Oh yay we're back to a decent episode! And thanks to Mr. Mike for the reminder of the 50th Anniversary of this episode.

This episode has a lot to offer: a love triangle gone wrong, Native Hawaiian issues to a point, military relations and McGarrett gets beaten up pretty badly showing he's human after all.

Mr. Mike has a great review and excellent gallery here: http://www.fiveohomepage.com/5-0log2.htm#40

One of the highlights in this episode is watching a young Christopher Walken in the role of Shore Patrolman Walt Kramer. Walt is edgy and rightly so because he's in love with his partner's wife and shoots the partner dead when they're trying to bring in AWOL sailor John Mala (Nephi Hannemann). Because it looks like John killed Beau Van Den Ecker's character Fred Waters (here goes Beau being killed again in the series, is this the first incidence?), John takes off. Only at the McGarrett's urging and a fight on top of a mountain, does John surrender.

I like a bunch of stuff in this episode and one is how John enlisted in the Navy for a better life. I can personally relate to this because when I graduated high school in the late 1980s, the military was a way out of small town USA, a job with pretty decent pay and gaining a skill set because there wasn't much where I lived unless you commuted to a larger city and that was unlikely unless you already had a skill set somebody was willing to pay for.

Another aspect to this episode is seeing McGarrett in action especially in his defense of John and his family but none of it is easy. We have a bunch of Navy personnel trying to cause a riot at John's house, Kramer accusing McGarrett of being John's "big daddy" but through it all McGarrett is after the truth: something he does throughout the series.

A cool ingredient too: Al Michaels as John's lawyer David Bronstein. I think he's only in one scene but it's fun to watch.

Speaking of scenes, there is one that makes me insane! When Kono and Chin go to the stadium to find the bullet and figure out its trajectory, Kono aims his gun at Chin while it's loaded! I know these guys are cops but where in the *bleep!* is the gun safety protocols!? Unfortunately, this isn't the only time the Five-O team are at best iffy with their guns or the guns of suspects (who smells a barrel to figure out it's been recently fired!!!???) Is that even normal!? I can just see one of them blowing their faces off when they do that! Sorry, that's a tangent but when I just thought of Kono aiming his gun, I remember all these other scenes where we see various team members sniffing the barrels. It makes me crazy every single time!

Aside from the iffy gun play this is an enjoyable episode and gives us a glimpse of the human side of McGarrett. Happy 50th!