The Clock Struck Twelve 50 years ago!

Tonight, CBS aired S05E12 "The Clock Struck Twelve".

At the heart of the episode is the upcoming trial of "the Hawaiian Seven" on Monday at 9am. These guys aren't nice and have attacked communes on the island leading to the death of a young mother (Cris Callow). She identifies two of the men who attacked her. Whether this was a deathbed statement or not is debatable.

At the courthouse, there have been lots of happenings. The beginning sequence has lots of fake bombs set around the courthouse by HPD operatives on Friday, although we don't know that right off the bat. Protestors are marching on the grounds and others rally, determined to block traffic over the weekend. However, someone else is taking it another step further with bomb threats against the courthouse.

The governor (Richard Denning) wants McGarrett to do the impossible - secure the courthouse. McGarrett points out modern courthouses are built from the ground up with security in mind but the courthouse in Honolulu is hundreds of years old and hard to defend. The governor wants it done anyway. Five-O comes up with a plan including police dogs. This isn't good enough and the governor wants it tested over McGarrett's objections.

Danno and Ben lead an infiltration and then the real fun begins. Danno discovers a real bomb in the basement! Work begins to not only disarm it but also to track down the components. Sticks of dynamite are wired into an alarm clock. Danno, with the help of Che Fong (Harry Endo), begins to disarm the bomb. Meanwhile, the rest of the team tracks down everything including some confusion on full dynamite inventories on the island.

It all leads back to Abraham Meleha (Manu Tupou), who is absolutely ticked off about the trial. He still lives with his parents and pulls his younger brother David (Patrick Adiarte) into the plot along with a friend Samuel (Henry Bal). David is the first to chicken out and when he tries to call the police, Abe ties him up and leaves him in the garage where he's later found by McGarrett. By this point, Abe has positioned himself on a roof across the street with a rifle. This is where Samuel backs out too.

Meanwhile, Danno has disarmed the bomb only to be told a second one has been found! By this time, Danno has been at this for several hours. He disarms the second one as it gets closer to 9 am. He's in the courthouse about to lead the bombs out to the bomb truck. McGarrett calls Danno from a helicopter to stop because he knows what Abe is up to. It's now a matter of finding Abe. The chopper hovers above as McGarrett and Abe shoot it out, killing Abe. The bombs are then loaded and the episode ends.

Mr. Mike has an excellent review here: https://www.fiveohomepage.com/5-0log5.htm#108

When i first watched this episode, Fairbanks had a similar case (not the bomb threats) with the Fairbanks Four. They were four Alaska Natives accused of murdering a teen in 1997. However, there were always questions about the mens' innocence. They were released from prison in 2015 because they were indeed found innocent of the crime. They also had lots of supporters who protested for their release. This is what I find similar to this episode.

I enjoy the sequences with Danno disarming the bombs. I can't help but think back to Season 3 and "The Bomber And Mrs. Moroney". Danno has had some training! It's nice to see some progression in careers as this happens in real life all the time.

I like this episode, even with its flaws and "don't think too hard about it" moments. This episode is very relevant to today as many issues that are raised - we're still dealing with them!

Happy 50th, "The Clock Struck Twelve"!! :cool:

Don't forget the 13th season episode:

The Cock Struck Twelve ★★

Chucho, the champion fighting rooster owned by Benny Apa in S01E12, "Pray Love Remember, Pray Love Remember," escapes from a poultry processing plant and goes after people who placed bets on him in the past. Benny is released from the Oahu State Mental Hospital near the end of the show to help with the case. He calmly talks Chucho out of killing the 12th and final guy, getting Chucho to peacefully surrender. When McGarrett asks Benny how he made it so quickly to the scene where Chucho was going to kill the last guy, Benny replies “I run some ... and ... and I walk some.” In the United Kingdom, the DVDs containing this episode have all the cockfighting scenes removed, plus those where Five-O is baffled because Chucho's victims have their eyes pecked out.

The Clock Struck Twelve would rank in the middle of the 280 Classic HFO episodes. Excellent work by Danno in defusing and disarming the bombs 💣 and McG in taking out the bomb maker Abraham. This is an episode that had potential but did not reach its full greatness like Draw Me A Killer, Highest Castle, Deepest Grave, Hookman etc. The Hawaiian Seven could have articulated their justifications and motives...It would have been interesting to hear their side even though they are mostly silent when McG addresses them. I think this was a missed opportunity in the episode. I think the episode could have been more exciting and suspenseful had the Hawaiian Seven been whisked out of the Courthouse. Some protesters and sympathizers dressed as guards or police while a bomb 💣 or two used as a distraction. One wounded and killed in the Courthouse freeing of the Hawaiian Seven. Using the deceased person and talking to the wounded one, HFO could have closed in where the Hawaiian Seven were hidden and taken. They could have Danno working on the bombs while McG and HFO team tracked down the Hawaiian Seven and the group behind breaking them out of the Courthouse.
I did enjoy Danno working his magic and disarming the bombs. He is very talented and definitely an important member in HFO. The old Courthouse was a good setting. Plenty of entrances and exits in the large structure. It tested the police defense over a large area. I think this episode deserves 2.5 stars. JC
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