- Jo Louise, a rich and spoiled heiress, is recklessly pitting two suitors, Craig and Billy, against each other. She's devised a game where each boyfriend draws a card and gets points for various stunts. This game has resulted in, among other things, an Army Jeep being burned and a boat sunk. Billy takes the lead by kidnapping a homeless person. Craig then demands the Joker -- 500 points for a kill. He intends to murder the homeless man. Five-O aims to put an end to the game before things reach a tragic end.—Bill Koenig
- A fire call draws McGarrett and Danny to a military base, where a jeep was set ablaze. No one present, military or Five-O, can figure out why someone would tresspass onto the base just to set the jeep on fire. As McGarrett leaves, a woman (Jo Louise Mailer) asks some questions about the fire and takes his picture calling him "sergeant".
Later we see Jo Louise with Craig and Billy about a yacht in the marina. Jo Louise is playing a game using the two men in a contest for her love, and they have to score the most points. The jeep fire put Billy, a local Hawaiian, ahead so Craig must score some points. The game consists of the suit of spades from a deck of playing cards, each with a challenge and points. Craig chooses the 9 of spades and has to sink a boat for 200 points, which he does in a slip near where Jo Louise`s boat is moored.
Meanwhile McGarrett and the Five-O team are baffled with the other seemingly random vandalism besides the jeep including a 100 year old tree cut down and other senseless acts. They believe it is kids but they do not understand, when word reaches them about the boat. A description of a woman taking pictures of the sinking boat triggers McGarrett to remember the woman at the military base, so with the help of a sketch artist they get a composite of Jo Louise and circulate it.
Some HPD officers on patrol spot Jo Louise and she is brought in for questioning at Five-O. McGarrett is convinced she is involved but an attorney her *daddy* hired produces a writ of habeas corpus and gets her freed. McGarrett has Kono tail her while he builds his investigation.
Jo Louise momentarily slips away from Kono and goes to a photo shop to have a contact sheet made of her pictures. Kono shows up and Jo Louise has to leave her Corvette and escape out the back door. The Five-O team get the negatives from Jo Louise`s camera and have enlargements made, they include pictures of all the acts of vandalism so they now have solid evidence she is involved. McGarrett receives a visit from Jo Louise`s father who tries to protect her but when presented the evidence agrees to let McGarrett try to help by staying out of the case and not interfering with Five-O`s investigation.
Now that the boat is sunk, Craig is ahead in the game and Billy has to draw, he chooses the King of Spades and has to kidnap someone for 300 points. Billy finds Stumbles as he nicknames him, a derelict and wino. He offers booze and money for Stumbles to do a small job for him, accompany him back to Jo Louise. During the trip there, after a flat tire forces Billy to get help from Stumbles, Billy starts to feel for the *old man* but continues with the kidnapping.
When he meets up with Jo Louise and Craig at the marina and produces Stumbles, he gets credit and now leads in the points standings. Craig is upset about the use of Stumbles, whom Billy lets go after getting his points, so Craig goes for the Joker (the show`s title). For this challenge worth 500 points, Craig has to *kill* and he picks up Stumbles which upsets Billy (he likes the wino now). Craig speeds off but McGarrett and Danny show up to halt Billy and Jo Louise to take them in for questioning.
At Five-O, after separating the two and having Kono work his island charm on *brudder* Billy, McGarrett and Danny show their evidence to Jo Louise. She believes she is safe from harm because of *daddy* and will not speak without a lawyer. McGarrett leaves the office for a minute and asks Chin to do a little job on the rental car Jo Louise has. McGarrett comes back in the office and releases Jo Louise which shocks Danny.
At the same time, Craig has Stumbles at a beach villa that Jo Louise uses and is getting him drunker. Craig learns Stumbles cannot swim and eyes the pool in the back yard. He takes a gun and forces Stumbles out to the pool. Billy and Jo Louise are racing back to the villa and Jo Louise confesses she wants Billy to win, she dislikes Craig and his controlling ways, and does not want to move back to Texas with him. Billy dislikes his role in the game she is playing on the two of them and turns her offer down which angers her.
McGarrett and Danny are following behind using a radio beacon installed on the rental car by Chin and an amber light locator box in their Five-O squad car. They make some wrong turns but eventually close in on the beach villa.
Billy and Jo Louise arrive as Craig is about to force Stumbles into the pool. Billy tells Craig it is over, that he is not playing anymore, and that Craig can have Jo Louise. Craig says he has to finish it, he drew the Joker and has to kill. Billy jumps Craig and the two of them struggle while Stumbles falls in the pool.
In the struggle, Craig shoots Billy just as McGarrett and Danny arrive at the villa. Jo Louise is horrified and rushes to Billy`s slain side as Craig retreats to the guest house next to the pool. McGarrett and Danny close in and force Craig to drop the gun. Craig knows it`s over and McGarrett asks what the prize was, finding out Jo Louise`s role in the whole sordid mess. Stumbles gets out of the pool to watch all of the exchanges, then after everyone has left he throws the bottle of booze Billy gave him into the ocean.
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