This episode involves someone's attempt to frame McGarrett for the murder of his girlfriend (who knew he had time for women? Wasn't his badge his mistress?) She calls him at his tennis club and tells him she has to see him right away. He speeds over to her house but finds her on the floor apparently dead. Then he is knocked unconscious by someone. When he awakes, the phone is dead, his car radio doesn't work, so he speeds down the road to use a pay phone. (Was he too embarrassed to use a neighbor's phone? I'm just asking ...) Anyway, when the cops arrive McGarrett becomes the chief suspect. It was his gun that killed her. The phone that he said was out of order? - it works, as well as his car radio. An anonymous person had called the police and reported someone exactly like McGarrett leaving the scene. So was this an airtight frame? Not even close.
While it's true that audiences today are more sophisticated than those 40 years ago, there are so many plot holes and goofs in this thing it's surprising they didn't just burn the film. I don't even know where to begin, but let's start with (Caution - Spoilers): The bad guy (Malcolm Vaughn, played by Jonathan Goldsmith) performs all of his actions without gloves, which should have left his fingerprints on everything. The before hand switching of McGarrett's gun was clever, but there is one problem: since McGarrett didn't actually shoot her, there would have been no gunpowder residue on his hands and sleeves (even audiences in the 70s knew about this, as far back as Perry Mason).
Part of the case against McGarrett was the anonymous phone caller that claimed that he saw him leave the scene after the woman was murdered. But the phone call was made from the house itself, which should have made everyone suspicious, since they would have checked the victim's phone records. (And before you say they wouldn't have thought of this back in the old days, this very point - tracing a second phone call - was critical to solving the case! So why didn't they think to check the first phone call?)
One of the most puzzling points of this is that no one seemed to care about the other guy that everyone knows was there. McGarrett had a large bump on his head, and the toxicology report showed that he had been drugged after he was knocked out. Until this other person was ruled out, there was really no case against McGarrett, as the other person's involvement would have had to be determined, but no one seemed to realize this.
And if McGarrett is the only suspect, why was he allowed to lead the investigation and not be suspended from duty? Even if no one had the brains to think of this, McGarrett should have known that any involvement by him in the case would have meant problems for the case in court, since any defense attorney would have said that his personal stake in the case's outcome would irrevocably contaminate the prosecutor's case. It would have been the defense attorney's first motion and it would have ended the case before the trial even started.
Pay attention during the scene where McGarrett tries to call the police after he wakes up from being knocked out. You'll notice a shadow moving across his body, apparently from a crewman moving behind the camera. The crewman even bumps the cameraman, as you'll notice his movement coincides with the jostling of the camera. In the world of TV making such goofs are ignored, since they are often pressed for time and scenes are only re-shot if there is a big mistake (like someone or something falling down).
Still, as ridiculous as the story is, there is at least one bright spot: we get a few brief glimpses of Camilla Sparv who was seen too infrequently on TV in the 70s and early 80s. She is very easy on the eyes and I wish they had shown her more in this episode. And Jonathan Goldsmith was a good character actor in the 60s and 70s who often played heavies. He's become pretty famous now playing the World's Most Interesting Man in all of those beer commercials. (I wonder if people reading this years from now will know what I'm talking about.) Watch this one only if you are really bored or if you just want another glimpse of Camilla Sparv. But fast forward through everything else.
While it's true that audiences today are more sophisticated than those 40 years ago, there are so many plot holes and goofs in this thing it's surprising they didn't just burn the film. I don't even know where to begin, but let's start with (Caution - Spoilers): The bad guy (Malcolm Vaughn, played by Jonathan Goldsmith) performs all of his actions without gloves, which should have left his fingerprints on everything. The before hand switching of McGarrett's gun was clever, but there is one problem: since McGarrett didn't actually shoot her, there would have been no gunpowder residue on his hands and sleeves (even audiences in the 70s knew about this, as far back as Perry Mason).
Part of the case against McGarrett was the anonymous phone caller that claimed that he saw him leave the scene after the woman was murdered. But the phone call was made from the house itself, which should have made everyone suspicious, since they would have checked the victim's phone records. (And before you say they wouldn't have thought of this back in the old days, this very point - tracing a second phone call - was critical to solving the case! So why didn't they think to check the first phone call?)
One of the most puzzling points of this is that no one seemed to care about the other guy that everyone knows was there. McGarrett had a large bump on his head, and the toxicology report showed that he had been drugged after he was knocked out. Until this other person was ruled out, there was really no case against McGarrett, as the other person's involvement would have had to be determined, but no one seemed to realize this.
And if McGarrett is the only suspect, why was he allowed to lead the investigation and not be suspended from duty? Even if no one had the brains to think of this, McGarrett should have known that any involvement by him in the case would have meant problems for the case in court, since any defense attorney would have said that his personal stake in the case's outcome would irrevocably contaminate the prosecutor's case. It would have been the defense attorney's first motion and it would have ended the case before the trial even started.
Pay attention during the scene where McGarrett tries to call the police after he wakes up from being knocked out. You'll notice a shadow moving across his body, apparently from a crewman moving behind the camera. The crewman even bumps the cameraman, as you'll notice his movement coincides with the jostling of the camera. In the world of TV making such goofs are ignored, since they are often pressed for time and scenes are only re-shot if there is a big mistake (like someone or something falling down).
Still, as ridiculous as the story is, there is at least one bright spot: we get a few brief glimpses of Camilla Sparv who was seen too infrequently on TV in the 70s and early 80s. She is very easy on the eyes and I wish they had shown her more in this episode. And Jonathan Goldsmith was a good character actor in the 60s and 70s who often played heavies. He's become pretty famous now playing the World's Most Interesting Man in all of those beer commercials. (I wonder if people reading this years from now will know what I'm talking about.) Watch this one only if you are really bored or if you just want another glimpse of Camilla Sparv. But fast forward through everything else.