Thoughts on Season 10 (*spoilers*)
Fellow "Hawaii Five-O" (1968) fans,
In the tradition of Jeffman61's threads for "Thoughts on Season 6", "The new Season 7 release", and "Thoughts on Season 8" (all sadly now deleted), and my own "Thoughts on Season 9" (deleted but resurrected by ringfire211 here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062568/board/thread/217656622), I present this thread.
Long-time readers of this board will rightfully ask, "But wait, didn't you write this about five years ago?",
OK folks, this is it, the last disc of my last season of Hawaii Five-O.
Yes, I know that the series limped on for three more seasons before finally being put out of its misery. Yes, I know that things got so bad that Kam Fong wanted to "die", and James MacArthur ventured into the Amazon jungle rather than return for the final season (true story!). But I'm going to willingly delude myself into thinking that Season 9 was the end, and that Jack Lord and company managed to bring things to a reasonably satisfactory conclusion with some measure of their dignity still intact. - alpha128 (me)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062568/board/thread/217656622?d=222001627#222001627
The answer is yes, I wrote that, and the part about the "last disc" is still true. I didn't buy the Season 10 DVD set. I've got a free, ad supported, viewing option now, and will be utilizing that to view and review these episodes.
In this initial post I will give my thoughts on three of the first four episodes of Season 10. Please be aware that this will have *spoilers*. So if you have not yet viewed all these episodes, you should either come back later, or read down only as far as you've watched.
"Up the Rebels"
No. in season: 1
Directed by: Don Weis
Written by: Robert Janes
Original air date: September 15, 1977
Some thoughts:
- At roughly the three minute mark I noted, as did Mike Quigley, that the frogmen who use knock-out gas on the soldiers don't have any protection from the gas themselves. They are wearing snorkels. I wonder if this scene, as scripted, had the frogmen in full scuba gear including oxygen tanks.
- At about 6:15, the white van driven by Foley, one of the bad guys, almost hits a bird! If you watch closely you can see the bird frantically swerve to avoid colliding with the van!
- At roughly the nine minute mark, I have to wonder how the unremarkable James Ryan ended up with such a babe for a girlfriend.
- Speaking of babes, Elayne Heilveil, who played Casey Fogarty, was very attractive. According to the IMDb she is still alive and was acting as recently as 2002.
- The episode title is spoken twice in this episode, once at 13:51 and again near the end at 48:41.
- Starting around the eighteen minute mark, McGarrett and Casey Fogarty walk outside near the Ilikai. The area they are in is decorated by various international flags. They pass, in order, the flags of Denmark, Unknown (mostly blue), what looks like The Netherlands (hanging upside-down!), Australia, and Norway.
- The musical score during the scene where Casey visits Sean Rourke (Stephen Boyd) at his hotel (20:05-23:45) is very effective. It seems to reference the Civil War song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home".
- Stephen Boyd gave an excellent performance. He'll always be "Grant" from Fantastic Voyage (1966) to me. I was sorry to learn that he died three weeks after filming this Five-O episode at the age of 45.
- This episode is the final appearance of Harry Endo as Che Fong. They start dropping like flies now. First Che Fong, then Chin Ho in this season's finale, and finally Danno after Season 11.
- At 37:19 I thought it was very clever how Rourke "paid off" Foley when he got too greedy.
- Oddly, at about 48:30, when McGarrett leads Rourke off the boat, Rourke is wearing handcuffs on only one wrist, while McGarrett is holding on to the other loop. Why didn't McGarrett cuff Rourke properly behind his back?
In conclusion, Mike Quigley gives "Up the Rebels" three stars and I would not dispute that. My only complaints about this episode would be that McGarrett seemed a bit old by then to leap from a drawbridge to a ship below, and the rest of the team seemed a bit underutilized.
"You Don't See Many Pirates These Days"
No. in season: 2
Directed by: Ronald Satlof
Story by: James Lydon, Teleplay by: Bill Stratton
Original air date: September 22, 1977
This episode isn't available on the streaming site I'm using. I have to skip it for now.
"The Cop on the Cover"
No. in season: 3
Directed by: Paul Stanley
Story by: Anne Collins, Teleplay by: Anne Collins and Gerry Day
Original air date: September 29, 1977
This episode was written by Anne Collins. Collins previously contributed "A Touch of Guilt", one of the best episodes of Season 8. She also wrote "See How She Runs", one of the worst episodes of Season 9 (see my review here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0598136/reviews).
Speaking of returns, this episode is full of them:
- Paul Stanley, who had been directing Five-O episodes as early as Season 1, and as most recently as Season 7, is back. Stanley directed one of ringfire211's and my favorite Five-O episodes, "Rest in Peace, Somebody" (1971).
- Henry Darrow, who played two different gangsters in Seasons 4 and 8 is also back, this time as Stewart Longworth, a "respectable" character.
- Jo Pruden, who plays Mrs. Longworth, had appeared in seven previous Five-O episodes and would appear in two future episodes. Her most memorable previous appearance may have been as Mrs. Klepper, who was instrumental in framing Ray Stokely in Season 6's "The Sunday Torch".
