HAWAII FIVE-0 SEASON 7: THE FULL COLLECTION, EPISODES 1-25
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x01 "Makaukau 'ce e Pa'ani?/Ready to Play?" (premiere episode)
"McGarrett returns from his liver transplant early - and struggles to readjust as a new threat appears when serial killers are murdered and left at Five-0's doors."
Hawaii Five-0 returned in stonking form with an adrenaline-fuelled premiere - right after a CGI appearance from Jack Lord, the deceased actor who played McGarrett in the '68-'80 original series, in a church with the modern McGarrett, where they discussed legacy and achievements and left modern McGarrett feeling a little down. The only downside of this was because CGI standards are so high these days, the failure to replicate Groot-level realism does (irrationally) tend to rankle.
But immediately thereafter we were thrust into a high-octane premiere, with 17 bodies dropped throughout the remaining 40 minutes: two serial killers, their total of fourteen victims and Five-0's suspect (who was a patsy set up by the real serial-killer-killing-serial-killer). The premise of this is exceptional, and that it's to span over the first four episodes and still cause problems later on in the season has me drooling. And if the upcoming chase scenes are to be anything like the incredible 7/8 minute parkour chase, then Hawaii Five-0 can count me ready for anything.
Elsewhere, it was nice to see Julie Benz return as Abby, Chin's girlfriend, and the cliffhanger with the real serial killer leaving his calling card (centuries-old ivory chess pieces) behind at McGarrett's house refuelled the excitement right after it had tapered off; however, the single scene that conspiracy theorist Jerry appeared in to identify the type of chess pieces being left in the dead serial killers' mouths seemed forced to ensure he could get a bit of screentime.
VIEWERS: 10.09m (Only on one other occasion between 5x16 and this premiere has H50 hit over 10m in overnight ratings, so what a start)
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.3 (average statistically and about right for H50. Good start)
VERDICT: A well-balanced, high intensity episode was filled with the usual McGarrett/Danno banter and brilliantly set up an arc to span plenty of the seventh season 9/10
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x02 "No Ke Ali'i' Wahine A Me Ka Aina/For Queen and Country"
"Five-0 chase a rogue MI-6 agent who has stolen diamonds from an Egyptian businessman."
It was going to take something quite special for Hawaii Five-0 to replicate the quality of its premiere, and "For Queen and Country" couldn't manage the task. It was certainly big enough to match the premiere, plotwise - the murder of a model hired to pretty up Lucky Morad's (the Egyptian businessman) shindig evolved into a search for a hacking key that would allow terrorists to control nuclear reactors across Europe - but the episode just lacked a little finesse.
Langford, as the charming British spy, uses stereotypical British phrases such as "old chap", phrases Americans like but that have actually been outdated for like 70 years or something (normally I don't mind, but since Langford's a badly written character the phrases are automatically more jarring). Even more jarring was the final scene, where the Queen awarded Danno, McGarrett and Langford medals in recognition of their service. None of that was excused by the plot's evolution from common murder to a Europe-wide Chernobyl event, which just didn't reach its potential; a shame because the concept itself is highly intriguing. I think it would have worked better as a two-parter, since neither side of the plot - the murder nor the nuclear reactor hack - got enough airtime.
Meanwhile, there was plenty of overspill from the premiere as McGarrett and Danno visited a retired FBI profiler to ask for help finding the serial killer who had been dropping the bodies of other serial killers. They now have a lead in a dead police officer who had been unofficially conducting investigations into all 3 serial killers who died in the premiere - and that will be expanded on in the next episode.
VIEWERS: 9.62m (Barely lost any overnight viewers: solid)
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.3 (Down one point from the premiere, but a 1.3 is a safe score.)
VERDICT: Although the good work continuing the serial killer arc improved the bog-standard episode, it wasn't enough to excuse the filler feel that oozed from the main storyline. 7/10
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x03 "He Moho Hou / New Player"
"A DEA agent is just one of two bodies dropped at a farmhouse, but while one seems to have been killed by whoever parachuted into the area, the DEA agent fell from 10,000 feet. Meanwhile, Kono's friend calls for her assistance and Alice Brown discovers new information about the serial killer plaguing Hawaii."
WHAT'S. IN. THE. BAG? That was the question dominating 7x03's promo clip, and for my scepticism I actually was surprised by what was inside it. The bag itself had been left behind by the cartel bigwig (who had killed the DEA agent and the farmhand) when he fled from Five-0. He was then captured by a cartel hit team who offered to trade Frontera (the bigwig) for the bag. At the trade-off, McGarrett reveals wads of cash to the hit team, who promptly hand over Frontera. But what is actually inside the bag?
Five-0 officer Kono Kalakaua, who jumps out and shoots dead the hit team. Fair play, writing team. While I expected something generic, I was truly surprised with this one.
Meanwhile, season 7's theme of reflection and introspection continued with a focus on Kono's past: a friend of hers, Rosie Valera, a surfing champion and ex-army officer who lost her legs to a roadside IED, called her from jail after committing a minor offence. Kono took her to Kamekona's shrimp truck and they reminisced, until Kono released Rosie didn't have a home. She tried to convince her to let her family and friends help, but eventually settled for giving Rosie something she hadn't had in over a decade: a chance to surf. I liked the poignancy of this one, and it was a well-balanced subplot considering there was also the main murder and the serial killer arc to deal with.
In the latter, profiler Alice Brown wakes up to a dead body in her bed, presumably put there by the serial-killer-killing-serial-killer - which has shifted my suspicions away from her for now. As has finding a book on medieval chess in the office of the psychiatrist who dealt with the officer that investigated the three dead serial killers. The game is still afoot and getting more impressive and dangerous by the episode, and this time the storylines that surrounded its advancement were gripping and surprising.
VIEWERS: 9.62m (Equals last week, and still has barely dropped since the premiere. Shiny.)
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.3 (Statistically average, continually stable.)
VERDICT: Kono's friend's storyline and the continuation of the serial killer arc were both excellent and shocking. The writing overall had more twists than usual, which made it a far better episode than it deserved to be. 8.5/10
Another milestone missed, although at least Hawaii Five-0 tried. Catherine's return was the high point of the episode, while pretty much the rest of it was a low point. Everyone knows CIA blacksites are hidden out to sea, not in the middle of a capital city in a far-flung African country. That would have actually worked to make this a test, as the land-locked blacksite was much too easy for McGarrett, Catherine and Chin to break into and overpower. And much too easy to break out of.
Even the hilarity at the beginning, where Grover had a dad scene and coerced his son into finding out if Danny's daughter Grace had a boyfriend, wasn't resolved properly (although I'm calling Grover's son to be the boyfriend revealed in a later episode).
