Although IMDb only lists the character Dr. Grant Ormsbee for two episodes of "Hawaii Five-O" when you click on his character bio, he was in three I have recently seen. He's an incredibly arrogant and funny guy played very well by Pat Hingle. And, in each episode he's working on a HUGELY important government project. In one show, it's a tracking system for missiles and in another he's kidnapped and forced to work on an atomic bomb! Here, he's trying to restore secret Soviet files obtained from a Russian sub. Now I was very excited to see him in the show--as he's one of the better guests on the show. However, due to indifferent writing, by the end of the show I was actually getting a bit tied of him.
The show begins with some crooks (or spies--it's never certain which) are seeding the coast with what are meant to look like pieces from a wrecked Russian sub that are washing ashore. To complete the ruse, the gang kidnaps the brother of an oceanographer who will be brought in to confirm whether or not the wreckage could be real. She has to lie or they'll kill the guy. Why do they want to pull off this hoax? You know it must be serious when they resort to kidnapping and even murder. And, into the middle of this comes the infamous Dr. Ormsbee.
So what did I dislike about Ormsbee? Well, in all the prior meetings with McGarrett, Ormsbee is a pain in the butt and he never listens to McGarrett. BUT, each time McGarrett proves to be right. So, you'd THINK Ormsbee would listen to McGarrett....right? WRONG. His character now seems less arrogant and more just incredibly stupid! And, at the end of the episode he blunders into the middle of the mob--which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Who was approving the episodes in season 9? Apparently, no one. While I love the show, I must admit that the later shows (seasons 8-12) were too often too sloppy--like they were rushing them into production. It's a shame, as with a tiny bit of editing this could have been yet another great Ormsbee show...but it wasn't.
By the way, the three Ormsbee episodes are "To Kill a Mind" (1977), "Man on Fire" (1976) and "The Defector" (1975).