BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS D

"Hello, pigeon, let's see if you can fly." (Targets 1)

• 151. Contrary to the Eagle’s song, check-out time at the Hotel Californian is 11:00 am. What other seventies song lyrics can be disputed in Starsky and Hutch’s Bay City’s activities? (Game)

• 152. Starsky refuses to look at closely or talk to “old man,” who is Hutch dressed up. If he did, he may have recognized Hutch. Hutch chides him on the phone about this later. Compare this little scene to the fairy tale of the beautiful woman disguised as a hag to test the moral kindness of who she encounters in order to reward or punish them. What other classic fairy tales come to mind with Starsky and Hutch? (Game)

• 153. Slate asks Cobb, “You were an officer in the Army. What happened to you?” Cobb replied, “What happened to you?” Indeed, what did happen to Slate, and is it any different with what might have been Cobb’s path? (Strange Justice)

• 154. Pardee shakes the ill Hutch and rasps, “I’m on to your game.” This would be the real game, the one of life and death, which is, of course, no game at all. How is this symbolic of the game Hutch Set-Up with Starsky? Compare to Hutch’s comment as he lies in the isolation ward, “The name of the game is Hutch is dying.” (Game, Plague)

• 155. Compare these dual scenes: Hutch broods at desk after alley freeze-up, Starsky gets a secret call from Huggy and uses tan flares as excuse to leave to settle with Gillian. Starsky broods near desk after his conversation with Nick at Huggy’s. Hutch gets secret phone call from Huggy and uses his wallet as excuse to leave to deal with Nick. (Gillian, Starsky’s Brother)

• 156. Huggy explains his first name to Nick, “Huggy’s the name and my game is the same. The ladies they love me cause they all want to hug me.” Speculate on his rhyme and reason for his second name, “Bear.” (Starsky’s Brother)

• 157. Hutch tells Nick Starsky, “I don’t care what happens to you. I care what happens to your brother.” Did Starsky overhear this part at the door? If he did, is Hutch embarrassed? Starsky angry?? (Starsky’s Brother)

• 158. Nick tells Starsky that “strong emotions don’t affect” him. Compare that comment to when Starsky tells Kira he, “takes things as they come…expect nothing, don’t take anything too seriously.” (Starsky’s Brother, Starsky vs. Hutch)

• 159. Hutch asks Starsky, regarding Nick, “He’s calling out to you…what’s he trying so hard to make you find out?” Is Hutch correct, does Nick want his brother to know the real guy? Would Nick just come out and tell Starsky the truth, if Starsky took his own advice and just asked him? (Starsky’s Brother)

• 160. As of Tramp’s, Hutch is still feeling kindly towards Nick; he touches Nick’s face and smiles at him. Hutch appears to back Starsky up when the Feds ask Starsky about Nick’s Fever visit, but does ask Starsky some pointed questions about Nick after they visit Frank Stryker. Still, Hutch didn’t ask Huggy to look into Nick for him; Huggy called Hutch on his own. And a part of Hutch still wants to believe Huggy is mistaken. Does Hutch confront Nick at Starsky’s place thinking Nick is clean? Or does Hutch make the drive to Starsky’s place, knowing the truth? (Starsky’s Brother)

• 161. Frank and Virgil are symbolically cornered in a dead end alley. What other characters meet their ends on streets that echo their situations? (Moonshine)

• 162. While Starsky is usually shown to be the gullible one, Hutch displays gullibility in the hotel cook cannibalism story. Do you think Hutch actually believes that implausible story, or is he teasing Starsky? (Set-Up)

• 163. Iron Mike says to Starsky and Hutch that when he “was a young cop, a cop was somebody you paid to leave you alone.” The big burly guy who hands Durian over to Starsky and Hutch comments, “Nothing’s sacred anymore, can’t even trust the police.” Is one more right than the other? Is it all perspective? What are Starsky and Hutch thinking when they hear these comments? (Iron Mike, Set-Up)

• 164. Starsky fools with Hutch with waitress. Hutch orders, a “couple of cups a coffee, couple of sweet rolls.” Starsky then orders “only one” for himself, making Hutch look like a glutton. What are some other times Starsky pulls a similar trick on Hutch? (Set-Up)

