Hello all! It's that time of year again to celebrate some 50th Anniversaries!
50 years ago tonight, CBS aired S07E01 – “The Young Assassins”
It’s amazing how relevant Five-O’s episodes are, even today. This episode is perfect proof!
A young gang is led by a guy named Army (Scott Marlowe, who does a really good job!) to put fear into peoples’ hearts. They have indiscriminately shot multiple tourists over the last 10 days.
This radical group, People’s Attack Group (PAG), seems to be something of a cult under Army’s rule. His real name, Richard Stanwood, offers up a huge rap sheet. The younger peeps, including a young pre-CHiPs Larry Wilcox and James A. Simpson (the kid who was shot in S05E04, "Pig In A Blanket"), hang on Army’s every word, even though those words are just plain dumb. I can tell you from a writing perspective, politics is tough. Even if it’s a ‘terror group’. Most of us can’t get inside those peoples’ heads because, quite frankly, it’s very very dark. But considering everything, the writers did pretty well with what they had.
Five-O calls on the expertise of Kurt Metzger, PhD (Wright Esser) to get an idea of what the group’s next move is. What happens next throws McGarrett for a loop – Danno, who was meeting with Kurt, is kidnapped by PAG along with Metzger. Army isn’t pleased one bit about what Metzger has said about them in articles written for the paper. He’s even more unhappy when one of the underlings, Vera (Genevieve Ann Nelson) is killed after she runs from the cops, led by Nick (Danny Kamekona). Metzger is killed as a result and unceremoniously dumped at the governor’s front door.
McGarrett and the governor (Richard Denning) pull out all the stops to try to locate the group. They’re finally trailed to a hideout at Battery Harlow. After much struggle, everyone is tracked down and McGarrett goes about beating the crap out of Army because he thinks Danno is dead as well. The episode ends with Danno emerging scraped up but alive. McGarrett is immediately relieved.
I know I didn’t include everything. Fortunately, Mr. Mike has an excellent review here that does: https://www.fiveohomepage.com/5-0log7.htm#145
I like this episode a lot. It’s a good start to Season 7 and stresses Five-O quite a bit. McGarrett nearly loses his mind when he opens the package that Jenny (Peggy Ryan, in the credits as Margaret Ryan) hands him. Notice that he asks her if it’s been x-rayed. “I already did.” As in, she made sure it was done long before he got it.
I also appreciate the teamwork used in this episode. Not only do we see the Civil Defense trucks, we see Ben and Nick working hand in hand. As well, Danno isn’t waiting for stuff to happen, when he hears the gunshots, he’s ready to pounce by pushing the door onto Army. It’s pure survival mode!
This is an excellent start to the new Season. I will warn you now, the one for the 24th might be late, but I will do the best I can!
In the meantime, Happy 50th, “The Young Assassins”!!
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