"Yesterday Died And Tomorrow Won't Be Born"

[Bobbi]

In my starting over with Classic Five-O, this is once again one of my favorite episodes. As Mr. Mike states in his review, "This is a near perfect show..."

First, you're right Mr. Mike - it's excellent from just about every perspective.

Second, I had to laugh at a couple of spots: When Danno and Kono pull up into Mrs. Trinian's driveway, clear as day is the boom mike reflected in the side of the Five-O Galaxie 500!! It took me several minutes to regain my composure It was hilarious! Another instance is the camera shadow as Danno is talking on the radio with Mrs. Trinian in the car. The shadow is on the hood, windshield and part of the dash. I don't know what happened, but I think the radio microphone got hung up somewhere because Danno nearly throws it out the window as he's driving. I know it happened 50 years ago, but I find it funny.

I could watch this one over and over for eternity.

[Todd]

I haven't watched this one in a long time.

I'll have to watch it again soon, and I'll definitely look out for the goofs.

When I first heard of this episode, I didn't think I'd like it. McGarrett getting shot at the beginning and wounded badly didn't seem like material for a great episode.

However, I really enjoyed it, and it was definitely the best "early season" episode of the show.

[Todd]

A year later since my last post (almost to the day), I watched it again.

Forgot to look for the goofs -- sorry Bobbi.

Definitely one of the best Five-O episodes of all time, despite the absence of McGarrett for almost the entire time.

It was never made clear if Joseph Trinian was actually guilty as charged when McGarrett sent him to prison in the early 50s, or if there was some mistake which caused him to believe he was "framed". It's hard to imagine that a guilty man would have been so bitter "from the first day he went to prison", and that such a grudge would last 15 years, especially if every appeal involved claims that he was "framed".

I wish this was fleshed out more. Was Trinian in denial of his own guilt? Was he perhaps innocent? Did the witness (who he killed during the episode) set him up in some way?

I thought that the actor playing Trinian had great chemistry with the actress who played his wife. It turns out they were married at the time, and stayed married until her death in 1988.

Actor John Larch (Trinian) is only listed as 6 feet tall, but his wife described him as 6'2". However, the height of 6'2" was believable, as he seemed a good deal taller than everyone else on screen.

Trinian was a complex villain. Part of him wanted to simply return to his wife and continue their marriage where they left off. When his wife remarked, "I must look old to you", referring to her aging 15 years since he last saw her, he told her that she "looked like I'd picture you'd look" and implied that he was still very attracted to her. He took her hand at one point before leaving to "take care of business" (murder the Attorney General), and said that "some things never change", presumably in relation to how he felt when touching her. These almost-sweet moments were an interesting contrast between the cold-blooded revenge killer he had become, where he was pathologically driven to murder the three men he felt were responsible for his incarceration.

Danno acted the most "in charge" in this episode than I ever saw him at any point in the series -- before or after. In a scene which would have fit better with the newer Five-Zero show than original Five-O, Danno roughs up and then arrests a drug dealer on a bogus "loitering" charge. When the dealer objects, Danno says, "You'd be surprised what we can get away with until we find out who shot Steve McGarrett!"

Chin Ho does his own roughing up, attacking a young punk who talks back to him. This kid -- known as "M.K." looks more like a spoiled college kid than a street hood. He's sarcastic and patronizing to Chin the entire way, even after Chin literally twists his arm and threatens him. Despite laughing off Chin's demand to report any information he hears on the street, somehow M.K. comes through anyway, and allows Five-O to bust the drug dealer -- a case McGarrett was working on before he was shot.

Danno is kind of a jerk at some points in the episode, making flippant remarks both to McGarrett's surgeon and an HPD detective investigating the shooting (played by Doug Mossman). He may have taken this page out of McGarrett's book, who has also been known to be a jerk when frustrated by a case.

John Larch was 54 when this episode was shot in 1968, and played a 51-year-old. For once they got the age casting correct -- something which was often a challenge on Five-O. Despite being in his mid-50s in 1968, he lived all the way until 2005, outliving his wife by 17 years.

[Bobbi]

It's all good Todd but the goofs are worth looking up

This episode is one of the best no doubt and one of my favorites.