Hawaii Five-O (the original series)

[cutback73]

After a long pause, I've finally restarted my viewing of the UK dvds, and have just finished up Season 1.

Joanne Linville's Tour de force performance as the "quack" in the 2 parter is certainly impressive, especially the extended scene in her office with McGarrett, where she talks about her background and tries every trick she can think of to persuade him to back down.

And it's made clear in the story and dialogue that she *believes* in what she is doing, that she does have the ability to cure others, making her character so much more 3 dimensional.

Interesting also that Mcgarrett 's real victory at the end is in convincing his sister, the end of the court case is almost secondary to that.

It's already been discussed previously about the out of order sequence for Six Kilos, however I mainly wondered why this episode was of poor visual quality and clearly a non remastered copy. The rest of season 1 is so much better in terms of video quality. It's almost as if this episode was an afterthought in 1968 and still an afterthought when the dvds released.

Finally, the season finale. Anything referencing the era in terms of psychedelia and the "summer of love", even if indirectly, has really aged badly when looked at now. Robert Colbert was fresh from Time Tunnel and Sally Kellerman was on the brink of m*a*s*h stardom, so a good cast involved. And actually the reuse of the concept of island traditions versus "progress", used earlier in the series in another episode, is a powerful one. Especially if you know anything about how important that conflict was and still is for the island to this day. As are the old superstitions.

It was nice to see Kono have a bit more in this episode too, and the comment about him being 90% Hawaiian and 10% cop made me chuckle.

All in all, I enjoyed the finale.

The extra content of "Emme's Island Moments" from 1996 felt a bit "stilted", but didnt shrink from referencing the "difficulties" during production (a lot seeming to result from Jack Lord being a perfectionist, but then he was almost singlehandedly creating a tv crew and acting academy at the start it seems). For such a popular show, it's a pity that more extras are not included with the first season. Not necessarily contemporary to the show, but why there isn't an interview with James McArthur included seems odd unless he didnt want to be involved. You would think it would be a "no brainer" for CBS to ask before releasing the dvds?

On to season 2....

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by cutback73

After a long pause, I've finally restarted my viewing of the UK dvds, and have just finished up Season 1.

[Show spoiler]Joanne Linville's Tour de force performance as the "quack" in the 2 parter is certainly impressive, especially the extended scene in her office with McGarrett, where she talks about her background and tries every trick she can think of to persuade him to back down.

And it's made clear in the story and dialogue that she *believes* in what she is doing, that she does have the ability to cure others, making her character so much more 3 dimensional.

Interesting also that Mcgarrett 's real victory at the end is in convincing his sister, the end of the court case is almost secondary to that.

It's already been discussed previously about the out of order sequence for Six Kilos, however I mainly wondered why this episode was of poor visual quality and clearly a non remastered copy. The rest of season 1 is so much better in terms of video quality. It's almost as if this episode was an afterthought in 1968 and still an afterthought when the dvds released.

Finally, the season finale. Anything referencing the era in terms of psychedelia and the "summer of love", even if indirectly, has really aged badly when looked at now. Robert Colbert was fresh from Time Tunnel and Sally Kellerman was on the brink of m*a*s*h stardom, so a good cast involved. And actually the reuse of the concept of island traditions versus "progress", used earlier in the series in another episode, is a powerful one. Especially if you know anything about how important that conflict was and still is for the island to this day. As are the old superstitions.

It was nice to see Kono have a bit more in this episode too, and the comment about him being 90% Hawaiian and 10% cop made me chuckle.

All in all, I enjoyed the finale.

The extra content of "Emme's Island Moments" from 1996 felt a bit "stilted", but didnt shrink from referencing the "difficulties" during production (a lot seeming to result from Jack Lord being a perfectionist, but then he was almost singlehandedly creating a tv crew and acting academy at the start it seems). For such a popular show, it's a pity that more extras are not included with the first season. Not necessarily contemporary to the show, but why there isn't an interview with James McArthur included seems odd unless he didnt want to be involved. You would think it would be a "no brainer" for CBS to ask before releasing the dvds?

On to season 2....

It's been a long time since I watched the bonus feature/extra Emme's Island Moments from the Season 1 DVD set, so what I remember of it is very vague. I think when the Complete Series DVD set (*) was released in North America, there were some additional extras (including a chat show interview with Jack Lord). I collected the separate season sets, so I haven't seen those additional extras.

