50 years ago tonight, CBS aired S07E05 “Bomb, Bomb, Who’s Got The Bomb?”
William Windom guest stars again, this time as a State Senator who is a crime committee chairman. Harlan Henderson is all about investigating organized crime. And we all know based on past episodes, this is a problem in Hawaii.
When Harlan’s secretary (Lynne Ellen Hollinger) leaves to pick up paperwork at the office, she’s immediately blown up in his car. Five-O is called in to investigate because everyone is certain Harlan is a target for murder. He is, but there is a twist.
As the episode goes on, we meet Harlan’s family. Randy Stelf (Marc Singer) is the senator’s son-in-law and owner of a construction company. He has access and knows how to use dynamite and plastic caps. Harlan’s daughter Kathy (Melody Patterson) even gets conked on the back of the head at one point but not by her estranged husband Randy.
Bombs keep showing up and it turns out Harlan has some serious mental issues. An incident from his childhood is driving the bombings. Harlan shot his father (Norman E. Dupont) to death and has had a crushing guilt ever since.
It’s probably one of most far-fetched theories ever in the series. It comes to fruition in an elevator at the Ilikai with Harlan and an innocent bystander (Electra Gailas Fair) who is freaking out (duh!). McGarrett manages to get on top of the elevator and gets the bomb out of Harlan’s hands. It takes a bit to hook it to a helicopter that then takes it out to the Pacific where it blows up. The episode is extremely open-ended because it ends at the blast.
Mr. Mike has a great review here: https://www.fiveohomepage.com/5-0log7.htm#149
This is Windom’s at least second turn as a guest. Most viewers know him for his role on “Murder, She Wrote”. He’s a good actor and I think he was better in S02E14 “Which Way Did They Go?” He was just a cold-blooded killer – very organized, deliberate and ruthless.
This is also one of at least two turns by Marc Singer who was well known in the cult classic “The Beastmaster” and the mini-series “V”.
Unfortunately, the script is weak. Maybe if the writing was tightened up, it would be a better episode. The premise isn’t bad, but it could have used work in the execution.
Regardless, Happy 50th, “Bomb, Bomb, Who’s Got the Bomb?”!!
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