also notes the protest against her country, Hutch rejoining that at least they're allowed to protest.

Anti-Semitism, too, could have provided ample story potential, another touchy subject to add to the season's collection, but the fascist villains are two-dimensional with no exploration given to why they want to damage the Jewish reputation or the history of Steinmetz. It could have been a tragic story of misguided youth, cunningly manipulated by the older man, but Miller is simply eager to do some damage and is one of the weakest opponents this season, never providing a real threat. As usual I was left unsure of the fate of those behind the crime, as I don't think Steinmetz was mentioned again. Did he remain undiscovered? If he was a shadowy figure that returned from time to time to cause S&H trouble then it wouldn't have mattered, it would have been a good way to introduce him, but instead he just fades into nothing. Having assistance from Kauffman, someone who was a big part of the Jewish community could also have been made into a bigger deal, but he's only there to control the protesters and help foil the Fascist strike - far too much time is given over to Hutch's romancing, to the detriment of the story. He even takes Anna back to Venice Place for a guitar session and a song. This makes sense from the perspective of David Soul, the actor getting to show off his skills in music (not to mention in walking on his hands!), but that's all it becomes: a showcase.

What came close to saving the episode was that he and Starsky were on top form with each other - that's what we really want to see, because who cares about some Russian ballerina that you know is going to move on at the end of the episode (though I didn't expect the arm wrestling ending with Anna versus Starsky, and a finger's help from Hutch)? We watch the series for the banter and joyous ribbing between S&H, and they really are on fire, starting out as friendly cop, grumpy cop, with Starsky all cheesy grin as he tries to charm Anna, or going back even further, to the start of the episode, the old debate between S&H's lifestyles and outlooks, Hutch thinking on deeper things and calling his partner a hedonist for only caring about pleasure, then the usual fighting over a woman begins right from the moment a particularly irascible (and delightfully so), Captain Dobey gives them the assignment, Hutch pulling Anna's photo out of Starsky's reach. So you think it might be one of those where they comedically compete for attention, which would at least have been funny, but Starsky's mostly underused. He does get to go round acting cool, such as in the scene at The Pits (with new red neon sign!), where Huggy isn't keen on him showing up at his establishment, and they have a fruitless chat in a back room that is nonetheless witty and suave, the music adding an irresistible seventies cool. But Starsky does the grunt work while Hutch enjoys himself, and keeping them apart keeps us from the great banter and juxtaposition that is the chemistry this series thrives on.

It's telling that the best scene is exactly that, Starsky (or Starevski as Anna calls him - they missed a trick as no one ever says 'he's Hooch, I'm Starevski'), coming to Century Plaza where she's staying, Hutch is caught off guard in a compromising position, and to see his duplicitous antics to disguise things as being normal, is both laughable and enjoyable as we know Starsky isn't fooled for a moment, and clearly enjoys teasing his partner, prowling around with a twinkle in his eye, making the most of Hutch's stress. His faux relaxed attitude and breathless covering-up is comedy gold, but I couldn't help feeling that when Dobey rang he should have given his man an earful about being professional and not taking advantage of foreign guests, especially the irritable mood he was in, but no one really seems to mind, or they turn a blind eye, which is inappropriate to say the least. You'd think Masha would have something to say about this blond cop getting in the way of Anna's singleminded focus on ballet (for a Special Guest Star, Signe Hasso doesn't have much to do, either). But that's the way it goes - once again the serious, or slow side of the episode wins out over comedy or sense to give us another Hutch in love episode. In its defence I enjoyed it slightly more than expected because of the humour that does slip through (the overreaction of Hutch to the bellhop delivering newspapers, flinging the door wide and brandishing his huge gun in the most threatening of manners, then realising his mistake and pretending it was a joke and this huge handgun's made of liquorice!), and S&H, when they are together, are good value.

There isn't much in the way of usual extras to sift through. Starsky says Anna's got more moves than Muhammad Ali when impressed at the ballet, while Hutch is enjoying the exquisite artistry, and showing his cultured and high-mindedness for such things, while Starsky remains ignorant of the correct response and the terminology, another example of them displaying their different approaches to life (made me think of the caviar scene in 'Bust Amboy'). Not that Hutch is always high-minded, he hasn't learnt from his experiences earlier in the season and still leaves his key above the door as this is how Starsky knows he's at home - the key's not there. This could be seen as evidence that Hutch does indeed refrain from putting the key up there now, but since Starsky is expecting it, and since Hutch is in, we can take it for granted that Hutch's usual lazy approach to security has returned! Allan Miller's back for his second role after being 'The Psychic' last season, as Morty Kauffman, and I thought Steinmetz actor John O'Leary had been in 'Murder Ward,' but it was a different actor entirely who played Freddie Lyle (Joey Forman), the Sam Spade fanatic, but I always thought it was just a good makeup and hair job because their faces were similar, so it pays to check the credits! The sturdy, greying guy in the crowd near the Torrino was a regular background actor, most recently spotted in 'The Action,' and rather than being Russian, Anna Akhanatova actress Monique Van De Ven sounds more Dutch to me.