There is a book out about Jack Lord's career called Jack Lord: An Acting Life, which (I'm not surprised by this because he seemed to be a very private person based on what I've read) apparently doesn't go into much detail about his life after the original Hawaii Five-O ended (the unsuccessful TV pilot M Station: Hawaii was filmed before they started filming the twelfth and final season (I think the series finale "Woe to Wo Fat" was the last episode filmed, so it's likely this was Jack Lord's last screen appearance). This Jack Lord book is on my list of film and TV books which I want to get.

I recommend a book actor Larry Manetti wrote about the original Magnum, P.I. called Aloha Magnum (there's an anecdote in the book about when he bumped into Jack Lord when Lord was vacating his office after Hawaii Five-O ended).

I suspect it was an oversight on the people who were doing the remastering/transferring to HD of the original Hawaii Five-O (it happened with a couple of episodes of Mannix as well (on my re-watch of Mannix so far, one episode was partly not remastered/partly not transferred to HD). With my re-watch of Hawaii Five-O, only that one episode "Six Kilos" has not been remastered/not been transferred to HD so far.

(*) - Bear in mind, it's not every episode in the series. I mentioned earlier in this thread that the Season 2 episode "Bored, She Hung Herself" has never been seen since it's original airing in the States.

[Hammerlover]

Every time I see this thread get bumped, I'm hoping it's to announce that the original series is coming to Blu-ray. Oh well, the reviews are nice to read!

[OceanBlue]

Haven't watched any episodes from the fourth season recently, but I had some mini-reviews/reviews to do for the last two or three episodes I re-watched.

"Two Doves and Mr. Heron" - the highlight for me was Vic Morrow's performance (one of the best scenes was his response to fellow guest star John Ritter's character pestering him, and the slowly evolving plot (it was one of those episodes with a simple plot, but it was done well). I wouldn't call this episode one of my favourites, but it was decent.

"...And I Want Some Candy and a Gun That Shoots" - a near classic for me, this one. There was very little I could fault in it. It was well shot, despite the majority of it taking place at the same location, well written

[Show spoiler](the mystery of the gunman being slowly revealed

as the episode went on) and acted well

[Show spoiler](the actress playing the gunman's uncaring mother certainly played it well (making you despise her attitude).

Guest stars included a young Annette O'Toole (nearly twenty years before the TV mini-series IT).

"Air Cargo--Dial for Murder" - for the majority of this episode, I thought it was a well constructed puzzle of an episode. It was just the final, abrupt few seconds which prevented me from calling this one of my favourites so far this season. The abrupt ending can work, and sometimes it doesn't. It could be because I couldn't quite hear or understand what

[Show spoiler]McGarrett was referring to when he spoke to the mastermind of the scheme

(played by an actor who previously guest-starred in the two-part season three finale "The Grandstand Play"). I think

[Show spoiler]McGarrett was referring to the murder victim in the episode's teaser.

[OceanBlue]

Watched last night, the fourth season episode "For a Million...Why Not?". Straight off, I will say that I didn't think it was an excellent episode or near perfect. It started off very well, but dragged a bit during the second act, but things picked up after that with

[Show spoiler]the people who wanted revenge finally carrying out their master plan.

Like with the the episode "The Bomber and Mrs. Moroney" the previous season, McGarrett was a supporting player in that he only appeared briefly (mainly through phone conversations with Danno while he was away at a trial (I'm wondering if the unseen defendant was a character seen in an earlier episode (maybe the one played by either Albert Paulsen or Henry Darrow). McGarrett's shirt was rather colourful, although over the series' run, he would wear similar colourful clothes.

The criminals' master plan was detailed, and this helped to lift the episode. Actor Glenn Cannon had a small role early in the episode (later this same season he would begin his recurring role of John Manicote). Al Harrington guest-starred again (he would become a main castmember the following season as Five-O member Ben).

The action scenes were well shot, tense and thrilling. As a whole, one of the better episodes so far in the fourth season.

[OceanBlue]

The episode "The Burning Ice" is one of those which I remember very well from my first viewing of it on Granada Plus, and the subsequent first viewing from the UK DVD release of the fourth season. This same memory also applies to the Jack Lord-narrated episodic promo (love that shot of the lit-up swimming pool at night, and the music which went with it).

One of my favourite shots in the episode (also seen in and edited the same way in the episodic promo) is when guest star Jackie Coogan's doctor character is about to

[Show spoiler]hand over his gun to McGarrett (who is visiting him at his office in the hospital). Nicely edited how they cut from the misleading shot of the doctor getting the gun out of his desk drawer, making it appear as if he's about to shoot McGarrett (which he dosen't, and would have not been a wise idea as the shot would have been heard outside his office), instead cutting straight to Che Fong testing the doctor's gun out in his laboratory office.

