Hawaii Five-O (TV Series) The Listener (1973) User Reviews

One of the best shows in the series...

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 2 January 2011]

Regardless of the ethics of the doctor in regard to his young patient, this is an amazingly good episode. It has tons of originality and the plot really pulls the viewer emotionally into the story. I'd place it in the short list of best episodes of the series--and one I could watch repeatedly.

The show begins with a psychiatrist (Robert Foxworth) receiving some strange phone calls from a stranger who seems to know about his patients. He then learns that this caller is extremely crafty and evil. It seems the guy has bugged the office and even the therapist's clothes in order to learn as much as he can about the guy's life and patients' lives. Then, one by one, he begins contacting the patients and exploiting this until the psychiatrist agrees to pay his outrageous and probably never-ending extortion demands. But this is no mere criminal, as the unseen man soon shows how brilliant and evil he is...with some amazingly cruel phone calls that even result in the deaths of one of the poor patients. It all culminates with one of the few times you see McGarrett use a lot of force on a criminal--and it's very satisfying to watch.

Well acted and written--this is about as good as you'll find for the series. See this one.

Creepy and terrifying

[VetteRanger · 10/10 · 13 January 2023]

This is a Hawaii 5-0 episode you'll never forget. A psychotic blackmailer has bugged every aspect of a psychiatrists life ... his office ... his home ... even his clothes. For months he's been taping everything the man does, including lovemaking and sessions with patients.

When the psychiatrist refused to pay a $5000 ransom, the blackmailer begins calling his patients and playing damaging recordings of things the patients aren't meant to hear.

McGarrett and 5-0 quickly come on the case, but too late to realize the true scope of the bugs placed. Thus begins an intriguing and frustrating game of cat and mouse, as 5-0 tries to outsmart a psychotic criminal genius.

Unique Season Five Entry

[ramsfan · 10/10 · 16 January 2024]

The Listener is a top-ten Hawaii Five-O episode featuring perhaps the most crafty and diabolical villain in the entire series. Psychiatrist Eric Fowler receives a threatening phone call from a psychotic caller who calls himself "Cerberus". He is harboring a major grudge against the doctor for refusing him therapy, and now he's out to make him pay. He demands $5,000, and when Fowler refuses and hangs up on him, the threats become relentless. Using bugs he has planted in his office, his home and on his clothing, Cerberus harangues not only Fowler but causes harm to several of his patients after listening in on Fowler's therapy sessions. It takes the combined efforts of both the Five-O team and Fowler himself to put an end to the harassment.

Guest Greg Mullavey, whose mouth is seen only in extreme close up for much of the episode gives a chilling performance as the intelligent but unhinged Cerberus. His total violation of Fowler's privacy is alarming and his eventual comeuppance is rewarding. Fine too is Robert Foxworth as the strong-willed Fowler, who is doggedly determined to get his life and practice back. Great story and plot which is well worth the hour.

Lost all sympathy for Foxworth's character when he lied again to the boy

[rbecker28 · 6/10 · 6 March 2010]

Just want to say that while this was a fairly good episode otherwise, it was marred for me by my loss of all sympathy for Foxworth's Dr. Fowler when he played the "little innocent" bit with the boy (Radames Pera) and lied to him about his prognosis after the boy had heard the tape.

ANY child who is capable of understanding has a right to know whether they are going to have a life or not. It's THEIR LIFE, and they have a right to know if they have little time left so they can have some say in how they want to live their life. All evidence is that children are far better at handling the truth about terminal prognosis than adults think they are, and often a lot better than adults in similar situations. I have said it before, and will say it again: Adults who refuse to tell children that they will not or may not recover from a disease because they are "protecting" them are not protecting the child, they are protecting the "innocence". They want to retain the image of the child as a poor sweet little innocent rather than a brave human being dealing as best they can with a terrible truth.