The Box

The Box. Episode #16, Season One. Originally aired: January 29, 1969.

It's great to be seeing the first episodes again. McGarrett is punching, Kono is wisecracking--even Chin Ho is active. This prison hostage playlet is really good, esp. for the return performance of Gavin McLeod as "The Big Chicken"--a pusher that McGarrett busted in the first part of the season. One of the convicts is played by Al Harrington, who would replaced Zulu in season 5 as "Ben." A prisoner's demands for prison reform bring McGarrett into harm's way, as Big Chicken cheerleads the hostage taker to kill his arch enemey. McGarrett gets the newspaper to print up the the hostage-takers suggestions for reform (printed faster than a fake paper on Times Square would be printed). One assumes the hostage taker is talking about the Big Chicken when he complains of "the homosexuals, these old smart ones, they don't do anything to keep them away from these young kids that just have come in for their first stretch."

Highlight: All of Chicken's gross performance but, after giving Chicken a thorough beating, when he comes to, McGarrett smiles and says "How you feeling, Chicken?"