Overall, I think this episode missed the point. The writers wanted to use this milestone episode to wrap up the Doris/Wo Fat storyline that spread the first five seasons by breaking Wo Fat's father out of the CIA blacksite, but if that was the resolution they intended then it was no resolution at all. There was nothing explained about why this was happening now or why it was relevant or necessary, no callbacks to the Wo Fat storyline at all and it was horribly rushed. How this was meant to conclude a series-long mythology is utterly beyond me.
VERDICT: The writers gave it a go, but it was as pointless as trying to make a fish climb a tree. Although that's being rather generous: when a fish climbs a tree, you know the outcome. 6/10 purely for Catherine's return.
Hostage situations are hard for TV creators to write these days without them feeling stale and done; Hawaii Five-0's takeover of a school dance was a good example of how to freshen things up. Part of that was perhaps pace and structure: the episode moved in three 14-minute increments: there was build-up for the first 14, Danny and Lou's son Will trying to make contact with police for the second 14-minute segment, and then the final 14 minutes where HPD showed up and figured out how to apprehend the terrorists.
It's difficult to come up with a good reason for terrorists to be taking over a school dance, and a typical example is for leverage: take hostage the child of a diplomat or wealthy enemy and you have a legitimate explanation. Like "Rite of Passage", which even managed to hide the identity of the child for a long time. When the terrorists couldn't find the kid they had come for, I presumed it was Will Grover, who was snaking through the school with Danny trying to contact police. But I had forgotten about Will's friend, Jeremy Ramos, who had snuck off to smoke some weed, and who transpired to be the son of a Filipino diplomat. It would be nice (or not) to see an even fresher take (like a school shooting, which I have to admit would be controversial but very relevant), since sometimes the juxtaposition of worldwide terrorists and fifteen-year-olds can be jarring.
The whole Grace-Will boyfriend plot was humorous (Scott Caan as Danny excels as the overly-protective dad), as was the poker night sideplot that had the rest of our Five-0 cast gathered together. There were also some good cameo appearances from Dog the Bounty Hunter and Al Harrington as Mamo, both friends of Five-0 who took part in the poker night.
VIEWERS: 9.81m (Stable)
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x04 "Hu a'e ke ahi lanakila a Kamaile/The Fire of Kamile Rises in Triumph"
"McGarrett and Alicia finally uncover the identity of the serial killer killing serial killers, but both wind up in the murderer's clutches and Five-0 rush to rescue them."
Hawaii Five-0 couldn't really have written a better storyline to bring out the person they had been chasing for the last four episodes. Their suspect at the end of episode 3, Dr. Maddison Gray, was discovered by Alicia to be the serial-killer-killing-serial-killer when she broke into her house and found the medieval chess set and profiles of the serial killers she had bumped off, only for Alicia - and McGarrett who came to assist - to be stabbed literally in the back by Gray, tied up and handed off to a husband-and-wife serial killer team who would dispose of them. They attempted to do this by throwing them down a ravine into the sea, but McGarrett and Alicia escaped; although the husband and wife were killed by Kono and Chin, Maddison Gray fled to California to meet with yet another serial killer.
The plot stayed true to the original: that Gray would have someone else come and do her dirty work in killing McGarrett and Alicia, and the husband-and-wife pair were insanely creepy. The more serial killers Five-0 pull out of the shadows, the better this storyline gets, especially since it gives us time to examine the psychology behind their actions. Gray was a fantastic villain and will return later on in the season.
If we're looking for niggles, there's two glaringly obvious ones: firstly, Danny Williams is absent the entire episode (of all the episodes for Scott Caan to be absent this seems like an odd one); secondly, Alicia and McGarrett both survived deep stab wounds to their backs long enough to be half-drowned and then climb all the way out of the ravine again. Even when TV stretches how much physical damage a human body can take, this seems a stretch too far.
VIEWERS: 9.14m (A little lower but still steady. No issue)
Hawaii Five-0 couldn't really have written a better storyline to bring out the person they had been chasing for the last four episodes. Their suspect at the end of episode 3, Dr. Maddison Gray, was discovered by Alicia to be the serial-killer-killing-serial-killer when she broke into her house and found the medieval chess set and profiles of the serial killers she had bumped off, only for Alicia - and McGarrett who came to assist - to be stabbed literally in the back by Gray, tied up and handed off to a husband-and-wife serial killer team who would dispose of them. They attempted to do this by throwing them down a ravine into the sea, but McGarrett and Alicia escaped; although the husband and wife were killed by Kono and Chin, Maddison Gray fled to California to meet with yet another serial killer.
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| Dr. Maddison Gray - the serial killer behind all the recent murders of other active serial killers |
If we're looking for niggles, there's two glaringly obvious ones: firstly, Danny Williams is absent the entire episode (of all the episodes for Scott Caan to be absent this seems like an odd one); secondly, Alicia and McGarrett both survived deep stab wounds to their backs long enough to be half-drowned and then climb all the way out of the ravine again. Even when TV stretches how much physical damage a human body can take, this seems a stretch too far.
VIEWERS: 9.14m (A little lower but still steady. No issue)
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.2 (Likewise)
VERDICT: Despite Danny's absence and the implausible ineffectiveness of a three-inch stab wound to the back, this episode was stunning from start to finish and unguessable. Exactly how an arc should climax. 9.5/10
Just like with episode three, where the victim was thrown from 10,000 feet onto a farmhouse, "The Stand" was a case of: was good, could have been better. The majority of the promotional clips showed a police standoff with someone hidden in an armoured truck - but in actuality that standoff lasted only about 90 seconds until McGarrett tried to flashbang the driver before realising he had escaped down a manhole he had parked above by cutting a hole in the truck directly above the access point. (Which leads us to another flaw: when eventually we do see the vigilante, Kyle Caine, for real, it turns out he is a middle-aged man with, respectfully, quite a paunch. McGarrett struggled to fit down that manhole and he is much younger and skinnier so there is no way Caine could have managed the feat.)
Although watching Five-0 chase Caine from crime scene to crime scene was interesting, it all culminated in your run-of-the-mill hostage situation, where the typical let's-send-a-cop-in-undercover ruse was quickly identified and quelled. At least the anti-gun argument (Caine professing to want to spread the message of how unchecked gun rights lead to mass shootings and deaths by killing people with guns himself) was interesting, and when Five-0 learned about Caine's son who had shot up a mall, killed six bullies and then himself two years, Danno's heart-to-heart with him over the phone led to him surrendering. The plot, though predictable and generic, was at least very relevant and emotionally resonant - even if pro-gun fans of the show will take a dim view of the episode's message (and I've seen a lot of them bandying about the phrase "propaganda").
