This is a very unusual episode because it plays more like an old B-mystery movie or an episode of "Miss Marple" or "Murder She Wrote". This isn't a complaint--just an observation that this one isn't much like the average "Hawaii Five-O". It also is unusual because the topic of rape is discussed--and, oddly, it also was the main theme of the next episode. This period in the mid-1970s saw an awakening in discussing rape following the made for TV film "A Case of Rape"--and obviously standards for what was and was not acceptable for television fare had changed--in this case for the better.
The show begins with a hot-shot and self-aggrandizing writer staging the excavation of the grave of a missing heir to a huge fortune. The police arrest him, as the unmarked grave of this murder victim is in a Shinto cemetery--and because the writer (James Olson) is so media-mad, he never consulted the police about his knowledge of the crime. McGarrett is naturally angry about the guy's actions and points out that in the future he MUST go through the police--since doing otherwise would be hindering the investigation. But Olson is a jerk--and he doesn't work with Five-O. In fact, he's soon taken what he's learned and tries to use it for blackmail....with predictable results.
Overall, a decent and different sort of episode. It helped that in addition to the reliable Olson, Eileen Heckart guest starred in the show. Also, this is the second or third time Moe Keale appeared in the show in a supporting role. Later, in the final (and very poor) final season, he'd become a regular member of Five-O.
FYI--This is one of several episodes directed by Jack Lord himself.
The show begins with a hot-shot and self-aggrandizing writer staging the excavation of the grave of a missing heir to a huge fortune. The police arrest him, as the unmarked grave of this murder victim is in a Shinto cemetery--and because the writer (James Olson) is so media-mad, he never consulted the police about his knowledge of the crime. McGarrett is naturally angry about the guy's actions and points out that in the future he MUST go through the police--since doing otherwise would be hindering the investigation. But Olson is a jerk--and he doesn't work with Five-O. In fact, he's soon taken what he's learned and tries to use it for blackmail....with predictable results.
Overall, a decent and different sort of episode. It helped that in addition to the reliable Olson, Eileen Heckart guest starred in the show. Also, this is the second or third time Moe Keale appeared in the show in a supporting role. Later, in the final (and very poor) final season, he'd become a regular member of Five-O.
FYI--This is one of several episodes directed by Jack Lord himself.
