Here we are over half-way through Season 3.

Episode 13 “The Payoff” has Albert Salmi and Madlyn Rhue double-crossing their fellow felons in order to keep a huge ransom for themselves. Episode 14 “The Double Wall” sees an innocent Monte Markham behind bars and driven to extremes in order to prove it.

The star power in these two episodes, particularly the latter, is incredible.

Listen and enjoy.

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Here is a visual representation of Monte Markham’s desperation. He’s holding Boss Hogg hostage. That’s desperate.

This episode of Book ’em, Danno is full of twists!

In “The Late John Louisiana”, two lovers are on the run after they kill a man who was following them. But it turns out there’s more to this couple than meets the eye. A lot more.

In “The Last Eden”, Jimmy Nuanu, nightclub singer and loud mouth environmentalist, apparently gets drunk and blows up a sewage plant after one of his shows. But he swears he’s innocent. The fix is in and it’s a new take on corporate greed.

Listen on Soundcloud, iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher.

Fair warning, Ray Danton plays Jimmy Nuanu in “The Last Eden”, so if you’ve seen the Secret Agent Super Dragon episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, you will be singing the theme song Joel and the bots perform during the episode. It’s not a bad thing. Just a thing.

Also a thing, this disguise. It’s 1970. Nobody even looked twice.

Season 3 of Book ’em, Danno and Hawaii Five-O chugs right along with two more episodes.

In “Force of Waves”, Steve is blown up, but survives, a show tradition. However, his companion isn’t so lucky and Danno takes the lead while Steve is supposed to be recuperating. This episode also features a shirtless John Vernon, if you ever needed that in your life.

In “The Reunion”, a businessman being terrorized by an unknown stalker coincides with a World War II veterans reunion in the worst way. What seems like a crime born of opportunity and mistaken identity turns out to be the greatest long game ever played.

Listen on Soundcloud, iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher.

Mild trigger warning for both episodes as each deals with mental illness and PTSD. While the former happens towards the end of the episode so I really don’t talk about it much, the latter deals with PTSD and the horrors of war heavily and I do discuss it quite a bit. Gird your loins accordingly.

In conclusion, John Vernon shirtless everybody.

Also, just a couple of pics of Steve’s outfits (which I forgot to include when I originally posted this…oops). Like I said, he was in all of his off-duty glory in this episode. The ascots!

It’s a tale of two ransoms!

First, a priceless violin is inadvertently stolen in “The Guanerius Caper”. The missing instrument has major political implications, but it’s the thieves that are perhaps the most interesting aspect of the episode, especially since they never intended to steal the violin in the first place.

And then our beloved Kono gets taken in “The Ransom”. It’s a standard kidnapping case until the ransom drop goes all wrong and Kono ends up joining our missing boy. Kono is the hero, but man does he go through hell.

Listen on Soundcloud, iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher.

Fun connection with “The Ransom” (okay, fun for me): In the Season 1 NCIS: Hawai’i episode “The Tourist”, the NCIS team ends up going undercover looking for a woman in the same place that Five-O has staked out for the ransom drop: the dolphin show at Sea Life Park.

The NCIS team wasn’t sporting the undercover aloha shirts, though. Disappointing.

Let Steve show you how it’s done.

“The Second Shot” is an interesting political assassination plot episode that features an incredibly intense plan. It also pulls from the current events of the time as the focus of the plot is a leader of the opposition party in Greece, which at the time had undergone a right-wing coup.

And we are in flashback city when it comes to “Time and Memories” because for Steve there are a lot of memories with his ex, Cathy. There are several people who had motive to kill her husband, but she’s the one with the weakest alibi. Come and watch be Steve conflicted.

Or at least listen to me talk about it.

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And as a parting gift, I give you Eric Braeden’s shirtless anatomy lesson. Because that really does require a visual.

Welcome to Season Three!

Wo Fat is back in “…And a Time to Die”. In “Trouble in Mind”, Nancy Wilson is singing more blues than jazz.

We’re gifted with Gerald O’Loughlin’s last appearance in the series, being an absolute thorn in the side of Jack Lord as a State Department Prick.

Also, if you do enjoy music, there’s a lot of it in this episode. I was very liberal with the song sound clips. After all Nancy Wilson is a Grammy winner and it shows.

Tune in on Soundcloud, iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher.

Listen and enjoy.

And enjoy this picture of our favorite Wo Fat, the adorable Ellen, and the pants I desperately wish came in fat women’s size.

***

Sadly, 2021 has not been kind to the Hawaii Five-O ‘ohana.

In early July, we lost William Smith, who joined the cast in Season 12 as Det. James “Kimo” Carew.

And just recently, on September 21st, we lost Al Harrington, who appeared on the show five times as different characters before joining the cast as Ben Kokua in Season 5. He also had a recurring role as Mamo Kahike on the 2010 reboot.

We’ll be seeing Al Harrington a couple of times in Season 3. In fact, the day I heard of his passing, I was scheduled to record an episode he was in. I’m heartbroken to say the least.

May both men have safe travels beyond the horizon.

Aloha.

It’s a short episode as I don’t have much to say about the Season 2 finale “Kiss the Queen Goodbye”, though I should say that this episode is full to the brim with fabulous fashion. It makes the Governor’s yawn-inducing speech worth it. I also do a little Season 2 wrap-up. I know you’re aching to find out how many times Steve said, “Book ’em, Danno.”

Listen in on Soundcloud, iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher.

Wait, what? Two more places to listen? When did that happen? Just this month, actually. I’ve gone back and added Spotify and Stitcher links to all of the posts and the season pages. Let me know if I missed one or jacked one up. It was an ordeal.

As I did with Season 1, I’m once again going to take a hiatus before starting Season 3. Look for the next new episode in September, which you will only find here at aka KikiWrites.

As always, my eternal gratitude to everyone who listens. This little podcast is fun for me and I hope I’m making it fun for you as well, and I look forward to the fun will have together next season.

Until then….FASHION!

It’s time for a two-parter!

In part one of “Three Dead Cows at Makapu’u”, Five-O is looking for a brilliant scientist who seems to have recreated his deadly bacteria. In part two, they’re looking for the test tube containing said bacteria.

Mild trigger warning: At the beginning of part one they do indeed show one of the three dead cows. So, if you’re going to watch the episode and you’re sensitive to that sort of thing, be warned. Also, I do briefly discuss the dead cow at the beginning of my commentary on the episode, in case you want to skip that as well. No hard feelings.

Listen on Soundcloud, iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher.

Here’s the lovely Loretta Swit and the less-than-lovely test tube of death. Seriously. It looks like oatmeal spit.