• 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 Rodin in it? (Rosey Malone,
Starsky and Hutch on 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, if 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 Without a Badge 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, didn’t
fill them in on what they needed to know and was disliked
by Starsky and Hutch, 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? Is Jack
getting worse? (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 Without a Badge 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 Down a Short Dirt Road,
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 Down a Short Dirt
Road)
• 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 Down a Short
Dirt Road)
• 534. Does the “severe limp” Starsky threatens Sterling
with come around, in a 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 who 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. (Quadromania, Death Notice)