Joanne Linville makes her second and final appearance on the series (she'd formerly tangled with McGarrett in "Once Upon a Time," the first-season effort in which she played a sleazy quack "healer") as a slick jewel thief who isn't above threatening a child and committing an occasional murder to get what she wants. Unfortunately, the episode suffers from several deficits. The child playing the granddaughter of faded movie star Thurman Elliott isn't a very good actress, either in her line readings or her characterization; at one point when she's being chased by a bad guy, she actually has a big smile on her face!
Linville's alleged expertise at sleight-of-hand also isn't very convincing -- for example, using a couple of quick cuts, the editors try to have us believe that she makes a fake jewel disappear and then reappear (with a chain attached) deep in the shirt pocket of her co-conspirator. The big theft later in the episode isn't carried off any more persuasively -- everything is suggested but nothing is shown.
Despite these problems, the episode is still enjoyable. Apart from the young girl, all of the guest performers carry off their tasks competently. The late English actor Christopher Cary (who bore a striking resemblance to more frequent guest star Don Knight) plays Linville's cohort with just the right mixture of charm and menace, and George Gaynes brings a combination of stubborn pride and nervous desperation to his role as former luminary Elliott. (Ironically for someone playing a supposed ex-movie star, Gaynes actually started out on Broadway and didn't make a motion picture until he was almost 40; furthermore, he was actually one of the busiest guest stars on television when this episode was made.) There's even a noteworthy job done by regular bit player George Herman as a suspicious pawn shop owner.
The location photography at the Makaha Inn and Country Club is the other guest star -- whether shown in helicopter shots, wide angles, or medium pans of the guests, the setting is even lovelier than in many other episodes, which often seemed to focus on the grittier side of life in the Islands. Here, the backdrop is a spectacular hillside framed with blue skies, green swaths of grass and palm trees, and swirling clouds that thicken as the episode progresses. Even Jack Lord gets into the spirit, wearing a dramatic red jacket set off with a white tie!