I know I tend to trot out the same paragraph in response to this episode, but it remains true :P
I've long said that Death in a Different Place is one of my favorite eps and it remains true because of how much depth you get from these characters. The scene in the car, where Hutch pointedly asks Starsky if it would have made a difference had he known John Blaine was gay. THAT SCENE is so overly telling of where these two men are in their lives. Hutch has been living in the closet, with the hidden truth, for all these years and he's just trying to get Starsky to notice, but he's afraid of the outcome and Starsky is not ready. Starsky knows, but he's not ready to know, you know?;) That look of "would it have made a difference, will it make a difference with us?" Starsky knows what Hutch is telling him, but he's not ready to accept it yet, so he doesn't. He just goes on with the knowledge in the back of his mind and it changes who these men are to one another because once you let that out, you can't not know. It changes them, but they're trying like crazy to not let it change them. Hutch is ready, Starsky's not, and the lies that they construct to live their lives, to just pretend a little bit longer, is tearing them apart. And it will tear them apart and it will break our hearts to witness it, but it's time. It's time for Hutch to stop living in the closet and it's time for Starsky to stop running away. They have to deal with this and it's setting them up to do it.
DIADP
I've long said that Death in a Different Place is one of my favorite eps and it remains true because of how much depth you get from these characters. The scene in the car, where Hutch pointedly asks Starsky if it would have made a difference had he known John Blaine was gay. THAT SCENE is so overly telling of where these two men are in their lives. Hutch has been living in the closet, with the hidden truth, for all these years and he's just trying to get Starsky to notice, but he's afraid of the outcome and Starsky is not ready. Starsky knows, but he's not ready to know, you know?;) That look of "would it have made a difference, will it make a difference with us?" Starsky knows what Hutch is telling him, but he's not ready to accept it yet, so he doesn't. He just goes on with the knowledge in the back of his mind and it changes who these men are to one another because once you let that out, you can't not know. It changes them, but they're trying like crazy to not let it change them. Hutch is ready, Starsky's not, and the lies that they construct to live their lives, to just pretend a little bit longer, is tearing them apart. And it will tear them apart and it will break our hearts to witness it, but it's time. It's time for Hutch to stop living in the closet and it's time for Starsky to stop running away. They have to deal with this and it's setting them up to do it.