In the subplot, Kono's husband Adam is released from prison after 12 months. First order of business (after having his way with his wife, of course) is to try and convince the daughter of his prison buddy Louis to reconnect by explaining he is a changed man. It's another typical released-from-prison TV trope, but Hawaii Five-0 tugging the heartstrings made it acceptable.
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x05 "Ke Ku 'Ana / The Stand"
"A vigilante steals an armoured truck, kills a pro-gun social media star and takes a court hostage."
Just like with episode three, where the victim was thrown from 10,000 feet onto a farmhouse, "The Stand" was a case of: was good, could have been better. The majority of the promotional clips showed a police standoff with someone hidden in an armoured truck - but in actuality that standoff lasted only about 90 seconds until McGarrett tried to flashbang the driver before realising he had escaped down a manhole he had parked above by cutting a hole in the truck directly above the access point. (Which leads us to another flaw: when eventually we do see the vigilante, Kyle Caine, for real, it turns out he is a middle-aged man with, respectfully, quite a paunch. McGarrett struggled to fit down that manhole and he is much younger and skinnier so there is no way Caine could have managed the feat.)
Although watching Five-0 chase Caine from crime scene to crime scene was interesting, it all culminated in your run-of-the-mill hostage situation, where the typical let's-send-a-cop-in-undercover ruse was quickly identified and quelled. At least the anti-gun argument (Caine professing to want to spread the message of how unchecked gun rights lead to mass shootings and deaths by killing people with guns himself) was interesting, and when Five-0 learned about Caine's son who had shot up a mall, killed six bullies and then himself two years, Danno's heart-to-heart with him over the phone led to him surrendering. The plot, though predictable and generic, was at least very relevant and emotionally resonant - even if pro-gun fans of the show will take a dim view of the episode's message (and I've seen a lot of them bandying about the phrase "propaganda").
In the subplot, Kono's husband Adam is released from prison after 12 months. First order of business (after having his way with his wife, of course) is to try and convince the daughter of his prison buddy Louis to reconnect by explaining he is a changed man. It's another typical released-from-prison TV trope, but Hawaii Five-0 tugging the heartstrings made it acceptable.
VIEWERS: 1.1 (Low, but stable)
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 9.30m (Stable. Barely worth commenting)
VERDICT: A very relevant topic strung around a poor rehashing of a common TV scenario: the hostage situation. 7.5/10
This was a decent enough Hallowe'en murder storyline, propped up by the unpredictable sideswiping of Kono and Adam. The medium, Marjorie Webb, was accidentally killed by the woman who had been terrorising her: the haunted house Webb lived in had been tricked out by her accidental killer, Julia Hillman, to force Webb to suffer after her lies caused Hillman's father to commit suicide. It wasn't amazing, but it was interesting enough with the holiday dimension to feel different.
But Kono and Adam's trip was much more gripping. Kono had intended to take Adam to Turtle Bay for the holiday, but a car crash victim led them into an ambush and the clutches of a death cult. I have to admit I didn't see that one coming, but it made perfect sense. When Kono, Adam and a third victim escaped later on (using some exaggerated movie-style trickery to break out of their chains), they rushed to the nearest house only to discover it was occupied by a member of the cult and they were no closer to freedom. The ambush scene where the cult members rampaged into the house was actually very, very good - and HPD showed up just in time to save the day.
The Hallowe'en humour and outfits were just what they needed to be, there was some great continuity with Danny punishing Grace by having Jerry babysit her after her exploits at a party the previous year - and of course no Hawaii Five-0 Hallowe'en episode would be complete without medical examiner Max's flamboyant outfits: he shows up for the first time this season (after his return from working in Burundi with Doctors Without Borders) as John Wick.
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x06 "Ka hale ho'okauweli / House of Horrors"
"Five-0 arrive at a haunted house to investigate the murder of a medium. Meanwhile, Kono and Adam's romantic getaway is foiled when they come upon a car crash victim."
This was a decent enough Hallowe'en murder storyline, propped up by the unpredictable sideswiping of Kono and Adam. The medium, Marjorie Webb, was accidentally killed by the woman who had been terrorising her: the haunted house Webb lived in had been tricked out by her accidental killer, Julia Hillman, to force Webb to suffer after her lies caused Hillman's father to commit suicide. It wasn't amazing, but it was interesting enough with the holiday dimension to feel different.
But Kono and Adam's trip was much more gripping. Kono had intended to take Adam to Turtle Bay for the holiday, but a car crash victim led them into an ambush and the clutches of a death cult. I have to admit I didn't see that one coming, but it made perfect sense. When Kono, Adam and a third victim escaped later on (using some exaggerated movie-style trickery to break out of their chains), they rushed to the nearest house only to discover it was occupied by a member of the cult and they were no closer to freedom. The ambush scene where the cult members rampaged into the house was actually very, very good - and HPD showed up just in time to save the day.
The Hallowe'en humour and outfits were just what they needed to be, there was some great continuity with Danny punishing Grace by having Jerry babysit her after her exploits at a party the previous year - and of course no Hawaii Five-0 Hallowe'en episode would be complete without medical examiner Max's flamboyant outfits: he shows up for the first time this season (after his return from working in Burundi with Doctors Without Borders) as John Wick.
VIEWERS: 8.36m (Ticked down nearly a million, but Friday was a low night all around)
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.0 (Again, a small downtick but nothing threatening)
VERDICT: The subplots might have been built around the main plot, but it was they who were the more fun and gripping stories of the episode. Welcome back Max 8/10
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x07 "Ka makuahine a me ke keikikane / Mother and Son" - 150th episode
"Catherine Rollins returns with news that McGarrett's mum is in trouble, having tried to break into a CIA blacksite and free his half-brother's father, Yao Fat."
Another milestone missed, although at least Hawaii Five-0 tried. Catherine's return was the high point of the episode, while pretty much the rest of it was a low point. Everyone knows CIA blacksites are hidden out to sea, not in the middle of a capital city in a far-flung African country. That would have actually worked to make this a test, as the land-locked blacksite was much too easy for McGarrett, Catherine and Chin to break into and overpower. And much too easy to break out of.
Even the hilarity at the beginning, where Grover had a dad scene and coerced his son into finding out if Danny's daughter Grace had a boyfriend, wasn't resolved properly (although I'm calling Grover's son to be the boyfriend revealed in a later episode).Overall, I think this episode missed the point. The writers wanted to use this milestone episode to wrap up the Doris/Wo Fat storyline that spread the first five seasons by breaking Wo Fat's father out of the CIA blacksite, but if that was the resolution they intended then it was no resolution at all. There was nothing explained about why this was happening now or why it was relevant or necessary, no callbacks to the Wo Fat storyline at all and it was horribly rushed. How this was meant to conclude a series-long mythology is utterly beyond me.