**

Kandor

DVD, Smallville S9 (Kandor)

It had to happen eventually, but we finally get the mythology-heavy story to join up some of the dots of this season, and it's predictably a bore. I expect fanatics, deep into the lore of Superman and his heritage, lapped this up, but what is there for those not in the know? Conveniently, Lois has skipped out of town, Chloe thinks put off by Clark's forwardness, so that's one less thing to think about, and Oliver and Chloe are there to assist Clark in small ways (very small - one of the only moments that almost worked was Oliver understanding and sharing Clark's feeling of the loss of parents; and as for Chloe, she admits to have wired up and bugged Clark's house to the max, with cameras everywhere, ostensibly to keep an eye on the place when he left after the Doomsday incident, but she never told him since and kept the option to use them open - what a friend!), but the story's far more concerned with the two main Kryptonians, about which this series has never really been. I'm talking of Zod and Jor-El, because, yes, Clark's Kryptonian Father makes it to Smallville. Some might say 'at last,' but not me. The Kryptonian side of things has never been as interesting, in my eyes, than the human struggles Clark and his friends have been forced to go through, perhaps because there's no reason to care about this long-dead race from a planet that doesn't exist any more, but which keeps churning out Kryptonians by the dozen! I never liked that Clark wasn't the only one, because it makes him less special, so nothing's changed there for me.

We're supposed to have empathy for characters that haven't done anything to gain our interest - indeed, we find out that these aren't even the 'true' characters, but that Jor-El had taken samples of his own DNA and that of Major Zod's unit, in order to create the purple orb which would be sent to Earth in case of Krypton's destruction (they must have been a very pessimistic people). I didn't understand who they were fighting when the city of Kandor was destroyed, was it other Kryptonians? Were there factions? It wasn't clear, and for all I know it was some other alien race. Anyway, this DNA is what the current Earth-bound Kandorians come from, so they had no knowledge of the last twenty years, of how Zod destroyed Krypton, and neither does Jor-El until Chloe lets him in on it. But it's all dull, long-winded Shakespearian speeches, except drained of the Bard's wit, 'Fantasy speak' with a capital 'F,' the way so many fantasies have peddled, inspired by 'The Lord of The Rings' without understanding that what makes the manner of speech noble is not the way it's said, but what is meant and why. I'll give them points for getting a reasonable impression of a younger Jor-El, that does at least give a reasonably accurate imitation of how Terrance Stamp speaks (I assume that was Special Guest Star Julian Sands, not knowing the guy), and looked a bit as you might imagine him, though he was a lot shorter than I'd have expected. Also interesting to learn that the enmity between Jor-El and Zod was due to Jor-El refusing to recreate Zod's dead son from DNA.

Seeing Jor-El at the Clark farm should have been something to celebrate, but instead it was just not important. Even his death in Clark's arms on some hill nearby had zero emotion in it, because who cares, this is just some guy - it didn't even make much sense to me that Jor-El died. He'd been punched a few times, and it could be that we never saw the extent of what Zod did to him, but again, it wasn't explained well enough, you're left to fill in the blanks yourself. I never really bought that this Jor-El meant that much to Clark anyway, and I suppose that must be put down to the acting, but I'd rather find fault in the writing and the inability of them to lay things out well. It is mildly interesting to find out what the purple orb was all about, and it was also slightly interesting to see these soldiers on Krypton, but then you think 'so what?' - even 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' was able to make the future Earth battle scenes have some meaning.

