Ambush

DVD, Smallville S10 (Ambush)

General Lane (much like Perry White), is one of those characters I'd have expected to be somewhat recurring, but I don't think he was in more than a couple of episodes when Lois was first introduced in Season 4, and it's a minor delight to see him, and his other daughter, troublemaker Lucy, returning to Smallville for what I assume was an episode shown at Thanksgiving since they talk of the holiday and it ends with the traditional turkey dinner. I'm not sure if they'd used that setting for an episode before, but they'd certainly done Christmas, Halloween and others, so it's part of the series' tradition and fitted in neatly with the theme of family. Not that it's happy families, as General Lane has come with a mission of war on Clark. I don't know if that was his initial intention since he just shows up, and it's really not clear if they were coming by invitation and were just early, which causes the embarrassment from Lois' frisky encouragement for Clark to join her on the front porch without full clothing, just as Lane and Lucy arrive, but he certainly makes it an issue: Clark gets interrogated under a lamp, issued with his orders to clean house, and is the subject of constant disapproval, but what we learn is that all this is not, contrary to appearances, a test for him, but for Lois, whose devotion to her old Dad has always been strong enough not to question his methods in examining her boyfriends. But on this occasion she speaks up for Clark and that's how he knows she really cares deeply for the guy.

The War on Clark is only a frivolous story, you might say, but within it are links to a much more serious one: that of the new Vigilante Registration Act the General is successfully pushing through (despite opposition from Clark's own Mother - nice to hear her referred to again, even if half the time it's in a sort of derogatory rating of Clark's prospects, still living in a house under his Mum's name, working in a 'basement' at the Daily Planet…). Also tying into this threat to the privacy and rights of the individual is Queen's realisation, thanks to Tess, of a tattoo embedded beneath his skin that's tracking his movements. Yes, it's the Suicide Squad and its skull-and-crossbones symbol causing the trouble, only now Watchtower and its denizens are aware of Rick Flag's monitoring, and Clark is similarly warned of the tracking capabilities. I'm not sure how Lane was tracked to the Kent farm at the start, because Lucy is given a special pen with which the 'US military' can keep tabs on and protect the General, so what was Flag using before then, a more general bug on his car?

Lucy was a little extraneous, but it's heartwarming to see the whole family together and she has her own mini-arc where she tries to cause a little trouble between Clark and Lois, then thinks she's doing her Father right by passing on the compromising photos of Clark with Kara in her hero costume to show the links between him and the 'vigilantes' Lane has set himself against, but she and Lois make up before the end, since it was actually the pen that gave Flag a target to blast, hopefully with the General on the receiving end, but in fact it's the Talon, Lois' place in town, that gets blown apart in the most spectacular (if CG), fashion. There's a fantastic visual of Lois being blown across the room by the orange bloom of explosion, while Clark exceeds Flag's expectations by being faster than a speeding missile (surely a smaller bullet would be faster anyway - less air resistance?), rushes in and pulls her out right in the middle of the blast, then leaves The Blur's 'S' sign to show the General he's there to help! There are a couple of really good stunts, the other one being when Clark and Arrow bring Flag's truck to a rollover halt, so the episode has a bit of everything: action, spectacle, emotion, family ties, and happy endings all round!

Oliver deciding not to visit Watchtower again because it could draw attention since so many superheroes depend on it who haven't gone public with their true identities, isn't exactly upbeat, but he shares a friendly moment with Tess in her new position running the place. Then there's Lois and Lucy making up, and of course the lovely scenes of them sitting round for Thanksgiving dinner, not to mention the General coming clean on his tactic and being at least positive towards The Blur, calling him Lois' guardian angel, as well as respecting Clark standing up to him, a man that's accustomed to cowing those around him and getting what he wants when he wants it, so they share a pleasant exchange. I wouldn't say he'd be forgiving if he ever found out Clark was The Blur, but it was a great way to end a feel-good episode, the kind of story that has its dark moments, but is largely a glowing smile - it has its humour, too, such as Oliver having to leap out the window of the barn to avoid being seen by Lane or his daughter, and the quick whisk off to 'get cranberries' when Clark went to put out a refinery fire. It ends with Flag calling the passing of the act a declaration of war, and we know he's continued to recruit the super-powered to his cause - his lieutenant in the episode has the ability to vanish, maybe even teleport, and that's how he was able to evade Queen and Kent. So there's a lot of balls in the air regarding villainy this season with the weird dark cloud, child clone Lex, and both members of the American establishment, and the Suicide Squad gearing towards war. I'm glad we had a mostly positive episode at this juncture, it wouldn't do for things to get pulled down into doom and gloom so soon.

***

Targets Without A Badge - Part II

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S4 (Targets Without A Badge - Part II) (2)

The difficult middle part of a trilogy… is actually not that bad in this case. I'd even go so far as to say it's the best of the three if my vague memories of disappointment about Part III ring true. And although middle parts have the reputation of being the weaker for not being a genesis or a conclusion, 'The Empire Strikes Back,' 'Toy Story 2' and 'The Search For Spock' say otherwise. With this middle it's more of a new story anyway, largely unconnected to Part I's characters and plot (though the credits list says differently - more on that later), the only continuation of note being S&H on the hunt for jobs in their newly unemployed lives. They still have the swagger of authority they've always had as cops, but now they have neither badge nor gun to back it up, yet they still can't avoid getting involved, their finely tuned instincts jumpstarting them into action to foil an armed robbery of some kind, two men on a motorbike evading the law until Hutch throws his jacket over the driver and Starsky flings open a passenger door to bring the pursuit to a dead stop - notice that it's not his car that sacrifices its door, and S&H nonchalantly stride away after the incident, leaving the poor car owner to pick up the pieces! One thing missing from all this is their position outside of law enforcement: we don't even see the cops involved in the chase warn them to keep out of the way in future, it's like they're still cops and they walk and talk as if they are (even pulling a ruse on the flower girl who delivers a package at the hotel, implying they have badges of authority), the FBI agents telling them to keep out while also talking to them almost as equals.

That's the reason this episode is more like a holiday special for them than genuine despair or concern for their future - we know they'll rejoin the force, and seemingly everyone around them does too, so the worst thing they have to suffer is the indignity of catching the bus back to where they left Starsky's Torino when the FBI pull them in for their talking to. It's a far cry from the threat level at the end of Part I where they're scrambling for their lives at the wrong end of assassins' guns. Here, the pair sent to follow them are pretty laid-back, cruising around, trying to work out how much they're involved, I suppose. This would make their sudden attempt on S&H's lives at the end make more sense, since the pair had visited both the FBI and Police HQ, so it's not too difficult to suppose that they're secretly still on the McClellan case. The presentation of the episode also fails to make it clear who some of the characters are. We get the vague impression of a big boss behind it all (you know he's big because of his White House-like home and opulent surroundings, though no red carpet this time!), a white-haired old gent (James Gunther, according to the credits, but not stated anywhere in the episode), with a curly-haired assistant (also unnamed), talking about S&H's coming death. But as for him being McClellan's boss up the food chain, or another party, we're not told. McClellan is mentioned, as is Soldier (though again, he was never actually named during Part I, so unless you're paying strict attention and watching the episodes on repeat viewing, you wouldn't know that he was the silver-jacketed hitman), though neither make an appearance, further divorcing this from Part I.

At least S&H are back on speaking terms with Huggy, rather than accusatory shouting terms, as we see them hanging out for lunch with their friend at The Pits. Mardean, the wife of murdered Rigger in Part I, gets a mention, another character who doesn't appear, though still at the forefront of their minds - Hutch asks if they can feel any more guilty than they already do, but it would have been better to see the trio patch it up rather than speaking of what happened previously. I'm not suggesting it would have been a barrel of laughs to see them guilt-stricken, unable to find a job, full of angst and self-loathing. Instead, this episode is a barrel of laughs, all the slapstick and banter bereft in Part I distilled into this one, making it quite a different experience than you'd expect after the emotional and physical battering they suffered at the end of that. That's one reason I didn't used to like this much, and I'm not saying it was a good episode, but it was most certainly an improvement from Part I. Just, if you were expecting a roller-coaster of danger, you don't get it. If you were expecting McClellan and the other characters, you don't get them. What you get is Starsky opening the episode kicking a tin can around (for some reason that always stuck in my head), Hutch dressing like an imitation of Tom Baker's fourth Doctor from 'Dr. Who' (same hat and long scarf, and this would have been the time when he was at the top of the ratings, at least in England), and the pair of them acting like fish out of water, bumbling and one-upping each other whenever a woman was in sight and generally making the most of their newfound freedom.

If the episode wasn't part of a trilogy you could almost see it as an alternate reality of what life might have been like had S&H not been on the force. The forced charm whenever it was needed, the big questions, such as whether they should go to a matinee screening of a film, and Hutch acting at his most eccentric with his continued strange taste in cars - sadly it seems his battered old motor that had been in the series since the pilot, was not salvageable from Soldier's explosion in Part I, as he's gone and got himself a new one. A silly little convertible he names Belle and carries an umbrella around within, in case of rain (is the hood broken?). In case it sounds as if the episode was played purely for comedy there is a little something injected by the strange case of Alison May, this girl that seems oddly open to S&H's attentions. It proves more than it seems when we find out she's actually Laura Anderson, a neighbour and friend of Starsky's from twenty-one years ago when they both lived in New York (84th Street). It's good enough that we're getting to hear another fact about one of our characters' past, but it becomes even more when we learn she was dead to Starsky, in a car crash at the age of eleven, or so he'd been told. In reality she and her parents, Frank and Marion, his neighbours for five years (Alison was six when they first knew each other), were given protected identities and moved away for their safety because of the work Frank did, becoming Tom, Carol and Alison May, though her Mum died six years ago.