VIEWERS: 9.38m (Won the night, and back up by a million)
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.2 (Won the night.)
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x08 "Hana Komo Pae / Rite of Passage"
"Danny chaperones Grace at her winter formal dance, but while he tries to uncover the identity of her new boyfriend, terrorists take the students hostage."
Hostage situations are hard for TV creators to write these days without them feeling stale and done; Hawaii Five-0's takeover of a school dance was a good example of how to freshen things up. Part of that was perhaps pace and structure: the episode moved in three 14-minute increments: there was build-up for the first 14, Danny and Lou's son Will trying to make contact with police for the second 14-minute segment, and then the final 14 minutes where HPD showed up and figured out how to apprehend the terrorists.
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| Terrorists take students hostage |
The whole Grace-Will boyfriend plot was humorous (Scott Caan as Danny excels as the overly-protective dad), as was the poker night sideplot that had the rest of our Five-0 cast gathered together. There were also some good cameo appearances from Dog the Bounty Hunter and Al Harrington as Mamo, both friends of Five-0 who took part in the poker night.
VIEWERS: 9.81m (Stable)
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.4 (Equals the season high so far)
VERDICT: Done-before premise infused with plenty of Five-0 mannerisms that worked to separate it from previous TV entries. Great cameos. 8.5/10
Hawaii Five-0 went right out there with "Elua la ma Nowemapa" by giving Jerry, who for the last few episodes has had very little to do, a starring role in a huge episode that shone a light right in the face of the JFK murder conspiracy. The episode hinged on a secret Honolulu meeting of government bigwigs in the days before the assassination, who conspiracy theorists suspected were meeting to discuss the final aspects of the plan. And as the plot moved along and evidence turned audience's heads this way and that, the writers, through Jerry, had a logical but out-there reason for why each piece of evidence still led to the conclusion that JFK's assassination was an inside job. For those who don't know much beyond the basic details of the assassination, it was an eye-opening and thought-provoking episode.
But the whole premise fell down at the end, because the writers were never for a second going to stick to one conspiracy theory and say "this is what killed JFK and it was an inside job". They didn't need to - they had an out: the assassination under discussion was actually that of Fidel Castro's - but also decided not to go down that route and instead had Jerry's friend on the receiving end of a bullet because of a pharmaceutical company whose actions weren't really properly explained. It was a weak ending to a very enlightening episode.
VIEWERS: 10.01m (Only the second episode to hit double figures since the s7 premiere. Superb)
VERDICT: Although the ending was horribly bungled, I'm still giving this an 8.5/10 for an unapologetic and damn brilliant reexamining one of the world's most famous conspiracies.
The title of the episode refers not only to the burden of the boy, Rhys, whose emotional issues stemmed from his witnessing of the athlete Maggie Reed's murder when he was a child, and the burden of the killer - Rhys's mother, who accidentally ran Maggie over before choosing to bash her skull in to cover her tracks. The reveal was a great scene: the emphasis was so focused on the father as the killer because he filed a report stating he hit a boar the day after Maggie disappeared, but in actuality he filed that report on behalf of his wife. It was a very different type of murder investigation which worked well and gave plenty of space to the episode's burden: Danny's sister.
Not that I don't love to see Missy Peregrym (Reaper, Rookie Blue), but she was a tool in a "shit family mythology" (which I think I'll adopt as a replacement for "shit parent mythology", since it is a much broader, all-encompassing term). Here, Bridget Williams comes to Hawaii on a business trip, but it becomes clear she's overwhelmed by lack of support from her husband and her draining responsibilities as a mother; Danny's attempts to convince her not to cheat fill the enormous space left by the unusual murder plot progression, and serve as a poor B-plot in what was an otherwise very good episode.
VIEWERS: 9.33m (Dips below 10m again
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x09 "Elua la ma Nowemapa / Two Days in November"
"One of Jerry's conspiracy theorist friends meets with him to discuss huge findings - but is murdered before she can speak."
Hawaii Five-0 went right out there with "Elua la ma Nowemapa" by giving Jerry, who for the last few episodes has had very little to do, a starring role in a huge episode that shone a light right in the face of the JFK murder conspiracy. The episode hinged on a secret Honolulu meeting of government bigwigs in the days before the assassination, who conspiracy theorists suspected were meeting to discuss the final aspects of the plan. And as the plot moved along and evidence turned audience's heads this way and that, the writers, through Jerry, had a logical but out-there reason for why each piece of evidence still led to the conclusion that JFK's assassination was an inside job. For those who don't know much beyond the basic details of the assassination, it was an eye-opening and thought-provoking episode.
But the whole premise fell down at the end, because the writers were never for a second going to stick to one conspiracy theory and say "this is what killed JFK and it was an inside job". They didn't need to - they had an out: the assassination under discussion was actually that of Fidel Castro's - but also decided not to go down that route and instead had Jerry's friend on the receiving end of a bullet because of a pharmaceutical company whose actions weren't really properly explained. It was a weak ending to a very enlightening episode.
VIEWERS: 10.01m (Only the second episode to hit double figures since the s7 premiere. Superb)
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.3 (Won the night again. Fantastic)
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x10 "Ka Luhi / The Burden"
"The body of a teenage athlete who went missing 10 years ago is discovered when the hypnotherapy of a disturbed teenager suggests he has knowledge of the crime; he continues to undergo hypnosis to help Five-0 get to the truth."
The title of the episode refers not only to the burden of the boy, Rhys, whose emotional issues stemmed from his witnessing of the athlete Maggie Reed's murder when he was a child, and the burden of the killer - Rhys's mother, who accidentally ran Maggie over before choosing to bash her skull in to cover her tracks. The reveal was a great scene: the emphasis was so focused on the father as the killer because he filed a report stating he hit a boar the day after Maggie disappeared, but in actuality he filed that report on behalf of his wife. It was a very different type of murder investigation which worked well and gave plenty of space to the episode's burden: Danny's sister.
Not that I don't love to see Missy Peregrym (Reaper, Rookie Blue), but she was a tool in a "shit family mythology" (which I think I'll adopt as a replacement for "shit parent mythology", since it is a much broader, all-encompassing term). Here, Bridget Williams comes to Hawaii on a business trip, but it becomes clear she's overwhelmed by lack of support from her husband and her draining responsibilities as a mother; Danny's attempts to convince her not to cheat fill the enormous space left by the unusual murder plot progression, and serve as a poor B-plot in what was an otherwise very good episode.