The only other real development is that Clark's forced to admit his Kryptonian heritage to Tess, since he knows she knows where Jor-El is, but it's something she pretty much knew anyway, and we knew it, and there's far too much of the characters catching up with things that the audience already know that it's a drag to watch. It's good to aspire to being a proper drama with the thoughts, feelings and motivations explored in conversation and argument, but the writers just weren't up to the task when they were no longer relying on set-pieces or action. It's almost a relief that the episode deals with all this Kandorian stuff so much, and the main characters so little, because it gives me hope that they've exhausted what they wanted to do with them, and maybe we can get to some good character episodes as the last couple had been, and leave this mythological boredom behind. I've nothing against Callum Blue, and I'm sure if he were given a three-dimensional character he could play it, but he's just a bore, even his voice is dull - I don't believe in him as a menacing villain, I don't believe in his motivation, even his "my wife, my child" cry when he sees Kandor destroyed was in a monotone when it should have been anguished and fearful. Even with the wackiness and awfulness of how they totally messed up Lex Luthor, he was rarely boring, and I just can't stomach this level of disinterest the series gives me.

Jor-El comes into Clark's life for one episode, because it's convenient and it sounds like a cool thing to do, but there's nothing going on there, it's an empty experience. It may be that my expectations were heightened a little after two good episodes, but the title was enough to warn me this was going to be uninspiring, and I wasn't mistaken. One other thing I did like, however, was the trial scene which recalled the old Christopher Reeve 'Superman' films, or what I think of as the template for how the franchise should be (in many ways, though not all). The huge faces in deep shadow and the spinning rings around Jor-El were nicely done, but I would bet that no one involved with this series from the beginning would ever have suspected from the strict 'no tights, no flights' mandate that they would one day cleave so close to musty old Superman lore. It's hard to imagine that ground-breaking, exciting, well-written, shocking, innovative series becoming the slow, speechified, lore-heavy, great waddling behemoth that it did. They sowed the seeds of destruction early, and never had the ideas to back their initial direction up, after the first season or so, but that's what happens with franchises: they may start out new, original takes, daring and unpredictable, but they all eventually revert to type, become what people expect, and usually in the most basic and dull way. That's what happened here.

**

The Heavyweight

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S3 (The Heavyweight)

Wrestling had long been a part of the series, and now boxing is the theme. Or is it? The theme, which you could also say boxing shares, is about standing up and being a man, taking the punishment and pain, not knowing what you're going to lose. Overcoming fear and choosing courage, rather than giving in and taking the easy way out is what this episode is all about. I like that it comes neatly in threes, with three confrontations between the good guys and the bad, three people being given the same kind of choice, and… there should be a third thing that there were three of, but I can't think of it right now! The story is about Jimmy Spenser, the heavyweight of the title, though that could just as well refer to his conscience as his boxing division. Right from the start we see he's the sort to keep away from trouble - he continues in the sport, even if he's not winning much these days, but his trainer, Jeeter, still shows confidence in him. It's difficult to know how much we can trust anything Jeeter said in the episode, because he's always in the know - his outburst slamming Spense's chances might be how he really thinks, or his usually optimistic impression may be true, it could also be that he's looking back at the good fights rather than thinking of the future until he's forced to confront his own mortality.

He appears familiar with Haley Gavin and his mob connections, though it must be the first time Spense has been told to throw a fight, evidenced by the fuss he puts up. If Spense knows he must buckle under and accept defeat if he's to avoid repercussions, or the 'trouble' that his understanding of 'the rules' has always taught him to avoid, it's because he still thinks he's got a future in the sport. But Jeeter's also thinking of his own future, I would presume. The difference between them is that Spense has a family: a wife he's separated from after she could no longer accept the danger of the sport, and the only voice speaking out about what would be classified as a 'blood sport,' ("Watching the man that I love being brutally beaten and calling it a profession"), and his young son, Stevie (I don't know how S&H unknowingly happened to sit next to the boy at the fight!). We don't hear if Jeeter has any family, and by the way he's always out late at Main St. Gym, and never mentions family, plus his dedication to training, the impression I had was that this was his life. Once Spense has broken 'the rules,' sparked by his son's encouragement into doing something unthinkable, and refusing to stage his own loss, he's in big trouble with Gavin and his heavies. But Jeeter still has his own career to think about. This is where he comes across as the selfish man of the story who, out of the three tested, fails to stand up, brokenly accepting what he's told to do, betraying and lying to his friend of twelve years in order to save his own hide. It's a sad personal defeat in the episode, as if Jeeter never had the backbone that he inspires in fighters, or lost it along the way.

