User Reviews

The stunt men staging a fist fight on a boom crane about 20 stories high - that is quite admirable. It takes real men to pull off a stunt like that (remember, this show aired years before CGI and special effects).

But why didn't wardrobe and makeup try to make the stunt doubles look like McGarrett and the Killer? They are so obviously other people; it really detracts from the story.

Other reviewers also pointed out McGarrett's one man show in trying to arrest the killer. Come on, a vicious serial killer, the Cops know he is coming, they put a dummy on the bed, but no other police officers are waiting to catch the murderer? Just McGarrett? Not likely.

The last scene of actress Melveen Leed, as "Sally" the bar owner (she appeared four times total on Hawaii Five-O). Sally takes a long look at Steve McGarrett as he leaves her at the breakfast table; you can see it in her eyes, she won't be seeing him again (and fans won't be seeing her anymore).

One final gripe... McGarrett thinks that the First Amendment right doesn't exist? That reporter may be a jerk, but he can write and speak as he pleases. Hawaii is in America, we do have Constitutional rights.

A good story line, but it was poorly executed.

6 stars for "The Skyline Killer".

Florida Fred.

For many viewers Five-0's peek was season six. From seven onward, the show seemed to steadily decline in quality with recycled plots tricks, veteran cops making rookie mistakes, and just plain sloppy writing. By season eleven the show seemed to fall off a cliff and "The Skyline Killer" has all the worst elements of a rapidly fading hit show. Case in point: in the climatic scaffold scene, they are clearly using a stunt double for Steve who is too heavy and whose hair is too long. Also, in the long shots of this scene the double's dark shirt is unbuttoned, and you can see his white undershirt. For all the close ups in this scene, Steve's dark shirt is buttoned. This is an obvious mistake, and you have to wonder if by this point in the show if all those participating in the production even cared any more about the series' quality. I give this episode two stars only--for the classic theme song, and some great skyline shots of Hawaii.

Charles Cioffi and Rita Wilson (the future Mrs. Tom Hanks) star in this interesting episode of "Hawaii Five-O". However, unfortunately, it's also a rather sloppy episode--which is a shame as the basic story idea is quite good.

The show begins with a psycho sneaking in to an apartment and murdering a pretty woman. It turns out the guy's done this quite a few times before--always pretty young ladies and always entering the apartment by climbing up or down a high-rise building! Naturally, Five-O is looking in earnest for the guy when they notice something strange--a writer has posted an ad in the newspaper offering to pay the killer big money for his story! McGarrett is furious but with the Second Amendment, there may not be much he can do to stop whoever it is. And, when McGarrett finds the guy, Mr. Klane (Cioffi), he begs him to work with the police--and Mr. Klane's enthusiasm for this is muted to say the least! What's next? See the show.

So, a scum-bag writer trying to pay a serial killer for his story--now that IS interesting. However, while an interesting episode, it's also very sloppy. One time they show the killer rappelling down a building. He has VERY bushy black hair but when you see the guy up close, his hair is the same color but completely different otherwise! Also, late in the show there are MANY clues that the killer's next victim will be Klane's own daughter (Wilson)--but no one see this! I saw it and I am pretty sure most of America saw this coming--so why didn't the highly trained staff at Five-O? And, finally, when the killer was confronted, why was McGarrett the only one in the apartment and no other cops were nearby?! This guy has killed something like eight women and yet McGarrett chooses to go in alone and just have some police cruisers in the area?! Why not have an army of cops waiting inside the apartment? Naturally, the guy escapes and they need to chase him all over town--and he COULD have easily escaped! Duh...

This episode has some good points in that there's a good guest actor in Charles Cioffi as well as an appearance by Mrs. Tom Hanks. The story has the opportunity to be interesting as it's not the usual "mob guys trying to muscle in on Honolulu" deal, it's about a serial killer and how a journalist is both a detriment and an asset to the investigation.

However, there's a couple of real issues with this episode, which happened more often as the series started to wind down. For one, how easy was it to.figure out that the writer's daughter was going to be the next target? Five-O seemed to be the only ones who didn't figure it out. Also, as Plankton points out, why was there just McGarrett waiting for him once they figured it out? Wouldn't you have a whole phalanx of cops waiting to shut off any escape?

Last but not least, as good as this show is it has perhaps the worst body doubles of any show since "Plan 9 from Outer Space". I mean, they don't even try to get it close with the build and the hair.