Targets Without A Badge - Part III

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

In one word I would sum up this episode as 'messy.' In two, 'forgettable,' and that's not very satisfactory for such an ambitious story, and one in which S&H emerge triumphant and victorious over a powerful enemy that, according to Dobey, was big enough, rich enough and rotten enough to rock even Uncle Sam. But it fits both those labels, even after watching it I can't really remember much about what happened as S&H bound from office to office, dealing with bureaucrat after bureaucrat, from our own Captain Dobey, to the slightly crooked FBI agents, to the Mayor's office at City Hall, unravelling the plot - well, an unravelling plot is just about right because there doesn't appear to have been much forethought put into that department, and far from moving along organically, it relies on repetition (no wonder the credits were the same for both Parts I and II!), illogic, and a distinct lack of finesse in dealing with any of the characters, or in the manner in which S&H (inevitably, since there were still two episodes before the series concluded), rejoined the force. That's a good place to start: what soul-searching or sequence of events finally gets them to realise their place is back in their old job as detectives? It was more of a gradual thing, a realisation that they weren't going to give up on catching the killers of Rigger, after all, especially as their lives were in danger, which only spurred them on! If James Gunther, the man ultimately behind the unnamed organisation, had simply used his contacts to encourage them into a new profession instead of sending a couple of street level goons to tail them or take pot shots, they might well have lost interest in the case as the cares of life took over.

Once again I ask: what was the motivation for signing back onto the force? It seemed to be a realisation that for them to do all they needed and wanted to do they'd find it ever so much easier if they had the power of the law behind them, not to mention backup, guns, and the respect of citizens. It does make their throwing of the police badges into the sea look a little shortsighted and melodramatic in the light of all that happens subsequently, but it made a striking image. Just a shame they couldn't pay it off. So they go from guilt and shame at getting the nice guy informant killed, to having difficulty in getting new jobs, to getting so deep in the case again they're practically doing the job, so they may as well get paid for it! Obviously they are more motivated than that by what happens with Alison's family: her Father, Thomas, murdered and made to look like suicide (why is an entirely different and worthy question which I will endeavour to address), Alison herself kidnapped by Soldier and his gang of cringing goons, and corruption even in the FBI that S&H have to deal with. Not to mention the small matter of the two goons sent to off them in the Trojan Spa and Eucalyptus steam room. So protection, convenience and good sense are really why they end up agreeing to return to their duties officially, and also because Deputy DA Clayburn asks them, saying the only way guys like him get the credit is because of guys like them - I suppose he meant they bring the perps in and he gets to do the legal stuff on 'em (even though it turns out he's one of the crooks).

It wasn't like they didn't have guns, because they did (the charming lady at the precinct from Part II is the one to deal with issuing their permits), so it was merely a convenience to go back on the force, not a necessity, but I can see why they'd accept the offer after seeing what it was like out on the jobs market, and the hopelessly inept way in which they went about job-seeking! If rejoining the force was merely a plot contrivance to set things back to how they were, we also have to deal with some illogical statements: early on Hutch sees Mardean at The Pits where Huggy's taking care of her and Jamie, her daughter. Naturally she's frosty to one of the cops that involved her ex-husband in a scheme that resulted in his death, but Hutch uses all his charm to make her see that he and Starsky will do all they can to bring the perpetrators to justice. It's just the bit where he explains Rigger's wanting to do it in the face of high risk that it falls apart somewhat - he says Rigger was so in love with his family that he'd risk everything to save all he had. Maybe I'm missing nuance here, but I don't see how he was risking everything to save what he had because he could have been safer and kept his family safer by never getting involved in the first place! Unless Hutch is referring to him taking the deal to avoid a custodial sentence away from his young family, in which case I could buy it to an extent, but otherwise it just sounds like he's making stuff up to appease her obviously distressed mood and try and see some good in the motivations that were behind what happened.

