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Thread: Season 5 is harsh

  1. #1
    This is kind of a long post, but bear with me.

    In my second go round of Classic Five-O, I'm watching in production order. I'm not quite through Season 5 yet but there has been some serious carnage so far:

    1. Several people met horrible ends in "Death Is A Company Policy" including being dumped in the ocean in 55-gallon barrels. This happened twice. A bad helicopter explosion ended it all but only after 4 guys were shot to death at a lookout!

    2. "Death Wish On Tantalus Mountain" gave us a car explosion, a vengeful kid and a couple who parted ways with the line, "But I can't forgive you." Ouch!

    3. The military isn't in the clear either - 5 guards are killed with a 6th wounded by Wo Fat's men when they steal a small guidance device. This is also the episode ("The Jinn Who Clears The Way") where the bad guys take out each other (Carl Tu shoots Connor, Carl Tu meets a bad end with Wo Fat's trusted assassins) and worst of all, Chin Ho mourns the death of both his uncle and cousin - also killed by Wo Fat and his bigger plan. (grr!)

    4. There's the whole venereal disease line in "Chain Of Events". Although all the deaths were due to gunshots.

    5. This is all before we talk about the events in "Pig In A Blanket" (one of my favorites) with Officer Olena dies after being shot during a traffic stop and Ricky Klein being shot by Danno. Talk about a wringer.

    6. Then there's the Vashon trilogy with Chris being killed, people being set up and ending with Dominick's suicide, which by itself is brutal. There's also McGarrett's car being blown up killing the tow truck driver in the second of three episodes.

    7. "The Clock Struck Twelve", which is another of my favorites, has two bombs in the courthouse being diffused by Danno and Che Fong. And poor Mary Ann! Her pain was real.

    Even the funniest episode, "I'm A Family Crook -- Don't Shoot!" had some brutal moments when Charlie Walters shoots Frank Bitrell three times. Another car explosion here too, it was so over the top, I think the production staff just starting throwing parts after a point! LOL!

    Kidnappings took place too - two daughters in "I'm A Family Crook..." and "Jury Of One". Poor girls!! A prominent computer programmer also kidnapped in order to be 'sold' to the highest bidder in "Fools Die Twice". A family held hostage in "You Don't Have To Kill To Get Rich -- But It Helps."

    There's also a fair share of sniping too - "Pig In A Blanket" when Olena saves Danno from a knife wielding criminal and Danno shoots Kira Johnson in "Fools Die Twice" and Djebara meets his end at Ala Moana Shopping Center in "The Diamond That Nobody Stole".

    On top of all that, Danno knocks himself silly in "Journey Out Of Limbo" after being shot at. You would think with a concussion, he wouldn't be able to function after the explosion (yet another!) of the boat throwing everybody to the deck. This was when he essentially stops the assassination attempt after telling McGarrett everything he remembers.

    The worst part, I still have 9 episodes to go!! Coming up: international intrigue, organized crime ugliness, more kidnapping (this time, babies and another little girl!), stalking in the worst way, lots of gun fire, bashing heads in and - surprise! - more explosions!!

    Yep, Season 5 is just plain harsh and now that wrote some of it (I didn't write all of it), that seems like a major understatement.

  2. #2
    Don't forget "Thanks for the Honeymoon" where there was cyanide poisoning!

    This was the first Five-O episode I saw completely, and I liked it enough to where I caught the next rerun -- the excellent "Draw Me a Killer". Then I was hooked!

    Keep in mind I was just short of 8 years old when the series went off the air, so I had to appreciate it later in reruns.

  3. #3
    Season 4 was pretty harsh too: there were episodes featuring rape, sexual assault, pornography, impotence, bodies being incinerated, exotic poisons, pinky fingers cut off. I believe new producers joined the show this season and continued on to season 5, with the grittier tone to the series.

  4. #4
    Originally Posted by Todd View Post
    Don't forget "Thanks for the Honeymoon" where there was cyanide poisoning!

    This was the first Five-O episode I saw completely, and I liked it enough to where I caught the next rerun -- the excellent "Draw Me a Killer". Then I was hooked!

    Keep in mind I was just short of 8 years old when the series went off the air, so I had to appreciate it later in reruns.
    I'm with you Todd. I remember the tail end of the original run because my dad watched it all the time. But I really got into it in 2017 - talk about late to the party.

  5. #5

  6. #6
    You know I always have heard the comments about how the success of the show boosted tourism and raised the visibility of Hawaii as a destination, but I always wondered if there was any hesitation or pushback from that same tourist community about how the show features such violence and crime. Obviously folks were able to disconnect that part of it as fiction, thankfully.

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