Trouble In Mind turns 50

S03E02: Trouble In Mind aired 50 years ago tonight.

The episode follows a pair of musicians: singer Eadie Jordan (Nancy Wilson) and her pianist Mike Martin (Harry Guardino). They're scheduled to do a gig at the Waikiki Shell but there's something afoot: one of them is a drug addict.

They come to the attention of McGarrett and Five-O when Mike clobbers Kono in the head with a rock. This is after Kono found a pouch of heroin in the ashtray of the rented car after Mike ran Kono off the road speeding back to wherever he and Eadie were going.

The other part of the episode is that there is junk cut with rat poison that has killed five people up to this point and McGarrett is trying hard to track the source because he doesn't want any more being killed by it. However, a drummer named Hank (Morton Stevens) does die from the junk he purchased at a place named Kiley's where the episode opens. It doesn't help that Mike just did a stretch in Lexington, Kentucky for drug possession.

After McGarrett *finally* figures out it's Eadie who is the junkie and not Mike, they race to find her because she's searching for a fix. She gets it from a weasely character named Ron (Milton Selzer) who cuts his horse with sugar (and a side of rat poison!). Unfortunately, Eadie dies from the bad junk and the episode ends.

I like this episode a lot and remember when MeTV aired it in 2017. I was floored by the ending with Mike holding onto Eadie and McGarrett turning to walk back to his car. Nancy Wilson is amazing as is Harry Guardino in arguably his best guest role in the entire series (I can think of at least three other appearances he made off the top of my head). The interaction between Eadie and Mike suggest something more intimate between the pair and Mr. Mike covers this and other items in his great review: http://www.fiveohomepage.com/5-0log3.htm#50

There is also the creepy sequence with the kid (Remi Abellira) selling horse to Mike and nearly shooting up before Danno and Kono barge in. A red herring is thrown in too with a guy named Harry Partch (Dave Burton) who McGarrett tells Chin to "Book him" four times, the third one McGarrett practically screams. You can tell he's done with Partch's brand of BS. :)

While there are plot holes, this is a prime example of Five-O. For one, Eadie and Mike's relationship. As Mr. Mike points out, a few eyebrows were probably raised back in the day with these two being so close. I will add this as well: I grew up in the Midwest (specifically Southern Indiana, close to the Kentucky state line). If Mike was busted in Kentucky and Eadie was with him, they're fortunate to get out with their lives. The attitudes were horrible in the 1970s and we're talking late 1960s for the bust timeframe. The point is that the show gives us another glimpse of why it was ahead of its time.

Finally, the music is different for this episode compared to most. It has jazzy overtones and fits well with the story and the characters.

Happy 50th "Trouble In Mind"!! :cool:

These are Guardino's roles on the show:

- A Lion in the Streets (1979) ... Johnny Mio
- Murder: Eyes Only (1975) ... Commander Wallace
- Trouble in Mind (1970) ... Mike Martin
- A Thousand Pardons - You're Dead! (1969) ... Sgt. Simms

It’s definitely a great episode and one that gets better with each rewatch. Both Guardino and Nancy Wilson are great but I have to say that his performance in “A Thousand Pardons - You’re Dead” as the murderous Sgt. Simms is still his absolute best!! He’s chilling in that one! But he’s very good here too. Just a different type of role.

There’s a great piece of music by Morton Stevens towards the end as McG and Mike are racing at night to save Eadie. This same music is used at the end of “The Late John Louisiana” when a wounded Nick (Don Stroud) with Julie are driving with McG (with Harry Quon in tow) in pursuit over the cliff tops. It’s a great and tragic piece of music which I call the “race for life” theme. I don’t know if it was used in any other episodes.