Tonight, CBS aired the 100th episode of Five-O - S05E04 "Pig In A Blanket"!!
Mr. Mike has an excellent review on his site: https://www.fiveohomepage.com/5-0log5.htm#100
This episode has a lot packed into it beginning in a bowling alley where Danno and his buddy Chinough Olena (Frank Atienza) just finished a league game. The two are very good friends and it's immediately apparent. Danno tells Olena he owes him a steak for the win but Olena takes a rain check so he can spend time with his "kids." However, tragedy strikes after a routine traffic stop when a doper (Dennis Redfield) shoots Olena critically. As time goes on, Olena loses his fight for life and passes away even after the medical staff's great efforts.
Olena's death puts Danno into a tailspin. Turns out, Olena had saved Danno's life during a past case. While I'm sure they were friends before, that incident sealed it for both men.
Danno and Ben drink beer at a tavern discussing police officers losing their lives in the line of duty and Olean's family. The conversation about the police officers is so, so relevant to today. Ben actually has to de-escalate tensions between Danno and a bar fly (Robert Luck) before a fight breaks out. The officers leave, going their separate ways. While he's getting into his car, Danno witnesses a robbery or rather the Mustang that tears out of the parking lot.
Danno calls it in and follows it to its home after losing it for a bit. This is where things go from bad to worse because Danno yells out to a kid (James Simpson) getting out of the car to freeze and Danno shoots the kid. Things happen fast in that sequence but the kid is unarmed! A patrol car arrives in short order and calls an ambulance.
As the episode goes on, there is a lot of public outcry for justice, aka Danno needs to go! Another aspect is that the kid, Ricky, has to have multiple surgeries and if he dies, Danno could face murder charges!
McGarrett isn't swayed so easily and when Ricky finally wakes up, McGarrett discovers the truth. After a bluff, the real robber is captured.
This is one of my favorite episodes of the entire series! We get an insight into Danno's life and why he's such a cool character. We also see the entire Five-O team come together to help out one of their own.
After Ricky is shot, we see his family being skeptical of Danno's story. This is especially true of Ricky's brother, Harold (John Rubinstein), who is particularly nasty to Danno. Danno can't even see straight through his grief, so none of this helps either.
I remember watching this episode on my Amazon account for the first time and when McGarrett talks to Ricky with Ricky's mom (Louise Latham) really surprised me. Ricky said "we" and I immediately thought (and excuse the language!) "What's this 'we' shit!?" Harold was the robber and acted alone! He jumped into the car after the robbery and told Ricky to hit it. I have to wonder if they would have gotten away with everything if the Mustang didn't tear out of the parking lot. The speeding car is what got Danno's attention in the first place!
McGarrett backs his second in command the best he can. He even tells Danno to not give up on himself for which Danno is grateful someone didn't give up on him at the end. I think we all are.
Happy 50th, "Pig In A Blanket"!!
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