Such a surprise revelation, followed by Alison's admittance of deliberately getting to know Starsky again because she'd heard about what happened and wanted to trust someone again, adds depth to the story and it stops being about S&H messing about and struggling to find their footing now that they don't have a steady job to hold them down. That 'Uncle' Frank is angry at Alison for bringing Starsky into it, and doesn't trust him, only increases the interest, especially when we see that he's being blackmailed by a woman known only as Karen, Alison's life in danger otherwise, and something to do with Thomas being a collaborator (there's one for advanced 'DS9' viewers - I knew him best for playing a Bajoran fifteen years later in… 'The Collaborator,' where he also used a cane if I recall, so perhaps it wasn't an actor's affectation, but a required prop. It's like the guy that played Joe Dawson in 'Highlander,' and I'm still not sure if he actually needed a stick or it was part of the character). He's got names of people he can share, which all ties into the McClellan case and Gunther's operation, though none of this is very clear from the actual episode. As if to reassure us that S&H are on track to get back to where they should be, the episode ends with them in Dobey's office wanting him to speed up their application for gun permits, then it ends quietly and abruptly with 'To Be Continued' on screen.

One natural development missing from both parts of the story was Dobey's reaction to S&H's quitting. I'm sure he would have given them a wise talking to and told them they could do more good by being in the force than out of it, and they shouldn't be so selfish to allow guilt to take away their valuable contribution to society. That's what I imagine he would have said, but we never got to see it, and even if he'd exploded at them as Huggy did it would have been an added dart in them to add to the pain and drama. Here, Dobey is serious and disapproving, but S&H look as comfortable and in the right place reclining in his office than they ever have, which proves that having the badge is only an extension of their personality and the natural inclination they have to get involved. Things certainly look up for them - they may have been attacked again, but now they're ready to fight back, the gun application only one more sign that they're ready to saddle up again, and a personal connection in need to give them the motivation.

As well as learning where Starsky used to live we get a valuable data point when S&H talk of how long they've worked together in this precinct: seven years, so we've seen more than half their career together, assuming they didn't work at another precinct before that (prequel series anyone? 'Starsky & Hutch: The First Three Years' - I'd watch that!). When reporting the theft of the Torino's battery they mention it to the unimpressed Policewoman dealing with their incident. She's quite stern with them, newly transferred, and now she's there and they're not - where's Minnie when you need her! I wouldn't quite say this was their typical bumping up against authority that we're used to (though they do that too, when reacting to Agent Smithers and the other guy from the FBI's warning to back off), but she might just fit into the eccentric band at a stretch. There aren't the references, but we certainly get at least one other eccentric, the sleazy 'filmmaker,' Blaze, who talks ten to the dozen when they visit in response to an ad in the paper. When he says it's for film work in front of camera Hutch claims they don't have acting experience, but how could he be so modest? This season he, himself, and Starsky too, have both played undercover roles (I don't need to mention the episodes!), and shown an enjoyment and aptitude for acting that should suit them perfectly to such a job, not to mention the 'acting' in 'Murder On Stage 17,' and other undercover parts. But then they learn it's for 'adult' films and are out the door as quick as they can, never mind a hundred bucks a day, it's too sleazy even for them!

The big continuity is in their fawning over women and competing most seriously against each other with tricks and messing about - the funniest moment is at the Employment Centre where they both try to get Miss Evers to interview them, Starsky bumping the table so Hutch loses his balance, tips over a low partition onto some secretary's desk, ending up with his face in her lap as a hanging plant swings into her face and she screams for him to get off! But it's the competition over Alison that really harks back to their 'glory days,' with Hutch arresting Starsky's immediate attentions at The Pits where Alison happens to be (they're too interested in her to be suspicious she should have popped up again), by advising caution and fairness, tying it back somewhat into Starsky's card trick in Part I, only he tells Starsky to think of a number from one to ten as he shuts his eyes, and of course Hutch takes advantage by tiptoeing away and getting in first, winning a meal at the Brighton Coffee Shop with her. But even when they first meet her they're immediately fawning over her, helping with the handbrake and complimenting her, and it's so funny, though so typical. The confusion over which is Starsky and which is Hutch returns, with Mr. Gore at the Employment Centre addressing Hutch as Starsky, though miss Evers puts him right (I'm still waiting for the classic, 'He's Hutch, I'm Starsky'), and the running joke is slight, but Hutch's new car would seem to fit - he's very proud when telling Alison about it.

Cars are a prominent topic, with Hutch having qualms about getting in Starsky's after what happened to his. It's not because the white-striped tomato would draw attention and be an obvious target as it would in the real world, but simply that Starsky left it unattended overnight in a quiet little street (though just before he said that you can just see a guy standing in frame watching them - was it an extra that wasn't supposed to be loitering, a member of the crew, or a member of the public not supposed to be there, I wonder?), so it could have been tampered with. I'm assuming this is the outside of Starsky's place, which we almost never see, as it would make sense for Hutch to drive up, while Starsky is waiting for him. We also see them at his place later in the episode. Hutch was really getting into his role - when he's burbling at Alison on their first meeting he fumbles his line about being 'so glad we didn't run that little car over,' and has to repeat it to get it out! I also found it interesting where they go to take the aptitude test: the full name on the building reads 'State of California Employment Development Department Employment Office.' Not very catchy, but it puts their city in California if we can take signs to mean anything since there have been a few that have suggested Los Angeles and New York in recent episodes!

And now the Saga of The Credits. It took me ages to go through and work out who was who and what was going on with this episode because it's one of the rare ones that has the main guest actors' names at the beginning (along with the episode title), but as they did with some of the two-parters, all the main roles are credited regardless of whether they appear in this episode or not, which is bizarre! They didn't have the names at the start of Part I, perhaps to camouflage the fact it wasn't going to end in the space of one episode, but here's a rundown as best I could work out for who's in it and who's not: Ken Kercheval (Deputy DA Clayburn), Robert Tessier (Soldier), Troas Hayes (Mardean), all from Part I, get a credit and don't appear, while Peter MacClean (Judge McClellan), also doesn't, but gets a 'Special Guest Appearance' credit which he didn't get in Part I! William Prince is the only actor to also get his character name (James Gunther), while other actors in the closing credits are there, but not in the episode: I don't recall a Fred Oates in the episode, nor a Reporter, a guy called Dodds or a woman called Nancy. To top it all, Felicia, the woman in a dressing gown who comes in during S&H's interview at the dodgy film company, isn't credited (unless she was Nancy in the original script), nor does Karen, the blackmailer, and La Wanda Page doesn't appear as Mrs. Swayder. I'd remember her as she played Lady Bessie in Season 2's 'Huggy Bear and The Turkey.'

Alex Courtney is credited at the start, and I think he was the curly-haired assistant to Gunther as he'd been in another role before (Simonetti in Season 3's 'Hutchinson: Murder One'), though he was credited as Alex rather than Alexander that time. Angus Duncan is another name I couldn't put a face to (as are Dave Shelley and Lee Bryant), but was another prior connection, appearing as Wilson in Season 2's 'The Set-Up.' Darrell Zwerling makes an almost unprecedented fifth appearance on the series, though previously under the name Darryl (he'd played minor roles in four other episodes across Seasons 2 and 3), as Mr. Gore. Gino Conforti was the sleazy Blaze, but had been Mickey in Season 1's 'The Fix' (as Gene), and Richard Herd deserves mention as FBI Agent Smithers for being both a 'TJ Hooker' (the Captain Dobey role in that series), and Trek stalwart (his most famous role being Admiral Paris, Tom Paris' Father on 'Voyager'). The most fun casting connection is Charles Picerni as one of the hitmen tailing S&H, his third credited role on the series, though he can usually be spotted doubling Paul Michael Glaser in Starsky's action scenes, was Stunt Coordinator, and also a Director. Even more interestingly, his partner in crime (I'm assuming he was Marty as there wasn't anyone else called that), was played by Chuck Hicks, another repeat offender for the series in his third credited role, though I have the feeling he was also a member of either the regular extras or the stunt team as he's a face that crops up now and again.

When S&H decide to see if they've got a tail, and you automatically assume it's the guys who have been doing that all episode (love it when Hutch shouts to put on the red light and Starsky replies 'what red light,' so even that had been stripped away from them!), I was thinking it could be Charles Picerni, which would mean he was chasing himself (something we came close to seeing when one of his previous characters was chasing Starsky on foot), since you can just make out it's him sitting in for Starsky, but it turned out to be the FBI agents, not the hitmen. The muddled situation with the credits is a good analogy for the episode and trilogy as a whole: it's bigger and more varied, but it's not quite right, nor do you get what you expect. Part III didn't keep the upward curve going from my recollection, so it was more of a failed experiment than an overriding success, but this part of it remains pretty fun and uses S&H in entertaining ways of old. If you zoned in on this one and watched it as a standalone you would be left in the dark about a lot of things, but even watching it as Part II it doesn't do much better, the scope of the story and the number of characters perhaps leading the writers to run away with themselves rather than keeping track and neatly, coherently, laying the whole thing out. But there's a lot to be said for humour done right (as opposed to the extremes of 'Dandruff' - oops, I mentioned it again).

