Fifty years ago tonight, CBS aired "The Ninety-Second War, Part I".

Wo Fat (Khigh Dheigh) is back and has framed McGarrett! It's a plot years in the making but the two adversaries aren't the only ones involved.

Ben Jalor is killed outright after a flipped car begins the episode. The two officers (one is later series regular Herman Wedemeyer!) recognize McGarrett right away and call Five-O at o-dark thirty. Danno is immediately on scene and is just as confused as anyone else as to why McGarrett is in the flipped. Did I mention that McGarrett has no feeling in his body!? To Danno's credit, he keeps the scene under control and secured.

Once the car is flipped over (it's excruciating to watch, btw), McGarrett is then cut out of the vehicle. When he's lifted, an attache case is found loaded with thousands of dollars!

After some medical mumbo jumbo and a miraculous recovery on McGarrett's part, Five-O gets to work. They call in a Navy friend (Bob Whitthans) of McGarrett's who deciphers a black book found in the case. It's a list of deposits made, presumably by McGarrett, over the last couple of years. The deposits are encrypted with an old Navy code.

McGarrett and Danno brief the governor (Richard Denning) about what has transpired and who they believe is behind it. McGarrett then goes to Switzerland to "withdraw" his money. One problem: a gentleman has beat him to it! That man is an exact twin of McGarrett! Luther Holbrook (Jack Lord in a dual role but the voice belongs to Paul Frees) has been a pawn used by Wo Fat to complete the frame.

McGarrett and Holbrook meet in the lobby of the bank (by accident, of course) where Holbrook tries to run for it. A bank guard shoots him but he doesn't die right away. Luther is taken to the hospital where his girlfriend (Dana Wynter) explains what's happened on their end. She soon walks out and Part 1 ends.

Mr. Mike explains things so much better on his page with both parts: http://www.fiveohomepage.com/5-0log4.htm#88

This is an interesting concept for an episode and shows the series wasn't afraid to push some things.

Every time I watch the beginning with the flipped car, I can't help but think of the original airing of this episode. If it had aired a year later, we may have had a more realistic righting of the car. "Emergency!" began airing in January 1972 and was created by R.A. Cinader along with Harold Bloom and Jack Webb. Webb was a stickler for being as accurate as possible. This could explain how McGarrett is treated in this episode (he just flops around the car and is paralyzed!) versus Johnny Noah in S11E04 "Small Potatoes" where he's put into a neck brace. The latter episode aired 10-26-1978, after "Emergency!" ended its regular series original run (there were several movies afterward). It's kinda fun to think about that time capsule bit.

Another scene I like in this episode is when Doc Bergman (Al Eben) and another physician are examining McGarrett and Bergman tells Danno to stand back. James MacArthur was obviously still in the room because the pair talk back and forth with the camera staying on the action of the examination. From a photography/filming perspective, that's pretty neat. It's not something you see too often, even today.

Happy 50th, "The Ninety-Second War, Part I"!!