How to Steal a Masterpiece

The previous episode of "Hawaii Five-O" was a pretty crummy one--with some really poor writing. However, the show was back on track with this show, as the script was much tighter and more entertaining. And, incidentally, it's one of the few episodes directed by Jack Lord himself! The show begins with a very, very intricately conceived robbery. Despite a top-notch security system and guards, a group of men are able to break into the home of a rich guy (Luther Adler) and steal his priceless Gaughin painting. It's odd, as the guy was going to donate the painting on his death to a local museum. It's also odd because stealing a painting is a difficult crime to get away with, as few would consider buying what they know is a stolen artwork. So, not surprisingly, the thieves demand ransom. However, after the ransom is paid and the painting is not returned, it appears there's much more to the story than folks had assumed. I could say a lot more, but this would reveal too much of the plot--and it's an interesting one.

Overall, this episode has nice guest appearances, a very good plot and some nice twists to the story. While it's not among the great episodes of the show, for season Seven it's a HUGE improvement...and the direction was nice.

By the way, in a case of odd casting, George Herman plays a hood in this one AND a different hood in a previous episode! You'd have thought they would have spaced the two shows apart--though, to be fair, the show did not air on the intervening week and there were two weeks between them.

Interestingly, this is the second 5-0 episode where George Voskovec plays a criminal later consulted as an expert on the crime. LOL The last time, he was a documents expert forging securities.

Some other actors here had prominent earlier roles. Luther Adler plays the rich art collector here, but he was the elder Vashon in that excellent 5-0 trilogy. Gail Strickland also played a magazine writer in Killer at Sea. Michael Anderson, Jr. Had two previous roles on 5-0, most notably as the troubled recovering firebug framed for a series of fires.

This episode is well written and well-paced, but sadly with a bit of tragedy ... making it seem all the more real.