Amanda McBroom played Officer Welles--a recurring character for a couple seasons on "Hawaii Five-O". While she no doubt is a lovely person in real life (and multi-talented), her guest spots were generally pretty bad, as the character took spunky and stupid to amazing heights. For example, the character would do things like perform illegal searches, walk into repeated traps without calling for backup or just act like a 'dumb female' (a stupid and damaging stereotype). Fortunately, this is the character's last appearance...and, oddly, Welles isn't at all bad in this one.
The show begins with an illegal high-end gambling operation. When the police raid the place, the boss (Nehemiah Persoff) escapes--and runs over a cop in the process. The only witness to this killing is a stupid young gambler (John Ritter) and instead of sticking around, he escapes as well. Later, when this gambling addicted young guy is approached by a bookie with a 'pay up or else' threat, he decides to blackmail the boss-man for money to pay off his debt! This sure takes some nerve--and Persoff's character isn't a guy who likes to leave around loose threads. So how does Welles come into the story? The young idiot is her brother! This actually is a pretty good story and it merits an 8--something I NEVER thought I'd write about an Officer Welles episode!! Well written and the only really dumb character is a guy who is supposed to be dumb! Well done. Had they made more Welles episodes like this one, I wouldn't have minded at all.
The show begins with an illegal high-end gambling operation. When the police raid the place, the boss (Nehemiah Persoff) escapes--and runs over a cop in the process. The only witness to this killing is a stupid young gambler (John Ritter) and instead of sticking around, he escapes as well. Later, when this gambling addicted young guy is approached by a bookie with a 'pay up or else' threat, he decides to blackmail the boss-man for money to pay off his debt! This sure takes some nerve--and Persoff's character isn't a guy who likes to leave around loose threads. So how does Welles come into the story? The young idiot is her brother! This actually is a pretty good story and it merits an 8--something I NEVER thought I'd write about an Officer Welles episode!! Well written and the only really dumb character is a guy who is supposed to be dumb! Well done. Had they made more Welles episodes like this one, I wouldn't have minded at all.
