Original airdate: 2/26/69
Written by: Leonard Freeman
Directed by: Michael Caffey
The trial begins and McGarrett desperately tries to find solid (or really, decomposing) evidence against Dr. Fremont. He's irked that the most they can charge her with is one "lousy" count of interstate sale of goods.
Hey, let's stand right in front of the elevator full of people trying to get out to have our conversation.
Freeman. The Man behind The Man.
McGarrett and Zipser quickly develop a close bond. Rainy days will do that to you.
McGarrett is not above using his charm on Zipser. Of course, he gets his way...and Zipser's car.
Tom and Mary Ann have it out. She knows he sent for Steve whom she won't talk to anymore.
McGarrett goes digging through the death records for any suspect death handled by Fremont. This is a scene that should be boring (tediously flipping through death records) but aside from the rather engaging qualities of McGarrett and Lord (see also, e.g., the scene where McGarrett is quietly, methodically inspecting the suspect's room in "Hookman"), the involvement of the "chickie baby" clerk, who enjoys having a "live one" in the records office for a change, provides a nice twist. It's a nice twist for her at least.
McGarrett finds a family that recently lost someone to Dr. Fremont. The writing and acting is very good in this scene, and I always find it moving. McGarrett expresses great compassion for them while also trying to talk them into an exhumation. The mother says to him, "It's so easy for you. It's so easy for cops." Not this cop.
Unearthing the coffin in the middle of the night. The autopsy fails to determine a cause of death because the casket was of poor quality, allowing air and water in. Zipser asks McGarrett how many autopsies he's been on. He answers, "Hundreds, thousands..." Zipser asks if any of them were easy. McGarrett concedes that none of them were easy.
The circus resumes. Zipser and McGarrett pull a stunt that catches Fremont in her great fraud. In the process, we learn how much personal info Mary Ann provided Fremont about Steve, including a history of polio and an appendectomy.
Who doesn't love William Schallert? He chews up a lot of scenery here as counselor Herbert. He told an interviewer that Lord said to him that he liked the Southern accent he was using but suggested pronouncing Hawaii as "Huh-why-ya" because that's how Southerners pronounce it. At one point, the judge says to Herbert, "I presume you are coming to a point with all this verbiage?"
If looks could kill.
Zipser and McGarrett switch the blood sample for food coloring and down goes Fremont in grand fashion. Steve leaves the courtroom quietly alone.
Mary Ann and Steve overcome the terrible rift Fremont had caused.
Pau.
This has got to be one of my favorite episodes. It is the episode I remembered through the years after seeing it way back when it was in summer re-runs (1969). It is a very difficult one to watch, since it involves the death of a baby, but it is handled beautifully. Yes, to see the cobra brought down is hugely satisfying.
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