**

Harvest

DVD, Smallville S10 (Harvest)

It was a clever idea the way they brought back Lex Luthor into the series - they did it without needing Michael Rosenbaum or another fill-in, they simply have a young clone of him whose accelerated ageing is causing him to grow up fast, and not only does he have the characteristics a clone would, he has the same memories as if he'd actually been Lex. I'd say Tess' plan backfired on her, and in a big way. Alexander looks set to be the foe of the season to end the series, though it remains to be seen if they can pull it off, and whether the constant ageing will put us through a number of changes in the cast or whether young Alexander will find a way to halt his condition and be a nasty child version. Although this is another episode that avoids this season's apparent mandate to bring back a previously seen character every time, there are many references to the past - even the ageing of Alexander is referred to something that happened in Season 3, the guy whose daughter lived at high speed (one of the better ones in a weak season as I recall, though it's been many years since I saw it), but so much is talked about between Clark and Lois on a nice drive in the country as she puts it all together now that he can be honest, and even Clark learns it was she that pulled out the blue dagger recently.

This isn't the best episode to explore Clark's powers from her perspective as it turns out, because they stumble upon an idyllic rural community that soon reveal themselves to be a meteor cult that want to sacrifice Lois under a cauldron of blue fire, believing such an offering to God will keep them and their crops healthy for another year. As it happens, their area was also hit by meteors back in '89, only these were blue - I couldn't remember what blue Kryptonite meant (I just remember the guy, again in Season 3, using them as bullets), but we soon get a reminder: it strips Clark's powers from him and makes him vulnerable as long as it's near. Which sounds pretty much like the green variety except not as potent, as it doesn't kill him. That's left up to the evil villagers who bury him underground, though as soon as they've left (they're infected by the water they drink), he's able to do a stereotypical hand reaching out of the earth like many a horror film before him. It's not the only stereotypical element to proceedings, the whole village of devoted religious believers is out of the horror handbook of nasty villages. Importantly, especially in a modern TV series, I like that Lois is able to distinguish between the Biblical knowledge she has and this alteration of it, rather than the episode suggesting that all people of faith are mad and dangerous to themselves and others, as can be the case in some TV shows.

A more realistic approach is taken, Lois even citing the commandment 'thou shalt not kill,' in her defence. But the villagers have been led astray by circumstance and their desire to eschew modern life, instead held in thrall by their leader who has twisted beliefs into a reason that his daughter died, the first to suffer, in the meteor shower, so that something good could come of it in his mind, presumably. Clark, powers restored, gives a warning, then whisks Lois off to safety, but from the start I equated the story more with a 'Stargate SG-1' episode than a typical 'Smallville,' with the usual idea of a beautiful, if simplistic agrarian community hiding a terrible secret. Not that that's a bad thing, it's good to see a series try something different, but they didn't use the idea to the fullest, and although it's a theme of Clark and Lois needing each other, and even if Clark doesn't have his powers their teamwork saves the day, it wasn't quite up to the standards of Lois and Clark-centric episodes at their best in this, and last, season. The scene at the end was also a little full-on for the series (when did they light all those candles?), and that sort of thing isn't necessary to show us how much they care for each other.

I think the failure of the episode is that it doesn't really give us anything new, which you'd expect now that the pair of them both know about Clark's secret and that the other knows, and while the reminiscing about past events in a new light could be said to cover that base to some extent the story was really the opposite of what was needed. There's a hint of Clark's overprotectiveness when he got Tess to assign him and Lois to a safe story in the countryside instead of an anti-hero rally that might put Lois in the firing line for her pro-Blur stance, but that was undermined by the fact that she actually was put in danger anyway. So it seems Lois can't be protected and Clark has to keep calm and loosen up, or keep her in a cage, but we know that's not what she'd accept so it does show her to be a bit of a liability. But that's always been the case and now that she knows, perhaps they'll be in a better position to deal with opposing events, but I can't help feel her reckless nature will only increase because she's even more sure of herself, knowing she has an alien boyfriend with superpowers to keep her from falling, whatever she does. I would call it a mediocre episode all told, though any time it's Lois and Clark together the series is better, so at least it has that, even while the Tess and Alexander B-plot is depressing as we see her pet project revealed as the danger Lex always was.

**

Targets Without A Badge - Part I

DVD, Starsky & Hutch (Targets Without A Badge - Part I) (2)

They still had the desire to experiment with the series, as shown by the fact that although this doesn't feel like anything out of the norm it's actually the first in the series' one and only three-part storyline, as close as it came to being serialised. They wouldn't have done an episode where S&H give up their day jobs without having plenty of ground to return them to the status quo, but though they gave themselves more time than any story before, this first part is essentially a slow burn, building up to reaching such a drastic decision as jacking it all in, and chucking their badges into the sea. Although… with that freeze frame I don't think you actually see them throw the badges so I wonder if it cut like that so they didn't need to retrieve the props? No, probably a bit too drastic, but I do love it when they use a freeze frame to underline a dramatic moment, like in Season 3's 'I Love You, Rosey Malone,' where Starsky runs until he's fit to burst in a pique of emotion, the shot freezing this pain in a visual. Would S&H really give up what they love, and what they're so good at simply because they weren't listened to by those in authority and another life was lost? Wouldn't Captain Dobey have some wise words for them? No doubt he would, but they couldn't have the strength of their conviction wavered by sensible practicality, and more than anything it was Huggy's righteously angry words thrown in their faces, and the sight of a poor little girl who'll now grow up without a Father that caused them to give up in that emotive, tearjerking end.

That's basically what they've done, because ordinarily all this would just spur them on even harder to beat the criminals and prove those above them wrong. But Lionel's murder was just one more straw on top of so many others they cite, and once again it's about the on-the-ground perspective versus the rulebook and probabilities Deputy DA Clayburn and Deputy Police Chief Reasonor work by, the calculated risk/reward difficulties of law against the heartfelt first-person perspective of justice on the street. This time it's too much, not even something they discuss with each other, Hutch comes to the conclusion on his own, then Starsky seeks him out, wanting company, and joins him in their symbolic act of rebellion against the system and all it represents. It would be for Parts II and III to make it right, but for now guilt and dismay got the better of them so that it wasn't worth trying to play the system from the inside any more: the damage was done. If only McLellan and his cronies had left it at that they might just have gotten away with it all, but S&H become targets, and they weren't going to roll over and die, quite the opposite, it was going to make them more determined to do something. Without the power of the badge and protection of carrying a gun they're not firing on all cylinders, but it does at least give the episode a tremendously exciting exit. From probably the moment Hutch's car gets blown up, Lionel is blasted through a window, Huggy rails at them and they take the decision to quit, through to the car mowing into an outdoor cafe, trying to run them down and shooting at them, it's great.

The rest of the episode, not so much. It's certainly slow and the padding is obvious. Perhaps it would have been better to add in extra plots for Dobey or Huggy rather than spending so much time setting up Lionel Rigger to be the catalyst which separates them from the force. It must be said, however, that often the padding scenes are some of the better ones: when Mardean, the soon-to-be-widowed Mrs. Rigger, visits Dobey they have a heated conversation and while the Captain initially displays the usual charm he uses when dealing with women, by the end he's clamped down and become the hard professional. For sure this is certifiably in the serious category, and it has to be for S&H to reach the point they need to. The banter is out the way early in the episode when we see a couple of showgirls from Vegas, Kathy and Linda, attempt to smuggle some drugs, while S&H are on the lookout for them. There's a halfhearted attempt at fun with Starsky trying to do a card trick while the pair of them are bored during a stakeout out of the road they know the drugs are coming, and Hutch gets to lean out looking like an idiot as he drives by to see if the intel is correct, and then there's an incident with a pumpkin lorry, the girls are caught and that's it for comedy, with only the very occasional wry aside (such as Hutch's comment to Starsky, 'why don't you have a little coffee with your sugar'), to remind us we're still in a generally lighthearted series.

So much time is spent showing Rigger as this good guy, whether it's his eccentric outdoor drumming session in the middle of a park where S&H are introduced by Hug, his friendly, cooperative demeanour, and his young family of wife and child, Mardean and Jamie, it's all to enamour him to the audience, and it works. Of course you don't want to see a nice guy like that getting blown away by unprincipled hitman scum. We've seen our share of hitmen, even this season we'd had Hutch taking on the identity of one in 'Ninety Pounds of Trouble,' and there was the guy blowing things up via remote detonation as Soldier does here in 'Cover Girl,' not to mention the female assassin in 'Photo Finish' so they've certainly used that concept to the fullest. But this one doesn't have the finesse or culture of the others, he looks like a thug, uses simple diversionary tactics (blowing up Hutch's car would do it!), and happily blasts Rigger away, right through a window (something else we'd already seen recently - 'Birds Of A Feather' featured exactly the same death of a snitch). But he's also far too showy and obvious to make a success of his business, eschewing sharp suits and fine hats for a shiny silver jacket, driving a big white Chevrolet pickup. Granted, it's for visual's sakes and dramatic licence, but really! On an unrelated note I would also note that when Lionel arranges a coke deal from Dobey's office and calls S&H 'really bad cops' it would have been easy for the Judge to check their records and see just how bad they really weren't!

