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Thread: S9-"Elegy In A Rainforest"

  1. #1
    While this is a strong episode on many levels there's just one thing about it that keeps it from four stars for me and that is the absolutely ridiculous chase/fight scene that Duke and Chin have with William Watson's "accomplice". I swear, I thought I was watching a Clouseau-Kato fight from a "Pink Panther" movie (may not be coincidental; "Elegy" aired a month after "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" was released). Seeing the obvious stunt double for Chin didn't help either.

    Did Glenn Cannon know that this was going to be his last time on "Five-O" so they just decided to give him a bigger than usual spotlight? It's interesting how other semi-regulars who were disappearing from the scene like Che and Doc still got a random appearance in the next year or two but that was it for Manicote.

  2. #2
    What do you think of William Watson’s performance as Marcus Lucien? It’s a strange one for me. He alternates between being genuinely frightening and creepy to being completely over the top and almost laughable. It’s a really strange performance that’s hard for me to give an accurate grade. It’s like I want to love it but somehow I can’t. Compared to someone like Dane Clark as Victor Jovanko or Rich Little as Johnny Kling or Barnard Hughes as Clinton Palmer where I KNOW I love those performances.

  3. #3
    Or if we’re talking about other psycho performances like Danny Goldman or Elliott Street or Greg Mullavey or even John Beck - those are clearly GREAT performances! But Watson as Lucien? Something off about that one.

  4. #4
    I will admit that Watson is so over-the-top that you do have to wonder how difficult it must have been to get him ruled competent to stand trial or how his attorney might have failed with an insanity plea because he is so over the top it's hard to envision having a rational "plan" for escape with the Kato-style "accomplice" Duke and Chin battle.

  5. #5
    William Watson seemed to be channeling his inner-Busey in that episode!

  6. #6
    I don’t mind Watson being a complete lunatic and totally irrational, with no real plan of action or way to escape from the rainforest. In fact I like the idea of a complete basket case who’s totally out of touch with the real world (as opposed to Danny Goldman or Elliott Street who at least were half-way in the real world), which is what Watson seemed to be going for. It’s just the execution itself seems off. It goes from scary to laughable. Then scary again. Then laughable. I’m sure there’s a way to play this more effectively and more consistently. Jeff mentioned Gary Busey who I’m sure would have hit it out of the park!!

  7. #7
    Originally Posted by ringfire211 View Post
    I don’t mind Watson being a complete lunatic and totally irrational, with no real plan of action or way to escape from the rainforest.
    Exactly. That's why I think the whole subplot with the "accomplice" was a total sideshow that clashed with everything else we saw.

  8. #8
    Five-O Home Page Author Mr. Mike's Avatar
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    To understand why this episode is so nutty, just look at the director.

    Sutton Roley also directed "Double Exposure." When I talked to Seth Sakai about "DE" at the 1999 H50 get-together in Honolulu, he told me that Roley took a look at the script for it and thought it was clichéd and ridiculous, so he decided to make the characters as nutty as possible. I think the same thing happened with "Rain Forest."

    The business with Beau Van Den Ecker is a distraction, that is true. It makes me wonder if the recent H50 took that kind of plot structure as inspiration. However, it does give us yet another non-process-shot car chase and a funny finale for Beau when he goes martial-arts apeshit and is knocked out by Duke who seems to know some pretty fancy martial arts chops himself. (I am current watching season 11 of The X-Files where David Duchovny as Mulder also has some crazy martial arts-like moves which I don't recall seeing during the show's initial run.)

    The only thing that bothers me about this show is how lucky it is that McGarrett runs across his gun which he was forced to throw over the cliff. However, stupider things have happened on Classic H50. Think "Deadly Courier" and "Here Today ... Gone Tonight."

  9. #9
    My issues with William Watson notwithstanding, Sutton Roley did a fine job directing all 3 of his season 9 episodes - “Deadly Exposure”, “Elegy in a Rainforest”, and my personal favorite “A Capitol Crime” where he even has a cameo as the judge sentencing George Hawley (Dick Davalos). I think I see a pattern that all of his episodes have some pretty kooky characters. In the latter you have the kooky Hawley as well as his girlfriend Mary Beth (Sharon Farrell) who flips out in total psycho mode at the end. But I really like all these crazy characters. I just wish Roley worked a bit more with Watson on his performance to keep it more consistent.

  10. #10
    I didn't have a problem with Watson's performance. Wasn't the whole point for him to be off his rocker? On one hand, he's vulnerable and even likable (probably to get in good with his victims). On the other hand, he was cruel and sadistic as we saw his callous attitude toward other people especially the guard (shot him point blank with the shotgun), the hippie couple (just gross what happened there), Karen and David.

    But I get what you guys are saying, I just see it differently.

  11. #11
    Originally Posted by ringfire211 View Post
    In the latter you have the kooky Hawley as well as his girlfriend Mary Beth (Sharon Farrell) who flips out in total psycho mode at the end. But I really like all these crazy characters. I just wish Roley worked a bit more with Watson on his performance to keep it more consistent.
    "Capitol Crime" I watched recently too and I have a hard time buying that Farrell could have been so over the top crazy AND been methodical enough to hatch a scheme on the fly and bank on getting inside because the cops took her word for it that she was Hughes's daughter (You'd think they would have bothered to check with McGarrett before letting her in???)

  12. #12
    Five-O Home Page Author Mr. Mike's Avatar
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    Watson's character is so nutty, you have to wonder why he was just being sent to jail ... he should have been sent to a mental hospital! But if the jury had any say in his sentence, maybe they preferred him to go to jail than have to think about him wandering around on the streets again...

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