This really was an excellent episode. While one must wonder how much money there really is in selling vending machines and pool tables to small businesses at a markup, this was your standard '60s/'70s/'80s "paying protection" type organized crime scheme. Business owners were forced to do business with the local organized crime figures, or they would first get a warning of a blown up car nearby, then get their shops wrecked, and then get murdered if they still didn't comply.

Charles Quinlivan played the role of former cop Stan Carson, who was targeted by the Vidalgo family without realizing he was more than just a new bowling alley owner. It seemed like Carson would have a large part in busting the Vidalgos -- or perhaps get killed himself -- but instead his main role in the whole thing was calling Five-O to alert them to the shakedown attempt, allowing them to surveil the place. This set in motion an unfortunate double-murder when the car bomb ended up rolling and killing both a cop working with Five-O, and Alia's best friend who was sitting in her car. This, in turn, led to the Vidalgo family's downfall.

I was surprised to see Alia crying when Rono was shot dead. He had been holding her hostage, plus was revealed to be at least somewhat involved with the shakedown that got her best friend killed. She also watched him shoot dead the good-hearted priest who had married them. He was also seconds away from shooting her father Chin Ho dead! She seemed to be still heartbroken to see Rono shot dead. I would have thought she would have been very shaken but relieved!

This was the second episode to feature Chin Ho's family. The other, season 2's "Cry, Lie" showed more of the family, but Alia was not part of it! Perhaps she supposed to be at college? However, it seemed that she still lived at home, hence her having to make excuses of staying over at a friend's house, when she was really with Rono.

It was never made clear what Rono's true plans were, regarding his life with Alia. Part of him seemed to want to leave the family business and start over, and part of him seemed incapable of doing so. How did he expect to still conduct his criminal business while married to Chin Ho's daughter? It was fairly obvious that he would get killed by the end of the episode, because the writers were not going to leave Chin's daughter married to a criminal, even an incarcerated one. Modern series might have used this as an ongoing source of drama, but episodic series like Five-O rarely had carryover plots, so they would not have wanted to introduce this wrinkle into the Chin Ho character.

This episode is not on many people's "top 10" lists, but it probably belongs there. Even I forgot about it.