This episode managed to avoid the hysterics of a lot of other H50 episodes when dealing with a serious subject. Beverly Kushida should have won an Emmy for her portrayal of the victim. Very understated performance but her emotions rang true.
5 Reviews
Big politics versus big justice
VetteRanger7 June 2023
The Hawaii 5-0 casting folks hit another home run in their knack for casting young talent who would go on to be recognizable starts. Here, three players on a football team get drunk and rape a waitress. Two of the three actors were a young Richard Masur and a young Adam Arkin.
When the waitress stabs one with a screwdriver, they must make up a story to explain his wound to the hospital and the police. One of the players is the son of a US Senator, and he makes a call to tell his father everything ... resulting in a "fixer" showing up to keep the truth concealed.
I might have given this ten stars, but the hour-long format was actually too short for this story. It deserved a more epic framework, as the push from the political side had much less weight than I expected. But then, Steve McGarrett doesn't get pushed around, does he? ;-)
When the waitress stabs one with a screwdriver, they must make up a story to explain his wound to the hospital and the police. One of the players is the son of a US Senator, and he makes a call to tell his father everything ... resulting in a "fixer" showing up to keep the truth concealed.
I might have given this ten stars, but the hour-long format was actually too short for this story. It deserved a more epic framework, as the push from the political side had much less weight than I expected. But then, Steve McGarrett doesn't get pushed around, does he? ;-)
Beverly Kushida's acting saves this episode
george_cherucheril8 March 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Beverly Kushida's performance as a rape victim makes this episode good. Kushida plays Lani Okoneland a rape victim. Three well connected college students raped her. The father of one of them is a powerful senator. Thus the three men have means to cover up the crime. Overall the story was told well but the weak point is that 5-0 solved the case because of one of the rapists caved under pressure and not because of good police work. McGarrett does a great job of displaying sympathy for Lani.
Adam Arkin is Alex Scofield the privileged and arrogant Senator's son. He is out at a bar with two football teammates and they are drunk. One friend is Bink Avery, played by Richard Masur. Another friend is Kim Hughes, played by Lance Hool.
Kim starts making unwanted advances towards Lani who is waitress. She rebuffs his efforts. After the bar closes, Lani is in the parking lot opening her car door when she is ambushed by Kim and his buddies. The men force Lani to a beach where they rape her. Then they return to the parking lot to drop her off with Kim escorting her to her car. That is when she reaches in the car and grabs a screw driver. Lani stabs Kim in self defense and then flees the scene. Bink freaks out because Kim is losing a lot of blood but Alex is calm and takes control. He tells Bink that they will be ok and coaches him on the story they will tell police. He quickly calls for an ambulance.
From this point on, Kim is in the hospital recovering and does not get much more screen time. The focus is on Alex and Bink. All three of these guys are unlikable. Especially cruel is when Kim tells Lani that she is a nobody and no one will believe her story of rape.
Alex is not worried about anything because his Dad's attorney, Michael Collins who plays Hal Zimmerman, is flying in to help cover up the crime. Zimmerman's solution to fix the problem is to find a local man to pose as the one who stabbed Kim in exchange for compensation of $5k and once he is arrested Kim will decline to press charges against him so he will walk. Zimmerman coaches both Alex and Bink on giving the patsy's description so police will have no trouble finding him.
Police find the patsy and the screwdriver in his apartment. He is apprehended and immediately picked out of a lineup by both Alex and Bink. There was a curtain covering up the line up window. As soon as McGarrett opens the curtain without even taking a breath Bink immediately identifies the patsy.
Bink was unconvincing as the weak link. Lani had pulled Bink's chocker off of his neck while she was raped on the beach. Bink worries about police finding his choker because his name was inscribed on it. Alex advises Bink to avoid the beach and not look for his choker because Zimmerman is fixing the problem. Alex makes sense and Bink should have listened to him.
I expected Zimmerman to have someone comb the beach and recover the choker. After all he is a professional and should have picked up on the lost choker when questioning the boys. Instead, when Danny is at the beach a day after the crime it happens to be the same moment an old man, William Croarkin who plays the unnamed scavenger is walking the beach with a metal detector and finds the choker. Danny thinks nothing of it because the choker is not important at the moment. The chances of the old scavenger being out at the beach the same time as Danny is nil.
Lani goes to the hospital to report her rape and get some medical attention but then loses her nerve and backs out. Rape in the mid 1970s was just beginning to be discussed and Lani plays a tough role perfectly. We understand the stigma of being a rape victim back then but we also feel sympathy towards Lani who is a victim. When Lani goes to work, Dano and Duke are there asking questions. Duke stops her and asks if she will talk but she freaks out and Dano asks her to come to the office with them. At the office McGarrett questions Lani and she tells him the true story. McGarrett treats her with respect and compassion.
McGarrett finds Lani's story to be believable and starts to smell a cover up. He summons Alex and Bink into his office for an interview. Alex and Bink are under no obligation to be interviewed by the police and could have refused the interview. I am surprised Zimmerman allowed this and was not at least present for the interview. It is always wise to have an attorney present because the police can use whatever you say against you. I did not understand why McGarrett interviewed both men together instead of interviewing them separately. It would have made things harder for Alex and Bink as they were fabricating the story and 5-0 would have picked up on the descrepencies.
The newspaper reports the rape allegations and names Lani. I am not sure how they got the story because Lani told McGarrett in confidence. Lani's Father played by Seth Sakai is more worried about appearances than Lani's well being. He complains that he cannot face his co-workers and that Lani's Mom cannot walk through the neighborhood. He compels Lani to go with him to the police station to retract her statement which Lani reluctantly retracts.
Another valuable message from this episode, underscores the lack of empathy and education families displayed when dealing with a rape. Instead of showing respect and understanding like McGarrett, Saki as the Father made life more difficult for Lani.
McGarrett has his team trail both Alex and Bink. They strike gold because Bink loses his cool. He decides to by a replacement choker and then goes to the beach to search for the old one. 5-0 then does a more thorough search and find nothing. But Dano has a brain storm and remembers the old scavenger finding something, possibly the choker, a few days earlier. They go to visit the old man and set him up to sell the choker to them.
Lani's Dad keeps a loaded gun in his night stand, definitely not a smart thing to do and came out of nowhere. She is at the end of her rope and decides to take matters into her own hands. Lani takes the gun with her and heads off the to confront Alex and Bink at their apartment. I did not like this element of the story because although she was wronged, Lani is not the type to hold someone at gun point to solve her problems. She is much more intelligent.
The culmination is Lani holding both men at gun point and demanding they call the police. The ever smug Alex refuses to call the police but Bink is crumbling. 5-0 suddenly shows up and busts the door telling Lani they found the choker and know she is telling the truth. Alex and Bink are arrested and then Bink stupidly admits that they raped Lani. There is no way someone is going to just confess to the rape at the point of arrest. Apparently, Zimmerman's coaching job was not effective.
Overall this is a good episode worth watching because it is one of the first time television dealt with the crime of rape. Beverly Kushida, Jack Lord and Seth Sakai were excellent in their roles. Dano and Chin were great support as usual. Duke is annoying and boring as usual. I would have liked to see 5-0 solve the case with more believable police work instead of having it fall in their laps because Bink was stupid and the unlikely coincidence of the scavenger finding the choker right when Dano was at the beach.
Adam Arkin is Alex Scofield the privileged and arrogant Senator's son. He is out at a bar with two football teammates and they are drunk. One friend is Bink Avery, played by Richard Masur. Another friend is Kim Hughes, played by Lance Hool.
Kim starts making unwanted advances towards Lani who is waitress. She rebuffs his efforts. After the bar closes, Lani is in the parking lot opening her car door when she is ambushed by Kim and his buddies. The men force Lani to a beach where they rape her. Then they return to the parking lot to drop her off with Kim escorting her to her car. That is when she reaches in the car and grabs a screw driver. Lani stabs Kim in self defense and then flees the scene. Bink freaks out because Kim is losing a lot of blood but Alex is calm and takes control. He tells Bink that they will be ok and coaches him on the story they will tell police. He quickly calls for an ambulance.
From this point on, Kim is in the hospital recovering and does not get much more screen time. The focus is on Alex and Bink. All three of these guys are unlikable. Especially cruel is when Kim tells Lani that she is a nobody and no one will believe her story of rape.
Alex is not worried about anything because his Dad's attorney, Michael Collins who plays Hal Zimmerman, is flying in to help cover up the crime. Zimmerman's solution to fix the problem is to find a local man to pose as the one who stabbed Kim in exchange for compensation of $5k and once he is arrested Kim will decline to press charges against him so he will walk. Zimmerman coaches both Alex and Bink on giving the patsy's description so police will have no trouble finding him.
