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Termination with Extreme Prejudice

A Great Boat Chase

Back Story

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 witness 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 It since has been replaced by a modern skyscraper, which blends in not at all with the main hotel building.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. The temple 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 bridges over Ala Moana Boulevard, Kalakaua Avenue, and McCully Street.

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, as we saw in “Murder – Eyes Only” (Season 8).

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. Perhaps, most notable was Duke's chase after Danby through The Breakers, a post-war hotel/motel with jalousie windows and doors. Duke missed his mark, though, as Danby tipped his hat as he rode past on an English double-decker bus.

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When Does a War End?

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The Anderson Estate

The Anderson Estate is seen in "The Case Against Philip Christie" (Season 11). Hawaii Five-0, Leonard Freeman Productions / CBS Television, 1978.

I suppose we Five-0 fans will always feel a special closeness to the Anderson Estate, even though it was razed in April 2018. Critics of the destruction of the handsome Spanish Colonial Revival house abounded, both among fans of Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum PI and among the Historic Hawaii Foundation, which works to preserve historical structures in the Islands.

It is understandable that the house, which was built in 1933, was in a serious state of disrepair, but many people feel that its historical significance warranted its being restored. Designed by American architect Louis Davis, who designed both homes and public buildings in Hawaii, the estate once was owned by politician Eve Anderson.

The Anderson Estate appeared in twelve episodes of Hawaii Five-0. We saw little of the interior of the house beyond the courtyard and entryway until the series finale, “Woe to Wo Fat,” when we were treated to scenes of one of the bedrooms. It was there that McGarrett was held captive by Wo Fat (Khigh Dhiegh). Forming a silhouette of a Doberman Pinscher with his hands and light from a lamp, he gave us a portent of what would come next: Zeus and Apollo about to take a bite out of Thomas Sullivan Magnum as he sneaked onto the estate after Jonathan Quayle Higgins had banned him.

But I digress. McGarrett next formed a silhouette of a man hanging from a noose. As Wo Fat’s security team rushed in, the top cop tackled them and, with help from Dr. Elizabeth Fielding (Pat Crowley), one of three kidnapped scientists, won their freedom.

The 12 episodes in which the Anderson Estate appeared on Hawaii Five-0 are

"Forty Feet High and It Kills" (Season 2)
"Sweet Terror" (Season 2)
"The Second Shot" (Season 3)
"The Gunrunner" (Season 3)
"While You're at It, Bring in the Moon" (Season 4)
"Is This Any Way to Run a Paradise" (Season 4)
"Cloth of Gold" (Season 4)
"You Don't Have to Kill to Get Rich, But It Helps" (Season 5)
"Death's Name Is Sam" (Season 8)
"A Stranger in His Grave" (Season 10)
"The Case Against Philip Christie" (Season 11)
"Woe to Wo Fat" (Season 12)

The Anderson Estate was a beautiful old home. I'm heartbroken that it is no more.

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McGarrett's Name

One of the mysteries that McGarrett left for us to solve is his full name. We saw it phrased two ways, as "Stephen J. McGarrett" and as "Stephen Aloysius McGarrett."

Stephen J. McGarrett

"Stephen J. McGarrett" was first seen in "Death is a Company Policy" (Season 5). This was the episode where the "iron brain" (early slang for "computer") gave his background information. The "iron brain" did not tell us what "J" stands for. It does tell us that his dad's name was John. Could Stephen's middle name have been John? Possibly, but will we ever know?

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Side Bar

Not all information shown by the "iron brain" was correct. For example, the month of McGarrett's birth, which he said several times was in December, when he called himself a "Capricorn goat."

The "iron brain" said McGarrett was vaccinated against measles in 1933. But! The first approved measles vaccine did not come out until 1963.

The "iron brain" said McGarrett attended Valley High School in Van Nuys, California. There is a Valley School in Van Nuys, but it is a middle school (known as a "junior high" back in his day). Since the records showed that McGarrett was in the 11th grade at the time of the report, he would not have attended Valley School.

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Stephen Aloysius McGarrett

"Aloysius" came from "A Gun for McGarrett" (Season 7). The problem is that McGarrett wore a grin when he told Marnie Howard (Carol White) that was his name. Was he teasing her, or was he grinning about her reading something romantic into his statement that she could call him "any time"? Will we ever know?

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