I Sense a Pattern

In a lot of scenes, Starsky acts totally nonchalant and plays it cool while Hutch seduces him in plain sight, right under the audience’s (and the censor’s) noses.

Why does Starsky act nonchalant? Because in order to keep it on the down low (so it went over most people’s heads), one of them had to be acting NOT GAY. Bonus if one of them had a girlfriend or female love interest in the episode, then surely no one in the audience would suspect they had feelings for their male partner.

Hutch seduces Starsky:

• Pilot – When Hutch is in the shower and Starsky acts totally nonchalant, like he’s not thinking at all of Hutch being completely naked right behind him.
• Texas Longhorn tag – When Hutch leans close to Starsky at Huggy’s bar as they’re drinking beer.
• Pariah – When Starsky is sitting in Hutch’s kitchen and Hutch (knowing Starsky is there because Molly the stewardess told him), walks shirtless out of the bathroom and proceeds to do lots of shirtless stuff in front of Starsky.
• Lady Blue – When they’re in the morgue hallway and Hutch is all “Oh, Starsk” while holding Starsky’s hand and Starsky is all “It’s alright.”
• Lady Blue tag – This is probably the most blatant of all “Hutch seduces Starsky” scenes, as Hutch sets a romantic tablescape and tries to get Starsky to watch the sunset with him.
• Specialist – When they’re in the police locker room and Hutch is shirtless while Starsky is fully dressed and totally acting like he doesn’t notice (and then Hutch gives Starsky a blowjob later in the episode, but I digress…).
• Murder Ward tag – Hutch blows a really long paper blowie thing in Starsky’s face. It’s, like, abnormally loooong.
• The Game – Hutch calls Starsky at 6:09am, knowing Starsky will still be sleeping (aka the “phone sex” scene).
• Photo Finish tag – Hutch has trouble opening the champagne bottle (i.e. he’s jerking off) and then it explodes (i.e. he ejaculates) all over Starsky, while Starsky appears not to notice. No one else in the scene, including their female dates, appears to notice anything unusual, either. More plausible deniability.
• Ballad for a Blue Lady tag – Starsky is nonchalantly reading the newspaper, pretending not to notice what Hutch is saying, as Hutch talks dirty to his plants (but really, he was talking to Starsky, unless he has some really weird sexual fetish). Seriously, Hutch said he was gonna put on Donna Summer (aka “fuck music”) and get his plant off. This while they are sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, at night, on the bench in Hutch’s greenhouse. That’s partially where I got the name for this blog. The other reason is because I really like the greenhouse.

Then you have other scenes where it’s Starsky doing the seducing while Hutch is the one who acts nonchalant:

• The Specialist – When they visit the Center for Bodily Invigoration, as Hutch talks about well-toned bodies, Starsky looks at him and Hutch says “What are you lookin’ at?” After they enter the building, Hutch asks “heads or tails” and Starsky replies, “I’m in the mood for tails.” And then there’s the infamous motel room scene where Starsky sits on the floor with his legs spread apart and his gun perched on his stomach while Hutch pretends to be engrossed in the motel Bible.
• The Game – In the police locker room, when Starsky has the toothbrush in his mouth and tells Hutch he knows everything about him (I swear I saw Hutch blushing in response).

I’m sure there are many more examples, so I’ll add more when I find ’em.