Observation of "The Cop On The Cover"

[Bobbi]

I watched S10E03 "The Cop On The Cover" recently (as in a couple of weeks ago) and something stood out: Terri O'Brien (Jean Simmons) is beyond annoying. She thinks she knows it all, but she really has no clue what is going on. It doesn't help that she's written in such a way as to get under McGarrett's skin but there's something off, as if the writers made her unnecessarily over the top.

I've been meaning to write about this for a bit but "Star Trek: The Next Generation" prompted it now. I just watched S04E21 of that show called "The Drumhead". Simmons portrays retired Admiral Nora Satie who is hell-bent to uncover a conspiracy where none exists.

So now I have to wonder if part of the problem isn't with the actress herself. There's nothing wrong with Simmons' portrayal of Terri but the last time I watched I found myself irritated by her at every junction, including her feminism (mind you, I'm a woman and I get this was a big thing in late 1970s but it's on my last nerve now). She seems obsessed with making McGarrett look bad, which is completely stupid. She yells at him at his treatment of the Longworths, particularly Stuart (Henry Darrow) who paid a ransom to get his kids back after they were kidnapped. She also loses her mind because of her perception of McGarrett's uncaring attitude toward Joe Moala (Moe Keale) after he has a heart attack. Except that was a ruse to escape. She inserts herself at every opportunity despite McGarrett and Danno's efforts to stop her.

To make matters worse, Terri herself is tied up and gagged by Stuart's co-conspirators (we find this out as the episode goes on) in an out of the way house. While she's gagged, McGarrett takes an opportunity to preach at her. (blah blah blah!) The closing has her rolling in a multi-course chicken dinner as a mea culpa. (Gag!)

Am I really that off in my assessment?

[vrinda]

I don't think you are, Bobbi. McGarrett had every right to preach to her because of all the headaches she gave him. How can you blame him? She got in the way when she was not supposed to and when she stated she was just there to do an article and was only going to observe. She insinuated that Steve was intentionally not hiring women and when he said they had women working for them, Terri discredited him and said they were just pouring coffee and answering phones (typical feminist rhetoric). At every turn, she was trying to find fault with Steve. She was the epitome of the pesky reporter but made that stereotype look tame.

[Bobbi]

I agree, vrinda, that McGarrett had every right to chew her out. The problem is by that point in the series, his preaching was happening every episode. It was nerve-wracking!

Upon my last viewing, I've decided I dislike Terri O'Brien a lot. As you pointed out, she was the epitome of a pesky reporter but pesky reporter would have been welcomed respite from Terri's wildness.

[vrinda]

I agree, vrinda, that McGarrett had every right to chew her out. The problem is by that point in the series, his preaching was happening every episode. It was nerve-wracking!

Upon my last viewing, I've decided I dislike Terri O'Brien a lot. As you pointed out, she was the epitome of a pesky reporter but pesky reporter would have been welcomed respite from Terri's wildness.

People keep saying that McGarrett was preaching all the time, and I don't remember that at all. Even when I saw the later seasons, I didn't see that, except in certain episodes. In the case of Terri O'Brien, however, it was not preaching. She caused a lot of trouble, even interfering with the case and putting herself and others in the crossfire.

[John Chergi]

In Cop On The Cover, I think McGarrett deserves his share of the blame. The Governor asked a simple request to have Terri do her interview and see how they investigated. Went about their work. McG fought tooth and nail with the Governor before he conceded. It would be good publicity for HFO and the state of Hawaii. In most of the episode, Terri listened in the background or jotted down some notes. She did professionally ask McG why he did that after he was done with the witness. Anyone who has done some kind of an article or interview, it's difficult to get a great piece if the interviewee is not cooperative or holding back. McGarrett didn't want her there and Terri could sense that. I have seen Terri painted in a negative light here but her sharp intuition and detective work located the woman before HFO did. I think some of the problems with Cop On The Cover are more due to the basic kidnapping case. I think this was done to show Terri how the HFO team investigated step by step. We have seen McG clash with several attractive women during the 12 season run. I liked the Terri character although she could be annoying at times.

[vrinda]

Terri's sleuthing may have found the kidnapped woman, but she put herself and other people in danger, and that is why McGarrett lectured her. I can't imagine him keeping quiet about it. If she had notified McGarrett of what she found, that would have been different, but the writers employed the pesky reporter taking matter into their own hands story line, and the end result was that she got a tongue-lashing from McGarrett, and deserved it.