VIEWERS: 9.33m (Dips below 10m again
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.2 (A small tick down after 2 weeks out)
VERDICT: Split right down the middle: A-plot excellent, B-plot a subpar rehash of a tired but won't-die trope. So I'll split between average and good and go for a 7.5/10
To analyse this I'm going to have to start at the end: "Snatchback" was not stylised as the first of a two-parter but by the time it was over it was clear, with the cliffhanger of Chin now in the hands of the Mexican kidnappers, that this is how it's going to roll. And it was a pretty solid first part with a solid bait-and-switch: when the writers weren't penning hilarious scenes with Lou and Danny trying to identify a burned body by burning it more to reveal a tattoo on the second layer of skin, they were pushing the idea that Sarah was just another victim of kids who fell prey to cartels looking to make easy cash through ransoms; in the end that burned body was key.
Remember that episode recently, with the promo of "what's in the bag" that transpired to be Kono? In that episode, Five-0 killed the cartel members at the meet; in turn it transpired that the cartel leader, brother of one of those killed in said meet, was behind Sarah's kidnap, making it a targeted act rather than random violence.
I fell for the bait and was impressed by the switch, but something I wasn't impressed with as much was the cameos. The CBS press release stated Will Yun Lee (Five-0's sneaky informant Sang Min) and George Takei would guest star, but instead they both just had 10 second cameos wishing Chin a happy birthday. I'm not sure it was worth the effort and the tease was annoying more than interesting. Which is a shame, because overall this was a very funny, but very emotion-fuelled episode.
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x11 "Ka'ili Aku / Snatchback"
"On Chin's birthday, his niece Sarah, living in Juarez with her adoptive parents, is kidnapped, so Five-0 fly to Mexico to help rescue her."
To analyse this I'm going to have to start at the end: "Snatchback" was not stylised as the first of a two-parter but by the time it was over it was clear, with the cliffhanger of Chin now in the hands of the Mexican kidnappers, that this is how it's going to roll. And it was a pretty solid first part with a solid bait-and-switch: when the writers weren't penning hilarious scenes with Lou and Danny trying to identify a burned body by burning it more to reveal a tattoo on the second layer of skin, they were pushing the idea that Sarah was just another victim of kids who fell prey to cartels looking to make easy cash through ransoms; in the end that burned body was key.
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| Lou Grover when helping to ID a burnt body by heating it up to reveal a tattoo: "Awww, it's sizzling!" |
I fell for the bait and was impressed by the switch, but something I wasn't impressed with as much was the cameos. The CBS press release stated Will Yun Lee (Five-0's sneaky informant Sang Min) and George Takei would guest star, but instead they both just had 10 second cameos wishing Chin a happy birthday. I'm not sure it was worth the effort and the tease was annoying more than interesting. Which is a shame, because overall this was a very funny, but very emotion-fuelled episode.
VIEWERS: 9.33m (Identical to the previous week)
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.1 (Ticked down a tenth)
VERDICT: Issues with the guest starring don't bog down the episode too much. Some cracking one-liners amid serious emotion. 8/10
So after all that build-up to Chin being kidnapped by the cartel, Hawaii Five-0 writers cleared it up inside the first 10 minutes. The Mexican federal agent explained where they might find Chin's kidnapper, Juan Diego, and just as Diego was about to feed Chin to a pit full of hungry dogs McGarrett and the team arrived to save the day, right before Sarah's aunt and uncle relinquished custody to Chin, citing Mexico as too dangerous for her to live in. None of that displays any forward thinking from the writers.
"What's in the car?" could have been the tagline for the promo, linking to the old "what's in the bag?" a few episodes before (which ironically was the plot that led to Chin's kidnap), as a car salesman by the name of Mitch Lawson was killed. It was seemingly perpetrated by a colleague, but then it was discovered Lawson was smuggling drugs in the cars - but then it was discovered he was actually smuggling uranium, and now we have another cliffhanger: there's a dirty bomb loose in O'ahu.
All of this in time for a well-written exit plot for Masi Oka's character Max Bergman, who departs in the next episode. Will he die? Probably not, but at least his exit is tied in well with Jerry needing to find a new place.
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x12 "Ka 'Aelike / The Deal"
"Five-0 rescue Chin from the cartel, but another case of murder awaits them upon their return to O'ahu."
So after all that build-up to Chin being kidnapped by the cartel, Hawaii Five-0 writers cleared it up inside the first 10 minutes. The Mexican federal agent explained where they might find Chin's kidnapper, Juan Diego, and just as Diego was about to feed Chin to a pit full of hungry dogs McGarrett and the team arrived to save the day, right before Sarah's aunt and uncle relinquished custody to Chin, citing Mexico as too dangerous for her to live in. None of that displays any forward thinking from the writers.
"What's in the car?" could have been the tagline for the promo, linking to the old "what's in the bag?" a few episodes before (which ironically was the plot that led to Chin's kidnap), as a car salesman by the name of Mitch Lawson was killed. It was seemingly perpetrated by a colleague, but then it was discovered Lawson was smuggling drugs in the cars - but then it was discovered he was actually smuggling uranium, and now we have another cliffhanger: there's a dirty bomb loose in O'ahu.
All of this in time for a well-written exit plot for Masi Oka's character Max Bergman, who departs in the next episode. Will he die? Probably not, but at least his exit is tied in well with Jerry needing to find a new place.
VIEWERS: 10.02m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.2
(Both tick up)
(Both tick up)
VERDICT: A decent cliffhanger resolved poorly, which led into an episode with a slightly less decent cliffhanger. The middle was good though. 7.5/10
Well that was emotional. I'm not going to talk about the murder plot because it just didn't matter in the end: Masi Oka's final episode as a regular on Hawaii Five-0 eclipsed the entire murder plot. Max Bergman was such an important character to the show, and what the writers gave us was a truly fitting tribute. While Max cleared out his belongings, Jerry raided his daily journals, and in doing so treated us to a few fond memories from the past years, such as Max helping McGarrett when he was a fugitive and the first time Max asked his wife Sabrina out. And then, at the end, there was a long-ass goodbye scene intercut with flashes of even more memories, a number of these flashes being Max dressed in his characteristic Hallowe'en outfits. I must admit, the scene came off a bit too emotional - after all, Max isn't dead - but I think it lends a certain finality to the character that if Masi Oka ever came back to guest star the whole point of the played-up goodbye speeches would be lost. So if you love it, let it go.
Mahalo.
