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)