Two Doves and Mr. Heron

Two Doves and Mr. Heron. Episode 077, Season 4. Original air date: 10/12/71. Five-O was excellent for unselfconsciously wandering into the tensions of Vietnam. McGarrett is, to me, always a force against psychological reductions in favor of military code and honor. In this one, John Ritter's an obnoxious hippie trying to impress his chick with his panhandling skills, but the guy he puts the touch on turns out be quite lonely and quite gay and he wants to get "friendly," so Ritter knocks him cold with a 2X4 and discovers the guy's carrying a sack of cash he embezzeled from an insurance company. Perhaps Ritter's future as Jack Tripper is some kind of karmic equalization for this wanton act of homosexual panic. Anyways, Ritter steals the cash, makes an accomplice of the chick who is now confused and saddened by the Ritter's anti-hippie interest in material things. Meanwhile, Dan-o is looking for a girl who he knew when he lived in Berkeley (O, Dan-o, you closet hipster!) who is a missing person, maybe in Hawaii. This girl is Ritter's hippie-chick, so Five-O better find her soo because the old "closet queen" Ritter knocked out is after them too--the guy even torches an o.d'd junkie's pad he mistakenly thought the hippie chick. The dramatic climax comes at the airport: Ritter goes to get snacks for a flight they are lamming it to Hong Kong, but when Ritter comes back, two snack bags in hand, the embezzler has kidnapped the chick and has Ritter paged to the phone; he tells Ritter he'd better give back all his money or the girl'll be dead, so once he hangs up, Ritter throws ONE of his snack bags in the garbage and gets on the plane. What does he care? Luckily, McGarrett, Dan-o and Chin Ho catch Ritter before the actual plane takes off and McGarrett gets to shoot the "friendly" embezzeler in the leg. The girl is safe, happy to see Dan-o and is alerted to Ritter's treachery. Still, one thing I don't understand is Ritter's throwing away of the second snack bag. I mean, it's a long flight to Hong Kong--why wouldn't Ritter want two snacks all the same? Highlight: Chin Ho says "Yo."