Killer Deja Vu at 50

[Bobbi]

50 years ago tonight, CBS aired S07E03 “I’ll Kill ‘Em Again”.

This episode has, what Mr. Mike calls, “the series’ creepiest killer.” Danny Goldman is Eddie Josephs. Eddie is too smart for his own good and decides to play games with Five-O and in particularly, McGarrett.

Eddie decides to ‘recommit’ old murders in the same locations and posing the bodies exactly as they were found in some old Five-O cases. Eddie is scary attention detailed as he goes to great pains to make sure even the clothes are right!

Eddie works at a bookstore run and owned by Harry Beecham (Ivor Francis). Beecham likes having Eddie there but Eddie has been late too many times. Eddie knows where every book is but he’s useless if he doesn’t show up. Eddie’s been busy killing people, mailing postcards to McGarrett and taunting the Five-O head on the phone.

Beecham becomes a target but that murder was completely unplanned. McGarrett knows this because the handwriting and tone of the postcards have changed.

Once Five-O figures out what’s going on – they didn’t have a motive and the victims didn’t have anything in common – Eddie is tracked down. They stop him mid-kill and Eddie yells at McGarrett, “You can’t win!” Eddie then jumps out a window to his death.

Mr. Mike does a much better job than I. His review is found here: https://www.fiveohomepage.com/5-0log7.htm#147

This is one of the best episodes of the series. It’s interesting and complex. The motivation isn’t necessarily known off the bat and the use of a magazine series that covered older, solved Five-O cases is neat. It’s certainly different.

Danny Goldman does a good job in his role as does Ivor Francis. Francis was Genie Francis’ father and as such, was Jonathan Frakes’ father-in-law since 1988. (Another bit of Star Trek and Five-O mashing up).

What makes this a fun episode, Eddie is a criminal who actually holds his own against McGarrett for a bit. The dynamic has shades of S04E10 “Rest In Peace, Somebody”.

One thing that sticks in my mind is the closing shot. We see Eddie on the pavement and a power line across the window. How did Eddie manage to jump and MISS the power line!? I think we would have actually had fried Eddie before splatted Eddie. But that’s just me.

Happy 50th, “I’ll Kill ‘Em Again”!!

[Todd]

This is one of my favorites, also. It has some similarities to "Draw Me a Killer". In both, the killer is a mentally disturbed young man, whose crimes are seemingly random, but turn out to be based upon something they've read.

Both of them hold rather menial jobs (Eddie a bookstore clerk, Arthur a pet groomer).

Both cases seem to aggravate McGarrett when he can't solve them.

Both villains react unexpectedly at the end when caught. Eddie kills himself by jumping out a window, and Arthur cries because he "can't save Judy anymore" (Judy being a fictitious character).

I felt really bad seeming MMMMMMMMMMMMMMr. Beecham killed, when I first saw this episode in the 1990s. He was such a nice, gentle guy, and seemed to truly care about Eddie.

I did like how Eddie's undoing was his sloppiness regarding the Beecham murder, because he was irritated at the time and personally knew Beecham. Eddie saw himself as a genius who was too smart to get caught, but it turned out that he wasn't as smart as he thought.

The only thing that bothered me about this episode? There's no way they would have let Eddie stand around uncuffed and unguarded after being caught. This was written into the script in order to let him jump out of the window, but they could have managed it by having the cuffed Eddie just break free and charge at the window.

It isn't 100% certain that Eddie died from the fall (it wasn't super high up), but it seems to be implied, given his motionless body.

RIP Danny Goldman. He died in April 2020 at the age of 80, but not from what you'd think. He died of a stroke, not COVID. He was actually 35 at the time of the Five-O episode, but he was playing a younger character.

For those who watched 80s cartoons, Goldman was the voice of Brainy Smurf.

[John Chergi]

Season 7 Episode I'll Kill'Em Again 3.5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2 Stars Out Of 4 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐.

A strong start to Season 7 The Young Assassins and I'll Kill' Em Again. This is an above average episode focusing on a brilliant loner type Eddie Josephs and his obsession with re-creating HFO solved cases in The Hawaii Five-O Case Book. Eddie works at Harry's Book Store but often shows up late or disappears for periods of time. Harry Beecham, Eddie's boss, gives Eddie a long rope as he has a photographic memory for the books in the store and is a good employee. Eddie re-creates at least 4 cases from The Hawaii Five-O Case Book. 1. Ann Remington--->Sally Pomeroy 2. Benny Fortuna---> Sam Palley 3. HPD Brian Tanaka--->HPD Jimmy Wong 4. Benjamin Warfield--->Harry Beecham. For most of the episode, Eddie has the upper hand similar to Cameron in Rest In Peace, Somebody. Eddie mails postcards to McGarrett and calls Mc with his trademark stutter MMMMMister McGarrett. Although Eddie is very organized and careful committing the crimes, he also can be very bold and brazen. He shoots Officer Jimmy Wong in downtown Honolulu middle of the day after being stopped by Wong. He purposely ran through a red light. Anybody could have witnessed Eddie or his vehicle. Wong could have somehow survived and given a description of Eddie and the license plate. Also at the hospital, Eddie could have been noticed by a group of nurses and doctors when he watched Jimmy Wong die after minutes of CPR proved futile. During the episode, McG has 1 of his brainstorms remembering the crimes and the Case Book. There are still several cases that have not been re-created. McG visits Dr. Judith Patrick a Psychiatrist gaining knowledge on this type of criminal. She sees Eddie as a Paranoid Schizophrenic who likely will continue these cases. HFO receives the break they needed when Eddie murders Harry Beecham his boss at the bookstore. Re-creating the Benjamin Warfield killing. His body was found at The Marina. Eddie is the top suspect now as he works at the bookstore and Eddie has recently been fired. HFO locate Eddie's place and find 1 of the Case Book with pages torn out. McG & HFO 🌊 team guess right at the Hotel. A prostitute was murdered and Eddie was in the process of re-creating the murder. Eddie refuses to wave the flag of surrender or giving McG the pleasure of handcuffing him. He commits suicide jumping through a window 🪟 and onto the hard ground below.

Eddie (Danny Goldman) is an intriguing character and I'll Kill 'Em Again is a FAV episode of many here on the Forum. I've decided on 3.5 stars ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2 Stars. Agree with Todd on the ending. They had plenty of time to cuff Eddie. It also doesn't appear that long of a jump. It would have been interesting to have Eddie break out of a psychiatric ward or prison and bring the character back. Maybe, 2 or 3 years later. I also didn't like that he murdered Mr. Beecham. Harry treated him well and allowed him to work at the bookstore despite his many periods of disappearance. Harry was a good man. JC