It's not that he's a particularly bad man, just that he's an ordinary bloke who gives in to fear. This is in stark contrast to the third of the people examined in the episode: Booker Wayne. He's got nothing to feel warm and fuzzy about towards Spenser or Jeeter, since he was the guy who lost. But, and this is a key point, as otherwise what would be the point of it being an episode of this series, S&H give him a stern talking to which changes his mind, pointing out that Jimmy Spenser is him, ten years from now. His righteous indignation for the way life has treated him is punctured, and rather than take it as a personal insult, he stops to think. It might not have gone any further than that if he hadn't stumbled upon Jeeter's conversation with Gavin on the phone, setting up Spenser in cold blood, but it's what he chooses to do with what he knows that matters (prompting Hutch to welcome him to the human race). I have to say that it became slightly comical to me the way Wayne pops out of that other room each time he wants to expose Jeeter: first by mistake, walking in on Jeeter's phone call, which is fair enough. Then he waits around until Spenser arrives and pops out again to tell him what's happened, which almost makes it look as if he's been hovering behind that door all the time. Then he does it again when Hutch shows up, springing out like a jack-in-the-box, and as good as the intentions were, I couldn't help but be amused, despite the gravity of the situation! The worst thing is, I didn't know where the door led to, so I was imagining a cupboard.

Leaving aside the unintentionally funny execution, Booker is the man who technically has the most to lose: he's a young, up and coming fighter, whose way is being paved by Gavin, and who, if he just gave in and did what he was told, could have been quids in. But he's also an honest fighter, a proud young man that boasts he's got where he is by the work of his fists, and it sticks in his craw that Gavin set him up to win, because he thinks he could have taken Spenser without help. He was wrong about that, since Spenser won fair and square, but the point is that he chooses to get involved, informing on Jeeter to both Spense and the police, and it couldn't have been any more hurrah-making unless he'd gone down to the warehouse himself with Hutch for the final showdown against Gavin and the goons, which I'd have loved to see! I've been largely quiet on the subject of S&H, but that's only because the plot doesn't hinge on them as much as it does on those three central characters of Spenser, Jeeter and Wayne, but they are the essential catalyst or balance that upsets the plans of the unjust and inspires confidence in the forces of right. It also helps that they make it a fun, banter-filled episode, often through the one running gag that spans the episode, something we don't see so much in the third season. There's really nothing about this episode that would place it in that category of being more serious compared with the previous seasons, and it could fit neatly into either Season 1 or 2, the only negative aspect I could see being Booker and Starsky's heated words about crawling out of the slime. The gym itself was extremely cramped, so you didn't get a sense of scale and prosperity, but that hardly matters in the wake of the personal grappling that goes on.

It's Spenser's story really, of course, first ignoring the death of a cop investigating the warehouse at the beginning (though he claimed he didn't know the guy had been killed), then regretting his stroke of inspiration from Stevie, claiming you can't fight a guy like Gavin, that's his defeatist philosophy, or his sense of self-preservation, but it also means losing his pride, so recently fired up by Stevie hiding out to avoid Gavin's gang rather than face up to them, something which changes by the end of the episode (the Dolphin Hotel which he chooses as a refuge looked very much like the place Callendar was going to sniper his target in 'The Plague,' and could well have been the same location). But he can't hide forever… or can he? His plan originally is to get his share of the prize money and leg it out of town, but once that's proved a fruitless endeavour thanks to the actions of Jeeter, he decides to just go ahead and face the enemy. I'm not sure it was the anger and disgust of being betrayed by his good friend, or Jeeter's harsh words about him being all washed up that stung him into action (though I think that was said to S&H), or his own sense of pride that gave him the recklessness to take on his enemy. He's not the most reckless of people, as he said, keeping out of the way of trouble, but maybe he sees a vision of the hopeful future, either taking on Gavin and losing, or happy ever after with his family and pride intact.

Notably he doesn't call for backup, doesn't enlist the help of S&H who'd already stood with him twice against these same villains (though technically it was their stunt doubles in the locker room rumble, you can clearly see in long shots). I like that progression, from the first showdown between S&H and Gavin's muscle while undercover investigating the murder of the cop (again, no assumed names), Spenser stepping in to help when Starsky's sunny friendliness is met with grim bullying (in his hilariously casual and jolly way in the face of brutishness: "…The happy brotherhood of labour - happy hands, busy feet…"), though he hid it under a front of protecting his own wages. It's a little hint that he's a man with a bit of a conscience, but who keeps a lid on it and doesn't like to seem helpful. The second time Hutch has to practically drag Starsky away from the locked gaze of his current girlfriend, Sharon (just another ditzy blond, who looks so much like others we've seen, I thought she'd been in it before, though she hadn't - she's so vacant she doesn't even get who Spenser is, or who's winning in the fight, and then she gets back together with ex-fiancee 'George' because she filled Starsky's absence when he's called away to talk to him!).