Pu'uhonua o Waimanalo is a Hawaiian cultural village in which lives the Nation of Hawai'i group; according to Wikipedia "The Nation of Hawai'i group, which administers the village, regards itself as a sovereign government under international law [...] and therefore [is] not subject to United States rule". It was founded and is run by a man nicknamed "Bumpy" - and this is all real-life stuff. I didn't know this before the episode aired, so it's actually nice to look back on the episode and think two things: one, that I have learnt a bit more about some of the Hawaiian history; and two, that Bumpy has some serious acting chops.
The episode itself followed a simple trope: guy escapes to non-US soil, police have to negotiate whilst trying to solve the crime, and some federal agency or other turn up to assume control and throw a spanner in the works. The murder case followed the typical strict pattern of for about thirty minutes everything says the suspect is guilty and then they eventually figure out he's innocent and everyone gets to go home after the real bad guy is arrested. As 50 Cent might say "different day, same shit". It was a storyline I felt I'd seen before, just with different actors and different crimes.
The writers tried to include a good subplot involving Steve's manic driving by having the cold open serve as him having to get his license renewed and inevitably the driving instructor is terrified and nearly throws up. I loved Danny turning up beforehand to wind up Steve and the instructor. But there was no resolution to this subplot after the murder was solved, so it felt like a loose thread in an episode that really only needed to say McGarrett would redo the test.
VIEWERS: 8.36m
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x13 "Ua ho'i ka 'opua i Awalua / The Clouds Always Return to Alawua"
"Max Bergman prepares to leave Five-0."
Well that was emotional. I'm not going to talk about the murder plot because it just didn't matter in the end: Masi Oka's final episode as a regular on Hawaii Five-0 eclipsed the entire murder plot. Max Bergman was such an important character to the show, and what the writers gave us was a truly fitting tribute. While Max cleared out his belongings, Jerry raided his daily journals, and in doing so treated us to a few fond memories from the past years, such as Max helping McGarrett when he was a fugitive and the first time Max asked his wife Sabrina out. And then, at the end, there was a long-ass goodbye scene intercut with flashes of even more memories, a number of these flashes being Max dressed in his characteristic Hallowe'en outfits. I must admit, the scene came off a bit too emotional - after all, Max isn't dead - but I think it lends a certain finality to the character that if Masi Oka ever came back to guest star the whole point of the played-up goodbye speeches would be lost. So if you love it, let it go.
Mahalo.
VIEWERS: 9.54m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.1
(Ticks downwards, which I didn't expect for Max's goodbye episode. But still solid.)
(Ticks downwards, which I didn't expect for Max's goodbye episode. But still solid.)
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| All our Five-0 cast with some friends too. |
VERDICT: Max's time at Five-0 closes, opening a new chapter for the rest of the series. A good window into past times. 8/10
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x14 "Ka laina ma ke one / Line in the Sand"
"A murder suspect escapes to sovereign land, so Five-0 must contend with old foes and a vehement federal agency to keep things peaceful."
Pu'uhonua o Waimanalo is a Hawaiian cultural village in which lives the Nation of Hawai'i group; according to Wikipedia "The Nation of Hawai'i group, which administers the village, regards itself as a sovereign government under international law [...] and therefore [is] not subject to United States rule". It was founded and is run by a man nicknamed "Bumpy" - and this is all real-life stuff. I didn't know this before the episode aired, so it's actually nice to look back on the episode and think two things: one, that I have learnt a bit more about some of the Hawaiian history; and two, that Bumpy has some serious acting chops.
 |
| Steve's test examiner is concerned by Danny's horror stories |
The writers tried to include a good subplot involving Steve's manic driving by having the cold open serve as him having to get his license renewed and inevitably the driving instructor is terrified and nearly throws up. I loved Danny turning up beforehand to wind up Steve and the instructor. But there was no resolution to this subplot after the murder was solved, so it felt like a loose thread in an episode that really only needed to say McGarrett would redo the test.
VIEWERS: 8.36m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.0
(Season lows in both)
(Season lows in both)
VERDICT: The cold open was the highlight of an episode bogged down by poor resolutions and tired tropes. A lovely window into Hawaiian culture and history, however. 7.5/10
I have to start at the start, with the worker's protest by Kamekona's workers - including his cousin Flippa - and their attempts to get better pay. This seemed like such an oddball subplot. A protest seems far too damaging in overall scale to work as an episodic subplot (so I'll retract my comments if they arc out a revenue loss in the future), and without any hint of disquiet previously it was disappointing. Especially seeing Flippa lead the line.
Plot-wise, Hawaii Five-0's two murder strands offered vastly different topics of interest. The first, the big game hunter (Sam Harrison) searching for his first great white, was the side murder, slightly shorter and slightly less difficult to unravel than the Holocaust plot. Harrison had not, as the crime scene was staged to suggest, been murdered by animal rights activists (given how important the shark is to Hawaiians), but by a man who ran a fishing business as a front for his illegal shark finning enterprise, whom Harrison had called upon to help him locate a great white. The shark bit Harrison, and he was strung up on the docks, dead, instead of taken to the hospital. Short, simple, sweet.
But the title "Big Game" isn't a misnomer for its relegation of the big game hunter to side murder, for in the main plot McGarrett and Chin travel to Kalaupapa, a previously quarantined leper colony, where their victim, Leia Rozen, was searching for a Nazi war criminal named Tomas Sauer who, during the war, had lined up her grandfather, grand-uncle and grand-aunt, and forced her grandfather to choose which of the other two would die. The Kalaupapa storyline was intriguing not only for the insight into Nazi movements following the war but for showing a piece of Hawaii's history, the second consecutive episode to do so. In the end, it transpired that Sauer was the grandfather of Kalaupapa's sheriff, but they were both discovered and arrested in Arizona after escaping. Justice was served - and the importance of that highlighted by the slow-mo and music chosen to define the scene.
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x15 "Ka Pa'ani Nui / Big Game"
"Five-0 pull two bodies on the same day: a big game hunter searching for his first great white shark to kill, and a 30-year-old with a Holocaust POW tattoo."