They kept you guessing as to

[Show spoiler]what was wrong with the suspect in the doctor's wife's murder. You slowly got to fathom it all out along with McGarrett.

As a whole it was a very solid episode. I wouldn't call it great, but it certainly wasn't a bad one either.

[OceanBlue]

Something like two to three weeks ago, watched the episode "Rest in Peace, Somebody". The ending left me a bit puzzled, not being able to figure out

[Show spoiler]what the sniper meant, what he said to McGarrett.

It's probably because they came across as very clever, in what was a well written story. They were a match for McGarrett, yet the ending felt a bit too easy. And yet what came before it was excellent, well structured and full of details (the things which I look out for and which impress me in a television series, are 'consistency (in a good way), continuity and details').

The story reminded me of the first season episode "A Bullet for McGarrett", but there were many differences here which stopped it from being a repeat of that episode (in the Season 1 episode

[Show spoiler]the Attorney General was the target).

[OceanBlue]

Since my last post, have only re-watched one further episode, "A Matter of Mutual Concern. It was a good episode but not a classic (felt like a bog-standard mobster story, but it did have one or two memorable scenes, including the way the body was left at the beginning of the episode).

[OceanBlue]

Have watched a further three episodes from the fourth season since I last posted:

"Nine, Ten, You're Dead"
"Is This Any Way to Run a Paradise?"
and "Odd Man In".

I didn't hold out much hope for "Nine, Ten, You're Dead", as I find episodes with sports-related plots being a bit boring. This episode begins with

[Show spoiler]the attack on a young boxer,

but it wasn't what I expected it to be (boxing-related plots in TV series normally are about someone being forced into losing a fight). So this storyline being a bit different helped to make me like the episode more than I thought I would (and the ending I didn't expect. It's likely being a long time since I last watched this episode, with this being one of those which I'd forgot some of). I liked how they explained the reasoning behind why

[Show spoiler]the retired boxer did what he did to the young boxer (one of the best parts of this episode was the scene in McGarrett's office where he and Danno watched a reel of film of the retired boxer in one of his bouts).

Guest stars included Moses Gunn and Albert Paulsen (the latter making their third guest appearance on Hawaii Five-O).

The subject of pollution and the impact on the environment I think has been done before on the show. "Is This Any Way to Run a Paradise?" was a good example of the subject, but I didn't think the execution of the story was done as well as it could have been. Yet it still had it's moments, including the

[Show spoiler]search for the eco-warrior involving the typewriter. The ending at the sugar cane fields was a good one (it affected Kono).

"Odd Man In", a sequel to Season 3's "Over Fifty? Steal" was the best of the bunch. It was never going to be as good as it's predecessor (which was excellent), but it was still very good. After an entertaining start, it looked like it was starting to sag a bit (but in hindisght, as the rest of the episode went on, I could see what they were trying to do, and it succeeded on the whole), but things picked up again around the halfway point with plenty of details in the storyline. I couldn't quite fathom it out in the last scene

[Show spoiler](how McGarrett knew where charming burglar Lewis Filer (veteran actor Hume Cronyn reprising his role) was, based on him thinking back to the I.O.U. note Filer left for the prison governor towards the beginning of the episode.

Some of the dialogue at times was hard to hear, but the majority of the episode's dialogue was easy to hear (one noticeable thing I spotted, was that it appeared the actor who played the drug dealer/baron was dubbed by another actor).

It was a pity Cronyn didn't return for a third time as Filer, as the episode

[Show spoiler]hinted at the chances of Filer possibly breaking out of the federal prison he was being moved to (he was giving states evidence against the drug dealer/baron as a deal with McGarrett).

There is an episode in the seventh season (the season finale I think) where veteran actor David Wayne plays a similar type of character to Filer (he doesn't take over the role of Lewis Filer though), and I remember thinking he wasn't as good as Hume Cronyn (maybe I'll think different about the episode when I eventually re-watch it).

The episode had a sort-of more serious tone to it, compared to "Over Fifty? Steal", but it still had one or two comedic elements in it (including when

[Show spoiler]McGarrett and the team ran over to where they saw Filer looking through binoculars).

The dubbing of the actor playing the drug dealer/baron aside, one other noticeable thing about "Odd Man In" was that during some of Act II, the picture wasn't remastered/transferred to HD. This was the first time I'd spotted this since the Season 1 episode "Six Kilos". The start of this episode was sharp, but the rest of the episode's transfer looked a bit 'soft'.

