Another anniversary! This time it's S03E18 "F.O.B. Honolulu, Part 1" that aired 50 years ago tonight on CBS.

It opens with a group of GIs arriving in Hawaii for some R&R but one, Corporal Kurtz (Tim Tindall) takes a cab to the Ilikai Hotel rather than the free bus provided. His murder in an elevator, witnessed by no one, sets off a chain of events that's part investigation and part rat race. A junk Buddha souvenir that the corporal was carrying is missing. The end of the teaser has it falling into the hands of Wo Fat (Khigh Dhiegh) where he throws it on the ground revealing it carried metal plates but they are blank. Wo Fat is not happy about this turn of events.

It's not long before the corporal's 'sister' (Sabrina Scharf), who is actually an international femme fatale named Nicole Fleming, arrives to identify the body. McGarrett and Five-O have since discovered the corporal is actually Leo Price and was wanted by Interpol for murder. McGarrett isn't in the mood for any games on the part of Miss Fleming and says as much when she arrives to identify her 'brother'. She's really looking for the aforementioned, now destroyed, Buddha.

As Five-O keeps an eye on her, other players show up including wormy Tony Madrid (Monty Landis) who visits Wo Fat and tries to make himself relevant to the whole situation but he's been pretty much dealt out of the shenanigans. As well, Misha Toptygin (Roger C. Carmel) representing Russia also shows up, met at the airport personally by McGarrett.

Meantime, Jonathan Kaye (Joseph Sirola) arrives and along with McGarrett's buddy Naval Commander Ron Nicholson (John McMartin) brief about some scary counterfeit $20 plates and the trail of death they've left behind starting at Nanking. Kaye makes it clear that the U.S. government is willing to pay $1 million for the plates, otherwise they will have to honor any bills made from them and it could lead to some serious economic disruptions.

Five-O gets a break with some out of the ordinary radio signals. McGarrett and Danno chopper to the place, which is Wo Fat's hideout, and kill the henchmen there. Upon landing, they break into the radio room where one of the guys has started a fire trying to destroy the evidence. Once it's all decrypted and the Chinese translated, it's only part of a message: ZIL MA. Somehow, they figure out it's the name of a ship inbound to Honolulu. McGarrett and Danno board only to discover that Commander Nicholson is "going into business for himself." End Part 1.

Mr. Mike has an excellent review here covering both parts of the episode: http://www.fiveohomepage.com/5-0log3.htm#66

Of course, next week is Part 2's anniversary. This isn't a bad episode but not one of my favorites. It doesn't mean there aren't some redeeming qualities. I like Misha's character as he is scary when appropriate but provides some humor to the story, more so in Part 2. We also find out a bit on McGarrett's background: he graduated from the Naval Academy. I don't know if we found out about this before in any prior episode.

The bidding war commences in this part with China and Russia trying to outdo one another for the plates. Nicole is all too happy to oblige. It's also nice to see Wo Fat getting some competition for once that doesn't involve Five-O directly.

Happy 50th "F.O.B. Honolulu"!