Strange Justice

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S4 (Strange Justice) (2)

We've seen a few crooked cops through the series, such as Dobey's friend 'Iron' Mike Ferguson (of 'Iron Mike'), or Lieutenant Fargo and his secret committee (of, unsurprisingly, 'The Committee'), so it's no shock to meet another one. Lieutenant Dan Slate is another good cop that Dobey's known for almost twenty years, but he's got a strong motive for his sudden career change to vigilante: his daughter was raped by a lowdown crook and it knocks him off the rails. The thing with most of these bent coppers is that they usually feel they're carrying out true justice - plenty of times we've seen S&H come up against the bureaucracy and the tight limits of the law, complaining about what they can't do to deal with those whose rights are held above their victims, or so it seems. In this very episode they're talking to a guy from the Department of Justice and he complains about budget cuts, time constraints (in the same way as the lady from the department dealing with child abuse in 'The Crying Child' last season), and all the troubles running such organisations entails, while S&H are at the coalface of the streets and know the effects of crime firsthand, and it's nothing to do with rulebooks and statutes. At the same time, without these strictly enforced guides to how suspects can be treated, there's always the danger of false accusation, wrongful suspicion and human error, so it's as much about protecting society from overzealous guardians as it is about the perpetrators of crime.

At the same time there's probably some degree of yearning within most people that things could be as simple as they were in less developed times, when society was a case of each family defending their own rights. Trouble is, that kind of summary justice was only of use to the strong, and society had to create and uphold its laws to prevent anarchy as everyone did what best suited them, and naturally it's tough for anyone to hold back from taking any advantage for themselves. And that's why S&H continue to strive in their day to day job of the unending battle to keep the streets safe and clean from the scum of the Earth that have polluted it, even while it probably does the authorities good for S&H to butt up against the attitudes of those that don't witness the effect of crime as a norm of daily life, as they do. You can understand the police's frustration, too, yet no one condones Slate's surprise shooting of Lenny Biggs, the man who attacked and raped his daughter in her own room of the sorority house she was sharing with her friends. The episode has some very emotive moments, whether it's the guilt of her friend, Lori, a fellow student who was the last to see her as they parted to go to their rooms, overwrought with her feelings of uselessness in the face of such a vile act. And Slate himself, a pugnacious, red-faced bundle of rage, impotent in his position of Father after the attack, unable to protect his child, desperately trying to comfort her in hospital, treating her like a little girl again, but knowing there's nothing he can do to make it better.

Until he decides there is: take justice into his own hands. Be the judge, jury and executioner, and he's wily enough to be able to pull if off, ultimately succeeding in his goal of seeing Biggs die for his crime through the machinations he set in play, using all his knowledge of police procedure. S&H are never fooled, but before he goes AWOL they try to talk it out with him, at first warning him not to get in the way of their investigation in as sensitive a way as possible, which still causes a flareup of anger, a powder keg who vents he doesn't have anything to lose, but it results in them hanging with Slate at Starsky's place, letting him work through his unsettled state of mind, which works until he snaps to the uselessness of sitting around. It seemed they'd defused him, but in the end he storms off after babbling about his daughter's rights, the rights of society against the criminals. It's a good point, but he should have left it to his colleagues, especially knowing them as he does - he'd know Dobey would put his best men on the case to secure Biggs' conviction, and that S&H would do everything they can, and a bit more. But it's not enough, because he has his own guilt for letting his daughter down, and if he's been a police officer for so long, yet his own child is a victim of crime, it's no surprise that he would lose faith in official channels and take drastic and deadly action.

Like S&H, Slate has his own network of snitches that keep him apprised of what, who and where on the streets, so he trawls the backstreets until he finds one, Marsellus Cobb, going through a pantomime arrest so he can take him away from his friends and enlist his assistance in his plan. He even throws the drugs Cobb was in possession of to the guy's friends! It was an effective ruse, and Cobb, ex-military, is able to get hold of a gun for him to carry out his plan: to get Biggs into a situation where he's shot by the cops, achieving his aim without actually pulling the trigger himself. It's a strong moment when Dobey, who gets to be part of the action for a change, has to make the call on whether Biggs is holding Slate captive, or vice versa, especially when there are personal feelings involved. S&H smell a rat, but Officer Chuck Dobson takes out Biggs when it appears Slate's life is in danger, though S&H discover the small pistol he was using to keep up the charade, and Biggs was too much of a coward to speak up or do anything other than follow the vehement, stormy-faced Lieutenant's instructions. If he'd had any backbone he might have saved his own skin, but in typical bullying form, Biggs was controlled by his own emotions, whether that was for Leslie, or fear for himself. It could be said he got his just deserts, but it was for a court to decide his punishment and enact it.

Other ideas are thrown in, such as Internal Affairs being involved since Slate shot Biggs at HQ, and for once the guy we meet, Myerson, is fairly equitable, rather than having obvious distaste for the methods of, and dislike for the persons of, S&H. He cites an image-conscious DA, the press' reaction to Slate's shooting, and such, which shows that he isn't simply coming down hard on an officer of twenty years for no reason. He's doing his job, and he takes it seriously, but the few times we've met members of IA they're the bad guys, intent only on taking S&H down a peg or two, or getting rid of them entirely. It makes sense, since the series is from the perspective of S&H, so anyone that comes up against them must be viewed as the enemy, I suppose, but it was refreshing to have a more balanced viewpoint this time. The other friend of Leslie's, Cassie, whom S&H talk to, has a theory on why these things happen, saying modern society packages sex and violence like breakfast cereal, and she's got a point (though you could say this TV series is part of that, though on a lesser scale than films, and certainly far softer than modern fare!), but there are no easy answers. When S&H are at the Justice Department Hutch talks of 2,600 rape cases in the town last year (wonder why he didn't say city?), and how few of them progressed anywhere - there's trouble in the departmental system, so it's a bit of an indictment on the whole structure, though I'm sure it's improved to the present day.