A lot of the episode is rather dry from all the legal technicalities and precedence, so that going from trying to trap the crooked Judge (Rigger meets him in a very poorly lit subway), to a court hearing in front of Judge Bellin (doing her bit for minorities of the time), it loses the more traditional type of drama the series tends toward. Legal loopholes and procedure isn't really what works for them, especially not when Hutch is so easily tied up and made to look unsure in front of Gesslin, the defence counsel. What I'm getting at is the unevenness of the plotting, as if they were unsure how to keep the story moving without getting to Rigger's murder too soon, and had to keep things running until that point. So it's not the best of episodes, and though it was a bold move to try out a three-parter this late in the game, allowing them to do something as dramatic as they did, perhaps it would have been better to begin the episode with S&H on the run, fearing for their lives and tell the story of how they got to that point as they dodge assassins. Instead, it trundles, with little action to inject a sense of jeopardy, even given the bust S&H set up for a couple of McLellan's dealers thanks to Rigger's assistance. A Federal Judge could well be their most sinister and serious opponent yet, but little of his power and reach is demonstrated so far in the story, and it's more about the reaction S&H have to the failures of their own justice system than his interference or machinations.

At least there are plenty of tropes and references to eat up. We're back in Vegas briefly, the Hilton to be exact, though the opening, showing all those flashing lights and casinos was very reminiscent of the beginning of Season 2's 'The Las Vegas Strangler,' if far from the so-called glamour of all that, with only a brief scene of the showgirls planning the drugs run from their hotel room (though I think I spotted Circus Circus' name in lights, which they were based at for that two-parter). One of the girls says she hasn't seen a peace sign (Hutch throws them as he hangs out of the Torino), since Nixon resigned. Hutch calls Huggy the ghetto's answer to Gadabout Gaddis (could be a reference to the US author, William Gaddis, but not sure on that…), and Hug returns that Hutch is not exactly a Robert Redford. There's also a Biblical reference to Daniel being cast to the lions, prophetically used by Rigger, considering what happens to him. Hutch also mentions the Belmont Hotel (used in 'Huggy Can't Go Home'), and both cars are evident. It's unclear whether, after being exploded, Hutch's broken down old motor was salvageable. (Tough little car. Little?). I hope so, as it would be sad to get so close to the end and lose his pride and scrap of the whole series! I actually wondered if he'd taken it in to Merl's recently as it's always had one corner that's a different shade to the rest, but I didn't spot it this time. He also commits his favourite misdemeanours on Starsky's: walking over the bonnet and jumping in through the window, both in quick succession. In his defence they were being shot at!

Hutch's Venice Place apartment is used, which we haven't seen the outside of so much this season (nor the inside, for that matter), and of course S&H rubbing up against authority doesn't get much more than against the Deputy Police Chief himself (who claims what they've done is a far cry from the department's policy of vigilant law enforcement - he's got the long words, but what else?), as well as the Deputy District Attorney (played by Ken Kercheval, who must be the only actor from the series I've ever seen in person - back in 2007 we went to see 'White Christmas' at the Southampton Mayflower, though it was for the sake of meeting 'BUGS' favourite Craig McLachlan, in truth). Noting the development in technology is fascinating, as when you think back to the pilot episode and the huge, bulky radios they had to communicate with, now we see these dinky little models, and that was just four years difference. Three actors return to the series, one of which had been in it only six episodes prior, so I wonder if that's some kind of record for an actor playing two roles in such quick succession? She was Linda Lawrence as Kathy (Carol in 'Starsky's Brother'). Peter MacLean also makes a mark, his third role on the series, this time as Judge McLellan, previously Matt Coyle in Season 2's 'Iron Mike' and Professor Gage in Season 3's 'Class In Crime,' each time playing characters either in authority that are secretly crooked, or working with those in authority that are secretly crooked! Lastly, Quinn Redeker (great name!), was Dr. Melford in 'Lady Blue' of Season 1, and has risen up the ranks to Deputy Police Chief Reasonor. Onscreen we have 'To Be Continued,' while a voiceover intones, "Next: Part two, Targets Without A Badge."

**

Huggy Can't Go Home

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S4 (Huggy Can't Go Home)

Huggy walks the line between old allegiance rooted within him, and his position as friend and informant to S&H, the same tension between his young life in his old neighbourhood and that which he's made for himself away from it, and it makes for a good dynamic with which to explore loyalty, and the themes of misspent youth and seizing opportunity, making it one of the more thoughtful episodes of the season. As ever it's a joy to see a story centred around, and starring, Huggy Bear, S&H don't even come into it until almost ten minutes in, and it's a bit of showcase for Huggy to, in his words, "Reminisce about the good old days, which weren't that good, have a few laughs, tell a few lies." It had occasionally been tried before, but not since Season 2's 'Huggy Bear and The Turkey,' apparently designed as a backdoor pilot for a potential spinoff that never happened, did we get a Hug vehicle, and perhaps it was for the reason that that episode didn't take off, leaving us effectively barren of the Bear's equality with his costars in Season 3. Not that Dobey did much better, at least Huggy had one episode in each season, apart from that oversight! The device that sets Huggy up to visit his old stomping grounds is a little slim, in the shape of a 'working girl,' Lonnette, whom he posts bail for, presumably for old time's sake, then witnesses a murder connected to his old friend and mentor, Julius T. Washington, leading him into dishonesty with S&H to provide an alibi for the man that picked him up out of the gutter and effectively jumpstarted his road out of the hole that was a community without hope.

The impression of a downtrodden city is back in full force, with rubbish strewn streets (Hug has no compunction about adding to the detritus, so messed up is it already that one more piece of scrap isn't going to make any difference), shady characters and a lack of future prospects. Yet it isn't the usual depressing, negative impression, the people we meet all have their ways and means of survival: Fingers and Sour Joe, a couple of thugs who try and give Hug a hard time, spend their days ripping people off and don't seem particularly unhappy with their lot; the small lad (credited as 'Newsboy'), whom Huggy runs into and causes him to drop his papers, clearly has ideas about what he wants, even if it isn't the ideal course for him to follow; Junior, a young friend of JT's has prospects if he can follow the advice of his mentor and finish blossoming into mechanics skills; and Cora-Lee keeps her head down when the murder occurs, but she's got a lot to lose - hers seemingly a contented life working at The Funky Chicken. So although the environment may not be conducive to a full life, the people we meet have found their niches and ways to survive to varying degrees, though we see the spectrum of the good (Cora-Lee), the bad (Fingers and Sour Joe), and the potential to go either way (Newsboy and Junior), Huggy an example of what assistance can do to get someone out of that narrow set of choices.

Huggy is proof that someone from a rundown, battered community can rise up and improve his prospects, become a businessman, because for all Huggy's schemes and plans, to varying degrees of success, he has achieved a measure of completion, even if his former associates consider him to have become rusty, not being on the streets for so long, his derogatory nickname being 'Uptown.' There's the suggestion that the youngsters in the episode could end up like Huggy and Cora-Lee, or Sour Joe and Fingers, Starsky gently warning the boy he knows where he's headed if he keeps talking about the things he talks about, the quick route to cash and respect unfortunately a big draw to those in such a position. There's hope for him because of his industriousness in having a job at that age, and even more for Junior with JT's guidance behind him, only his own cockiness, overconfidence and temper (he wants to foolishly run after the robbers that hold up JT's poker game), that threaten to send him down the wrong road. Huggy warns him to listen to JT, learn all he can, then get out if he's got the heart or the brains to do so, and it reminds us why Huggy is such a cool character - it's not for his witty talk or sharp clothes, it's his attitude, honed from the same place Junior came from, the experience and the knowledge of what's what, and I can imagine him being no less of a great mentor to others.

The prime example of what these young lads should be cognisant of is inherent in Wesley Boseman, one of the players in the poker game. While the others unhappily accept the robbery, he can't hold back his rage at losing all that money and charges recklessly after the pair, ending up shot by the gun of Big Red McGee, losing much more than some notes: his life. It's true that it wasn't a bad haul and JT said he was planning to use the money to get out, just as Huggy had all those years before, but had stayed to keep on gambling, trapped in the same pit that he'd got others out of. You can't help but warm to JT, his thick, fruity voice, his air of confidence and friendship, and the fact that Huggy cares so much about him that he'd risk everything by lying to his friends and going after a dangerous criminal who, if he hadn't have been injured by his own partner in crime, would probably have killed Hug. He gets some action when he tracks down Big Red to the Belmont hotel courtesy of Cora-Lee's quick-thinking and dedication to him, and rugby tackles Red to the floor of his room, though getting knocked out in the struggle, Red escaping via the fire escape, bleeding from the front after being glassed by his partner, Dolphin, and not wanting to shoot someone with so many witnesses in the doorway.

He had no trouble at shooting Boseman in the middle of the street and broad daylight, but it was a split second decision and it was like the Wild West - as soon as a shot rings out everyone shutters up and ignores the accusing body lying in the street, not wanting to get involved. It had been a while since they'd talked of 'salt and pepper' teams on the series, though it used to be more common, this one of Dolphin and Big Red is far from harmonious and you wonder how they ended up working together since Dolphin is such a stereotypical southerner in his voice, mannerisms and attitude. It's funny seeing him so uncomfortable at The Funky Chicken where Red sent him for soul food, trying to make small talk (though the woman he talks to seems to like the attention), and just getting himself into a bother that triggers an outburst at Big Red and the far from acrimonious splitting of their partnership. Dolphin dies by the bullet, but Red takes longer, slowly bleeding to death from the stab wound and saving Huggy the job. Would he have gone through with it to recover the stolen money for JT? He certainly scared me with his wild eyes and the way he smashed that pipe against the metal shutters, threatening to split Red's head like a rotten melon! Was it an act? I don't know, and it's not Huggy's character to use violence - not that he's a hippy, but he's always used his words and emotions to talk his way out of things rather than blunt force, but in this case he wasn't doing it for himself and sometimes people can do things to protect others that they wouldn't do for themselves, so the jury's out.

