Not Guilty

Not Guilty is the sixteenth episode of the second season of Gilligan's Island. It first aired January 6, 1966.

Synopsis
In the Lagoon, Gilligan is fishing when he hooks on to a crate marked Coast Food Company, and the Skipper helps him reel it into shore. Excited at the prospect of getting food other than coconuts, they crack it open only to discover it's full of coconuts wrapped in newspapers. The Skipper feels they at least have new reading material, but Gilligan notices an article that there is a search for any survivors of the S.S. Minnow for questioning in the murder of Randolph Blake. They go to the Professor for advice but are shocked by his excitement over a guillotine to cut coconuts. They head to the girls but find them brewing wild oleander into poison. That night, the Skipper refers to the newspaper for more clues and learns that Blake was killed by a spear gun. They decide to head to the Howell's Hut to search for clues, accidentally waking Mr. Howell and accidentally leaving the newspaper behind. Overnight, both the Skipper and Gilligan begin to suspect each other. By morning, the Howells find the newspaper clipping and run to the Professor and his guillotine, only to disappear when he turns back to speak to them, oblivious to their discomfort with his invention. Eventually, Ginger and Mary Ann discover the article as well and show up to him as well. Their shock at the guillotine and the newspaper clipping make him realize why everyone is so jumpy and he vows to destroy the guillotine, rather than allow it to hurt anyone. At that point, Gilligan, the Skipper and the Howells come out of hiding in the hut. That night, they all confess to having known Blake and reveal their possible motives. Mr. Howell confesses that Blake worked for one of his businesses and was embezzling money from it. The Professor reveals Blake stole authorship of a scientific paper that he had worked on seven years prior. Ginger reveals she was engaged to be married to Blake when she discovered he was cheating on her, while Mary Ann reveals Blake was responsible for bankrupting her father. With all the motives, Gilligan thinks they should recreate the murder to solve it, and Gilligan gets stuck playing Blake with the Boy's Hut made up as the store where he was murdered. One by one, each of the castaways recreate their conversations with Blake, and Gilligan's nerves are getting frazzled with each recreation. When the recreations reveal nothing, the Skipper thinks they should go through them again, but Gilligan won't go through them again. He slams the door to the hut, the vibration dropping the spear gun whose spear hits the wall. This reveals the murder was an accident, and everyone is exonerated. A few nights later, the radio reveals the same news, and as the Skipper has Gilligan close the door to the hut, the spear gun goes off again, hitting the lines on their hammocks and dropping the Skipper to the ground.

Credits
Main Cast
 * Bob Denver as Gilligan
 * Alan Hale, Jr. as The Skipper
 * Jim Backus as Mr. Howell
 * Natalie Schafer as Mrs. Howell
 * Tina Louise as Ginger
 * Dawn Wells as Mary Ann
 * Russell Johnson as The Professor

Guest Cast
 * Al Schottelkotte as Radio Interviewer (voice)

Message

 * "Murder will out and so will a non-murder."

Highlights

 * Gilligan persistently accusing a non-existent butler of murder.
 * Gilligan and Skipper's inner thoughts about each other.
 * The Castaways' continuing reactions to the Professor's guillotine.
 * The Professor's confusion to everyone's reaction to his guillotine

Trivia

 * Gilligan and the Skipper's hut has a wood door instead of their regular door made of reeds.
 * In his Gilligan's Island book, Joey Green finds it odd that four strangers with ties to one character would come together on a charter boat, but it's not that unreasonable to postulate they all saw the same flier for the Skipper's excursion service in the shop that ended up bringing them together.
 * It seems odd that the Castaways would ironically build their own spear gun replete with a hair trigger in order to pull off an exact creation of a murder.
 * During her recreation, Mary Ann ties up her pig tails. She's also the only potential suspect still wearing the same outfit from the earlier conversation about Randolph Blake.
 * Sherwood Schwartz hired actual Cincinnati broadcast reporter Al Schottelkotte to supply the voice of the reporter who updates the murder of Randolph Blake. Schottelkotte had became so popular that he had appeared as a bailiff in the "Gunsmoke" episode, "Old Man," which aired October 10, 1964.
 * The Howells sleep in the wrong beds; Mr. Howell usually sleeps nearest the door while Mrs. Howell usually sleeps in the next bed.
 * The Skipper brings up the suspects are three women and two men, negating Gilligan, thus making it three men. However, it would be four men to be exact because he fails to remember himself being the fourth man.
 * It is never explained why the Howells have a gun in their hut.

Quotes

 * Gilligan - "Skipper, when I go, I want the flowers on the outside, not on the inside."

Ginger - "Oh, we don't have to, Mary Ann, but I like be helpful and thoughtful and considerate. I mean, after all when we get off the island, Mr. Howell owns a movie studio!"
 * Mary Ann - "Oh, Ginger, I don't see why we have to make up the Howell's hut everyday."