Five-O Revisited: Run, Johnny, Run

Season 2, Episode 40
Original air date: 1/14/70

Written by: Mel Goldberg
Directed by: Michael O'Herlihy

A Hawaiian sailor, Mala, is believed to have murdered a Shore Patrolman, Fred Waters. McGarrett helped Mala out of trouble and into the Navy a few years earlier. With Mala on the run, McGarrett goes to Mala's mother to find out where he's hiding. His reception from the family is very edgy. Christopher Walken guest stars as the murdered Patrolman's friend, Walt Kramer, who has long wanted his friend's wife for himself. The widow, Sue Waters, is played by an actress whose billing is "Marcy Brown" but she appears to actually be Marcy Lafferty, daughter of CBS executive Perry Lafferty. Waters is played by the one-and-only Beau van den Ecker.

The SP's spot Mala and give chase. While Mala and Waters, who has drawn his gun, struggle, they hear a gunshot and Waters goes down. Mala flees as Kramer rushes to his friend.

Beau van den Ecker! I think Beau is killed on this show at least twenty times. He's Hawaii Five-O's version of Star Trek's red-shirt security officer in the landing party.

Steve rushes to Mala's mother to try and get her to tell him where her son is. If the Navy gets him before he does, he faces the death penalty. She is reluctant and tells him she will let him know. Steve is received by a very testy family. One of them "accidentally" throws a baseball at his car. Steve takes it in stride. He knows this family and they know him. This is an early example in the show of his closeness to the Hawaiians and willingness to help them when he can. I like the way O'Herlihy set up this whole sequence, especially the mother walking alone by the water.

The wonderful Mytle Hilo. How many TV shows in the 1970's cast any ethnic minorities, let alone as many as Five-O did on a regular basis?

Steve paces at the Palace, waiting for Mrs. Mala to contact him.

Kono, the bringer of food. Really, that was his main job on the show.

Steve scrapes his chopsticks (so you know Kono went to a real class joint). Had scraping chopsticks ever been seen on American TV before?

After Steve has dozed off waiting, Mrs. Mala's tiny emissary arrives. How does he sneak in? Some security system they have. This boy is also seen in another second season episode "Blind Tiger".

The boy takes McGarrett to the sugar cane fields where Mala is hiding. The boy tells Mala that their mother says he should trust Mr. McGarrett.

In jail, the situation looks grim for Mala, and he quickly regrets turning himself in to McGarrett.

McGarrett has a meeting with the Navy officer in charge of the investigation. Waters's widow arrives and doesn't respond kindly to him as she's heard he's friends with Mala.

Steve sends Chin and Kono to search for the bullet that killed Waters. At one point, while trying to determine the trajectory of the bullet, Kono points a loaded gun at Chin. Thus understandably thoroughly aggravates Chin. I don't know what the point of that moment is. These guys are supposed to be elite detectives. It just serves to make Kono look like all he should be doing is making food runs.

Steve rushes to a Naval facility where Mala has been sighted after he escaped from jail. McGarrett talks the officer into letting him go up the hill and try to take Mala alive. Mala, played by the bulky Nephi Hanneman, puts up a hell of a fight.

Lord of the hill?

Mala fires several warning shots at McGarrett. Bullets gone, the rough-and-tumble ensues.

About now, a normal person would question his decision-making about this situation. But this is McGarrett and he gets what he came for and then some.

Jenny does a double-take when her battered boss shows up back at the office. She won't be phased by anything by next season. He tells her to get him a fresh suit and to get the DA on the phone.

James MacArthur could always display concern so effectively. Danno asks what happened. Steve tells him he "ran into a rhino."

Steve takes the bullet to Che Fong for analysis. While there, the Doc (not Bergman yet) calls to ask why there aren't powder burns if they were wrestling when the gun went off. This triggers (no pun intended) an intense analysis of the evidence by McGarrett, one of my favorite aspects of the show. I love O'Herlihy's setup of this scene in Che's lab.

This is McGarrett's I'm-about-to-ruin-someone's-day look.

Kramer and Walters's widow talk. He tries to interject himself back into her life. She declines. In a great moment, Kramer turns around and sees McGarrett standing by his Jeep and looking at him with a smug expression. Kramer is unnerved and tries to keep his cool, but it's all downhill from here. They take a very awkward drive in which McGarrett picks him apart. If you've ever seen a cat play with its prey, that's what McGarrett is doing here.