Hawaii Five-O (TV Series) Heads, You're Dead (1976) User Reviews

Worst Guest Star in the Entire 12-Year Run of Hawaii Five-0

[FloridaFred · 7/10 · 29 October 2023]

The other reviewers said it already. Amanda what's-her-name cannot act. Her speech in the leaking life raft scene is absolutely stupid. Surrounded by sharks, she says, "I sure hope he hasn't seen that movie". If that was supposed to be comic relief, it failed completely. What a horrible performance. Sure, she was handed a script. But an actress with any class would have refused it.

One other gripe, which holds for countless episodes of H5-0... McGarrett is standing on a boat deck, in the middle of the ocean, in the blazing hot sun, and he doesn't take off his coat and tie? Come on, get serious!

This could have been much better. The premise is supposedly based upon a true story of drug smugglers stealing yachts to use for delivery, and killing the owners, crew, and occupants in the process. We get good acting from Paul Koslo and the other crew members, as the cold-blooded hijacker/killers.

Thanks/No Thanks to the lousy acting by Amanda McBroom, I can only rate this show 7 stars.

In response to the two previous reviews

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 24 June 2023]

I try not to write my reviews as reaction pieces to what others have written, but in this case, I think some things need to be corrected. First, the reviewer known as planktonrules seems to be over exaggerating what they feel is wrong with the episode. Planktonrules complains about Officer Welles ad nauseum, but I think we are supposed to see that she is relatively new to the police force and even if she is no longer a rookie, she is hardly a seasoned pro and she's prone to make mistakes.

Personally, I had more of an issue with Danny going off on a wild goose chase, investigating a false alarm and leaving Welles on her own without trying to tell her where he's going. He put her just as much at risk as she put herself at risk. That seems to have been overlooked by planktonrules in their comments.

Another thing that was overlooked by planktonrules is the fact that the life raft thrown into the sea for Officer Welles and the others to use, had been punctured with holes. Several holes. The bad guys may have given them a chance to survive, but clearly they were making it almost impossible for them to survive. It was more like a sadistic way to give them hope and let them drown anyway, since the leaks in the raft would prevent the raft from staying afloat very long.

Of course we know Steve McGarrett and the coast guard will reach them in time. The writers are not going to kill off Officer Welles in this episode. But the issues with the plot that planktonrules had seem very much overstated, and as I said, I did not have an issue with her making mistakes and learning from them. Or from the bad guys throwing them a raft.

The best part of the episode in my opinion was the reaction of the young man near the beginning who learned his parents had been senselessly murdered on their boat. He told McGarrett he wanted the culprits apprehended not out of a feeling of vengeance, but because he didn't want anyone else to die like his parents did. That was such a nicely acted scene.

As for Amanda McBroom's acting, I do agree that some of her scenes were not the best. The part where she made her captors an omelet and poured too much hot sauce on the eggs was meant to be comic relief, but I don't think she played it like a seasoned actress would. But just like her character, she was still learning at this point of her career.

Excellent beautiful , sexy lady guest starring

[bobforapples-40146 · 9/10 · 16 September 2023]

The lady playing Officer Wells. She is a lot fun to watch. And very engaging. When she is on the raft her speech detailing part of her life carries much of the scene. She is also very attractive just to look at when she goes undercover at the Marina.

I really enjoyed this episode. After her the best two things about are Paul Koslo turning in an excellent performance as the leader of the sea going thugs. Plus, it was made with cooperation of the actual cooperation of the actual US Coast Guard. But it is the lady playing Wells who makes it the most. So attractive and engaging is she. Tune in aka don't miss it!

Gosh do I hate Officer Welles!!

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 27 March 2012]

Officer Welles (Amanda McBroom) was a frequent guest star on "Hawaii Five-O". The first time they used her on a special assignment, she was pretty good. The second, she made an illegal search of a suspected assassin's room---though no one seemed to care or notice. In the process, she got herself kidnapped an almost killed--and I started to dislike this perky lady cop. Now, in her third appearance, she is once again an idiot--getting herself captured AGAIN--and setting back women's rights in the process, as she made lady cops look incredibly unprofessional and stupid...but mostly stupid. Wow, do I hate this character now! Now I don't blame the actress--she was just given lousy material. Fortunately, she only made one more appearance on the show (late in season 9).

The idea for the show, according to IMDb, is, tragically, based on a real crime. Three dirt-bags hire on as a crew on yachts. However, they are doing this just to get the boat--as they'll use it to transport narcotics. And, since they don't want any witnesses, they kill everyone else on board. The show begins with their latest victims--and it ends up in McGarrett's jurisdiction. Can he and his men and the idiot Officer Welles find them before they make more victims? Well, when Welles THINKS she may have spotted one of the killers she never calls for backup and just wanders onto the boat to get herself captured. And, while I am no lawyer, I don't think it was legal for her to just board a boat looking for clues. Isn't this against the law?! Aside from a dumb officer Welles, the writing near the end of the show was suspect when the killers did NOT kill them but tossed them overboard and threw them a raft they punctured. Why give them any chance to escape alive and why show they on a raft that seems very sea-worthy?! I hate this plot hole--it just made no sense. Sad, because without this and the dopey behaviors of Welles, this would be a solid episode. Instead, it's a bit embarrassing.

Amanda McBroom was bad

[kwebster-11879 · 4/10 · 30 March 2022]

The premise wasn't bad, but the writing was substandard. And McBroom did a very poor job trying to act in this episode. Ruined it for me. I'm glad McBroom had success as a songwriter, because as an actress she just didn't have it.