A good job Hutch's sixth sense was working, because it would have been a tough struggle for the cornered Spense, who's stuck with three on one in the locker room! Jeeter isn't much help, another little hint of the way a character will behave later, one punch sending him reeling through a door from whence he doesn't emerge until the villains have gone. I don't know why Spenser put the chair in front of him, as it wasn't much of a block, but I suppose it was instinct taking over. It's another thing I'd have loved to see: if Spenser had taken on Berl, Cruiser and the other guy, and at least made a good account of himself until S&H came to even the odds. The third and final confrontation happens at the warehouse, three different people meeting the three villains, each not knowing about the others until it all kicks off (though Hutch knew Starsky was there as the Torino was out front): it shows each man's bravery, as Spenser approaches the dangerous Gavin, and would have been shot if not for the intervention of Hutch and then Starsky, too, who arrive at different times. It reminded me of a similar scene in the 'DS9' episode 'Empok Nor' with a villain creeping around a warehouse-like environment, about to kill someone while someone else hunts them (it's suitable to mention a 'Star Trek' connection as Gary Lockwood, who played Jimmy Spenser, had been in the second 'TOS' pilot, 'Where No Man Has Gone Before'). It's actually a bit of a weak resolution compared to the rest of the episode, with a quick scuffle between each opponent, never any real jeopardy after the first shot's rung out.

There's never any mention of the mob again, but as ever, the series likes to end on a positive note, which is no bad thing, with one of the best tag scenes of the series, because it genuinely is funny: they're all at 'The Pits,' and after a heartwarming moment where Starsky makes Spenser look even bigger in the eyes of his son than he already does, Sharon arrives to tell him the good news: she's back with George thanks to him. Hutch can't keep from laughing along with her delighted good humour, turning into a guffaw at Starsky's expense (what Jimmy would have been if he'd got shot), prompting his partner to tip a beer into his lap! It was that kind of warm humour that ran through all their scenes, and you have to remind yourself that this isn't really their fight, they don't really have anything to lose. Spense has his family to lose and his life, Booker and Jeeter their careers, but for S&H taking on big bads is what they do all the time, no sweat. That's why it's important to have guest characters who you really feel for, and care what happens to, certainly accomplished with this episode. Casting helps, as does writing, but the actors have to sell it.

Amazingly, this episode is the first in a while not to have any actor from another episode of the series… Actually, it does, but only one this time! Layne Britton, (Jake the nightwatchman who didn't do a very good job!), had also been in 'Murder On Stage 17.' The guy that played Jeeter was especially noteworthy, giving us a man you could both believe was a good friend and trainer, but equally a turncoat, albeit with pangs of conscience, though not enough to stop him carrying out his part. Whitman Mayo was given a 'Special Guest Star' billing, so he must have been a name back then. I'm not sure when the first 'Rocky' film came out, but it would have been around this time, though it's difficult to know if the series was responding to the success of such films as that, or just sensing the zeitgeist in general. What makes it work isn't the setting of life in the ring, however, it's the general formula of a good bit of humour, some fist action where S&H come to the rescue, sticking up for each other in fights, and enjoyable banter (more from Hutch as Starsky's too tired - it's a mix of the familiar joke about their lifestyle outlook, with Hutch being more active and Starsky a little out of shape, with his tiredness over having a new girlfriend who keeps him up, or when she's not there he must be thinking about, constantly mentioned throughout), and a good guy doing the right thing. What more can you want from an episode? Not much, it about covers all the bases, though there was room for a little more emotional investment, perhaps in the negative aspects of the sport, if Lillian Spenser had had more scenes.

***

Crossfire

DVD, Smallville S9 (Crossfire)