How the baddies deal with S&H is also to be questioned most severely. Initially Thomas May is informed by his contact, Karen (who I assume was working for Gunther, but could have been working for McClellan), that he is to set up S&H by telling them he wants to meet, then obviously in a steam room S&H aren't going to be armed so it should be a simple case of putting their lights out (an apt analogy, as we'll see). If Thomas doesn't agree, his daughter will be in trouble. Never having any backbone, he presumably does just that, S&H turn up, they have a rumble with the two goons, Alex and Marty, give them a good kicking, and of course Thomas is then killed… because he failed to live up to his side of the bargain? Apparently not, since S&H were there to meet him. So maybe we're wrong and he was so wracked with guilt that it really was a suicide because I see no reason for him to be killed, even Gunther said he was still useful to them! Also, Soldier was presumably the one to do the deed, but he just says S&H should see Thomas, while boasting about killing Rigger, so you could infer that he didn't kill him. Maybe? On a side note, what was going on with the steam room light switch? You'd think there would be at least a ceiling pull cord, but you can clearly see a wall switch which does not seem to be a good idea with all those sweaty hands and, well, steam! It's a steam room. It's got an ordinary light switch. I appreciate this is being picky, but it was quite noticeable.

Another problem with that sequence of events is that it doesn't give Thomas a chance to redeem himself in any way, so he goes to his grave a failed man, unable to either help the cops or do anything to stand up to the blackmailers, and that's a sad and disappointing conclusion for someone you could see was in severe mental turmoil, his identity as a protected witness a failure, and the responsibility for passing on other identities lying firmly at his door. It also looks bad for Alison because although she's distraught at her Father's death, she seems to get over it in an inordinately quick time. She's seen to be looking sad at Police HQ with a policewoman there to comfort her, and obviously she goes through a lot when she's kidnapped and ransomed for either Starsky or Hutch (again an issue needing to be examined), so she has more than one shock in quick succession. I suppose we don't know exactly how long it is between Thomas' death and the end of the episode where S&H are awarded their medals by a glory-hunting Mayor, then they have a lighthearted scene with her, each wanting her to go with them and she's laughing and joking, but it was too soon, and artificial. It would have been better to have ended in a haunting way, Alison displaying the anguish of the things Thomas did so he and she could survive, in the same style as part of that scene when she talks about the Mayor's speech and their 'challenging a powerful enemy and emerging victorious,' asking if they didn't at least do that, and Starsky says 'Who knows?' because maybe not everyone involved was unmasked - and of course Gunther wasn't, and would come to play another, serious part in the series' finale.

There are other things too, such as when S&H are looking at their approach to the case and Hutch says they had all the finesse of a wrecking ball, doing everything that everyone told them not to, and Starsky 'reminds' him of what Mardean said about stirring up a hornet's nest, only Starsky wasn't even present at that conversation, and it was Hutch who said it to Mardean, not the other way round! Why did Soldier kill McClellan? Was he seen as a liability to Gunther? And the biggest question of all is the purpose of holding Alison captive, but agreeing to exchange her for either Starsky or Hutch - if Soldier planned treachery why not simply lie in wait and pick them off as soon as they entered the abandoned fairground he chose as the rendezvous? What was he going to do if he had Starsky captive? It doesn't make any sense! What I will credit that sequence with is being the most memorable of the episode, a real standout moment: Soldier, having ditched his ridiculous shiny silver jacket, actually looks a genuine threat to S&H, plus he has three other guys backing him up (who all stand in a bunch instead of spreading out to cover all angles!), and then Starsky's shared childhood memory with Alison is able to get her to recall a pertinent example as a warning for what he's going to do. There's the rising tension as they take one step at a time towards each other, Starsky talking as quietly as he can, while Soldier looks on suspiciously, Alison able to affirm her understanding, then a grab and a smash through the plate glass window and out of the firing line, while Hutch rolls to the discarded guns and goes all John Woo, firing spectacularly two-handedly before chucking Starsky his weapon so they can both clean up the mean streets!