That Huggy didn't have to make the ultimate choice and kill Big Red allows for a happy ending, and while modern TV would prefer him to have gone through with such a strained action, pushing his character further than it had been before, and probably creating an arc of guilt and concern over his position with S&H, the series was episodic and I like how it concludes with the three of them jovial at The Pits, fences mended and a mention that JT bought a dry-cleaning establishment 'somehow.' We aren't privy to exactly what happened when S&H discovered Huggy standing over Red's corpse, whether he hid the money or they just didn't mention it, but they clearly knew, and had assisted Huggy in the cover-up in some way, despite Captain Dobey's forceful threat that they'd be walking the beat again if they didn't play it straight. It was the old Dobey after a few episodes of the cuddly variety, exploding at his men ('don't tell me about the streets until you've been out there as long as I have!') warning them, as if they needed it, that JT was Huggy's mentor, taught him everything he knows and he's not the kind to forget. Early on S&H are surprised to find their friend lying to them and say that he's never done that before. Even if that wasn't true, it shows how close they are and how much they trust him that such a moment has meaning - I can't remember if Huggy brought them in on it when his life was in danger in 'Kill Huggy Bear,' but that's about the only time I can remember there being some kind of issue between them.

Although there's an atmosphere of a sad neighbourhood and the bittersweetness of Huggy having escaped, there's also some upbeat, feel-good moments amid the lack, none more than when Hug goes into The Funky Chicken and sits down at the counter. Cora-Lee half acknowledges a customer, turns away, then as Huggy's face widens in a grin, the penny drops it's her beloved friend returned and she whirls round and plasters him full of kisses and joyful squeals, a lovely moment. There's also a bit of comedy, such as the customer sitting next to him whose happy face intrudes on the reunion until Huggy asks him if he minds! I also felt Dolphin's pain when, in his disgust and frustration with Big Red and his ways, he slumps sulkily onto the bed, which promptly crashes beneath him, and he flings the bedclothes about in a boiling-over rage. I know the feeling! But it's really a credit to the writing and characterisation that although S&H aren't front and centre and there's less of their banter to enjoy, the bits we get don't make them feel like they're missing from the episode (unlike 'Huggy Bear and The Turkey' where it was more of a cameo). We get the old trope of them just about to tuck into some food (hot, fresh bagels for breakfast), when the call comes in and they have to rush off to the scene of Boseman's murder - unusually, Hutch is the one feeling tired and downbeat, while Starsky is bright and breezy, embracing the early morning. And they're not always working together in the episode, either.

Part of the reason may have been because David Soul's turn in the Director's chair had come, his last time on the series. Once again I find myself appreciating his style more than his costar, Paul Michael Glaser, and the very directed scenes I associate with him. Soul had a more natural way to his work that fit better with the series, not trying to be artistic and obviously homage classic directing styles of the past, but an immediacy to it. It's not that he never framed any shots that were noticeable for their different tone, because you only have to recall scenes such as the one where Boseman pursues the thieves - we get a shot from inside the car where Big Red is trying to unlock the door as we see Boseman charge at full pelt towards us. Or the moment he's pushed back, slips to the ground and is shot, all happening from a raised angle. But there aren't a lot of showy shots like that, so although some do stand out, it feels much more cohesive, and isn't as workmanlike as the series' standard directorial fare, tending to the practical as it does for a weekly series that had to knock out twenty-odd episodes a season, whereas the series' stars were obviously doing it for creative reasons to further their own experience of the series and bring something to it that was different. Perhaps Soul's point of view is messier, less precise than Glaser's deliberate way, more in your face, such as the handheld camera shots used inside the car when they're driving, or looking up at him or Starsky, and I really enjoy his choices and wish he'd directed more episodes.

We even see a different angle of the police office, the camera placed where Dobey's office would be, from the position of Pinky or Perky, and we see there's a door there which I don't think I've ever noticed before, so maybe it was actually a different set since we don't see the conventional angle at all. But it's not the camera angles that I remember most about this episode, it's the character, the decision to pull off a different kind of story, a little bit of insight into Huggy's past - I'd love to know more, but anything we get on the main characters that fleshes them out is welcome. I liked Huggy taking matters into his own hands, getting back to his down and dirty roots on the street, showing himself he hadn't lost his experience as people thought, and it's very 'real' when S&H call out asking where he is when he's in Big Red's hidey-hole and his answer is, "A long way from home." One of the standout features of the episode is its willingness to indulge in doing something completely different by having an original song (from Jac Murphy - don't know if that was a famous lyric writer), performed by Dr. John (again, not being a musical person I don't know whether that's a famous singer of the time), taking time out for a montage of Huggy waking the streets and rediscovering his old haunts and the people he used to know, both good and bad. We'd had musical interludes for S&H before, but never on this scale, and it really adds something special to the episode. Maybe it was just a marketing thing and they hoped to release it as a single and make a packet, but that doesn't matter because it's just a good sequence.

What we learn about Huggy (apart from his almost marrying Cora-Lee but for her three hundred pound Mother busting him up!), is that he was the victim of a misspent youth, and he doesn't decry the accusation of JT, who claims that without him picking him up he would never have got out of it. It's clear he owes the man a lot - as he says to Junior who goes with him to track down Big Red, followed in secret by S&H (wisely using Hutch's battered Ford rather than the obvious Torino! - Starsky even complains Hutch was worried about them being spotted in his car, and now they've lost them, one of the rare times the series calls attention to the ridiculousness of driving such a recognisable vehicle when tailing someone!). Hug tells the lad to stay while he deals with Red because "I owe him and you don't; not yet anyway," which is telling all on its own. When he bravely descends into the dark lair of dangerous Red in his wide brim hat, he looks like Indiana Jones entering an eerie tomb and rarely has he had such an air of heroism about him, even though it doesn't come naturally. He definitely has heart, whether it's the dogged determination to confront Red and recover the means for JT to get out of his gambling life, his protection of the paperboy during the murder, or getting Lonnette out of custody when he didn't have to, he does care about his friends, which makes it more hard for him to be on the opposite side of S&H as they do their job, and provides drama, a necessity for a good episode: heart and drama, that's what the best of the series is about, and they were still pulling it off.

For being another episode that doesn't fit the norms, it misses out on a lot of the usual bits and bobs. There's the occasional pop culture reference, with Lonnette complimenting Huggy on coming through for her like Muhammad Ali; Hug calling Starsky Dick Tracy when quizzed about the phone call he just took (interestingly he answered saying "Huggy's Pits," rather just 'The Pits'); and Hutch calling chubby Monahan, Humpty Dumpty! The collection of characters in the poker game were close to wacky, but not very, with the Spaniard, Rodriguez, sweaty Monahan (gulping down milk by the carton), JT and his distinctive voice, the quick-tempered Boseman, Junior, and a fifth man we see head down on the table, but never hear his name. None of them really fit the category, and only the paperboy, with his slang talk and confidence much more mature than his age would suggest, as well as his mature visions of the future, is the closest we come to (though more world-weary), and Cora-Lee was close, too, but was also quite grounded and certainly not crazy by the series' usual definition, just moderately over the top in her excitement. The two returning actors had very memorable roles, though back in Season 1 and 2 respectively, so they must have felt enough time had passed that the audience wouldn't remember. Richard Ward (JT), was the original Captain Dobey in the pilot, and my only regret is that we didn't get a scene with him and our Dobey - maybe that was why the Captain was so inflamed, he sensed a doppelganger sharing his screen time! The other was Roger E. Mosley as Big Red, previously The Baron in 'The Set-Up,' but now better known to me as good guy TC in 'Magnum PI'!

After seeing a sign for Los Angeles in the previous episode, 'Ninety Pounds of Trouble,' we get another indication of confused location shooting with the van parked outside the bakery where Starsky picked up breakfast, having the words 'Brooklyn Bagel Bakery' clearly visible for the quick of eye. This one could be more explainable as it could be a chain of bakeries or a Brooklyn one delivers to other cities, but it was still odd! We also hear where Huggy's old neighbourhood is: 4015 West Central, but again, the city must be huge if it's within the jurisdiction of S&H to be the closest ones there, yet it's far enough away that Huggy hasn't been back in a while. It's the same issue I had with S&H's old friend Luke Huntley in 'Birds of A Feather' - if he lived in the same city how could it be they never ran into each other for so long? The only answer can be size. I would also like to make another mention of the music, because the song isn't the only time we hear it, the strains of 'Huggy Can't Go Back' can be heard from quite early in the episode and it comes in now and again, used effectively as a theme to Huggy's situation as both outsider and insider.