• 165. Main snitches, every cop seems to have one. Starsky and Hutch have Huggy, Iron Mike had Matt Coyle, and Slate had Cobb. How much cross-pollination of snitches among cops is there? One clue perhaps, the name Marsellus appears in Iron Mike’s black book; is it Cobb? (Iron Mike, Strange Justice, various)

• 166.
Amboy eats: kidney and baby veal ragout, caviar, really, really fresh corn (which he doesn’t even swallow, instead spits out) and baby boar with small potatoes. All of these are young or immature foods. Comment on Amboy’s desire for their consumption, tying it in with his abuse of the children he deals drugs to and his relationship of the child, Mickey. (Bust Amboy)

• 167. “Harry” tells Monique more about herself than him, she tells Starsky. “You, you, you,” Monique snarls and growls. She should change the pronoun to, “Me, me, me.” Explore the meaning behind the suggested pronoun change. (Avenger)

• 168. Starsky and Hutch argue over last letter in license plate, an “E” or a “B.” Hutch is correct. Starsky and Hutch argue over second letter in clue on car seat; is it a “P” or an “E,” Starsky is correct. When Starsky and Hutch have these differences of opinion regarding clues, is it an equal back and forth, or is one more often correct than the other one? (Losing Streak, Discomania)

• 169. Starsky tells Marty Decker he is, “About as useful as a rubber crutch,” which is not at all. The rubber off Joey’s cane turns out to be a very useful clue. (Discomania, Starsky vs. Hutch)

• 170. Is Marty Decker the person Kiko would become if he never discovered “who his real friends are”? (Discomania, Running)

• 171. Lizzie tells Tony, “There’s noting wrong with losing someone unless you lose yourself too.” Is this true? (Discomania)

• 172. Where, in Meredith’s plea, did she lose Vivian, causing Vivian to listen to Train instead? (Black and Blue)

• 173. Marty Decker comments that “half the population under the age of fifty takes pills.” Is this true of 1979? Now? Or is this a smart-alec rationalization of Marty’s? (Discomania)

• 174. While there is a fair amount of rough arm grabbing, Starsky never hits a woman. He manhandles Emily and Sharman, as well as threatening to hit Fifi in the mouth. It is Hutch who backhands Diana. Hutch forcefully slugs Monique in the jaw. Does Hutch use more physical force when he is protecting Starsky than protecting himself? Does having Monique dressed as a man make a difference when he hits her? (Fatal Charm, Avenger)

• 175. Charlotte says Starsky and Hutch won’t shoot a woman, but Janice will. Starsky never hits a woman; Hutch does twice. Name three instances when Starsky and Hutch show more physical restraint with a woman than they would have with a man. (SHOPI, Fatal Charm, Avenger)
176. Officer Thorpe, Detective Third Class in Vice, well-trained officer and confidant woman, can’t over power Tony? Oh please. Name the three most obvious female characters bit allowed to show their true strength? (Discomania)

• 177. “Well, you can go through the rest of your life as a pawn if you want, but not me.” Starsky tells Hutch. Do you think Starsky really believes this or he just in a slump? (Discomania)

• 178. Both Travers sisters have a similar drive or emptiness; they are both compelled to go out every night, though to two different types of establishments. Compare and contrast the way each of them has found to fill those empty spaces. (Avenger)

• 179. Explore the title “Black and Blue” in relation to clothes, bruises, uniform, emotions and skin color. (Black and Blue)

• 180. Starsky and Hutch don’t seem to be using their normally excellent skills at reading people in dealing with Monique. The whole San Francisco murder thing is pretty low-key, she complains about having to go down to the squad room again, she seems to feel no compunction about staying at her supposedly blood-drenched hell pit of a house, goes out to a bar the night after the murder yet Starsky and Hutch seem clueless to these oddities. Compare Starsky and Hutch’s intuitiveness with people in this episode as opposed to an episode in each of the three previous seasons. (Avenger)

• 181. Starsky calls Hutch a “home-in-front-of-the-fire type of guy” as opposed to Starsky’s “charisma” and “flair.” Is this generally true? (Avenger)

• 182. Too bad Judith and Tony can’t be different. Tony, aside from his homicidal tendencies, could be considered a catch; he loves his mom, calls her, he has a good job and money and he is lonely. Judith can be funny and she is lonely too. Her desperation is the turn-off. Her comment that Tony “is a little old,” but then she’s a little fat and this makes them even is truer than she knows. Could they have made each other happy? (Discomania)

