The other reviews that I see for this title are all negative. I guess I watch television to get lost in the plot and not look for great drama or perfection of details. People watching the old television series should not judge them by what they are accustomed to today.I liked this series very much when it was first run, it was one of the few series that I made a point of watching every week. This is the one episode of the entire series that 40-odd years later I still remembered by name. Maybe some people with expertise in sea life saw the resolution coming but I still recall my feelings of edge-of-the chair suspense while I watched.
5 Reviews
Revenge with a vengeance
fbm727516 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Season 4 had a number of good episodes and this was one of them. In a not so usual event, all the bad guys get eliminated but not for the reasons in that they are crooked snakes that swindle people (at the time my home state also had a land fraud problem that resulted in several murders) To my delight it is Kono that really helps solve this case and it's sad that this would be his last season on the show. I can certainly see the outrage on the father's part as when he shows a brief clip of his deceased daughter there's a one second shot of the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen in a young girl.
Gloomy Episode Partially Redeemed by Some Eye-Catching Backdrops
Aldanoli1 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
If ever there were an episode of "Hawaii Five-O" that would make real estate salespeople squirm, it's this one. While it has perhaps even more than the usual complement of outdoor shots of steep, vegetation-covered cliffs, blue skies, crashing surf, and palm trees -- and some underwater shots too, along with scenes filmed on a sailboat -- it's also about a trio of shady real estate salesmen (Jay Robinson, Ray Danton, and Jason Evers -- three familiar character actors who routinely played heavies) who have gotten wealthy by selling marginal Hawaiian land sight-unseen to gullible purchasers, while always managing to stay just this side of being legal.
In some ways, this episode resembles the previous season's "Paniolo," another segment that showed off the islands' natural beauty but was weighed down with a sense of foreboding. Each of the trio gets a death threat of some kind, and as the bodies pile up, there's palpable gloom hanging over the proceedings -- even as, ironically, the principals are surrounded by such lovely backdrops.
The producers go out of their way to lace the narrative with some fairly heavy-handed clues, and the killer's identity, along with an equally-depressing motive, is also revealed relatively early for a "whodunnit" episode. For once, though, it's Kono who figures out the cause of the mysterious deaths, way ahead of our usual forensic specialists Che Fong or Doc Bergman -- despite being the target of some surprisingly racist comments by Evers' character. Gilbert Zoulou (as 'Zulu' later came to give his name) took on a more prominent role in his later episodes on the show, and it's regrettable that he was dropped from the cast (for reasons never definitively explained) just as his character was coming into his own.
A few other oddities: first, Jay Robinson's character 'Mingo' is killed in the teaser, and his foot is later shown in the medical examiner's office with a toe tag reading "8/3/71" (which might have been about when this episode was really filmed). The second death threat goes to Fred Akamai (Ray Danton's character) with the warning that he's going to die on September 10, which we're told is "tomorrow." That means that more than a month in "story time" elapsed without Five-O developing a single solid lead! Also, in contrast to Kono, Danny Williams (James MacArthur) seems surprisingly obtuse -- not only does he denigrate Kono's theories about marine toxins that ultimately prove correct, he also doesn't make any effort to examine some videotapes that turn out to contain an important clue -- and this despite being told by Evers' Stu Wallace character that the videotapes might get Wallace "pinched for pornography."
Maybe that's why, after McGarrett spends the middle portion of the episode off-camera doing things like attending a budget hearing, he elbows Kono and Danny aside and takes the helm to pursue the suspect in the closing moments (including a showy leap from one boat to another). All in all, despite the more prominent role for Kono, this is a downer of an episode, up to and including its final freeze-frame.
In some ways, this episode resembles the previous season's "Paniolo," another segment that showed off the islands' natural beauty but was weighed down with a sense of foreboding. Each of the trio gets a death threat of some kind, and as the bodies pile up, there's palpable gloom hanging over the proceedings -- even as, ironically, the principals are surrounded by such lovely backdrops.
