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."

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