If only as much drama and invention could have been applied to the rest of the episode, or even the three-part story as a whole, this would have been one of the series' best. You can see they were going for high stakes, perhaps the highest, with a large, powerful organisation that could cause the whole country trouble, varying levels of the hierarchy of criminality for S&H to counter at their supposedly most weakened state, and a personal stake with Starsky's childhood friend adding extra fire to a melting pot of danger. But it didn't work out that way - there were flashes of brilliance such as the end of Part I where S&H are attacked with no means of defence, the fantastically fun humour to Part II, and the scene I just mentioned in Part III, but there was far too much treading water, filling in time, without it being truly reflective and thoughtful, for the most part. The character arcs suffered - not that S&H weren't fine, they were, but none of the others really has a satisfying A to B. Too much was just thrown in without backing it up, especially the twist of Clayburn proving to be on the opposite side when he seemed like such a good guy (he was the Deputy DA we deserved, not the Deputy DA we wanted, or something like that - see 'The Dark Knight' for the correct analogy). I wonder what viewing the episodes edited together in one feature-length package would be like? I'm not sure it would really work because Part II is so different in tone to the others, even though it's the most enjoyable, but it's something I'll have to consider doing some time to discover whether it plays better or feels even more drawn out than it needed to be.

Judge McClellan, for a man much talked about and considered the worst of the worst was sadly not a strong figure in the story at any point, and it's definitely not Peter MacLean's best role on the series when he was used so effectively as the centre of attention playing other characters. Sometimes not seeing a villain and having everyone talk about him boosts his mystique, but in the case of McClellan he came off as vague and undefined. If we didn't know better we might have been just as fooled that he was a fine, upstanding member of the judicial profession for all the scenes he featured in. Then to have him popped by Soldier out of the blue made him look even flimsier. If the intention was to enhance the impression of Gunther's power from his ivory, White House-like tower, I'm not sure it succeeded, because he doesn't really do much himself, aside from ordering deaths left, right and centre! I like that they were trying to set up this untouchable enemy that had his sights set on S&H and would return to cause much distress in the finale, but certainly in this story he was more of a Bond villain: evil because we know he's supposed to be, watching things unfold from afar (literally at one point when he watches the triumphal report on TV about S&H). Even though I've seen these episodes a few times and I like the scope they attempted, I still don't really know the exact details of the connections between McClellan and Gunther, and the various others in the villain set, so I think some serious clarifying was required in the script (we don't even know that Soldier is the name of the bald assassin until he rings up S&H to tell them to go and see Thomas May!).

Of course it could be that due to the repetitious nature of some of the scenes, and the dialogue-heavy approach to unloading all the information, it made me zone out every time I watched, but even in the way the credits were a lazily put together it's apparent tidiness was not much of a factor, including with regards to the plotting and scripting. The FBI scenes are an excellent case in point: in both episodes they stop S&H in the street and drag them back to their HQ for a warning not to get involved, then S&H have the last word, only for them to have to catch the bus back to where they left their vehicle (why was Hutch driving a truck this time?), and each time there's a problem - in Part II it was the Torino's engine that had been nicked, in this it was their truck being towed away for illegal parking. At least they got to squeeze out some answers from Smithers and the other guy this time, and it was pleasing that their boss, Dodds, is made aware of his men's sneakiness. I could also point to Huggy having a little more to do as something that stands out, though it's really only one small piece of the investigation when he visits Mrs. Swayder to try and persuade 'er to get some insurance, or something, though in reality it was just about learning that McClellan was high up in Capricorn Mortgage Incorporated, leading to his downfall, though I can't recall why Hug had to pretend to be Laurence Taylor of the Companion Mortgage Company, another time I must have zoned out, or the writing wasn't crystal clear.

At least we finally get to meet Fred Oates, who was credited in Part II, but most certainly wasn't in it - he's the Deputy Sheriff at the Police Department that confirms when a call was made or received, which incriminates Clayburn. We also meet Nancy, Clayburn's assistant, the reporter who questions S&H on TV, and Dodds, the guy who heads up all the FBI in the city, but had been kept out of the loop by Smithers and his partner over the existence of Thomas May, doing it as a favour to McClellan (and get a face full of sharp, metal blinds for their deceit, not to mention a stern-faced Dodds going in after S&H have made their mark). They were all (apart from the FBI agents and Thomas), credited in Part II, but only appeared in Part III, just as various characters were credited in Part III, but were only seen in Part II, which is most confusing and distressing for those of us that like things to be nice and neat about who appeared in which episodes! The moment where Dobey calls up and demands to speak to Judge Miller I got confused, as it's a he, and I thought it was the lady Judge from Part I, but that was actually Judge Bellin, so it shows how distracting it can be when they're throwing all these characters and names around.

