In this episode, Starsky and Hutch happen to be at a high-society party when a murder takes place. They immediately suspect the host, since the dead man was sleeping with the host's wife. Using photos taken at the party, they determine the how and the who behind the murder.
This story feels much more like a murder mystery that a police case. Starsky and Hutch do a little bit of questioning of suspects, but they have keyed into the host as hiring a hit-man right from the start, so they are just trying to get the evidence against him and determine who the hit-man was. They basically guess what happened and they are right. All that's left after that is trapping the guilty parties. This could have quite easily been a "Murder, She Wrote" episode, and just stick Jessica Fletcher in all the scenes where Starsky and Hutch show up. So it's really not very good, but it's closer to normal than a lot of the other Season 4 episodes. (That's not saying much).
The relationship between Starsky and Hutch in this episode feels very strained. Hutch makes continuous negative comments about Starsky being uncouth, and ridicules and laughs at Starsky over issues with his tux. There is nothing friendly about this relationship now. Where PMG and DS used to deliver lines like these in a comfortable, kidding sort of way, now they just come off as mean. And Starsky's reactions to the comments are not like he's being teased by a friend, but like he's being constantly attacked by someone who's supposed to be his friend. And so he is. These guys just don't like each other much anymore. Why the relationship has shifted so much from what it used to be, I guess I will never understand.
With this review, I have completed my task of reviewing every episode. I loved this show for two years of my life in the 70s, and then it dropped out suddenly from my memories. Now having seen Season 4 again, I understand why I wanted to forget. It is so unfortunate that it ended so badly when it started out as something so good. It seems like things should have gone better with all the promise and talent that PMG and DS brought to the show at the beginning. Too many negative factors built up that could not be overcome, I guess. The show's creator, William Blinn, comments in the interviews on the Season 1 DVD that his main fear was getting in the way of a good story that was well-cast and had great potential. He was exactly right; too many things just got in the way.
This story feels much more like a murder mystery that a police case. Starsky and Hutch do a little bit of questioning of suspects, but they have keyed into the host as hiring a hit-man right from the start, so they are just trying to get the evidence against him and determine who the hit-man was. They basically guess what happened and they are right. All that's left after that is trapping the guilty parties. This could have quite easily been a "Murder, She Wrote" episode, and just stick Jessica Fletcher in all the scenes where Starsky and Hutch show up. So it's really not very good, but it's closer to normal than a lot of the other Season 4 episodes. (That's not saying much).
The relationship between Starsky and Hutch in this episode feels very strained. Hutch makes continuous negative comments about Starsky being uncouth, and ridicules and laughs at Starsky over issues with his tux. There is nothing friendly about this relationship now. Where PMG and DS used to deliver lines like these in a comfortable, kidding sort of way, now they just come off as mean. And Starsky's reactions to the comments are not like he's being teased by a friend, but like he's being constantly attacked by someone who's supposed to be his friend. And so he is. These guys just don't like each other much anymore. Why the relationship has shifted so much from what it used to be, I guess I will never understand.
With this review, I have completed my task of reviewing every episode. I loved this show for two years of my life in the 70s, and then it dropped out suddenly from my memories. Now having seen Season 4 again, I understand why I wanted to forget. It is so unfortunate that it ended so badly when it started out as something so good. It seems like things should have gone better with all the promise and talent that PMG and DS brought to the show at the beginning. Too many negative factors built up that could not be overcome, I guess. The show's creator, William Blinn, comments in the interviews on the Season 1 DVD that his main fear was getting in the way of a good story that was well-cast and had great potential. He was exactly right; too many things just got in the way.
