The Reunion

I've just watched this episode. It's very moving as it domonstrates how our pasts will slowly destroy us. But only if we allow them to do so.

I can relate to this episode as I've got memories of injustice and abuse that went unpunished.

They haunted me until I could finally let them go.

This episode is well acted and never gets gratuitous or sentimental. It accurately shows the pain and anguish victims feel as they battle with their demons.

A brilliant episode and one of the best of the whole series.

A some point we have to somehow find peace or the perpetrators of abuse will always win.

The show begins with a visiting Japanese businessman receiving threatening photos. And, after a visit from Five-O to investigate, the car the guy is about to drive away in blows up--though it's obvious whoever was responsible did not want to kill the guy but perhaps scare him.

Shortly afterwords, as Danno is walking through a hotel with this same Japanese man, a crazed WWII vet (Simon Oakland) sees them and begins beating the Japanese guy with his crutches! It seems that during the war Oakland was tortured and crippled...and he thinks this man is the one who was responsible! Oakland is naturally arrested but he insists he's right--the guy IS a war criminal. Two other vets who knew this Japanese officer are brought in to i.d. the man--one (who's obviously suffering from severe PTSD) recognizes the man, too, but another insists it's NOT the war criminal. So is this Japanese guy an evil war criminal? And who is responsible for the attempts on his life? Tune in and see.

In addition to the show having many nice plot twists (which I won't talk about--I'd hate to spoil the suspense), the show starred one of my favorite character actors of the era--the perennially angry Simon Oakland. While he's a crazed and obnoxious guy here, considering what he went through AND how this Japanese man might be responsible, you can understand. He was great here and the plot so cool you could forgive it all for being a bit hard to believe if you really think about it.

By the way, I watched most of the episodes when I was a kid and hadn't seen this one since I was about 10 or so. Yet, it made such an impact on me that I clearly remembered the show and was excited to see it once again.