- Josie Over, who ultimately appeared in sixteen, count 'em, sixteen Five-O episodes is back again. According to the IMDb, she was also in the previous episode, "You Don't See Many Pirates These Days". But this is the first I've seen her since Season 8's "A Killer Grows Wings".
- Moe Keale, last seen as Din Lee in Season 8's "Legacy of Terror", also returns as Joe Moala, an ex-con bus driver who is framed.
- Even the home of Mrs. Royce in the Season 6 classic, "Draw Me a Killer", is back as the home of the Longworth family.
Other thoughts:
- At about 6:45, the Governor tells McGarrett, "You Irish are all alike, hotheads!" This is the first time I can recall a nationality or ethnicity being assigned to McGarrett other than Californian! . I guess it fits with the "Mc" in his name, but it seems odd it was never mentioned before, especially since we just had the Irish themed episode "Up the Rebels". I guess this is an example of what long-time Five-O scribe Jerome Coopersmith (who had quit the previous season) was referring to when he said:
I felt that the show had deteriorated in the hands of new managerial people. In their attempts to freshen the show up, they added new dimensions to Steve McGarrett's character.
http://mysteryscenemag.com/24-articles/filmandtv/4615-book-em-danno?highlight=WyJqZXJvbWUiLCJjb29wZXJzbWl0aCIsImplcm9tZSBjb29wZXJzbWl0aCJd
- At about the ten minute mark, McGarrett asks Duke, "Is Che going over the van?" Duke says yes, but we know that we'll never see Che Fong again! 😢
- Watch closely from 13:23-13:36 while Danno searches the bedroom of Joe Moala (Moe Keale). You can clearly see that the room is a set with no ceiling and with spotlights mounted on the top of the set wall!
- Watch closely again from 26:05-26:14 as reporter Terri O'Brien (Jean Simmons) interviews Stewart Longworth (Henry Darrow) in his office at ESSTR Corporation. The camera moves in closer to the round table as they sit down, and what appears to be an aluminum cart comes into view in the lower right corner of the frame.
- I was amused when, around 47:00, McGarrett lectures Terri O'Brien while leaving her gagged and unable to respond.
In the final analysis, Collins returns and finishes off her Five-O career with more hits than misses. "The Cop on the Cover" isn't as good as "A Touch of Guilt", which I gave three and a half stars, but I agree with Mike Quigley's three star rating.
"The Friends of Joey Kalima"
No. in season: 4
Directed by: Douglas Green and Don Weis
Written by: Robert Janes
Original air date: October 13, 1977
This episode is also full of returns:
- John Rubinstein, last seen as the very anti-police Harold in Season 5's "Pig in a Blanket", ironically plays the titular police officer Joey Kalima.
- Joey's wife Lily is portrayed by the babely Elaine Giftos, who also played Janice Lockman in one of my all-time favorite Five-O episodes (http://www.imdb.com/list/ls005352325/), Season 9's "The Last of the Great Paperhangers". She would later appear in a Season 12 episode. In addition to looking adorable with a flower in her hair, Giftos is very good in a scene where she gets emotional over Joey's predicament.
- Kimo Kahoano, last seen in Season 9's "Man in a Steel Frame", plays Reed in this episode. Kimo Kahoano ultimately appeared in 9 Five-O episodes.
- Likewise, Terry Plunkett, also last seen in Season 9's "Man in a Steel Frame", plays a bartender in this episode. Plunkett ultimately appeared in 16 Five-O episodes.
- Jimmy Borges, another long-time Five-O alum, who we last saw playing himself in Season 9's "A Capitol Crime", also returns. Borges ultimately appeared in 15 Five-O episodes, and earned a page (http://www.mjq.net/fiveo/jimmyborges/) on Mike Quigley's web site.
- Seth Sakai, who ultimately appeared in twenty-three Five-O episodes (a full season's worth!) is back again. We last saw him in the excellent Season 9 episode "Chairman" er, "Target - A Cop".
- But the record goes to Kwan Hi Lim who plays Joey's "Uncle" Keoki. According to the IMDb, this was Kwan Hi Lim's twenty-first out of a total of twenty-five episodes.
Other thoughts:
- This episode opens with a scene in Marco's music store where Joey shops for vinyl records. Not long ago this scene would have seriously dated this episode. Ironically however, both vinyl records (http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/07/vinyl-records-are-still-riding-that-big-comeback-wave-sales-up-38-in-a-year/) and local record stores (http://www.wuft.org/news/2015/07/02/younger-generations-revive-vinyl-business-for-local-record-stores/) are now making a comeback.
- Alan Oppenheimer gave a great performance as multi-layered Internal Affairs Captain Fryer.
- At 29:37 we are introduced to Charlie, the pretty female Che Fong. I guess that's one way to deflect comparisons between the two characters.
- We finally learn, although it's no big surprise, that the villain's plan is to tunnel into a bank next door to the record shop. This is a plot similar to Season 4's "Didn't We Meet at a Murder?" not to mention the Sherlock Holmes' story "The Red Headed League". I can see what James McArthur meant when he said that, after Leonard Freeman's death, the series told and retold the same kind of stories.
In conclusion, I agree with Mike Quigley's two and a half star rating for "The Friends of Joey Kalima". It's not very original, but it's competently done. share