Cars, or more specifically, vehicles, play a larger part, with Hutch driving a truck for no apparent reason, maybe to replace his little Belle which isn't seen at all - did something happen to it in Part II, I don't remember? I wonder if they'll address his car taste in the last episodes since they obviously can't bring back his famous battered old crock, which was destroyed in Part I by Soldier's explosion. Maybe the Torino was out of action because of the engine being stolen in Part II, as Huggy puts them in possession of a swankier, smart and sophisticated car, which Starsky instantly warms to and Hutch just as instantly is disgusted by, so their differing tastes in motors continues. It even has an in-built phone, which is how Soldier gets in contact, though I'd love to know how he obtained the number! Some double standards are on display (or maybe just Seventies attitudes), with Hutch chucking both the lid of his coffee, and then the whole thing out of the window when they're parked up. It does at least continue the tradition of one of them forced to abandon their food or beverage for instant action, though if he'd only kept the lid instead of flinging it wantonly aside, he might have been able to take the coffee with him! They're also quite happy to leave Captain Dobey holding the bill at The Pits (when he makes another rare visit to Huggy's establishment), and there was not a single joke, either visually or verbally about his weight. Well, not in that scene - later, Starsky gives him a slightly backhanded compliment by saying he was looking good, though could lose a little weight.

Other familiar tropes of the series are the detectives' names being mixed up, which happens twice, and both with public officials: first by the Policewoman at HQ who issues the gun permits the wrong way round and looks distinctly unimpressed when Starsky switches them over  (not to mention grabbing her pen!), then the verbose Mayor himself says their names the wrong way round when he gestures to each, and even a third time since they end up with the wrong badges and have to swap over outside the City Hall building. S&H finally get to their matinee at the cinema, but, perhaps as a callback to the pilot episode they meet Huggy in an 'adult' film, a reference I'd happily have done without, but at least we don't get reminded about it any more since they took it out of the opening credits montage! Venice Place is seen again as S&H take Alison there to look after her, and I'm sure the abandoned fairground had been a setting they'd filmed at before ('Huggy Bear and The Turkey,' was one, I think). The music was never memorable, except for the creepy reverb of quiet funfair music as part of the score when they go to meet Soldier. Once again we get an idea of the city's location as the FBI building has a sign outside saying 'Federal Building 300 North Los Angeles Street,' though it can be argued that it's just a street name, not the city.

We again have the episode title on the screen at the start, and as I mentioned before, the credits are duplicated between Part II and III. In the end I had to look up on IMDB to see who was who in terms of the marquee names that weren't attached to characters. Most are easy, but I learned that Lee Bryant was Karen and Angus Duncan was the other FBI man, Agent Waldheim. Dave Shelley, however, remains a mystery as even on IMDB he had no character name - how much more messy can you get! Even Alexander Courtney's role as Gunther's assistant isn't named. At least we know that Bryant was in Parts II and III, as was Duncan, though I still don't recall in which episode William Vaughn was playing a Security Guard… Maybe he was a guy at the airport where S&H double team on Clayburn with some nifty moves, tossing him about until Karen shoots him to keep him from talking, though she's taken by them in her attempt to quietly slip away. If the story was messily constructed (to use a generous word), and the motivations weren't always as strong as they should have been, and even though it was wrapped up in a mediocre way, we can at least be thankful that Crazy Sammy Pearl did what he did and survived without a scratch, or who knows what would have happened (probably what was going to happen in the series finale, with Starsky shot to pieces and Hutch having to avenge him, but hey, they saved that for the last episode of the series).

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