BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS K

"I've been a cop's wife long enough to have learned not to ask any questions."
(Birds of a Feather)

• 500. When Fireball asks Hutch to shoot him, Hutch declines, giving Fireball’s minor crime of shoplifting as the reason. If the crime is so minor though, how come Starsky and Hutch risked the lives of about fifty people during the pursuit? Hutch is certainly aware of it when Starsky won’t give up the car chase that puts them both in the hospital, telling him “It’s a robbery. It’s not worth getting killed over!” What are some other more egregious examples of the danger of the chase outweighing the crime? (Omaha Tiger, Psychic, Partners)

• 501. Where does Starsky’s refusal to be typecast come into with his appreciation for both Rodan and Rodin? And what episode actually has a reproduction of a Rodin in it? (Rosey Malone, Playboy Island, Jojo, Sweet Revenge)

• 502. Look closely and see a case of “Black and White” vodka on the floor where the “black and white” officer comes to take the lady robber off Starsky and Hutch’s hands at the bar. (Psychic)

• 503. A. C. Chambers tells Starger, “All of a sudden it feels wrong.” Instead of this statement showing that Chambers is feeling he is being set up, imagine his statement is in reference to a sudden wave of guilt over his business of blackmail and misery. How could he change the course of action at this point? (Tap Dancing)

• 504. Simon and Bellamy each give Starsky twenty-four hours to live (pig). What are some other ways these two men are similar and are different? (Bloodbath, A Coffin for Starsky)

• 505. Simon Marcus tells Hutch, “Simon never lies.” Is this true? (Bloodbath)

• 506. Simon Marcus and Skinny Momo are in the same penitentiary and wear the identical blue shirts with the same number on them. Speculate on their relationship there. Is Skinny Momo Simon Marcus’s boy and does Skinny Momo do Simon’s laundry? Or does Simon Marcus do Skinny Momo’s laundry? Perhaps prison is where Simon can give up his control to Skinny Momo, who perhaps isn’t as skinny as his name implies? And is the $500 given to Skinny Momo’s wife on the outside every Tuesday going to be worth it to her later, when Momo contracts an STD? (Bloodbath, Iron Mike)

• 507. Hutch confidently tells Dobey, “All I know, Captain, is that every time he does it, the bad guy takes a heavy fall and in this business, if something works, stick with it.” Will Starsky and Hutch revise their beliefs on Starsky’s bathroom habit after the Simon Marcus case? (Bloodbath)

• 508. When Blaze offers to toss in some argyles, are they anything like the horrid tan and brown pair Starsky is wearing with his tennis shoes, during the laundry heist? (Nightmare, Crying Child, Targets 2)

• 509. Hutch tells Huggy, “Who’d ever think of looking for a pimp on a motor scooter, “ and Huggy responds, “Don’t knock it. It fooled my two lovely accomplices over there,” referring to two working girls. Fooling prostitutes? For what? Is Huggy, or has he been, an actual pimp? (Iron Mike)

• 510. Mike Ferguson had a major blind spot in the area of definition. He claims his “conscience is as clear as any man’s” regarding Coyle’s help. Mike Coyle assures Starsky and Hutch with “my solemn word, the captain was neither bribed nor bought.” Did Iron Mike really believe he wasn’t taking bribes? Did Iron Mike? It isn’t a gray area for Hutch as he tells Dobey, “Ferguson was accepting bribes…not in dollar bills, but he was accepting bribes.” Speculate on the journey Mike Ferguson took to his rationalism. (Iron Mike)

• 511. Momo taunts Starsky and Hutch, telling them he would believe Coyle was a tongue, “when cows gave beer.” If this were the case, would Starsky’s insinuation that Hutch “couldn’t find a beer in a brewery,” seem less likely? (Iron Mike, Game)

• 512. Dobey tells Starsky and Hutch, “Mike Ferguson is (sic) my best friend…I’ve never met a finer police officer.” What kind of a judge of character is Dobey when he chooses a best friend? Ferguson was a bully, arrogant, yelled at his employees in public, made fun of them and didn’t fill them in on what they needed to know. Being disliked by Starsky and Hutch was also a major drawback. And as for Dobey never meeting a better police officer? Can he really believe this? (Iron Mike)