Police find the patsy and the screwdriver in his apartment. He is apprehended and immediately picked out of a lineup by both Alex and Bink. There was a curtain covering up the line up window. As soon as McGarrett opens the curtain without even taking a breath Bink immediately identifies the patsy.
Bink was unconvincing as the weak link. Lani had pulled Bink's chocker off of his neck while she was raped on the beach. Bink worries about police finding his choker because his name was inscribed on it. Alex advises Bink to avoid the beach and not look for his choker because Zimmerman is fixing the problem. Alex makes sense and Bink should have listened to him.
I expected Zimmerman to have someone comb the beach and recover the choker. After all he is a professional and should have picked up on the lost choker when questioning the boys. Instead, when Danny is at the beach a day after the crime it happens to be the same moment an old man, William Croarkin who plays the unnamed scavenger is walking the beach with a metal detector and finds the choker. Danny thinks nothing of it because the choker is not important at the moment. The chances of the old scavenger being out at the beach the same time as Danny is nil.
Lani goes to the hospital to report her rape and get some medical attention but then loses her nerve and backs out. Rape in the mid 1970s was just beginning to be discussed and Lani plays a tough role perfectly. We understand the stigma of being a rape victim back then but we also feel sympathy towards Lani who is a victim. When Lani goes to work, Dano and Duke are there asking questions. Duke stops her and asks if she will talk but she freaks out and Dano asks her to come to the office with them. At the office McGarrett questions Lani and she tells him the true story. McGarrett treats her with respect and compassion.
McGarrett finds Lani's story to be believable and starts to smell a cover up. He summons Alex and Bink into his office for an interview. Alex and Bink are under no obligation to be interviewed by the police and could have refused the interview. I am surprised Zimmerman allowed this and was not at least present for the interview. It is always wise to have an attorney present because the police can use whatever you say against you. I did not understand why McGarrett interviewed both men together instead of interviewing them separately. It would have made things harder for Alex and Bink as they were fabricating the story and 5-0 would have picked up on the descrepencies.
The newspaper reports the rape allegations and names Lani. I am not sure how they got the story because Lani told McGarrett in confidence. Lani's Father played by Seth Sakai is more worried about appearances than Lani's well being. He complains that he cannot face his co-workers and that Lani's Mom cannot walk through the neighborhood. He compels Lani to go with him to the police station to retract her statement which Lani reluctantly retracts.
Another valuable message from this episode, underscores the lack of empathy and education families displayed when dealing with a rape. Instead of showing respect and understanding like McGarrett, Saki as the Father made life more difficult for Lani.
McGarrett has his team trail both Alex and Bink. They strike gold because Bink loses his cool. He decides to by a replacement choker and then goes to the beach to search for the old one. 5-0 then does a more thorough search and find nothing. But Dano has a brain storm and remembers the old scavenger finding something, possibly the choker, a few days earlier. They go to visit the old man and set him up to sell the choker to them.
Lani's Dad keeps a loaded gun in his night stand, definitely not a smart thing to do and came out of nowhere. She is at the end of her rope and decides to take matters into her own hands. Lani takes the gun with her and heads off the to confront Alex and Bink at their apartment. I did not like this element of the story because although she was wronged, Lani is not the type to hold someone at gun point to solve her problems. She is much more intelligent.
The culmination is Lani holding both men at gun point and demanding they call the police. The ever smug Alex refuses to call the police but Bink is crumbling. 5-0 suddenly shows up and busts the door telling Lani they found the choker and know she is telling the truth. Alex and Bink are arrested and then Bink stupidly admits that they raped Lani. There is no way someone is going to just confess to the rape at the point of arrest. Apparently, Zimmerman's coaching job was not effective.
Overall this is a good episode worth watching because it is one of the first time television dealt with the crime of rape. Beverly Kushida, Jack Lord and Seth Sakai were excellent in their roles. Dano and Chin were great support as usual. Duke is annoying and boring as usual. I would have liked to see 5-0 solve the case with more believable police work instead of having it fall in their laps because Bink was stupid and the unlikely coincidence of the scavenger finding the choker right when Dano was at the beach.
