50 Years of Bones

50 years ago tonight, CBS aired “Bones Of Contention”, S07E14.

Some historic, special bones go missing. A professor, Dobbs Burke (Keene Curtis) has traveled to Hawaii to find 'Peking Man' – some of the oldest known bones of a human. Burke is working with the okay of the US State Department to return the bones to China in the hopes of improving international relations

Burke is so focused on getting the bones back, he butts heads with McGarrett almost immediately. Burke isn't 100 percent forthcoming to Five-O when he's contacted by various people. The problem begins with Herbert Southwood who turns up dead. Burke is the one who finds him.

Southwood was the cell mate of one Raymond E. Parmel (Vic Tayback). Parmel was part of the US Marine detail to smuggle Peking Man out of China while under Japanese occupation during WWII. Parmel is sneaky himself going to great lengths to hide the bones, including inside Punchbowl Cemetery!

Parmel is nailed by Five-O and Peking Man is found but just before the coffin can be opened, Jonathan Kaye (Bill Edwards) stops all the commotion and says the bones must be taken to DC. Of course, Burke isn't happy about this but there's nothing he or anyone else can do.

Mr. Mike has a great review here: https://www.fiveohomepage.com/5-0log7.htm#158

This isn't a bad episode, but not one of my favorites. However, there are a couple of zingers and snarky comments that are worthwhile.

One of Parmel's tricks is to change headstones in the cemetery to hide which grave the bones are in. As all of Five-O ponders how to find the bones, Danno comes up with a great idea to "turn it around". Rather than look for metal, Peking Man wouldn't have any – there were no military medals or belt buckles or the like on an ancient human.

Danno also makes a comment that always cracks me up. "You can't just drive a U-Haul into the National Cemetery." The imagery cracks me up.

McGarrett also chuckles to Jonathan in the car after Kaye's arrival. "Yeah, we know where he is. He's in the National Cemetery!" McGarrett also notes to his team the VA wouldn't be real happy fi they just started digging graves. Apparently, the place is a mess because graves had been moved or some construction.

Based on my real-life experience, I think the only places where graves would be moved are private or public cemeteries, not national ones. I could be wrong though.

Regardless, Happy 50th, “Bones Of Contention”!! :cool:


Post-script: I'm on the mend! Many Thanks to Mr. Mike for posting the last Anniversary thread. :)