• 183. Explore the idea of the pecking order in the disco world, from Tony turning down Judith even as he doesn’t like rejection himself, to Hutch turning down fat woman at Cellars, and subsequent pecking order moves (Avenger, Discomania)

• 184. So why the heck is Officer Harding so nasty to Hutch? Are Starsky and Hutch generally popular in their workplace? Give examples. (Discomania)

• 185. One of the first “tests” Meredith passes is having cigarettes in her purse for use in interrogation. What are some other hurdles she clears? (Black and Blue)

• 186. When Huggy asks Starsky to introduce him “to his next wife,” is he just using a figure of speech or has Huggy been married at least once before? Explore this idea further. (Black and Blue)

• 187. Starsky tells Huggy, “For a man that looks like an Egyptian horse, your house is made of glass.” What are some other times Huggy needs to worry about his glass house? (Black and Blue)

• 188. “1000 Chestnut” seems to be a hot bed of crime; it is heard in police radio chatter three times, citing woman screaming and two times for suspected prowler. What other addresses or blocks seem to be a magnet for trouble? (Death in a Different Place, Discomania, Quadromania)

• 189. Starsky and Hutch call Dobey, “Captain” even when they aren’t cops anymore. Do Starsky and Hutch ever call Dobey anything other than “Cap” or “Captain”? (Targets 2, Targets 3)

• 190. Describe this missing scene: Starsky and Hutch tell Dobey they have decided to quit the force. (Targets 1)

• 191. When Dobey is stuck with the food bill at the Pits, can he write it off as a business expense? Would this make Starsky and Hutch his newest snitches? (Targets 3)

• 192. Starsky, Hutch and Dobey need to catch Clayburn before he leaves the country. Dobey says Clayburn’s flight, “…Is a legitimate worry, the way rumors have been flying.” What rumors? What has Dobey heard and has he shared it with Starsky and Hutch? Is there information he has kept from them because they aren’t cops anymore? (Targets 2, Targets 3)

• 193. Hutch is off the force but introduces himself to Sheriff Oates as a detective. Oates asks Starsky and Hutch if they are back on the force. Starsky’s evasive answer is, “We’re trying to keep a low-profile.” Was the use of the word “detective” a slip of the tongue or are Starsky and Hutch using the title to get information from Oates? (Targets 3)

• 194. Clayburn gives Starsky and Hutch mixed messages about the difficulty of proving McClellan’s guilt. First he says it will “be hard.” Then he says it “won’t be hard.” Did he say these two conflicting statements because he is stressed out and having to think on his feet? Or is it something else? (Targets 3)

• 195. Run with this plot twist: What if Allison May was in on the whole thing and was the one “as crooked as a ram’s horn”? How would this have influenced Starsky and Hutch’s decision to go back to the force? (Targets 2, Targets 3)

• 196. Seeing how 99% of the lawyers in the show are sneaky and crooked, why are Starsky and Hutch so trusting of Clayburn? Is one reason because he flatters them? (Targets 3)

• 197. Huggy knows all sorts of things about people, which is why he is a good snitch. He is also not afraid to use this information, most noticeably for Starsky and Hutch, to get what he needs. What makes him different than Judge McClellan, who also knows a lot about people and uses this knowledge? Extra credit for discussing this over a game of chess. (Targets 1, Iron Mike, various)

• 198. Thomas May may have been rude and didn’t want Starsky and Hutch’s help, but he had a reason for his fear. Starsky probably understands this, all the while remembering him as his “Uncle Frank.” When Hutch refers to May several times as “the old man,” how does this make Starsky feel, considering the loyalty Starsky tends to display for people in his past? (Targets 3)

• 199. Hutch feels he and Starsky’s case went sour because they did everything people told them not to do. One thing he doesn’t blame is Starsky, nor does Starsky appear to blame Hutch. Do they have cases, which went, or ended badly, because of each other? And if there is, how aware of blame for each other are they? (Targets 3)

• 200. Hutch comments to Starsky, “It’s a pity that even after four years, it doesn’t get any better.” To what is Hutch referring? Their partnership? Time as cops? Their contracts with Aaron Spelling? (Targets 3)