***

Isis

DVD, Smallville S10 (Isis)

If you get past the mythical Egyptian nonsense this takes the crown of Best Episode so far this season, juuuust topping previous contender 'Homecoming,' and not solely for the obvious great moment the series has been awaiting since Season 4, but also for the positive developing friendships that cause Clark, Oliver and Tess to bounce off each other in cause of saving Lois (and the world from encroaching destruction, like most weeks, making it less important), and doing it in their stylish way. There's just something about seeing the three of them standing around discussing things heroically without the bickering, distrust and mixed motives we used to get rammed down our throats so often in this series' history. Yes, there's the question over Tess' motivation for becoming a surrogate Mother to the young, but quickly advancing intellect and size of young Alexander - is she really doing it just for his good, a mix of that and her own wish for parenthood, or a devious ulterior reasoning that will ultimately pit Clark against his personal nemesis, as if it were ordained? She seems filled with emotion when Queen and Clark invite her to take over Chloe's role in Watchtower, but she always has a way of giving this sinister grin as if she sees some distant endgame that no one else does. And yet so often she has proved to be an ally, and she's wanted Clark to fulfil his destiny, but there's this streak in her that you just don't fathom and I could easily see the season build towards Lex and Superman facing off, except for the fact that I know Michael Rosenbaum, the only real Lex, doesn't return to the series.

Elsewhere, the big day arrives, and simultaneously in the minds of both Clark and Lois. She's decided to admit she knows he's The Blur, and he's decided to tell her, they both gear up for it, and it's full of the delightful screwball comedy that gives this version of the famous pairing its ring of authenticity, and just when they're about to reach that point… the Cat comes back. Ugh! Yes, the blonde reporter who dotes on Clark and is snide with Lois, pops up at exactly the wrong moment, and if it weren't for the fact that we actually get what we wanted to see by the end of the episode, I'm sure she'd be universally hated. But in the seemingly increasing quality of the writing, they manage to call back even to her good qualities by her assumption the photo she sees of Alexander is Tess' son, as well as actually saving Clark's life by causing a disturbance when Lois, possessed by the ancient spirit of Isis (yes, it's utterly ridiculous), is going to sacrifice him so Osiris can be reborn (or something like that), then she bumps into Green Arrow and blurts out what's happening instead of recoiling in fear (since she's always been so full of distaste and disgust for the anarchic heroes populating the city). She's promptly picked up and placed out of harm's way in an empty sarcophagus - I just hope it wasn't shut too tight or she'd have suffocated, though I couldn't help an ambivalence for both ways while I was watching the episode, in reality you don't want to see her out of it, you want to see her come around to the view that Clark and his Super-Friends are the good guys we know them as.

Tess gets used well, Oliver's reacting to his newfound celebrity, Cat gets used quite well, Lois… gets to act like an imperial queen, and Erica Durance does this sort of thing well - she should do, the number of times she's had to play it! I've never liked the idea that 'only Kryptonite can hurt Superman… oh, and magic, by the way.' It's harder to accept this than alien physics and geology, or maybe I just don't like seeing it and it's the ultimate writer's lazy get-out clause to put Clark in danger. The mundane way they react to this supposition of the world's ending and Lois' body being a vessel for something tells you how often this stuff has happened, and I noted that this is the first episode of the season not to feature a returning character from a previous season (aside from the main cast, of course). The series was still tasked with banging out twenty-odd episodes, so it remained a production line, and that's why you're going to get the occasional episode like this where something barmy happens, even more on a series like this where they've done just about every barmy plot you can think of. What is telling is that despite that, the Egyptian artefact device falling into place, or more like squished in to fill out the story, the episode still holds the attention and pleases the viewer. What we really care about is Lois and Clark finally being honest and responding to the grand revelation of his Secret, because although it leaves less for the season to aim for, no big reveal I can think of, it worked so well and now we can explore them in a new way for the rest of the remaining time the series has left.

The episode is full of good moments with some cool effects that really do impress - the one that didn't was Lois as Isis, flying off in a blast of yellow flame, but other than that they did very well: the simple, but so effective scene of Clark saving Cat from Lois' fiery blast (one minute she's taking a photo, the next she's staring at a cup of coffee and sitting outside a cafe), was understated, but brilliant. Little things like Clark pulling the crumpled metal shutter back into place, or Tess' incredulous line in response to Cat's vehement assertion that Lois is The Blur under the cover of being a reporter ('you mean be around people that expose secrets for a living?'), gave me a big smile, because if you think about it, it really is true that Clark's position could be pretty dangerous! Tess' reading of the emotive opening of 'Peter Pan,' Clark catching Lois' clenched fist before she can batter Cat in the face… There's just so much good stuff. Then there's the superb moment where Arrow and Clark work together to save Lois, an arrow whipping the amulet away from Isis' hands, Clark using heat vision to activate it again, sends the creature back into its prison, just as it tries to kill Lois by stabbing her in the heart. Actually, when Isis was about to stab a huge dagger into Clark I was waiting for it to splinter or glance away, perhaps even breaking Isis' wrist, but maybe the 'magic' side of it would have meant the blow would have done damage? Unfortunate Daniel Jackson (aka Michael Shanks, aka Hawkman), of 'SG-1' wasn't around since he'd have been ideal for dealing with false Egyptian gods and goddesses - that's what his most famous role was all about!

Oliver's subplot about finding that his revealing as the Green Arrow to the public has actually done him a world of good, made him accepted and loved, was something we've seen before, especially the part about groupies not giving real love, or his self-pitying stance and inability to deal with his dual role, but it was much softer in this story, didn't take up much time and was generally a positive message - once again he recognises his friends and has their support. And now Lois and Clark have each other's full support too, so it's all happy endings and it's almost a shame for the season to continue since you know it's all got to go bad again before it will be good. It's that roller-coaster of life, as Steve Martin experienced in 'Parenthood,' making things worthwhile, and this episode certainly made watching this season worthwhile, and hopefully it will continue to be so because I'd rather leave the series thinking that actually they could have continued because the characterisations had improved so much, than to end with the knowledge that it wasn't going to get any better and it was a mercy it was killed off, something I could have said about some points in previous years.

***

Ninety Pounds of Trouble

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S4 (Ninety Pounds of Trouble) (2)

The crime of this episode isn't so much what it is, but what it isn't: it's not 'Huggy Can't Go Home' which is the episode I was looking forward to, and expecting to be next, but then I found that this was the first on the disc, so that was a disappointment. Then it's the one where they recast Joey Carston, the teenage girl from Season 3's 'The Trap' with a crush on 'Dave.' And there's also the fact that this is traditional, old-fashioned fare for the series, but makes the undeniable point that S&H have aged. So as I said, it's not a lot of things, and that's its downfall, because otherwise it's a perfectly passable instalment in the season with occasional flashes of tension or drama, Starsky getting to turn his charm-o-meter up to maximum in a bid to inveigle his way into the attentions of a hitman's girlfriend to keep her busy while Hutch pulls off some proper acting which is one part talent to four parts gall, all while the emotional Joey runs around causing her ninety pounds worth of trouble. When put like that it's not a bad combination, and it isn't a bad story, but I'm not sure we really needed an agent messing up S&H's serious bid to take down Schiller, especially a teenage girl, as amusing as her interference initially is.

Joey seems quite young, and I was trying to work out how old she'd be. In her previous appearance she seemed about twelve or thirteen, but then Starsky playing up to her attentions would seem creepy, so she must have been older than that, and in fact she tells Huggy she's eighteen, though she could have been lying, but although S&H and Dobey are slow to accept her word, and quick to assume she's making up stories, it's really just that she has a different way of seeing things - like reporting a hit and run when a puppy is bumped by her neighbour's car, so there's an impression of crying wolf which sets up Starsky's inability to believe her when she says Hutch is in danger. So she probably is eighteen, and we have to remember that young people were younger in the Seventies, while older people were older, whereas nowadays children and teens grow up much quicker with access to so much information and formative content thanks to the internet and multi-channel media, while older people seem to have regressed with their desire for nostalgia, toys, and childlike experiences, so the age gap wouldn't be quite as noticeable today, I would imagine. But she does serve to illustrate the age of S&H (I guess about early-to-mid thirties), Huggy telling her Starsky's over the hill and set in his ways.

They may be over the hill, but they can still do their thing, and we have moments of classic S&H, such as the raid on hitman Eddie Carlyle's hotel apartment: kicking the door in, diving back when he blasts some rounds through the blocked door, then a chase down the external fire escape. The episode could have done with a lot more action like this to make it memorable, but Hutch takes his performance seriously and acts more like the Hutch of old with his knowledge of high class food and wine, the finer things of life, bringing to mind the scene in 'Bust Amboy' when he gives Starsky a tutorial on Amboy's expensive tastes - it must have been the caviar that did it ("Iranian or Beluga?" he asks Schiller's gopher, Damon, who asks what Beluga is!). And he pulls it off. It takes direct confirmation from Sid, who, thanks to Joey's intervention, learns Starsky's a cop, putting Hutch's cover in jeopardy, while he calmly brazens it out. When you compare the intent and professionalism here with the barmy roles he took on in 'Dandruff' and 'The Groupie' they're worlds apart and I much prefer this serious and audacious undercover role, the little humour of the episode coming from his getting into Carlyle's mind through his clothes (along with Joey's sincere, but misguided surety, and Hutch nicking Starsky's doughnut!), and it shows once again that Hutch really does want to be an actor and maybe that's why he went down the detective route rather than uniform, or other police careers, because he gets these opportunities to try the craft (even if in the actual limelight he stammers and stutters like an old engine - see 'Murder On Stage 17').

