The chase takes place at the very end of “Termination with Extreme Prejudice” (Season 8). Lord Charles Danby (Murray Matheson) fakes his suicide in an elaborate scheme to sell an important British document to the Chinese. British Intelligence (MI6) is after him, but their agent, Harry Wells (Dan O’Herlihy, brother of director Michael O’Herlihy) proves not to be entirely honest in his work for Her Majesty.
On to the Chase
McGarrett and Danno spot Lord Danby behind the Halekulani Hotel, where he was staying with his wife, Lady Danby (Juliet Mills, older sister of Hayley Mills). Danby spots them and takes off in a speed boat, which just happens to be parked on the beach. McGarrett and Danno follow in another speed boat, which also just happens to be parked on the beach.
The boats travel west along the shoreline, then turn into the Ala Wai Canal at the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor (behind the Ilikai). Danby pulls to the shore between the McCully Street Bridge and the Marco Polo Apartment Building and gets out. Before he has run more than a few steps, he encounters Wells, who demands that Danby give him “the packet.” Danby gives it to him, but Wells shoots him, anyway, and Danby falls into the canal.
McGarrett and Danno witnessed it all from their boat. Now ashore, the top cop demands that Wells give him “the packet,” which proves to be a blue-backed document bearing the initials OHMS (On Her Majesty’s Service) and the name Department of Defense (which would have been spelled “Defence” in the Queen’s English). Wells tries to shoot McGarrett twice, once with the revolver that he used to kill Danby and again with a hidden derringer. McGarrett wrests both away from him. Wells says, “You’re wasting your time in this job, McGarrett. You should be in intelligence.” McGarrett replies, “I am. Book him, Danno. Murder One.”
Notes
At the time the episode was filmed, some rooms at the Halekulani Hotel were located in a wooden, two-story structure, which probably was built around the time of World War II. It since has been replaced by a modern skyscraper, which blends in not at all with the main hotel building.
The Wo Fat Building appears when Danby goes to meet a Chinese operative.
Usually, the bad guys drove a green Mercury (see “Killer at Sea” in Season 6). In “Termination with Extreme Prejudice,” Danby drove a tan and brown Mercury.
Harry Wells met a Chinese agent at the “Kyoto Temple.” It exists in real life within the Oahu Cemetery in the Nuuanu Valley.
When McGarrett takes off running after Danby on the beach behind the Halekulani Hotel, he jumps onto a low wall, then down to the beach with the ease of a gazelle.
McGarrett barely ducks as the boat passes under the Ala Moana Boulevard, Kalakaua Avenue, and McCully Street bridges.
When McGarrett replies “I am” to Welles’ statement that he should be in intelligence, he is telling both Wells and us that he still has ties to Naval Intelligence, which we saw in the beginning of Season 8, in “Murder – Eyes Only.”
One thing that other viewers have faulted was the small role given to Juliet Mills. A notable actress in her own right, she could have handled a much more demanding role. Still, the “English rose,” as she was described in the episode, and the wife of an English lord probably would not have taken a more prominent position in such a situation.
It was good to see the Five-0 detectives being given prominent roles in this episode. They tailed Danby and Wells with great expertise.
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