50 years a Death Wish

Ok, it's not *that* Death Wish. :D

Tonight, CBS aired S05E02, "Death Wish On Tantalus Mountain".

Ricardo Montalban returns to Five-O as world-famous race car driver, Alex Pareno. He's in Hawaii to 'beat the clock' on a road course on Tantalus Mountain. He's not alone dragging along his fiancee, Angela (Diana Muldaur, also returning to Five-O) and his son Niki (Michael Margotta). Things seem to be well until Pareno's mechanic, Dimitri (Jim Demarest) turns up dead in the garage. This is where our favorite team is called in to investigate where McGarrett and Pareno immediately butt heads. Pareno isn't too keen on answering questions and no one else is that helpful either.

We go from bad to worse when a new mechanic arrives and is killed when the car crashes on the course into a big fireball. Five-O digs into the family and find they're not the nicest people in the world, but they're not evil either. Angela, for example, doesn't take any crap from anybody, especially her soon-to-be stepson, Niki.

A replacement car arrives and it's inspected from bumper to bumper and given a clean bill of health. Pareno continues his quest to "tame the mountain." As the episode continues, Five-O uncovers a blackmail scheme involving Angela and who is behind Dimitri's murder as well as tinkering with the first car to cause the crash. It's none other than Niki! The kid yells at his father as he's being arrested, saying Pareno treats everyone like dirt. Another casualty is the engagement. Angela packs her bags and leaves Pareno in a particularly dramatic scene. The only thing left is the mountain and Pareno begins his timed run as the episode ends.

Mr. Mike's excellent review is here: https://www.fiveohomepage.com/5-0log5.htm#98

I remember watching this show on MeTV and thought we were 45 minutes in when we were actually only at the halfway point!!! :eek:

The Panteras are nice eye candy but this episode dragged for me the first time I watched. However, in subsequent viewings, this isn't the case. Montalban and Muldaur are excellent in their roles. Niki is kind of sneaky and can be oily at times. They are a unique bunch and throws Five-O for some decent curves. McGarrett and Danno even discuss who they suspect and why. They don't think Pareno or Angela are capable of murder but that opinion changes as we go along. Danno also points out that he hasn't seen two people in love as much as Pareno and Angela. Yeah, so much for that as she leaves him during the course of the episode! ;)

Another curiosity about this episode - the tracking of the license plates that is on Mr. Mike's page began here. The trailer Pareno steps out of is plated X-9404. For the Eagle eyes out there, this is the plate of the main car Danno drives (at least in Season 7) for Five-O! Stinkers!! ;)

Happy 50th, "Death Wish On Tantalus Mountain"!!! :cool: