Hawaii Five-O (TV Series) The Ways of Love (1968) User Reviews

Great story idea...too many holes

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 4 October 2009]

In the first couple seasons, Steve McGarrett was a lot more actively involved in cases--going undercover, chasing crooks and the like. It was a lot more exciting, but having the head of all police in Hawaii doing this grunt work seemed a bit odd. Well, in this episode, his involvement gets REALLY odd! The show begins with a car being chased by the police. In the car is a man (Don Knight) and a young lady. When the lady awakens, she panics and starts struggling with Knight. Then, in a crazy move, she jumps out of the car--while it's going 100 mph! The police car is forced to stop and help the lady--allowing the car to get away. On the lady is an earring belonging to the crown jewels of an unnamed nation--the first clues to what happened to the stones that were stolen a few days earlier. When McGarrett arrives, the lady is dying but manages to say "the ways of love" twice and then dies.

A wide variety of clues fall into Five-O's laps and eventually they learn two things. First, the dead girl's boyfriend (James Patterson) was just recently extradited to California because of an outstanding warrant. This boyfriend could have easily committed the jewel robbery and then got picked up on an unrelated charge. So, McGarrett travels to the mainland to become the guy's new cell-mate. The plan is for Steve to "escape" from prison and take Patterson with him--hoping that Patterson will eventually show him where the loot is hidden. Second, after Steve leaves for prison, the Hawaiian police find x-ray equipment indicating that they used it to crack the safe by x-raying the tumblers.

Eventually, the fake escape occurs--leading to some really crazy adventures. While this was actually very well thought out in some ways (and very interesting), it was also pretty crazy. First, why would they send Steve? Considering he's the head of Five-O you'd think some of the prisoners would recognize him! Second, after they escape, Steve stands there as Patterson starts slapping around Knight--is a cop really allowed to do this?!?! NOT! Third, after Patterson shoots Knight, you'd think the undercover assignment would end there--but Steve runs away with Patterson to look for the loot!! Again, would any police agency let a guy shoot someone right in front of them and NOT arrest him--but continue to let the guy be free?! It's sad, because the IDEA of going undercover and the whole escape was neat--but why did they have to leave so many holes in the scheme?! Overall, interesting and a lot of fun but a bit dopey at times.

By the way, when Steve and Patterson are escaping on the roof of the prison, the area surrounding the prison looks NOTHING like California but looks amazingly just like Hawaii--with its lush green hills. Perhaps this is why later in the series they filmed parts of each episode on the mainland AND Hawaii.

Beyond here, there be plot holes ...

[A_Dude_Named_Dude · 6/10 · 20 May 2013]

I'm mainly here to point out a few things that I noticed whilst watching this episode. I never much cared for the show as a kid and have only recently seen some re-runs. As such I tend to notice odd things and this episode has plenty of them.

The first oddity occurs during the opening scene, the car chase down a lonely highway. There is the usual problem of continuity, as the sunlight is first low in sky on the driver's side, then high overhead, and then on the passenger's side. One really can't fault them for this as TV shows are under enormous time pressure to complete their shots and they rarely have the time to do it perfectly right. This is even noticeable on big budget movies (like the the famous crop duster scene in North By Northwest). Besides, who notices such things, anyway? (Besides people with WAAAY too much time on their hands.) Another interesting thing from this sequence is when one shot shows the film crew silhouetted against the background when the cars pass by. This clearly was intentional - one of the crewmen actually waves as one of the cars passes! I wonder if anybody was fired for this unprofessional behavior. But since this is a TV show (where re-takes are extremely rare) they had to keep the shot. (The best example of this was an episode of The Wild Wild West where Robert Conrad split the crotch of his pants wide open and they didn't re-shoot it, even though his underwear was on full display.)

