User Reviews

A very good episode to close out Season 7. Lots of action, and enough suspense to keep you on the edge of your seat. We get some great regular guest stars including Kwan Hi Lim and Tommy Fujiwara.

This show also marks the last appearance of Ben Kokura (actor Al Harring), who appeared in 64 episodes of the show. As another reviewer pointed out, the producers of H5-0 never played Ben up to his full potential. Too bad, he was a really good character.

In this story, Ben is prominent in the opening scenes, but then he fades into the background. He doesn't go out like character Chin Ho Kelly (who gets killed and dumped on the street in a Season 10 episode). The story just closes, he will not appear in Season 8. Farewell to Ben!

There are some plot holes, including the arrest of a guy who bought some tickets from a guy in a bar (McGarrett must have been in a really bad mood), and the question of why didn't the bad guys just run a protection racket, instead of dealing with stolen airline tickets.

One reviewer thought it absurd that McGarrett and his guys would be shooting snub-nose revolvers at that distance. But until the real-life FBI shootout in Miami Florida in April 1986 which cost the lives of two FBI agents and seriously wounded five others, most cops only carried snub-nose revolvers.

This show has some really good action scenes, topped off by the speedboat fleeing the H5-0 officers. That scene reminds you of the cigarette boat chases in the Miami Vice TV show that would air in the 1980's.

All around, a very watchable and very enjoyable episode.

* * * * * * * * * * 10 Stars for "6000 Deadly Tickets" * * * * * * * * * *

Florida Fred.

This was the end of season 7 of "5-0" and the end of Al Harrington's run as Ben Kokua. It's too bad because I always thought that character had real promise to grow into a more defined role, unlike Kono's. Anyway, this episode struck me as odd because after a number of episodes where Kokua was nowhere to be seen he shows up in the last episode of the season to play a bit part. I never quite understood why he got dropped in the first place.

Anyway, this is an unusual plot line of using pirated airline tickets as an extortion tool. The guys who do the stealing force travel agents to buy the tickets from them or else suffer some mob-like consequences. Five-0 enlists the help of an agent from the feds to go undercover in order to break the extortion ring. It's an interesting idea for a criminal enterprise, though I thought it had some holes in it.

For one, the local ne'er-do-well has a former mob enforcer working with him. Why bother with this whole "buy stolen tickets" scheme when you can just run a good old fashioned protection ring? I mean, they wind up blowing up the guy who doesn't go along so what's the difference? Second, why would the hit man try to take out the fed when he must know the area is crawling with cops? I'm no criminal mastermind, but I think if I know the cops are setting me up then I stay away from the action rather than shooting federal agents, but that's just me.

All in all, not a bad episode but not among the best of the 5-0 series.