by John Chergi » Tue Jul 19, 2016 6:45 pm
Season 9 one of the best Seasons in Classic HFO. Probably go 3,6,1,9, as my top 4. Assault On The Palace remains 1 of my FAV of the later year episodes. Clu Gallagher is a JC FAV and the Arthur Lambert character is intelligent and complex. Assault On The Palace is a creative and colorful episode and one of those capers where you think the bad guys might finally have pulled the perfect crime. Unfortunately, the small mistakes add up and Arthur and the Associates are apprehended. Arthur the Museum Curator makes his first mistake killing respected Hawaiian Historian & Professor Lahani. The Professor had questions about Lambert's Wilcox Rebellion re-enactment plan. The Bank was not taken over by the Raiders in 1889. My guess the smarter move for Lambert would have somebody kidnap Lahani and hold him in an isolated place for 2 weeks. The money would have been distributed and accomplices dispersed around the country. McG might find Lahani but the conspirators already gone. Other things that went awry include the shooting of one of the Rebel soldiers who refused to enter the limousine and Taxi Joe's map of his driving route in his room. McG & HFO team quickly follow Taxi Joe's trail to the hidden location and the extra innocent soldiers.
Assault On The Palace a strong episode loses a star with a ridiculous ending. McG has no proof Lambert is behind the Bank Robbery only theory. Several questions here:1.Why would Lambert hide the $ at the Museum? He could it hide the cash anywhere. 2. Lambert shoots at McG at the end as McG supposes where the criminal might have hid the money and who might behind the daring robbery. Why didn't Lambert just shoot Lahani with his gun and make it look like a robbery? 3. Why would Lambert quickly dissolve after being cool and collected the entire episode? He's naming all the conspirators and associates. I thought their was Honor Among Thieves.
I would give Assault On The Palace 4.5 stars out of 6 stars. I thought over 9 seasons Nine Dragons and Assault On The Palace were fresh and inventive episodes as the show neared 200 episodes. Assault On The Palace could have been a Top 20 episode in the HFO catalog but a few things as mentioned drag it down to a Top 50-100 of the Series. What do you think of Assault On The Palace and where do you rank it in Season 9? John