I have to start at the start, with the worker's protest by Kamekona's workers - including his cousin Flippa - and their attempts to get better pay. This seemed like such an oddball subplot. A protest seems far too damaging in overall scale to work as an episodic subplot (so I'll retract my comments if they arc out a revenue loss in the future), and without any hint of disquiet previously it was disappointing. Especially seeing Flippa lead the line.
 |
| Flippa leads the protest against his cousin, shrimp truck owner Kamekona |
But the title "Big Game" isn't a misnomer for its relegation of the big game hunter to side murder, for in the main plot McGarrett and Chin travel to Kalaupapa, a previously quarantined leper colony, where their victim, Leia Rozen, was searching for a Nazi war criminal named Tomas Sauer who, during the war, had lined up her grandfather, grand-uncle and grand-aunt, and forced her grandfather to choose which of the other two would die. The Kalaupapa storyline was intriguing not only for the insight into Nazi movements following the war but for showing a piece of Hawaii's history, the second consecutive episode to do so. In the end, it transpired that Sauer was the grandfather of Kalaupapa's sheriff, but they were both discovered and arrested in Arizona after escaping. Justice was served - and the importance of that highlighted by the slow-mo and music chosen to define the scene.
VIEWERS: 9.67m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.1
(Ticks up)
(Ticks up)
VERDICT: The subplot was a problematic one realistically, but the 2 murders were intriguing and just complex enough to leave some surprises. 9/10
In its later years, Hawaii Five-0 has begun to rest on its laurels as a more regular number of episodes feature over-long side plots. That in itself isn't a criticism - it's nice to see our main cast's family and partners - but we see them so sparingly that when we do it comes off more as an in-your-face reminder that they actually exist rather than anything else. Case in point Danny's girlfriend Melissa, who hasn't been physically seen since 6x14. I'd forgotten they were even dating.
But is their relationship the point, or was it a way of solidifying that Danny/McGarrett bond when their main arc was to pit Danny against a troublesome teen he suspected of stealing his sunglasses? Who knows. Either way I can't argue that it was extremely enjoyable and these Danny/McGarrett scenes really do create a lot of humour.
Elsewhere, today's guest star murder victim was played by Samm Levine, whose participation in a seduction course led to his death when he tried to pick up a woman at a bar. He wasn't to know, however, that the man who ran the course, Blake Stone, (who the script demanded be stupidly over-the-top in his misogyny) was paying for escorts to sleep with his clients (a nice twist), and the escort he'd paid this time had an obsessive stalker who shot Levine's character dead. Simple enough. Enjoyable enough.
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x16 "Poniu I Ke Aloha / Crazy In Love"
"Kono, Chin and Grover investigate the murder of a man at a club who had been partaking in a seduction course; Danny and McGarrett are treated by their girlfriends for Valentine's Day."
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| McGarrett realises he has an adjoining hotel room with Danny |
But is their relationship the point, or was it a way of solidifying that Danny/McGarrett bond when their main arc was to pit Danny against a troublesome teen he suspected of stealing his sunglasses? Who knows. Either way I can't argue that it was extremely enjoyable and these Danny/McGarrett scenes really do create a lot of humour.
Elsewhere, today's guest star murder victim was played by Samm Levine, whose participation in a seduction course led to his death when he tried to pick up a woman at a bar. He wasn't to know, however, that the man who ran the course, Blake Stone, (who the script demanded be stupidly over-the-top in his misogyny) was paying for escorts to sleep with his clients (a nice twist), and the escort he'd paid this time had an obsessive stalker who shot Levine's character dead. Simple enough. Enjoyable enough.
VIEWERS: 9.78m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.3
(A 1.3 hasn't been seen for H50 since 7x09, so it's great to get back up there again!)
(A 1.3 hasn't been seen for H50 since 7x09, so it's great to get back up there again!)
VERDICT: Suspend your disbelief and you can get past the fact that a good Danny/McGarrett plot didn't hide Hawaii Five-0's failings in writing character relationships and Blake Stone was far too much of a caricature than a character - and I can't. But it was enjoyable. 7.5/10
Following MacGyver's O'ahu name-drop last week, this week we see Hawaii Five-0 contend with the return of Dr. Madison Gray, serial killer extraordinaire. She is returned as Lauren Parker, a Wisconsin tourist covered in blood that partially matches Alicia Brown. Only Alicia's absolutely fine, so perhaps there's a twist with her daughter Sienna being alive still? A nice misdirect suggested Gray collected Alicia's blood when they originally clashed in 7x04, but still, the blood was only a partial. So when Gray's twisted game culminated in Alicia breaking her out of prison and flying to Wisconsin, I was unsurprised to find that Sienna was indeed alive.
She was being held captive by a Benton Jones, cohort of a man named Sears who was up until this point the prime suspect in Sienna's "murder"; Gray lured Alicia to her daughter's rescue only to trap her once she had arrived home and spring her endgame: after years of having killers kill on her behalf, she wanted the challenge of turning a good person into a killer. Who's the victim? Dr. Madison Gray herself, if Alicia goes through with it. Hell, Gray even gave her the gun. And the screen goes to black as a gunshot sounds, so did Alicia kill her or not?
We won't find out next week it seems, but it'll come back in the future. The problem is this episode raised so many odd questions. Why was Sienna held alive all these years? How did Gray know this unless she was previously involved? And why, given the length of Sienna's captivity, wasn't the endgame to have Sienna become a serial killer and kill her mother? That was what I thought would fit better with Gray's goals, but hey ho. I'm not the writers.
Castle 7x14 - "Resurrection" ... er, I mean ... Hawaii Five-0 - 7x17 "Hahai i na pilikua nui / Hunting Monsters"
"Serial killer Dr. Madison Gray turns herself in to HPD, but has unfinished business with Dr. Alicia Brown."
Following MacGyver's O'ahu name-drop last week, this week we see Hawaii Five-0 contend with the return of Dr. Madison Gray, serial killer extraordinaire. She is returned as Lauren Parker, a Wisconsin tourist covered in blood that partially matches Alicia Brown. Only Alicia's absolutely fine, so perhaps there's a twist with her daughter Sienna being alive still? A nice misdirect suggested Gray collected Alicia's blood when they originally clashed in 7x04, but still, the blood was only a partial. So when Gray's twisted game culminated in Alicia breaking her out of prison and flying to Wisconsin, I was unsurprised to find that Sienna was indeed alive.
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| Dr. Madison Gray turns herself in to HPD |
We won't find out next week it seems, but it'll come back in the future. The problem is this episode raised so many odd questions. Why was Sienna held alive all these years? How did Gray know this unless she was previously involved? And why, given the length of Sienna's captivity, wasn't the endgame to have Sienna become a serial killer and kill her mother? That was what I thought would fit better with Gray's goals, but hey ho. I'm not the writers.
VIEWERS: 9.48m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.1
(Near-season low demo share on a down night across the board)
(Near-season low demo share on a down night across the board)
VERDICT: I think this plot went down the wrong path, and despite major differences it reeked of Castle and 3XK. Still, it was a doozy, so I'll give it an 8/10
"Handle with Care" was built so the writers could spend some more time on this season's theme of reflection; with the dirty bomb set to blow in 60 minutes and Steve and Danny charged with removing the uranium safely and getting the bomb to a jungle clearing, they have plenty of time to think about what their lives would be like if they weren't actually police officers.