• 513. Hutch threatens Marcus with an Accessory to Kidnapping charge (ten to twenty years) and life in prison, “if that police officer doesn’t make it.” Does this matter one iota to Marcus, seeing how he is waiting to be sentences for nine counts of heinous murder? Why does Hutch even bother with the threat? (Bloodbath)

• 514. How much does it cost Hutch psychologically, when talking at Marcus, to distantly refer to the connotations of the case with, “if that police officer doesn’t make it,” in regards to Starsky? Bloodbath)

• 515. Simon Marcus says his dreams always come true. Gail tells Starsky, “I won’t cut you. Simon didn’t dream that.” And indeed, in the end, she doesn’t cut Starsky. Did Simon see this in his dream? (Bloodbath)

• 516. Would not seeing the man, who she has already seen in court, standing mere inches from her passing in the sidewalk, make Mitzi possibly the most unobservant person in Bay City? Or will that honor be reserved for someone else? (Nightmare)

• 517. While Jack Cunningham may have a thick Irish brogue, it isn’t because he is from the Old Country. His arrest record says he is American and that he was born in a city that starts with “New.” He also says he grew up in a San Francisco convent. Jack’s fake accent isn’t the only lie about him. He claims to be able to hear a fetus and talks of being able to fit inside a suitcase as a fourteen year old. Is Jack merely colorful or is he mentally ill? Play doctor. Extra credit: Jack is wanted for forty-three known burglaries and four counts of armed robbery. Are we to assume his shooting of Garras is his first murder? (Collector)

• 518. After Sims dismisses the case against Mousy and Manning the first time, Dobey tells Starsky and Hutch, “It’s the system, most of the time it works.” Starsky later rousts Mousy up against the car and handcuffs him. He tells Mousy, “Justice, sweet justice, once in a while it works.” Who is more optimistic and why? (Nightmare)

• 519. Is Sam the Greek telling Huggy the truth when he says he isn’t fencing anymore? If so, he is taking some real initiative in getting “the poison” Mousy and Manning off the street. How much do the local shady denizens of Starsky and Hutch’s beat help the cops out without being coerced? Where does this fit in the theory of jungle law? (Nightmare)

• 520. “We’ve been through all this before, haven’t we Sims,” the Assistant District Attorney says. Assuming he means Sim’s election posturing, then why hasn’t seems been followed more closely by his supervisors? How much of the A.D.A.’s statement was his own election posturing for Starsky and Hutch’s sake, as well as the other two men sitting there? (Nightmare)

• 521. The red light going off and on outside Garras’ room is symbolic of a heartbeat, Garras’ only having a few more minutes to do the same. (Collector)

• 523. Influencing Dogs: Hutch suspects a “little dog food’ under Sandy’s collar” will help in their exchange with Orange. Hutch, as Ives, feeds Fosdick some of Melinda’s alcoholic drink in an effort to make friends. Starsky notes hamburger is “how to win friends and influence dumb dogs.” (Running, Groupie, Collector)

• 524. Compare and contrast the two characters: The Professor and Fifth Avenue. (Action, Lady Blue)

• 525. Of the three things Starsky and Hutch smell at the locker room, which is strongest? Spenser’s body odor after the fight---Hutch comments Spenser is in so much a hurry that he doesn’t shower?
The fear Hutch says he smells? Or the smell of frustration Starsky smells due to his curtailed libido? (Heavyweight)

• 526. Neatness? Starsky offers “neatness, originality and happiness,” as he turns his application into the employment agency. He remarks Hutch is extraordinarily neat. Four years previously, Starsky tells the bar patrons at the Star Bar, when turning in their papers, he wants “no names, twenty-five words or less…neatness and originality will be taken into consideration.” If neatness helps these situations, then what does he mean when he tells Hutch, “You don’t get points for neatness when you’re undercover”? (Targets 2, Pilot, Heavyweight)