"I may have the salary of a cop, but I have the soul of an aesthete," he says, but I'm sure the majority of actors out there would be very happy with the salary of a cop! I do feel the premise of the episode could have made it a classic if pulled off right, but there isn't enough tension, perhaps not enough time to set up all the characters, and I could see this working as a film plot where they had time to flesh out the villains, maybe set up more of the shock moments such as when Hutch as Carlyle coldly jumps out of the car before walking over to Starsky and shooting him at point blank range before jumping back in and speeding off. If you think about it, it made little sense that he would actually show himself to his target instead of simply blasting him in the back, but for the sake of his cover he had to make the unsuspecting Starsky aware of who was shooting him so he could react in the correct way, since he didn't really get shot. They cover it a bit when Hutch says love and kisses from Schiller, but you'd think Damon, as driver, would have been a bit suspicious, though it has the finesse of a magic trick - the 'audience' aren't in on the association between S&H so there's a strong reaction, and none stronger than Sid's, distraught at what she's apparently caused, paid in full for her warning to Schiller that Starsky's a cop, since she cries out she didn't realise they were going to do this, before scarpering, instead of staying calm and checking the injury, in which case she'd have realised it was a fake.

I don't recall how they knew Sid was going to be in the area, as Starsky just shows up at the Miramar Hotel and uses a cunning trick to work out who the mysterious 'Sid' is by making a phone call in sight of the front desk (or bar, in this case), asking for Sid, then seeing who goes to answer it. I like it when we get to see little techniques like that, the same with Carlyle's cunning at extricating himself from the unethical 'care' of the police at Memorial Hospital by smuggling a syringe away from a nurse's trolley when she checks up on him, then using it on the doctor later to put him to sleep as a decoy for dopey Officer Kromack who doesn't notice the difference. There are some issues with Carlyle's situation - firstly, wouldn't the medical staff realise he wasn't really still asleep and report that he'd woken up? And second, more importantly, would they really work with the police to keep the patient out of it? And if they weren't working with the police to keep him under sedation, why would a nurse bring a trolley full of syringes full of drugs to knock him out? Or did I miss something - maybe he didn't actually drug the doc, but just left him there unconscious? But if that were so why did he steal a hypodermic in the first place? The unlawful actions that Dobey goes along with, giving his men thirty-six hours before he'll allow Carlyle to wake up and have his lawyer and phone call are worrying, or would be if we didn't know he was a nasty hitman, or understand the integrity of Captain Dobey. Otherwise it looks pretty bad, another case of the Seventies attitude to policing!

The life of a hitman is shown to be as much about boredom as the buzz of a successful contract carried out, with Hutch sitting around in his hotel room flicking cards into his hat, as we've seen in other episodes where villains hang around in their rooms waiting for a phone call. I do wish we could have seen Carlyle in action before he's out of action for the majority of the episode, perhaps coolly offing someone before coldly walking away, just to get a sense that he is the well-tooled killing machine he's said to be, and upping the tension of Hutch's situation. Hutch does a good line in throwing those around him off balance, especially the scratchy-voiced Damon who's immediately impressed with his attitude and idiosyncrasies, put on the back foot, which only makes it easier to gain his admiration when the hit on Starsky is carried off so smoothly, right in front of his eyes in broad daylight, and in a public place! If I could have done with more Carlyle to up the threat level, I would say the same about Schiller, head of Schiller Imports. He's played by one of those familiar faces you've seen in everything if you've watched Seventies and Eighties TV (for example, he was in an early 'Star Trek: The Next Generation,' adding to the high quotient of Trek actors this season), but we don't really learn much about him, and the main contribution he makes is pulling a gun out of his drawer every few minutes when he gets suspicious of Hutch, before Hutch talks him round again.

As expected there are a number of returning actors, but in supreme irony for an episode about impersonation, the main character, returning from a previous episode, is played by a different actress, when so often actors have recurred in multiple roles, yet when they actually bring one back they recast her! I don't know whether this was to do with Kristy McNichol being unavailable, but I assume it must have been a scheduling conflict because she'd been in every season of the series, playing a different character each time, so I imagine the intent was to make it a full house and bring her back again, especially as she'd be a little older - if they'd gone to the trouble of revolving an episode around a specific character we'd seen before you'd expect them to have the original actress in mind. Not that Mare Winningham does a bad job, she's just not the same, and it's sad that McNichol couldn't make it a perfect four. Adding weight to my speculation is that Joey's Mother is once again played by Ann Prentiss and that was only a single scene where she tells Hutch Joey's been missing for twenty-four hours, and in typical liberal form, is only concerned because Joey took her Mercedes and she needs the golf clubs in the boot! She's another hippy, 'spiritual' type, but at least she's not as bad as the ex-wife from 'The Golden Angel,' even if her unconcern for her daughter could almost be seen as abusive, though Joey is at least of adult age now so it doesn't seem quite so neglectful! I like that we get these throwbacks to the past such as the Mum, or Joey mentioning she met Starsky when he busted her for shoplifting.

Another character that returns is the increasingly ubiquitous Marki Bey as Minnie in her astonishing fifth appearance, and it wasn't even her last. Quite a few actors had three credits to their name over the course of the series, but I think only Ann Foster as Abigail, Hutch's girlfriend, had four, so Minnie has become the most recurring character, and Bey the actress. The other returning actress is Lana Wood as Sid. She'd played Ella in Season 1's 'Running.' The credits mention a character called Steve, presumably the lad at the end who invites Joey to watch football practice as he's the Captain of the team, but that means Schiller's other lackey goes unnamed - he's definitely been in it before and is probably one of the stunt team because I recognise his face and they do sometimes use extras or stunt cast repeatedly. Another stunt face who's been in it before (just a bit!), is Charles Picerni, the Stunt Coordinator, who gets a couple of moments in this episode where you can clearly see it's him - the first is fine as he's just a motorist wearing shades, forced to brake hard when Joey drives so erratically past him as he pulls out of a side road (then, oddly, reverses - was that so they could do another take?), but he's supposed to be Starsky when he speeds the Torino into some boxes at Schiller Imports, and it's probably the clearest shot of him since he drives right towards the camera!

Schiller Imports (Far East Specialists), is at Berth 55, but there's a large sign over the door that says 'Port of Los Angeles,' so unless they want to contend that they travelled to another city, this would seem to suggest the name of the city S&H work in. Maybe they hoped no one would spot it, and weren't allowed to take it down or cover it up? Another misnamed location, though one much harder to spot, is the French restaurant where Hutch arranges to meet in the guise of Carlyle, Chez Moi. In the establishing shot you can see a sign where it's possible to make out that it's 'Cooperman's Restaurant.' I'm not knowledgeable about cars, but was the yellow one Joey zips about in really a Mercedes? I couldn't see the famous logo so I wasn't sure on that one. And I have to mention Carlyle's bizarre line about the jacket Hutch has borrowed to play his character: he says he never did like it, and now he knows why. He never liked it because he had the intuition that one day a cop would wear it to impersonate him? Or he just doesn't like people that look like him? It doesn't make any sense, but then he had been chased and shot by the police, fallen onto the roof of a car, kept locked up in a hospital and escaped only to find Hutch dressed up in his togs, so I suppose I can't blame him for not making much sense!

Someone else that doesn't make much sense is Mrs. Carston, but at least she brings back the closest we get to S&H being confused for each other when she calls Hutch, Detective Starchky, both messing up the name and confusing the two, which you never get any more. The pop culture is rife, whether it's Huggy having KISS posters behind the bar, Starsky presenting tickets for him and Joey to take her to the Springsteen concert, as well as getting the chance to do his Humphrey Bogart impression on Sid when he pretends to search for his wallet around her table. Huggy gives Joey a 'Shirley Temple' drink, which must be an in-joke since she was a famous child film star, just as the actress playing Joey is a young star. There are more actor references, too, when Starsky compares Hutch trying to play a classy character, with Lou Costello (of Abbott and Costello), trying to play Noel Coward. And Hutch claims that with the right clothes he'll be as at home with the hoi polloi as the Rothschilds. I do find it funny to see a 'No Smoking Oxygen In Use' sign on the door to Carlyle's hospital room - to think that it was acceptable to smoke anywhere in a hospital, or the implication that if it wasn't for the oxygen in the room it would be fine, is quite alien to us now.

At least the ending has some bittersweet moments for S&H and couldn't be more tied to the episode. You could say that Joey's crush on Starsky is the running joke of the episode, but it's really more than that, a full-blown plot which has ramifications for the story, but when she tells Steve they're her Uncles it's a wound to Starsky's pride and even Hutch needs to have a sit down - Starsky didn't want to be bothered with this young girl, but he's got used to her attention and is grateful for her assistance (even though she was the one who messed it up and had to redeem herself by tailing Hutch to Schiller's), Hutch even pointing out that he's fortunate a girl that young even wants to be seen with him, but despite all that he is disappointed that she'd rather go and see this lad practice football than come to the concert he'd planned, so it's a nice moment, but also spells the end of the series: S&H are no longer young, and the series has always been about these two young detectives doing these active things and it's a reminder that no period in life goes on forever - I'm sure they could have gone on like that for another ten years, but we were not to see their careers for much longer, so it is something of a sad ending, even though couched in the bursting of a little bubble of condescension.

