I don't want to slam this well-known two-parter, since I find it very entertaining with plenty of memorable performances sprinkled throughout both parts. However, there is a certain amount of inconsistent plotting that should be called out.
First, it starts as a drama about a sick infant diagnosed with stomach cancer. It does seem as if the audience is cheated by having the child die off-camera. Because we don't see the immediate effects of the death, except Steve crying in a conversation to Danny about his nephew dying, we do not get the child's parents- Steve's sister (Nancy Malone) and brother-in-law (John Carter) really grieving. Yes, we see Malone dressed in black in court, but there is less urgency and connection between her and the doctor accused of quackery (Joanne Linville) as a result of not seeing Steve's sister go through the actual loss she was hoping to prevent with a miracle cure.
Also, because the story shifts gears from a melodrama about a sick child to an investigation of a doctor's practice leading up to a trial, the focus becomes much more legal-based than most of Steve's cases back in Hawaii. That in itself isn't the problem, but then writer Leonard Freeman does another bait-and-switch during the second part, when the court scenes begin to focus on how Linville diagnosed patients. It is as if Freeman forgets that Linville is really in court for selling merchandise with the wrong labeling across state lines. She is not exactly on trial over her skills as a doctor.
The twist where Linville's machine misdiagnoses the "blood" (which turns out to be vegetable dye) doesn't really have anything to do with her selling goods across state lines without the proper licensing or disclaimers. If anything, there should have been scenes with Steve on the stand explaining how she sold him the equipment knowing he was supposedly going to use it in another state. Of course, that wouldn't be as dramatic as her putting on a big show for the jury and making a fool of herself.
Also, I don't think Steve and the prosecuting attorney would have just given up after not being to use one exhumed body as evidence of murder. They would have gone back to the hall of records and tried to find more death certificates going back a bit further. They may have found another death just over the six month mark that might have led to exhuming a body that could still produce evidence against Linville. I think they would have just prosecuted her on the illegal interstate goods charge to buy time before filing a murder charge against her later. If anything, Steve would have worked to track down the family of the deceased person whose home had been sold, since it probably wouldn't have been too difficult to track down where that person's surviving relatives had moved to.
As it stands, Steve really only proved to Linville's followers in the courtroom she was a phony. But it was said earlier the most she might have received as a punishment by the court if found guilty was a thousand dollar fine. Then she would have been right back out there finding other people to fleece, probably in a new state. Steve and the prosecutor would really have had to keep working on the murder charge angle to shut her down for good.
Another thing that didn't make sense, because Freeman glossed over it, is how at one point Linville's character tells Steve that his nephew will die soon, with or without her treatments. So why would she ever take on a client like Steve's sister if she knew the death couldn't be delayed? Oh, and wouldn't Steve and the prosecutor have been checking into the testimonials of the other people that Linville had claimed she cured? When you think about it, there really are a lot of dangling plot threads in this two-parter.
What both episodes do have going in their favor are the strong performances. Nancy Malone does a stellar job playing the heartbreak of a mother about to lose a child in part one. And Joanne Linville gives an interesting characterization of a self-professed healer who apparently was a child bride back in Tennessee-- as if Freeman thought that making her a hillbilly stereotype would help discredit her! Some of Linville's scenes were a bit over-the-top, particularly the long scene in the middle of part one where she was trying to ply her feminine wiles on Steve in her office. But, it was still entertaining to watch.
In the second episode, we get some superb moments with Beah Richards as a woman Steve visits whose son had been "treated" by Linville and died of diabetes. There aren't many stories of Hawaii Five O that feature African Americans...I suppose that by setting all of part two in Los Angeles, it was a bit easier to include some African American characters.
Again my goal is not to malign this highly engaging two-parter...but some of the writing needed to be improved so that in retrospect we could see a more thoroughly developed story about one man's crusade on behalf of his late nephew and other victims of quack medicine.
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