[Hammerlover]

I wish Paramount/ Viacom would release this series on Blu.

[OceanBlue]

I've been meaning for a while to post some observations about continuity on the show during my re-watch of the original Hawaii Five-O so far:

Five-O member Kono:

I've noticed that in the fourth season, Kono's work attire has changed in three or four episodes (he's seen wearing a darker grey suit, compared to the lighter suit he's worn in the series since the very beginning). I have been keeping an eye as well on the production code for the episodes so far. Why? I know that the actor who played Kono in the original series was apparently fired from the show, and I don't think they appeared in some of the last few episodes filmed in the fourth season (they would be replaced by actor Al Harrington, who had previously guest-starred in several episodes, usually as villains).

Continuity:

It's bound to happen as the season goes on, maybe because of the deadline to get episodes ready for airing on television, but I've been finding it amusing (in a respectful way) some of the continuity errors. In some episodes I've re-watched recently, I've noticed McGarrett heading from the Iolani Palace to a crime scene in a blue suit, only to get out of his car wearing a darker blue suit (one of the telling signs is Jack Lord's appearance and haircut). Other continuity errors have been shots of the Five-O members' cars racing to a crime scene, or to a location where they're speaking to witnesses etc., then the same footage is reused in another episode (this has also happened with police officers being called to a scene).

A characteristic of McGarrett's:

Every so often in this re-watch I've noticed something I spotted when I first watched the show, McGarrett sometimes clicks his fingers when he is trying to sift his way through the clues, trying to solve the case.

[OceanBlue]

Have only watched one episode since I last posted a mini-review/review, the very good "Bait Once, Bait Twice". I say "very good", because I was going to say it was excellent. It was the last five to ten minutes which stopped me from calling it excellent (it felt like some of the story development happened offscreen, including

[Show spoiler]the meeting between Loretta Swit and James Olson's characters before the end. I couldn't fathom out if it was a Five-O sting operation which Swit's character knew about. I had thought the episode title was a hint, that Swit's character was being used as bait by the mastermind (Olson's lawyer character), and secondly by Five-O to catch the mastermind in a trap.

Rather confusing, with the ending slightly abrupt).

And yet before this, there was much to like about the episode, although again, some of the story development seemed to happen offscreen (usually you see the culprit/mastermind/villain carrying out their actions, as well as the planning of their scheme. Instead it seemed like you only saw half of this).

One of the other guest stars (the actor who played the assassin) I think appeared a few times during the show's run, Ric Marlow. Having checked his IMDb filmography, "Bait Once, Bait Twice" was the first episode he guest-starred in. He would appear in four further episodes during the rest of the show's twelve season run.

Another memorable guest-star in this episode was actor Malachi Throne. He appeared in two episodes of Hawaii Five-O (the other being in the fifth season). Off the top of my head, the only other TV series I've seen him in have been the original Mission: Impossible, and Mannix.

The scenes shot on location where Loretta Swit's character was

[Show spoiler]standing outside the window were done very well, especially with the assassin keeping a close eye on the proceedings across the street.

Next is the two-parter "The Ninety-Second War".

[edmonddantes]

Originally Posted by Hammerlover

I wish Paramount/ Viacom would release this series on Blu.

Imagine they did with this what they did with mission impossible the series, it'd be amazing! I actually prefer this over mission imp., MI is too repetitive, but the transfers are amazing. this with hawaii scenery would be such a pleasure to watch

but alas, seems theres no plans to do so Ive decided to rewatch the DVDs, which IIRC looked quite nice for a DVD

[OceanBlue]

In the past week, have watched the fourth season two-parter "The Ninety-Second War. I would say, having now re-watched it, I enjoyed it as a whole more than the first time. It seemed the budget was spent on the

[Show spoiler]road traffic accident in the first part,

as a lot of the concluding part was shot on studio sets with very little on-location scenes (but it could be some of the interiors in the concluding part were on-location).

Danno appeared in a lot of the first part, but only in the second half of the story's conclusion. Chin-Ho and Kono didn't appear at all in the second half (ditto with Che Fong and Doc).

Among the guest stars was Donald Pleasance. He only appeared in the concluding part (but in hindsight, I don't recall his character being mentioned in the first part). It's a shame he never guest-starred again on the show, as he made the most of the scenes he was in.