At first S&H are supportive of Slate, though not his actions, and Dobey, of course, doesn't want to see his friend throw away twenty years of solid duty on the force to end up in County Jail, but matters are out of their hands through Slate's daring, but highly motivated decision to pursue Biggs personally. And he gets his reward, at the cost of career and freedom, but in the heat of the moment he says it was worth it. Once he'd calmed down and cooled off I wonder if he'd still think that, considering he's deprived Leslie of her Father, especially as we know the Mother is gone, though I wasn't clear if she died or left them. He was too concerned with his own feelings to think about what he might be doing to his daughter by the course of action he chose, a selfish motive to redeem his guilt in his own eyes, even if he told himself he was doing it for Leslie - it was vengeance, pure and simple, he even used the word himself when talking to Biggs.

For an episode that deals with such disturbing subject matter it's not so strange that the usual conventions don't play much of a part: there aren't really any references (unless you count Cassie describing Lori as being in the 'suburban Tupperware mould'), and few of the familiar tropes we expect to see, such as eccentrics or jokes. The one we do get is a proper running joke that begins at the start with meter maid O'Reilly giving an indignant Hutch a parking ticket, continues later in the episode when she gives him another one, and provides a relieving end, too: apparently Hutch's stringent and almost abusive reaction to her doing her job has led to an unofficial complaint that Internal Affairs will be looking into! For once I was glad of a light scene to close the episode after all the heaviness it had entailed, and I like it when they do chart the progress of a running joke across the whole thing. In the first part the Captain is smug, reminding Hutch that his badge doesn't get him special privileges, but the smile's wiped off his face when he finds out O'Reilly's done the same to him! When they go to the Justice Department (which, by the way, the sign 'Angeles County Court' can be glimpsed in a close shot as the camera pans down from the scales of justice bas-relief, but is absent in the establishing long shot), I wondered why they'd taken Hutch's car, since they'd just been at Starsky's with the Torino clearly parked outside. Then when the second ticket incident occurred it made perfect sense!

There are some nice callbacks, such as Starsky's classic u-turn in the middle of a busy road of traffic and pedestrians, with the Torino's massive turning circle, and when he screeches to a halt, bumping the curb, with Hutch's door falling back open after he'd shut it when leaping out - the usual lack of respect for the series' central vehicle! The same can't be said of Dobey who gets to be out on the road, and just happens to be driving when S&H call in Slate's and Biggs' location, and he's there for the hostage situation, facing one of his toughest field decisions that we've seen. I think he may have hesitated, which led to Chuck shooting Biggs, so it's not necessarily a good scene for him, especially as it takes S&H's noses to smoke Slate's fraud out, and it might have been better if we'd seen the Captain's old instincts direct his men. But perhaps sitting behind a desk for so long has dulled the blade, and anyway, the series isn't called 'Captain Dobey With Starsky and Hutch.' Huggy also plays his part, they find him out having dinner with his 'business manager' (what happened to Rita, sorry, Anita the waitress?), and it's he who puts them onto Cobb. But he isn't in it much for an episode that is so much about the streets. It's also the archetypal 'negative attitude' episode, showing the worst elements of the city: rubbish, degradation, horrible crime, and even the spotless facade of the Justice buildings can't improve the tone, and in fact just makes justice feel more removed from the reality of the city.

I wonder who reported the prowler, since it wasn't the girls of the sorority house. That part of the episode, regardless of the horror of Biggs witnessing the friends mucking about in their young lives, was a bit of a bore, one reason I'm not fond of the episode. Slate was a good character and the actor did a great job selling such strong emotions, especially when he's daring someone to tell him what's happened to his daughter, even though he probably knows. His performance raises the episode, which isn't the most deep story, and you do feel sympathy for him, despite the wrong he's doing. Leslie might have had more to do or say, but after the attack, becomes a voiceless victim with only her friends to express any thoughts or ideas that she might share. But it was nice to see Memorial Hospital again, where she stays in the psychiatric ward.

The policewoman that comes down the stairs as Hutch is shouting after O'Reilly puts a hand to her ear and screws up her face as if he's too loud - I like it when extras enter into the spirit of a scene! I think she was the same person as the policewoman that sits with Leslie and whom Dobey refers to as Officer Milton, though she's not credited since she doesn't have any lines - Huggy's 'business manager' is similarly silent and uncredited. This week's returning faces are Lindsay Bloom as O'Reilly, previously Jane in Season 2's 'The Vampire.' And both Cassie (Susan Heldfond), and Cobb (Carl Anderson), had been students in Season 3's 'Class in Crime,' a coincidence that made me wonder if it had been the same Director (Reza Badiyi), but that one had been directed by Paul Michael Glaser. Lastly, is Leslie Slate played by the same actress who went on to be Quark's Cardassian love, Natima Lang in 'DS9'? Both are Mary Crosby, but the former is credited as Mary Francis Crosby.

**