Gay Subtext in Lady Blue, Part 2

So I try to write at least one blog post each month, and with October quickly getting away from me, I was trying to think of some ideas and somehow ended up thinking about the tag of this episode on my drive home from work.

The non-slashers/anti-slashers always insist that Hutch is just being a good (platonic) friend by cooking Starsky his favorite meal (after calling up Starsky’s mother to get the recipe). And they excuse away the candles and sunset and every other romantic element by insisting that Starsky & Hutch are “just like brothers.” So do they believe that Hutch really is having a girl over later? Or do they acknowledge that the candles are for Starsky and admit that Hutch lied about having a girl over later, but insist it’s all platonic because S&H “aren’t gay.”

Either way, their interpretation is problematic.

• For the non-slashers/anti-slashers who think Hutch really IS having a girl over later, and the candles are for her, the problem with this premise is that 1) Why would Hutch be lighting candles now, while serving dinner to Starsky, when they’d be burned down to a stub by the time the girl arrives later? And is Hutch planning on having a second dinner with this girl? Because if she’s coming over for a booty call, why would candles on the table even be necessary? and 2) How callous does that make Hutch? So the ex-girlfriend who Starsky still loves and whom he wanted to marry at one time is brutally murdered and her body unceremoniously dumped in the park, and Starsky is having a hard time getting over her death, but Hutch is going to rub it in Starsky’s face that he’s getting laid later after he kicks Starsky to the curb?

• For the non-slashers/anti-slashers who admit that the candles are for Starsky, but insist that Hutch is just being a “good friend, like a brother” in putting them on the table and lighting them, why then does Starsky himself question their existence? Clearly HE doesn’t think it’s normal for two straight men to have a candlelight dinner together. If he did, he wouldn’t have asked “Who are the candles for? You expectin’ someone?” And if he’s just being dense, wouldn’t Hutch have answered that the candles are for Starsky? Instead, Hutch says, “Yeah, that’s why we’re eating early,” while looking down at the floor, clearly trying to avoid making eye contact with Starsky. Why? Because he’s both lying and embarrassed. There is no girl coming over later. He’s trying to save face because Starsky isn’t getting the hint that he’s being wooed. I timed the scene, and for three full seconds, Hutch looks everywhere but at Starsky.
  
  BTW, have these guys EVER avoided making eye contact with each other? Quite the opposite. And when Starsky follows up with, “Oh, what time am I leavin’?” Hutch deflects by taking off the cover of the casserole and never answers Starsky’s question.

Candles? Watching the sunset together? I honestly can’t see a heterosexual explanation for this scene.

The non-slashers/anti-slashers will insist that Hutch is just trying to show his best (platonic) friend a good time and help him out of his depression, but why would serving Starsky a romantic, candlelight dinner be the best way to achieve that? Wouldn’t it have been better for Hutch to take Starsky to his favorite chili place instead? Like the one Starsky was excited about going to with Hutch at the end of the Pilot (and which Hutch weaseled out of by driving his car in the opposite direction).

As a side note, I have to laugh whenever they show an exterior shot of Hutch’s canal cottage when Starsky is visiting, because only the Torino is in the driveway. Where the heck is Hutch’s car?