I was predisposed to dislike this episode because of the undercover characters that Starsky and Hutch are forced to play, but actually it is not too painfully silly. I guess it isn't until we get to Season 3 that the craziness starts. This one is still mostly in control.
In order to bust a sexual blackmail scheme that has resulted in a murder, Starsky and Hutch go undercover at a dance studio as instructor and student, respectively. Starsky is trying to get recruited as one of the participants in the scheme, while Hutch is playing a patsy that could end up being blackmailed. It is ultimately Hutch that becomes the target.
Hutch's portrayal of the naive, backward Texas cowboy is slightly overdone, which always seems to be the case with these undercover operations. Except when the blackmail trap is triggered; the scene of DS as Hutch being this cowboy, realizing he's in trouble, is so good! I'm not sure where that scene came from, but it's really excellent. Why aren't all undercover scenes that good?
Things go awry when the sister of the murdered man tries to get involved in the undercover operation. She is instrumental in blowing their cover (although they don't help their cause by having a meeting with Dobey in full public view - that was rather, shall we say, unwise). In the end, of course, Starsky and Hutch manage to catch the perpetrators before they can do any more harm.
The best thing about these types of episodes in these first two seasons is that they stay under control and DS and PMG stay focused as Starsky and Hutch. They don't have to overplay their characters as they seem to in the last two seasons. They don't both fall all over themselves to impress the sister, who just happens to be beautiful, and they don't fight over her. Even PMG's portrayal of Starsky as dance instructor is not too flamboyant, where it could have gotten very out-of-hand. So it can be done. At least, it could be done in the first two seasons. Why set-ups like this seem to fall apart so badly in the last seasons, I still have not determined. This one is a pretty good example of how it should be done.
In order to bust a sexual blackmail scheme that has resulted in a murder, Starsky and Hutch go undercover at a dance studio as instructor and student, respectively. Starsky is trying to get recruited as one of the participants in the scheme, while Hutch is playing a patsy that could end up being blackmailed. It is ultimately Hutch that becomes the target.
Hutch's portrayal of the naive, backward Texas cowboy is slightly overdone, which always seems to be the case with these undercover operations. Except when the blackmail trap is triggered; the scene of DS as Hutch being this cowboy, realizing he's in trouble, is so good! I'm not sure where that scene came from, but it's really excellent. Why aren't all undercover scenes that good?
Things go awry when the sister of the murdered man tries to get involved in the undercover operation. She is instrumental in blowing their cover (although they don't help their cause by having a meeting with Dobey in full public view - that was rather, shall we say, unwise). In the end, of course, Starsky and Hutch manage to catch the perpetrators before they can do any more harm.
The best thing about these types of episodes in these first two seasons is that they stay under control and DS and PMG stay focused as Starsky and Hutch. They don't have to overplay their characters as they seem to in the last two seasons. They don't both fall all over themselves to impress the sister, who just happens to be beautiful, and they don't fight over her. Even PMG's portrayal of Starsky as dance instructor is not too flamboyant, where it could have gotten very out-of-hand. So it can be done. At least, it could be done in the first two seasons. Why set-ups like this seem to fall apart so badly in the last seasons, I still have not determined. This one is a pretty good example of how it should be done.
