Yep! It's that time of year again and now we begin with Season 3. S03E01 And A Time To Die...

Wo Fat (Khigh Dhiegh) is back with his eyes on killing a guy named Shepard (Chuck Couch) who is a British journalist returning from China. The reporter has some very important info in his head - current and planned missile sites throughout China. Of course, nothing is written down and it's all memorized.

The catalyst to start things is that Shepard is shot in the head at Ala Wai Heliport after he takes off recognizing the man who betrayed him to the Chinese. This guy is Ralston (Norman Du Pont) who works with federal agent Sam Kavanaugh (Gerald S. O'Loughlin). However, Shepard isn't killed, only injured and comatose in the hospital.

Enter Wo Fat's plans against the neurosurgeon, Dr. Forbes (Donald Moffat). Wo has kidnapped the doctor's daughter Ellen (Sherry Plep) and will return her unharmed if Dr. Forbes allows Shepard to die. McGarrett and the Five-O crew become involved with the lead detective butting heads with Kavanaugh.

As usual, I'm going to plug Mr. Mike's review of the episode here: http://www.fiveohomepage.com/5-0log3.htm#49 Because as usual, he does a much better job at explaining than I do.

This isn't one of my favorite episodes (and that's the case with most of the Wo Fat episodes for me, although I like Nine Dragons). However, it doesn't mean it's bad. We actually see a human side to Wo Fat in this show when he plays chess with Ellen. He thinks back on a time of a little girl who was killed in the strife in China. It is never made clear if the girl is a sister, niece or even a daughter. Her death obviously affected him and gives us a glimpse into this complex character in more ways than one.

We also see McGarrett's advocacy for victims of crime as he defends Dr. Forbes and his family numerous times. He's also not willing to write Ellen off as easily as Kavanaugh. Too bad we couldn't see Kavanaugh in any other episodes as he proved to be a federal agent who matched well against McGarrett. Unfortunately, many of the future feds tended to back down right away or didn't have their stuff together like Kavanaugh did.

Happy 50th for And A Time To Die...