Blind Tiger

Season 2, Episode 38
Original airdate: 12/31/1969

Teleplay by: Jerome Coopersmith
Story by: William Robert Yates and Jerome Coopersmith
Directed by: Abner Biberman

McGarrett is blinded by a car bomb. Irish stubbornness ensues.

McGarrett returns to headquarters in that beautiful afternoon Hawaiian sunlight. He has a greeter.

Could this kid be any cuter? He's got a window-washing racket but McGarrett is game and tells the entrepreneur to be sure and clean both sides of the windshield this time.

One of the creepiest characters in the show's run has some interference from the kid when trying to plant the bomb.

The Man finds an empty office upon his return. Slackers.

Perfect hair day.

Surprise birthday party for Steve. Surely a keen detective would have seen this coming? McGarrett being the workaholic he is, he probably forgot it was his birthday. They sing happy birthday in Hawaiian.

Jenny especially gets into the spirit of things, singing, "you're twenty-one today!" Chin is holding back a sneeze.

This was a rare and enjoyable scene showing some team bonding without any drama...well, not yet anyway. A guitar and a Hawaiian dictionary for the boss.

The Guv gives McGarrett a hard time about two different birthdays showing up in his record (but only a year apart). Perhaps having a little fun at Lord's expense since his actual birthday was hard to pin down for years (but only a decade apart).

The Guv does the obvious - he combines the two birthdays and has that many candles put on the cake. McGarrett says there are about 70 candles and that's "about half right." So he's saying he's about 35 (only about 14 years younger than Lord!). You gotta love the "Hawaii Five-O" cake.

He has a little trouble taking care of all those candles. The bomb has the same problem with him later.

Jenny is friendly.

 

Steve thanks Danno.

Creepy bomber man can't wait for McGarrett to open his present.

 

That's a hell of a way to treat a guy on his birthday.

Good thing Danno didn't rush off like everyone else. I wonder if they heard the explosion. Steve tells Danny that he can't see.

 

Stock footage of the ambulance and hospital seen repeatedly throughout the series.

 

 I always seek out the emergency room with the gaudiest neon sign.

 

James MacArthur can just kill you with that face.

Steve is examined. Steel blue eyes.

 

As he's being taken down the hall, Steve calls out for Danno who comes running. He starts to tell Danno what he wants to be done, but Danno cuts him short and tells him what he's going to do.

Chin and Kono review the bomb scene with Che Fong, one of my favorite characters (Harry Endo making his first appearance on the show as Che).

Danny finds Steve in a rather pissed off mood.

 

Nurse Lavallo (the wonderful Marion Ross) is introduced. It's a very rough start to their relationship given McGarrett's refusal to accept the situation.

It's painful to watch the overly proud and stubborn McGarrett call for a car and get dressed and try to leave the hospital on his own. Nurse Lavallo waits for him to fall, and he does inevitably.

An angry surrender.

But still trying to conduct business as usual. The Guv puts a stop to it.

 

Working on his coping skills, McGarrett still manages to do a little flirting.

Kono visits and, as is his way, brings food.

The kid has no luck finding the bomber in the mug shots.

Steve conducts a non-Guv approved status conference with his team. He tells them to take the boy to the auto shop where they suspect the bomber works. That lamp is a constant eyesore in this episode. It's always merging with someone's head. Chin gets it in this scene.

Much to her chagrin, Steve notices that Nurse Lavallo is wearing perfume.

The boy sees the bomber in a photo.

Hey, that's funny. I have that same picture of Steve in my locker.

Blind cop vs. creepy bomber man.

Lavallo turns out the lights to even the playing field. The bomber takes a shot and misses. They scramble in the dark.

Danny says, "I think I gave you guys a bum steer. I told you McGarrett needed help."

Recovered.

Not Nurse Lavallo.

Nurse Lavallo calls to say goodbye, pretending to have been transferred. Steve wants to say thank you personally but she claims to have a busy schedule. He asks her to at least tell him what her first name is. She tells him it's Edith.

A sad passing by.

Pau.