User Reviews

A group calling itself "Mercury" has issued a threat to blow up Honolulu unless they are paid $100,000,000 and to prove they are serious, they provide a sample of the plutonium they've used as well as plans for their bomb. Later, to show even more of their contempt for authorities, Mercury detonates a tiny nuclear explosion. What can they do to find out who is behind this AND where they've hidden their bomb--if there is one.

This is a good episode, but I am sure that its timing confused some viewers. That's because only the previous week, "Hawaii Five-O" had a great episode concerning some forged municipal bonds. At the end of the show, McGarrett finds out that his own expert who he's been working with is the mastermind behind the crime--and working right under the noses of Five-O. Well, in "Anybody Who can Build a Bomb", the nuclear expert (Lew Ayers) that McGarrett is working closely with turns out to be one of the baddies! They certainly didn't time these two episodes very well! If you can ignore this GIANT problem with repetition, it's a very good show--well worth seeing. Too bad, however, as I don't think they did any more Mercury episodes. Having this international organization of terror would have made an interesting ongoing foe for Five-O.

The underlying plot is potentially good... blackmailers (calling themselves "Mercury") demand $100 million not to level Honolulu with a nuclear bomb. However, as they say, the devil is in the details. First, the bomb is delivered, on a weekend, in a wooden crate to a warehouse near the Aloha Tower. OK, fair enough, the baddies do not want it to be easily found. But the bomb... the NUCLEAR bomb... is ticking! Loudly! Which everyone present fails to notice. Which is funny, because it is supposed to be a refrigerator, and most unplugged refrigerators do not tick. The Governor, who is in receipt of a handy-dandy specimen of nuclear-grade plutonium in a cunning little plastic case, sent to him by Mercury, explains that at a recent conference, he learned that atomic blackmail was a real threat. So 5-0 has to take the threat seriously, and they get busy trying to solve the crime and find the conspirators. They find a local nuclear physicist, Dr. Haig (Lew Ayres), who gives them a crash course in what would be needed to build a bomb, and what kinds of experts would be required. Bear in mind this episode is from 1973, but the loosey-goosey availability of the nuclear ingredients, which seem to be haphazardly stored on wharves, seems a little odd. It is clear from the beginning that Dr. Haig is in on the plot. However, McGarrett seems to be a little slow to pick up on this, despite Dr. Haig coming unglued at a high-level meeting, and later, McGarrett walks in on him as he's on the phone telling someone he "will not be a party to murder." In addition, McGarrett at one point leaves Dr. Haig alone in his office (which he also did with the perp in "Murder is a Taxing Affair") and Dr. Haig uses McGarrett's phone to call Mercury! McGarrett is clearly very trusting when it comes to leaving people unattended in his office. Then the blackmailers contact the authorities and say to prove the threat is real, they will detonate a "modest radiation flash" (whatever that is) in Kapiolani Park. Now this is where the whole thing gets silly. Danno flies over Kapiolani Park, telling everyone to evacuate because there is a bomb. So everyone dutifully leaves the middle of the park and lines up on the edges. Then the authorities come in with geiger counters, and determine that the device is hidden in an ice cream cart. Which begs the question, why didn't the ice cream seller notice there was a nuclear device in his cart? Then Dr. Haig, to save everyone's lives, wheels the cart into a public toilet, where it detonates (nuclear waste, anyone?). He escapes but suffers radiation poisoning. The structure of the building amazingly is not affected (I guess public toilets were built to last in those days), but there is a scary orange glow radiating from within. Then another scientist says the area needs to be sealed off and no one will be able to approach it for weeks. At which point a bunch of regular cops approach the structure (what did the scientist just say?). It is not known if they seal off the bathroom with yellow tape. I'm no nuclear expert, but I think if I were, I would find this whole scene more ridiculous than I already do as a layperson. Well, eventually McGarrett twigs to the fact that Dr. Haig is in on the plot, and arrives at Haig's house just as Haig is about to commit suicide, presumably due to his shame at not realizing that Mercury was made up not of idealists like himself, but rather of money-grubbing crooks. So McGarrett isn't the only slow one on the show. Anyway McGarrett talks Haig out of committing suicide, and Haig helps him locate the TICKING nuclear bomb. Luckily, there is someone from the bomb squad on hand to be talked through the procedure of unscrewing the cap and removing the nuclear core of the bomb. As soon as the bomb is disarmed, McGarrett radios Danno at the airport, and the sharpshooters blow up the plane containing the Mercury conspirators, as well as the $100 million (I'm guessing the government can always reimburse itself for the money by just printing more). None of that silly "let's question them and get answers" stuff. Just blow them up. Saves the cost of a trial. This is not the worst episode of the series, but the serious question of nuclear terrorism is handled in kind of a silly way.

As my friend Plankton mentioned as well as others, this was the second episode in a row where the expert is actually on the other team. It's slightly different as in "The Finishing Touch" the expert was the mastermind while in this episode he's more of an unwitting patsy. It's a fine episode- Lee Ayres is suitably disheveled and haggard as the expert- but you'd think they'd space out these "expert is really the perp" episodes a little more.

Always really liked this one, ever since my first viewing many moons ago! Loved the ticking clock scenario with the bomb hidden inside the iconic Aloha Tower (I was up there) and Lew Ayres played an interesting character whose intentions were noble but who unfortunately got himself entangled with some rather nasty people. The doomsday scenario added some real suspense, with the constant cutting to the ticking inside the Aloha Tower. I can't speak for the accuracy of the whole bomb plot from a scientific perspective but the episode kept me engaged. Loved the helicopter shots over Kapiolani Park. Also a very good music score by Richard Shores! Oh, and did you know that the main bad guy with the mustache who calls himself "Mercury" is none other than director Allen Reisner who directed the classic "Hookman" and a score of other Five-O episodes (not this one)?

This is the second episode in a row and third out of the last seven where it turns out that the brand new consultant or technical expert who they bring in to help with the investigation is actually a mole. Wouldn't you think that McGarrett would be on the lookout for that by now??? By this episode, that whole "twist" became quite tiresome.