One of the things about McGarrett is the fact he is always in the middle of the action. This would never happen in real life since a person in his position would rarely leave office except for a meeting or lunch. I call this the Captain Kirk Syndrome (for want of a better term) because Kirk was always in the middle of everything even though he had no business doing it. (I always thought it was too illogical (as Spock would say) that the Captain would be so involved in routine matters). The TV reason for this is obvious since you have to have your lead star involved in the action as much as possible. There must have been other shows where this also happened but I can't think of one before Trek.

Anyway, Five-O needs an undercover guy to rub shoulders with the bad guy in his prison cell over in California. So naturally McGarrett goes - who else? Send Danno? Nah, Danno needs to stay put and do whatever it is that Danno does. It's not like they actually need McGarrett in his office in Hawaii. (Imagine the Governor's reaction when he finds out what's going on - 'McGarrett's doing what??!!') The prison he ends up in is a strange one as it is the quietest place on Earth (it must be all of those mellow Californians). When they are doing their scenes there it is so quiet you might think they are actually in a crypt. I can only remember seeing one other prisoner and that was when just his arm was sticking out of his cell. If you pay attention to their shirts you'll will notice that McGarrett and Barca have the same inmate number (18790)! I can't even begin to figure out how this could have happened. Maybe Californian jails give all of their inmates the same number?

Alas, the plot holes and bizarre happenings are still to come. When the two are on the way for their court appearances they are dressed in civilian clothes. But, you ask, aren't prisoners always dressed in their prisoner garb when they appear in court? Why, yes they are, but here they are in civilian clothes for the very reason this never happens in real life: to make it easier for them to mix in with the civilian population after they escape. (I remember once when I was driving down a highway somewhere years ago and every mile they had a sign on the side of the road telling drivers not to pick up hitchhikers - they might be escaped prisoners!) Of course this arrangement could have been prearranged by Five-O but Barca should have found this VERY strange and been leery about their "escape".

The other large plot hole was the ease with which they got a military flight to Hawaii. It's a clever idea to be sure but not as easy as they make it. Even with forged orders and uniforms they still have to have military I.D. (it's not like the military lets every Tom, Dick, and Harry come on board - they tend to frown on that kind of stuff). And of course McGarrett had to have a higher rank than Barca did. Do you think Jack Lord would have allowed the other guy to outrank him? Not on your life!

Once on the island the story becomes fairly conventional as McGarrett patiently waits, hoping that Barca will lead him to the stolen jewels. However, McGarrett does give Barca a little too much leeway while he beats his confederate Larsen and then shoots him. In a real life case this might have prevented a conviction. In those days the viewing public didn't care about legal technicalities - they just wanted the case solved - and TV writers were loath to make an issue of it. (A lot of Columbo's cases would not have gotten very far in the judicial system.) Police dramas have changed an awful lot in 40 years.

At least the episode doesn't ramble nearly as much as this review. Talk about high praise - 'the shows better than the review!'

First appearances

[WilliamJE · 7/10 · 11 August 2022]

Josie Over (Who was married to sometimes Five-0 actor Lance Over), Robert Costa, and Don Knight act for the first time in the series run and they would all be back numerous times in upcoming episodes.

McGarrett goes undercover. It works better here than in later episodes of the series.

Jumping out of a speeding car is a dumb move unless a person is suicidal. Otherwise, The Ways of Love is a pretty good episode.

Three of a kind!

[Sylviastel · 7/10 · 4 September 2017]

When an Asian woman jumps out of a moving car and dies, Steve MacGarrett goes undercover at a California county jail. The Crown Jewels were stolen while on tour in Hawaii. Hawaii Five O must find the jewels on the island. Only three people were in involved and one is dead. There is a love story or triangle among the thieves with the woman caught in the middle. Maybe it wasn't so much about the jewels anyway.

Good episode!

[mako-26151 · 8/10 · 17 April 2022]

McGarrett goes undercover as a prisoner in California and tricks his cell mate to escape with him and go to Hawaii. Pretty cool!

Those were some cool shades McGarrett wore. What were they?