Very bold and very important.
planktonrules31 December 2011
Up until the mid-1970s, rape and other sexual assaults were simply not mentioned on American television. However, a year after the groundbreaking made for TV movie, "A Case of Rape", appeared, "Hawaii Five-O" took on the topic of rape in subsequent episodes. Of the two, "A Touch of Guilt" is the best and rape is front and center the topic of the show--making it a rather bold and important milestone.
The show begins with three college jocks (Richard Masur, Adam Arkin and Lance Hool) are drinking and acting boorishly in a bar. Later, when the waitress leaves to go home, the three abduct her and gang rape her. Following the attack, they drop her off back at the bar--and it appears as if one of them possibly is about to rape her again--at which point she grabs a screwdriver and stabs him. However, one of the jocks is the obnoxious son of a senator--and soon the senator's lawyer arrives to clean everything up and prevent the real story from coming to police attention. What is the poor victim to do with all these powerful forces working to convince everyone that the guy who was stabbed was innocent and attacked by a man--not a poor rape victim.
I liked this episode a lot. It brought to light the damage of sexual assault and the lady playing the victim (Beverly Kushida) did a nice job--as did Jack Lord in playing McGarrett sensitively. Also, the show brought up the seldom talked about notion of the rich and powerful exploiting the law--something not often talked about in cop shows at the time. Well written and well worth seeing--one of season eight's best.
The show begins with three college jocks (Richard Masur, Adam Arkin and Lance Hool) are drinking and acting boorishly in a bar. Later, when the waitress leaves to go home, the three abduct her and gang rape her. Following the attack, they drop her off back at the bar--and it appears as if one of them possibly is about to rape her again--at which point she grabs a screwdriver and stabs him. However, one of the jocks is the obnoxious son of a senator--and soon the senator's lawyer arrives to clean everything up and prevent the real story from coming to police attention. What is the poor victim to do with all these powerful forces working to convince everyone that the guy who was stabbed was innocent and attacked by a man--not a poor rape victim.
I liked this episode a lot. It brought to light the damage of sexual assault and the lady playing the victim (Beverly Kushida) did a nice job--as did Jack Lord in playing McGarrett sensitively. Also, the show brought up the seldom talked about notion of the rich and powerful exploiting the law--something not often talked about in cop shows at the time. Well written and well worth seeing--one of season eight's best.
Best episode of Season 8. Outstanding!
FloridaFred18 December 2023
A great story about politics and wealth trampling upon Justice.
Three football players sexually assault a young waitress. One of the football players is the son of a Jewish U. S. Senator. After the son tells his father what happened, the Senator brings in an attorney. That lawyer will find a patsy to take the blame.
To make victim Lani Okonel (actress Beverly Kushida) even more sympathetic, the writers/producers selected a cesspool of characters who stand against her. From the punk football player "Alex Scofield" (actor Adam Arkin, a man who is more annoying than his real-life father Alan Arkin), to the Jewish lawyer "Zimmerman" (actor Michael Collins), to Seth Sakai as Lani's father, who is more concerned about "family honor" than the well-being of his own daughter. Only McGarrett (of course) is sympathetic to Lani Okonel.
Excellent acting on the part of Beverly Kushida... she should have received an Emmy Award. (Why does she have last billing on the list of Cast and Crew? She was the star of this show!).
Probably the best episode of Season 8, one of the best of the entire run of Hawaii Five-0.
10 Stars for "A Touch of Guilt".
Florida Fred .
Three football players sexually assault a young waitress. One of the football players is the son of a Jewish U. S. Senator. After the son tells his father what happened, the Senator brings in an attorney. That lawyer will find a patsy to take the blame.
To make victim Lani Okonel (actress Beverly Kushida) even more sympathetic, the writers/producers selected a cesspool of characters who stand against her. From the punk football player "Alex Scofield" (actor Adam Arkin, a man who is more annoying than his real-life father Alan Arkin), to the Jewish lawyer "Zimmerman" (actor Michael Collins), to Seth Sakai as Lani's father, who is more concerned about "family honor" than the well-being of his own daughter. Only McGarrett (of course) is sympathetic to Lani Okonel.
Excellent acting on the part of Beverly Kushida... she should have received an Emmy Award. (Why does she have last billing on the list of Cast and Crew? She was the star of this show!).
Probably the best episode of Season 8, one of the best of the entire run of Hawaii Five-0.
10 Stars for "A Touch of Guilt".
Florida Fred .
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