I don't know if it was indefinable, but I'm not entirely sure why I liked this episode, though like it I did. I think it's the uplifting, positive feel, not a depressing mire of emotion and crabbiness, or a villain of the week that has to be stopped. It's more subtle than that, perhaps so light on structure as to be lightweight in the plot department, but the characters carry it. Essentially, there are three stories playing out, one between Lois and Clark as they conquer daytime TV (or not) fronting 'Good Morning Metropolis,' another featuring Oliver's desire to put some good into the world, in practice, and the dullest being Tess' update on the Kandorian situation. You could almost count Chloe's personal mission to beat Tess' new tech security as a fourth strand, as she discovers Stuart Campbell, the young man working for Tess, and makes contact with the man on the inside. It's pretty obvious from the way they're introduced through competitive oneupmanship that we have another potential couple in the offing - I suppose they needed to do something like that with Chloe after Jimmy's demise, but it was rather telegraphed by the fact she's finding it such a challenge, and Stuart's impressed by the attacks, so there's a connection of professional pride even before they actually meet. I didn't think Stuart was a proper character until this episode as he's previously appeared as just another of Tess' minions, so it gives her operation a little more depth if we can see the people behind it, as they used to do with varying degrees of success when they were Lex' minions. So I won't write the guy off yet, and it could be interesting to see what an insider can do for the good guys.

I don't know how Clark managed to make it to Lois' TV audition without having to dash off and save somebody, but he did, which made me think it must be even less likely he'd be able to carry out a job like that on daily basis, where he can't just leave at any moment. One of the things I liked about the episode, and which helped to give it a feel-good factor, was that, quite apart from the expected doom and gloom I imagined the series to be about to enter after Clark's telling off for not letting Lois know about Oliver's problems, they skirt over those issues. Partly it's because Lois is no Lana, or even Chloe, who tended to think deeply and react even deeper. She's much more of a surface girl, not in a bad way, but her army brat upbringing has allowed her to accept changes and not react badly for long. Also, unlike those other two, she's a much sunnier, happy-go-lucky personality, that can't be brooding and moody if she tried, or not for long, anyway. It helps she's sweet on Clark, and that she needed him for her audition, but I appreciated their problem didn't go beyond a little light banter and slight irritation - it was probably as much about Lois feeling guilty for not seeing Oliver's troubles or doing more to help him, as for Clark staying silent on the matter, and with that clearing up of something that in earlier seasons would have been dragged out over episodes (if not seasons!), that's the only hanging negative dealt with. It makes you think the series, if it hasn't necessarily matured, as such, has got a new mix, and is more fun because of it, helping you realise Clark is much more suited to someone like this!

It was a big leap for the audience to take when Lois and Clark's first subject for assignment is online blind dating, thus setting them up for comedy and humiliation to an extent, and giving grist for their mill of uncertain status, toying with the ultimate destiny we all expect. And it seems to finally happen, with the pair getting together by the end for a face massage. Unnecessary, but it could have ended on a worse note, I suppose, and at least we got the Queen stuff sorted out as well, as his pining could have become an arc in itself. Not to say it won't, as Oliver usually gets what he wants (and I did love Clark's self-sacrificial attitude to what he thought was happening with Oliver and Lois, though it may also have been motivated by his own nerves hoping he could back out), but now he's got a protege on his hands. This idea to train some fighter, especially a female one, to stop someone ruining their life the way Oliver was doing to himself, came out of the blue. We all know he likes leading a team of heroes, and maybe the Justice League always being split up around the globe without him may have been a prompt for him to start another group, or a sub-group. Perhaps he chose someone younger than himself so he could have a more Fatherly role when he was dealing with her, but whatever the reason for his choice (might even have been seeing how she was treated by the guy who 'owned' her, his compassion guiding the decision to make her the offer), I thought from the episode's title that this would be about a new character called Crossfire.

Maybe it was, maybe if I knew comic books I'd be able to say that that is the origin of a character called Crossfire, getting pulled out of a tough life in the gutter by Oliver Queen, and we'll see her become this hero, but I'm not sure it was, because the title could just as well refer to the various matches and mismatches firing across the episode! Talking of firing, we had a nice effects sequence where Clark gets to remind us that he is, in fact, a superhero, and the series is about him, since most of the episode he's doing soapy stuff or comic relief. Clark stepping in the way of an automatic churning out bullets has been done before (and better - I can't remember the episode in Season 2 where he has to run alongside each bullet and whap it away, but that was more spectacular), but we don't often get good action sequences like this, and I particularly enjoyed the catching of a bullet right in front of Oliver's eye. It helped to round off an episode where I had to admit I enjoyed the experience, and didn't feel annoyed or irritated by story decisions or lack of a story. I didn't even mind the Kandorian scenes, where Tess is threatened by one of Zod's men, undercover as one of her security, and though we don't know how she did it, leaves Zod a message which shows she dealt with the guy in the most severe manner! If they could use all the characters as well as this on an ongoing basis it would transform the series, in my view. It would never be like the early, great seasons, but it could become something different, and still good. At least it's got better than the first few episodes threatened to, which is all I ask.

***