50 years for Mr. Winkler

[Bobbi]

Tonight 50 years ago, CBS aired S05E19 "Will The Real Mr. Winkler Please Die".

This episode starts out (at least to me) in a really funny way. A man (Nehemiah Persoff) freaks out when KGMB is trying to get the opinion of "the man on the street". Arrested after assaulting the interviewer, Peter Winkler has his day in court but in the process comes to the attention of Five-O. Mostly because Winkler didn't exist prior to 1966. When pressed by Danno, Winkler confesses his real name is Albert Hoffman. He says he witnessed the murder of a mobster in Philly in '66. The man changes his story every five minutes it seems.

Danno contacts McGarrett, who is in DC at the start, to get a line on Winkler/Hoffman. It's somewhat a dead end, but a can of worms is opened.

Meanwhile back in Honolulu, Winkler/Hoffman is threatened by Reeves (Malachi Throne). He forces Winkler to memorize the information on Paul Helperin.

When it's all said and done, Winkler and Reeves used to be spies in Europe. Helperin is wanted by the CIA in a big way but the only person who can identify Helperin is a Soviet guy named Rogloff (Mark Lenard). Rogloff is super paranoid too - his bodyguard pretends to be Rogloff when they first meet McGarrett in Denver.

Rogloff agrees to go to Hawaii where he falls into a trap set by Reeves. There's a lot of running around and kidnapping going on and this is after the fake heart attack! Reeves has Winkler on a shooting range and threatens to kill him when Rogloff approaches them. Reeves is arrested and Winkler is given yet another life after the episode.

Mr. Mike does so much better than I. His review is here: https://www.fiveohomepage.com/5-0log5.htm#115

I like this episode - not one of my favorites, but I find it enjoyable. There are a lot of Cold War overtones in it. Winkler/Hoffman/Helperin is a sympathetic character and Persoff is always fun to watch.

Mark Lenard does really well as Rogloff. I especially like his attitude at the end when he approaches Reeves, "McGarrett may care about your hostage, I do not." Ouch! It's chilling and straight to the point. Rogloff isn't going play Reeves' games.

We also see some teamwork from the Five-O team, especially Danno. He's not patient with Winkler after awhile. I think he's feeling jerked around by these guys and can't do anything about it.

The one nitpick is the meeting in "Denver". It's VERY green outside the library windows and it's supposed to be the middle of winter!! I don't think so!

Happy 50th, "Will The Real Mr. Winkler Please Die"!!

[John Chergi]

I think the Will The Real Mr. Winkler Please Die is a very good episode. One of my favorite Persoff performances. I did feel for Mr. Winkler as he was put in a difficult position. This could have been in the Top 20 Classic HFO episodes but it became frustrating when Winkler was a different changing name. I started to lose interest. The ending at the shooting range was like a deflating balloon. I guess the writers probably tossed around some ideas how to end the episode. I myself could not think of a good ending. Agree Bobbi about Mark Lenard as Rogloff. He was believable and it was a strong performance. Excellent acting when Persoff voice is excited and rises in saving Rogloff from possible danger awaiting outside. Probably a 3 star ⭐⭐⭐episode. JC

[Todd]

Here was my review of it from 2019: https://hawaiifiveo.org/forum/showth...-5-Episode-19)

I gave it 3.5 stars out of 4.