A multi-episode story needs a detailed story to make it worth the while, and not feel like a two/three-part story with scenes containing filler (ie. padded-out scenes stretching things a bit). I felt things worked on the whole.

The one disappointment I had was that nothing was said or referred to about Wo Fat

[Show spoiler]being shot at the end of the Season 3 two-parter "F.O.B. Honolulu" and how he managed to escape Five-O's closing web on the Hawaiian islands.

Was the ending a disappointment? Not sure. It felt a bit like how the series' feature-length pilot "Cocoon" ended, except I think in "Cocoon"

[Show spoiler]Wo Fat was given false information to take back to his superiors. Whereas in "The Ninety-Second War" they deliberately let him carry out his carefully constructed plan with the blackout of the Pacific radar system...except with a change or two to the plan (with the help of Pleasance's character).

Thought this two-parter was well constructed and written on the whole (Wo Fat's plan was well done, involving a

[Show spoiler]staged car accident involving McGarrett and a mobster, and a McGarrett lookalike.

The concluding part was very talky, but was satisfactory because it added some substance to the overall story of the two-parter.

One of the very few disappointments was actress Dana Wynter having a small part

[Show spoiler]towards the end of the first part (in the scenes set in Switzerland, where McGarrett meets his lookalike and discovers further details about Wo Fat's plan).

Some other observations:

- Maybe actor Joseph Sirola wasn't available to reprise his recurring guest star role of Jonathan Kaye in the two-parter "The Ninety-Second War"? Tim O'Connor played the same part in the concluding part instead (I know Sirola does come back as Jonathan Kaye (for a final time) in the Season 5 episode "The Jinn Who Clears the Way" (before another actor plays/other actors play the part during the remainder of the series' twelve season run (I know Lyle Bettger played the same part in the later seasons). I thought Tim O'Connor did a good job in Joseph Sirola's shoes, including again not always agreeing with McGarrett.

- Sadly, Dana Wynter would only appear in one episode of Hawaii Five-O. A shame as she was one of the memorable actresses on the show.

Finally:

I'm sure there is going to be something I've forgot, but I've tried to incorporate everything into this mini-review/review as best as I can.

[Jeff*H]

Long-time H5O fan (over 35 years since WOR reruns) and I just discovered this thread. I’ve recorded the entire series in the 90s on VHS, ripped them to DVD-Rs, bought the 10 1998 Columbia House VHS releases, bought the season DVDs and the Complete Series DVD release, and most recently bought the 12 VUDU Digital HD seasons. I’ve kept my fingers crossed for a Blu-ray release as well. So I’m a pretty hardcore fan of the series, having seen each episode dozens of times over the years.

I’m enjoying your episode reviews, and I agree with quite a few of them. Please keep them coming, they are very well-written!

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by Jeff*H

Long-time H5O fan (over 35 years since WOR reruns) and I just discovered this thread. I’ve recorded the entire series in the 90s on VHS, ripped them to DVD-Rs, bought the 10 1998 Columbia House VHS releases, bought the season DVDs and the Complete Series DVD release, and most recently bought the 12 VUDU Digital HD seasons. I’ve kept my fingers crossed for a Blu-ray release as well. So I’m a pretty hardcore fan of the series, having seen each episode dozens of times over the years.

I’m enjoying your episode reviews, and I agree with quite a few of them. Please keep them coming, they are very well-written!

I'm hoping you can explain something about the fourth season. Have been keeping a close eye on the production code for each episode so far on my re-watch. I'm assuming the episodes were filmed in the order they appear in the production code order. But with some recent episodes, I'm starting to doubt what I've been thinking.

Zulu, who played Five-O member Kono since the very beginning (including the feature-length pilot "Cocoon"), was apparently fired after or during the fourth season. What were the circumstances which led to this? I thought I'd read somewhere that he punched a crewmember. As the fourth season went on, Zulu started to appear less and less (I noticed as well that his trademark light grey suit was changed to a dark grey suit during the fourth season).

In the most recent episode I've re-watched, "While You're At It, Bring in the Moon", Kono (Zulu) doesn't appear at all, and it seemed like they brought in the actor who played Duke to replace him in this episode. Will be interesting to see the remaining episodes of the season, but in the back of my mind I'm thinking he didn't appear in these episodes either.

[OceanBlue]

cutback, how have you been doing with watching the second season of Hawaii Five-O on DVD? The last time you posted about it (back in January), you had finished watching the first season.