**

Birds of A Feather

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S4 (Birds of A Feather) (2)

Same old story: an old friend of Starsky/Hutch/Dobey/the department is called in for/has/wants an operation to take down some criminal, but it turns out it's more personal than professional and he becomes as much a thorn in the side of our characters as the criminal, but S&H have to decide how best to deal with the situation. I mean, we'd even seen it before this season with 'Strange Justice,' so it is worrying that they're not thinking of new stories, but pounding out the old ones. That's not entirely fair as we'd just had a couple of good, different stories in 'Starsky's Brother' and 'The Golden Angel,' but when you see the quality of those you can't help but wonder why they weren't coming up with such radically different stories every week, and yet, at the same time they were banging out a production line of twenty-odd episodes a year with the strict mode of storytelling of the time that you didn't have ongoing story arcs or recurring characters to break up the main familiar elements of the series. I wouldn't even say this was a bad episode, it's just another average one that spends far too much time emphasising the guest characters of Luke and Doris Huntley, and their nemesis, Anthony Reuban, instead of keeping the focus on S&H as they should.

It's not even that Luke is a bad character, he has the rapport with S&H and seems like a mostly decent sort, though in the tradition of this friend of the week sub-genre of the series, he's just crooked enough to pose issues for S&H, which aren't exactly straight arrows one hundred percent of the time if they have reason to bend the rules. Indeed, towards the end (about the only time they really have anything of importance to do), it's unclear what Hutch was planning to do for Luke, who has killed Reuban's heavy, Jimmy Lucas, after he was planning on offing the guy on his boss' orders, and arranges a meet with Reuban to get the rest of the money he was shortchanged on. It sounds like he sees no way out except to force a shootout where Hutch can come in and 'pick up the pieces,' or grab the money so Luke can die in a blaze of glory, and his wife will have something to live on in her old age. Instead, Hutch turns up early with Starsky in tow to give him another alternative - they help in the fight against Reuban's 'protection' muscle, and it sounds like they weren't going to turn over the money to the police, but make sure it got to Doris. I'm not sure what happened about the money because nothing's said about it, we only know that Dobey was doing everything he could for Luke, but he'd still have to do gaol time.

A dilemma for Hutch should have been what the whole episode was about, because he's the one that matters, being the old family friend of the Huntley's, and although Starsky would have backed him to the hilt, he could have been the one to suggest the irregularities in Luke's behaviour, and that of Doris. There would have been a bit of anger between them, but Hutch would have come around to the possibility of Starsky being right. Again, it's something we'd seen this season, with Starsky finding it difficult to come to terms with an 'old friend' (his own brother), having links to criminality, and it created great drama, but none of that plays out in this episode. It's discussed with Dobey in a mild way, where usually they'd have some other authority come in and order them to trail Luke, or tell them where he is - the closest we get to that is at the scene of Palmer's death, when Detective Webster flares up at Hutch over the fishiness of it all. Palmer's a witness that was going to testify against Reuban, whom Luke had been called in to protect, but instead uses his life as a bargaining chip to get back the 50K life savings Doris squandered at Reuban's poker table. It's a shocking display of unprofessionalism in the extreme, even conspiracy to murder: he calmly leaves the witness so Jimmy can come in and blow him away. Palmer wasn't very likeable, and Luke has clear disdain for him, but it's hard to come back from something so callous and treacherous when he coolly scuppers the job he was called in to do, the trust Dobey and the department put in him, destroyed.

If it had been his wife's life in danger from Reuban's goons then we might have had some sympathy, but because it's over money, no matter that it's his savings from twenty-five years on the force, his sabotage of the police's efforts and collusion with the enemy is hard to accept or support in any way. He had good friends in the police force that you feel would have rallied round if he'd gone to them, but like so many before him he has to take the whole burden upon himself and sort it out, no matter the cost to career and life. He seems to want to end it in some kind of martyrdom because he sees no other way, but Hutch points out that Doris might not want to live without him, even if she had the money to do so. It sounds like the themes should have made it a good episode, but because Luke is this unknown face, no matter that he and Hutch get on like a house on fire, and that he was one of the prime reasons for Hutch joining the force in the first place (though they sadly don't elaborate on details), it's still too much to ask with the level of the writing that we accept this stranger as the protagonist of the episode, taking that position away from S&H, which is its biggest flaw.

I wouldn't say the episode was badly directed, especially as it was helmed by Charles Picerni the Stunt Coordinator and sometime actor (plus Starsky stunt double), and there are notable flairs - I liked the shot where Luke drives away from seeing Reuban at his place, the camera remaining stationery, while through the busy background traffic S&H drive up in the Torino, neatly occupying the space left by Luke. I had to skip backwards to see if the Torino could be seen lying in wait for its moment in the scene, but it actually speeds up organically into frame as if it was just good timing. Typically for a stunt director, Picerni gives us some good fight scenes: Luke and Jimmy in a struggle to the death, the heavy dying from a mystery shot, the gun going off between them as they wrestle around the hotel room where Jimmy was supposed to be dropping off Luke's money; the three-versus-two combat between S&H and Reuban's large bodyguards in a warehouse, both visceral, meaty exchanges, filmed up close, the second rumble culminating in Luke chasing after the fleeing Reuban, hanging onto the edge of his car before it smashes into a load of boxes, quite violently! Even Palmer being blasted through the third floor window was memorable. They don't make up for the lack of S&H in the majority of the episode, but they do provide a little fun, and show Picerni enjoying his role.

The trouble is there's not that much to hook me in: a woman (Doris), has a gambling addiction, foolishly signing a contract to repay Reuban (with interest), $1000 dollars a month for twelve months. Her cop husband (Luke), isn't going to stand for that, and decides to take on the extortionist. The only connection to our characters is that he's Hutch's friend, and they apparently haven't seen each other for a long time (he's known as 'West Side's finest'). I'm not sure how far away 1435 Allerton is, the address of the Huntley's house (memorable because they make a point of mentioning it more than once), because if it's just a short drive from the city, or even in the city, then you'd think Hutch and Luke would have met up more often. And if it's a long distance location it seems unlikely S&H would have driven over with Luke to see Doris on a whim. It's not the only strange thing about the episode: Captain Dobey's quite different, he doesn't get uptight or bawl at his men, he seems in a good mood all the time, and even ends the episode in a way you could never have imagined him doing! He's at The Pits with Huggy and S&H, offhandedly mentioning Luke doing time, then telling them his nickname in younger days was 'The South Side Stick Man,' before promptly ripping either the baize or his trousers, it's not clear which. It's the same old thing of wanting the story to bow out on a jolly note, but it's just really weird and out of character since Dobey doesn't even like Huggy and almost never goes to his establishment.

I also found the tone odd when dealing with 'peeping' Gertrude (the only genuine eccentric of the episode, unless you count the hotel clerk, but she just said some odd things and wasn't odd herself - 'he looked like a truck driver; a bartender; a cop with a lot years'). Starsky says something about her being peeping Gertrude rather than peeping Tom, 'no sexism here,' then the next scene we're at The Pits with the camera lingering on a female pool player's behind for an inordinately long time, enough for Huggy to notice! It's bizarre, and very Seventies. Perhaps it was to make up for there not being a young female character in the story, as Luke's wife is middle-aged, who knows? If the episode lacks its usual quota of wackies, it also lacks the humour (mainly because S&H aren't around that much - probably good for Paul Michael Glaser who may still have been working on the previous episode as Director), the pop culture references, and even the series' tropes. The only things I could spot were Hutch making a couple of jokes about Dobey's weight - in response to the Captain's pool nickname Starsky says something about Minnesota Fats, but I don't know if that was a famous pool player, or not. Hutch getting hot under the collar at Webster is another, though he wasn't an authority figure. You can see the stunt doubles in the fight against Reuban's men, so presumably Picerni was directing himself there? The music was unremarkable, except for some sinister flute music that plays as Doris goes home feeling threatened. And Hutch says he'd bet his badge on Luke, and he was to lose that badge in a few episodes time…

If nothing else, we can be confident of them reusing actors, and that's so again: I thought Reuban actor, Allan Arbus, had been in it before, but I was probably thinking of Frank Stryker from 'Starsky's Brother' - they both had a short, curly hairstyle and thin face. Martin Kove hadn't been in it before, but he's a well known face from lots of TV and films - I've seen him in everything from 'The Incredible Hulk' TV series to 'The Karate Kid' films, so it's great to have him as Jimmy, although the character wasn't very strong in the writing he did exude a menace you felt he could back up with violence. In past viewings I thought Reuban mistakenly calls his secretary 'Chloe' when we first see her, then Gloria all the other times (as credited), but it just sounds a bit like it, and he does call her Gloria after all. Marki Bay (or Bey), returns for her fourth appearance, and third this season, albeit brief. It would have been nice if they'd given her some part of the story, otherwise she could be anyone. Other returning faces are Charles Cyphers as Webster (previously in Season 2's 'The Specialist,' and 'The Avenger' earlier this season, all as different characters), Sy Kramer as Palmer (he'd had similar worried roles in Season 1's 'The Bait' and 2's 'Starsky And Hutch Are Guilty'), and Ben Marino, the dealer in the poker game (he was in Season 1's 'Death Ride'). I'd also mention the credited 'Last Player' in that game for the simple fact he had the great name of Beach Dickerson! Finally, John Ryan as Luke had previously been Frank Malone in Season 3's 'I Love You, Rosey Malone,' credited as John P. Ryan there.

**