• 527. Starsky and Hutch clearly enjoy going to the fights. Don’t they get enough of hitting and punching with their jobs? Do they go to pick up pointers? (Heavyweight)

• 528. Gavin has been Spenser’s “angel” for a while. Is the fight with Booker the first one he has ever been asked to lay down on? (Heavyweight)

• 529. Starsky asks Hutch is he ever wonders “what if.” Hutch asks Starsky, “Did you ever wonder why?” Is either man more philosophical than the other? (Specialist, Body Worth Guarding)

• 530. Conflicted Hutch: “There is more to life, to people,” he archly tells Starsky about Phelps, “than just a beautiful outside.” He later tells Kate Larabee people in the hospital using bedpans are just as beautiful as Kate and himself and that beauty comes from inside. Hutch, who chides Starsky about reacting to Chris Phelp’s body rather than accomplishments, goes on to admire her legs and “pure grace,” forgetting his loftier compliments. This is the same Hutch who describes Paula, Marcie Fletcher’s boss as the one with “the legs,” and the one with “the eyes.” As Hutch would say to himself, “Welcome to the human race.” (Body Worth Guarding, Cover Girl, Heroes, Rosey Malone, Heavyweight, Photo Finish)

• 531. Starsky and Hutch place the blame for Alex Drew’s condition on his job, emphasizing how he was not really responsible for his actions. Starsky and Hutch take the opposite point of view with Jerry Tabor, emphatically telling him that he, “all by yourself,” is responsible for his actions. Contrast and compare these two characters and speculate why Starsky and Hutch feel differently about the two men. Where do Starsky and Hutch draw the line with mental illness, intent and blame? And where would Professor Gage fall into this continuum? Gage says, “The victor and as well as the victim is responsible for his life and death”? (Specialist, Long Walk, Class in Crime)

•532. Sue Ann is talked into going in to make a report about her stalker with the point that in doing so, she can stop him before anyone gets hurt. Right off the bat, Tabor sees her leaving with cops, which sets the very ball in motion she was hoping to avoid. Would Tabor have escalated to the point of killing two innocent men if Sue Ann had declined to file a report? (Long Walk)

• 533. Could Starsky and Hutch have handled the bungled tennis court contact better? Perhaps having other back up rather than it being a private party? Do they consider losing Tabor at this point the cost of doing business? Or do they decide, when put in a similar position, to have more back up? What is the next instance where they are able to put this information to use? (Long Walk)

• 534. Does the “severe limp” Starsky threatens Sterling with come around, in an evil karmic sort of way, to become Starsky’s affliction when Starsky sprains his ankle chasing Sterling at the Convention Center? (Velvet Jungle)

• 535. Compare the characters of Officer Sterling, whom Starsky says is “a little too glib with your words and a little too fast with your gun,” to Officer Andrews, whom Starsky says has “a dirty mouth and a nervous trigger finger.” (Velvet Jungle, Manchild on the Streets)

• 536. Compare the characters of Spenser and Andrea. Both are material witnesses, both are frightened and it is pointed out that neither can be required to testify what they know. (Heavyweight, Velvet Jungle)

• 537. Is Starsky’s driving any more recklessly during their pursuit of Henderson and Billy Joe than any other times? Or is Hutch just in a bad mood? (Partners)

• 538. What is it with the isolation from family for people in Bay City? Emily has no family, only an ineffectual neighbor. Terry apparently has no family. Starsky and Hutch’s family never makes an appearance despite Starsky and Hutch’s serious medical traumas. Patricia has so little family that her belongings are given to her fairly uncaring roommate. Is this absence of family a common Bay City condition or a plot device? (Blindfold, Starsky’s Lady, Pilot, various)

• 539. Why does Starsky tell the nurse, a dim-bulb blabbermouth, about Hutch’s forced heroin addiction? It wasn’t to stop her from giving Hutch a painkiller, “a small dose of a morphine derivative.” How close does Starsky keep this story to him? How much talking to he and Hutch do with each other about the time with Forest? (Partners, Fix)