[OceanBlue]

Haven't re-watched any further Season 4 episodes for the past few weeks, because I wanted to get these two mini-reviews/reviews done first. Both I found to be among my favourites in what has been a strong, fourth season of Hawaii Five-O. All the regular pieces of the furniture were in place by this point in the season (actor Glenn Cannon debuting as D.A. John Manicote in a recurring guest star role until during the ninth season).

I'm really liking the episodes where there is depth and detail in the storyline and scenes (including the way they're shot). For me, these are important (as well as continuity, consistency and quality).

I remember "Skinhead" very well from when I first saw it during UK channel Granada Plus's repeat run of the first few seasons of the show. Having re-watched it, it's lost none of it's surprises and the 'making you think long after you've watched it' scenes, including the ending which asked a question/questions. I won't spoil it (if I did, it would be in spoiler tags anyway). These downbeat, and at times cynical endings seem to be typical on the show during the first half of the show's run (especially the first half. Less so during the later seasons, maybe because the grim, gritty tone and violence in the show in the first half of the seventies were having to be toned down in the later seasons).

[OceanBlue]

One of the actors from decades ago who I've added to my list of favourite actors is Barry Sullivan. You could never accuse him of being dull in the episodes of TV shows he guest-starred in, and one thing I've noticed is he was always good at playing crotchety, stubborn characters. An example of that type of character was in the Hawaii Five-O fourth season episode "While You're At It, Bring in the Moon". His character's characteristics wouldn't look out of place today, with obsessive-compulsive-disorder and the various things associated with you-know-what the past two years (hand sanitiser, keeping clean etc.).

With the exception of Barry Sullivan's guest-star appearance in the original Mission: Impossible's first season episode "The Psychic", all his other TV appearances I've seen him in, he has a moustache (he was clean shaven in the M:I episode).

The qualities of "While You're At It, Bring in the Moon" really sneak up on you. There is one scene in particular (towards the end) which is certainly going to be in the list of my favourite scenes in the whole series/series' best scenes. You're never quiet sure whether

[Show spoiler]McGarrett or the mastermind has the edge or upper hand.

It's a very tense scene, well shot, acted and written

[Show spoiler](well acted by both Jack Lord and Ed Flanders).

On my first watch of the series, I was irritated a bit by actor Ed Flanders, partly because he guest-starred in at least one episode in each of the first seven seasons before he never guest-starred on the show again (the most recent thing I'd seen him in was The Exorcist III). I've changed my opinion of him now, really appreciating his performances, although I haven't liked every episode I've seen him in so far (on this re-watch of Hawaii Five-O). But "While You're At It, Bring in the Moon" is among my favourite Ed Flanders episodes. Thinking in hindsight, it creeps up on you who the actual killer is, once McGarrett figures it all out (one of the highlights for me was the scene where

[Show spoiler]McGarrett has a group of reporters outside the sauna by the swimming pool, doing a demonstration with a possible murder weapon (loved the shot of McGarrett emerging from the sauna amid the steam, and the slightly humourous reaction of the reporters).

There was one scene though which I could hardly watch because of it being vertigo-inducing (when McGarrett is talking to Barry Sullivan's character onboard the boat (the waves going up and down).

Five episodes left in this fourth season.

[OceanBlue]

The first season four episode I've watched for a few weeks, I was easily going to dismiss "Cloth of Gold" as being merely a good episode and nothing more. However, on finishing watching it, I changed my mind. It's one of those episodes you'll re-assess, thinking in hindsight over what occurs. It had a low-key, small-scale feel to it, but by the end the story hits you well

[Show spoiler](a tale of revenge involving tradition, the innocence of the victim and the inevitable doom for the culprits, with one of those classic Hawaii Five-O 'sudden' endings (but done in a good way-sudden endings).

You were kept guessing as to what the title of this episode was referring to. The explanation was a satisfying one.

I'm not sure if it was because of the film I saw at the cinema last night with the impressive picture, or if it was because the picture/transfer in this Five-O episode being a bit 'soft' compared to prior episodes in this fourth season, but it just looked a bit odd, despite still looking remastered/transferred to HD (the episode of Medical Center I watched afterwards was sharper and also remastered).

What added to the odd experience of re-watching this episode (as it went on, I clearly remembered watching it before (a good example being a scene with Danno and guest star Jason Evers's character), was that it seemed like McGarrett was in the background with Danno in charge of the case, then it seemed like McGarrett was leading the investigation.

One final thing, after being totally absent in the previous episode "While You're At It, Bring in the Moon", Kono appeared in "Cloth of Gold".