This is one of the best episodes of season 4 and is well worth seeing just for its fantastic ending--which, I won't say more about because I don't want to ruin it.
The show begins with a young guy (Michael Burns) buying a 30-06 rifle with a scope and TONS of ammo. Although I doubt it was standard practice of the day, the guy in the gun shop didn't even bother to check the man's i.d.--even after he signed his name as "George C. Patton". While this isn't "George S. Patton" (the WWII general), the name wasn't checked and the guy at the counter didn't even question the purchase of so many bullets.
Next, we see Burns climbing to an old WWII bunker on Diamond Head. There, with a smile on his face, he shoots out the tires on a passing car--this guy was a terrific shot! When cops stop to help, Burns opens fire on them--killing one and severely wounding the other! It's obvious Burns is some sort of psycho and takes great delight in killing cops.
The problem is that the bunker is so well placed that McGarrett has no idea how to get the guy without losing the lives of many more cops. So far, one man is dead and the other is fighting for life--and there's more to come.
The psychological angle of all this is what makes this so interesting. When a psychiatrist who worked with the nut comes to talk to McGarrett is understandably ticked since this doctor had recently discharged the man--even though he was hospitalized after a SECOND incident where he was shooting up things with a sniper rifle! While no people were involved, the idea of the man only staying four months in a hospital after this is, well, crazy! The doctor agrees...but said he was handicapped by the system (this is very true today, as well). However, what the psychiatrist said next sounded like stupid gobbledygook--that Burns' character was basically suffering from "mommy issues"--an inner conflict with impulses to sleep with his mother! This is common Freudian-style thinking which is considered mostly passé today--but was quite often believed through the 1960s. HOWEVER, in a great twist, this stupid theory is actually correct!!! When you see McGarrett talking to his mother a bit later, you can clearly see from where the mommy issues spring!!! What a thoroughly horrid person--I could see her getting Gandhi to go on a killing spree she was so awful!! Because the doctor isn't much help and Burns' mother refuses to help in any way, by the end of the film, the cops are desperate. In an odd move, it seems that the police department's best chance is Danno!! Now, we've never had any indication that he's an expert marksman but he and Burns' character become locked in an interesting battle towards the end. Once it's over, however, DON'T turn it off--watch it to the very end...you'll see what I mean. Tense, well written and just plain cool--see this episode.
Note that Herman Wedemeyer is on hand to play 'Duke' for the first time--though his last name is oddly 'Kahana' instead of the familiar 'Lukela'--as he was known through most of the series. Throughout the earlier appearances as Duke, he was a uniformed officer until being promoted to work for Five-O a few seasons later--a rare bit of good continuity for the series (where bad continuity was, unfortunately, the norm).
By the way, I was thrilled to see Burns in this show. He also was in one of the best and most memorable of the 1960s version of "Dragnet". He played "Blue Boy"--and his performance made the show. In fact, I loved seeing him in practically everything I saw him in and it's a shame he retired so young from acting--though it's not like he threw his life away or anything. Read his IMDb bio--it's pretty fascinating and I wish him and his wife all the best...and hope he considers, perhaps, a small return to TV--I miss him. No one could play a psych case quite like him!
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