The producers go out of their way to lace the narrative with some fairly heavy-handed clues, and the killer's identity, along with an equally-depressing motive, is also revealed relatively early for a "whodunnit" episode. For once, though, it's Kono who figures out the cause of the mysterious deaths, way ahead of our usual forensic specialists Che Fong or Doc Bergman -- despite being the target of some surprisingly racist comments by Evers' character. Gilbert Zoulou (as 'Zulu' later came to give his name) took on a more prominent role in his later episodes on the show, and it's regrettable that he was dropped from the cast (for reasons never definitively explained) just as his character was coming into his own.
A few other oddities: first, Jay Robinson's character 'Mingo' is killed in the teaser, and his foot is later shown in the medical examiner's office with a toe tag reading "8/3/71" (which might have been about when this episode was really filmed). The second death threat goes to Fred Akamai (Ray Danton's character) with the warning that he's going to die on September 10, which we're told is "tomorrow." That means that more than a month in "story time" elapsed without Five-O developing a single solid lead! Also, in contrast to Kono, Danny Williams (James MacArthur) seems surprisingly obtuse -- not only does he denigrate Kono's theories about marine toxins that ultimately prove correct, he also doesn't make any effort to examine some videotapes that turn out to contain an important clue -- and this despite being told by Evers' Stu Wallace character that the videotapes might get Wallace "pinched for pornography."
Maybe that's why, after McGarrett spends the middle portion of the episode off-camera doing things like attending a budget hearing, he elbows Kono and Danny aside and takes the helm to pursue the suspect in the closing moments (including a showy leap from one boat to another). All in all, despite the more prominent role for Kono, this is a downer of an episode, up to and including its final freeze-frame.
Poison by sea
mmcc-2295411 April 2022
Sloppy....really sloppy.
planktonrules12 April 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Three evil scumbags are killed off one by one. The problem is that these jerks have killed so many people that practically everyone is a suspect! I didn't like this episode for a variety of reasons--the biggest of which is that it all seemed rather sloppy--just slapped together without even thinking through the story or execution.
The biggest reason I didn't like it were the scuba diving scenes. If you look, not all that closely, you can see a structure above the water---and yet, it's supposed to be happening in the middle of the ocean! Later, when Danny and Kono visit some ocean park to talk to some sea life expert about neurotoxins, you can clearly see that the large pool they are standing beside is the exact same one where all the ocean dives occurred for the episode--in a giant aquarium with the same canopy! Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy--like the episode's director didn't even care if the audience saw this!
The episode is also sloppy in a variety of other ways. The solution to how the men were murdered is so obvious--there are HUGE clues throughout the show and Five-O solves the crime easily--as could have Inspector Clouseau--it was THAT obvious! Plus the murder method was so incredibly complicated that it was frustrating--who would go to all this trouble AND aren't there so many ways this complicated and bizarre method could have failed?! Finally, although Wallace was scared out of his wits, suddenly, just before he dies, he is cocky and refuses police help!!! Duh!!!
The only other thing of note here is that McGarrett is strangely absent in much of the show--only appearing in the beginning and end. Mostly it's Danny's investigation. Clearly a case of a 'second string' episode.
The biggest reason I didn't like it were the scuba diving scenes. If you look, not all that closely, you can see a structure above the water---and yet, it's supposed to be happening in the middle of the ocean! Later, when Danny and Kono visit some ocean park to talk to some sea life expert about neurotoxins, you can clearly see that the large pool they are standing beside is the exact same one where all the ocean dives occurred for the episode--in a giant aquarium with the same canopy! Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy--like the episode's director didn't even care if the audience saw this!
The episode is also sloppy in a variety of other ways. The solution to how the men were murdered is so obvious--there are HUGE clues throughout the show and Five-O solves the crime easily--as could have Inspector Clouseau--it was THAT obvious! Plus the murder method was so incredibly complicated that it was frustrating--who would go to all this trouble AND aren't there so many ways this complicated and bizarre method could have failed?! Finally, although Wallace was scared out of his wits, suddenly, just before he dies, he is cocky and refuses police help!!! Duh!!!
The only other thing of note here is that McGarrett is strangely absent in much of the show--only appearing in the beginning and end. Mostly it's Danny's investigation. Clearly a case of a 'second string' episode.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