• 540. How far would Hutch have gone with his amnesia stunt? Would he have spoken up it the doctor had suggested a procedure or medicine for it, knowing it was harmful? Expensive? A waste of time or resources? He doesn’t stop or ask the nurse about the morphine derivative painkiller she gives him, nor does he turn down the electrocephilogram, making one think he would go a long way in stretching out his stunt. (Partners)

• 541. Hutch says, “Mr. Starkey, if that’s an example of my past, I’m not sure I want it back.” How much truth to this statement is there? (Partners)

• 542. In the very first scene of the very first episode, one bad guy says to the other about John Wayne, “He wins. He always wins.” Thinking through the next four years of episodes, does the good guy always win? Examine both the short run and the long run. (Pilot, various)

• 543. Starsky and Hutch have Terry’s memorial at 12:00 midnight. It is also at 12:00 midnight that Starsky tells the last of his stories, the one of Terry. Is hearing the Terry story the final catalyst for Hutch telling the truth about his amnesia. (Starsky’s Lady, Partners)

• 544. Doesn’t Lionel use terrible irony when he uses the phrase “bloody stump” in regards to someone’s lack of ability? Or does he use it purposely in a self-hatred moment? (Quadromania)

• 545. Starsky and Hutch have all these clues regarding the cabbie murders: all are robbery and strangulation, all happened at the same time in the morning, all from the same cab company, all had pick-ups at the Third and Main cabbie stand and all were drivers of one of five old checker cabs. Seeing how Starsky’s checker cab is the last one left, Hutch still sends him off on one last fare? And Starsky lets him do it? What other episodes have Starsky and Hutch plainly missed all the clues in a case? (Quadromania)

• 546. Starsky’s first words to Hutch, as they arrive at O’Connor’s murder scene is, “Be nice.” Starsky also tells Hutch he can’t take him out anymore as he “keeps insulting my friends” when they talk to Artie Slokin. Starsky tells Lola she had better do what Hutch says, because Hutch isn’t even close to angry. Is Starsky or Hutch more in the position of feeling the need to tone down the other? Or are they pretty evenly matched? (Quadromania, Vendetta)

• 547. When Gramps tells Starsky and Hutch about Lionel the Third, “I haven’t entertained the bloody rake in over two weeks,” is he playing with the word “entertain”? In one definition, it could be seen as seeing his grandson in over two weeks. Or it could be Lionel the Third found Gramps entertaining,” as in good company? How savvy are Starsky and Hutch in how people use language to obfuscate, muddy the waters? (Quadromania)

• 548. Note the juxtaposition of this scene: Starsky questions Chicky, Laura questions Hutch. The interplay back and forth underlines the similarities in both parties trying to get information out of a reluctant “witness.” Chicky says to Starsky, “What’s it worth to you?” Laura appears to be asking Hutch the same thing, though she isn’t talking about money. Chicky has “some information,” Hutch tells Laura he is, “just fishing.” Both Chicky and Hutch are being vague. It is indeed “the same old game.” Chicky tops it off by saying Harry “is a nice guy.” Starsky says, “So am I.” And so is Hutch. (Deckwatch)

• 549. Lionel was hit by Benson’s cab shortly before 6:00 am. This is apparently why Lionel has committed his murders at the time he does. What other things does Lionel duplicate? (Quadromania)

• 550. Benson thought he had hit a dog in his cab. Yet he keeps a newspaper article, from two years ago, in his locker. Benson must have figured out right away whom it was that he really hit. The newspaper mentions Lionel’s accident happens “this morning.” One can see why he may have kept quiet about it for two years, but once cabbies started getting killed there, did he have any thought it could be Lionel. Contrast his character with Anton Rusz, who kept a secret to protect himself, at the expense of more people dying. And where do both these “cases” fall in relation to Kathi Carmer’s decision to keep silent about seeing Jack Thorn killed? (Quadromania, Death Notice)