More so Danny, who wants to set up a future for his 2 kids by retiring soon and setting up a restaurant. That's a fair enough goal - and if Alex O'Loughlin quits the show after next season like he suggests, then this could be a way to wrap up Danny's character. But while they're both here, their characters' chemistry is the best, and Scott Caan's acting of a scared police officer transporting a nuclear bomb was incredible. He knows how to act scared, which is something most actors rarely get right.
Sang Min, the sneaky recurring villain we all love and love to hate, popped by for a quick cameo, but quicker than his last appearance which was a short birthday message to one of our main cast earlier in the season. We all love Sang Min, but I wanted him to play a bigger role in the main plot. Alas, he ended up being just the messenger, and then stuck around for the feast scene at the end.
Following which, Lou gets a call that suggests there's an attack planned near the Five-0 headquarters tomorrow. Who's behind this and is it a conspiracy we don't yet know - but we might find out in the MacGyver/Hawaii Five-0 crossover two weeks from now!
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x18 "E Malama Pono / Handle with Care"
"Five-0 discover the missing uranium is being assembled into a dirty bomb in the jungle."
"Handle with Care" was built so the writers could spend some more time on this season's theme of reflection; with the dirty bomb set to blow in 60 minutes and Steve and Danny charged with removing the uranium safely and getting the bomb to a jungle clearing, they have plenty of time to think about what their lives would be like if they weren't actually police officers.
More so Danny, who wants to set up a future for his 2 kids by retiring soon and setting up a restaurant. That's a fair enough goal - and if Alex O'Loughlin quits the show after next season like he suggests, then this could be a way to wrap up Danny's character. But while they're both here, their characters' chemistry is the best, and Scott Caan's acting of a scared police officer transporting a nuclear bomb was incredible. He knows how to act scared, which is something most actors rarely get right.
Sang Min, the sneaky recurring villain we all love and love to hate, popped by for a quick cameo, but quicker than his last appearance which was a short birthday message to one of our main cast earlier in the season. We all love Sang Min, but I wanted him to play a bigger role in the main plot. Alas, he ended up being just the messenger, and then stuck around for the feast scene at the end.
Following which, Lou gets a call that suggests there's an attack planned near the Five-0 headquarters tomorrow. Who's behind this and is it a conspiracy we don't yet know - but we might find out in the MacGyver/Hawaii Five-0 crossover two weeks from now!
VIEWERS: 9.02m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.1
VERDICT: Built to service the season theme and set up the crossover, but wasn't one of the better episodes. 7.5/10
Hawaii Five-0 sent out a plea for help with "Puka 'ana", as the show decided to make a point about the horrors of sex trafficking. The episode was about as dark as Hawaii Five-0 goes (not including when they chopped up Danny's brother and put him in a barrel), and just as emotional (see how the case deeply affected Kono), but it had a problem: Lou and Chin's sideplot. Five-0's attempts to recover the kidnapped girl as each horrific detail of her torment was unravelled was the better plot, and Lou and Chin just got in the way.
There was a decent feedline to the case, however, that it had been Noelani's nurse friend who alerted the team to the potential abuse (Noelani is the M.E. who replaced Max). Scott Caan had the day off again, so there was no Danny present.
I think the show does suffer when he's not present, which is roughly once every 4 episodes it seems. The relationship between him and McGarrett has become so central to the show and this episode especially would have been perfect to showcase Danny's concern for his daughter Grace and drive his retirement suggestion; Kono being extremely haunted by the case was believable but felt forced, like the writers needed someone to be angry and horrorstruck since Danny wasn't available.
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x19 "Puka 'ana / Exodus"
"While Lou and Chin chase the killer of three people in a sober living house, McGarrett and Kono search for a woman kidnapped by sex traffickers."
Hawaii Five-0 sent out a plea for help with "Puka 'ana", as the show decided to make a point about the horrors of sex trafficking. The episode was about as dark as Hawaii Five-0 goes (not including when they chopped up Danny's brother and put him in a barrel), and just as emotional (see how the case deeply affected Kono), but it had a problem: Lou and Chin's sideplot. Five-0's attempts to recover the kidnapped girl as each horrific detail of her torment was unravelled was the better plot, and Lou and Chin just got in the way.
There was a decent feedline to the case, however, that it had been Noelani's nurse friend who alerted the team to the potential abuse (Noelani is the M.E. who replaced Max). Scott Caan had the day off again, so there was no Danny present.
I think the show does suffer when he's not present, which is roughly once every 4 episodes it seems. The relationship between him and McGarrett has become so central to the show and this episode especially would have been perfect to showcase Danny's concern for his daughter Grace and drive his retirement suggestion; Kono being extremely haunted by the case was believable but felt forced, like the writers needed someone to be angry and horrorstruck since Danny wasn't available.
VIEWERS: 9.29m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.1
VERDICT: The episode needed more Danny and less Lou and Chin, but a very good episode. 7.5/10
There's two words for this episode: too substantive. So much was packed into this episode that its run time nearly exceeded the 44-minute cut-off. The case itself is a perfect place to start: where better than the end? Not only did it transpire that both the husband and the wife were having affairs, but the wife's affair was with one of the kidnappers; she had faked her kidnap, sold out her husband's mistress and extorted a million dollars from her husband before being discovered by Five-0, at which point Harry decided to show her what a real kidnapping felt like on the way to Five-0 headquarters. They almost double-bluffed me with this: I had suspected her involvement halfway through the episode (I'm shocked I'm still this slow on the uptake sometimes), but considered it confirmed when she was packing to run at the same time as her kidnapper boyfriend fled the police. When she was kidnapped "again", I had to wonder if I'd made a mistake, but it turned out to have been Harry's work. Fair play to the writers for that.
On the character side of things, the episode started with a hilarious anecdote from Grover about how his daughter getting into college had effectively killed his dreams of retiring on a boat, as fees would set him back $150k easy. I suppose that's the parents' viewpoint they don't present to their kids, but somehow Grover's delivery of it made this more comical than anything else. Of course he's proud, but he's allowed to dream too. Or not, as the case may be.
Elsewhere, the season's theme of reflection continued to drive home talk of Danny retiring, only this time it did so by bringing him and his family back together. His ex-wife Rachel, rarely seen since season 1, has now split from her current husband Stan. Danny refuses to consider the possibility they will reunite (he still has a girlfriend at the moment), but he helps her tell their kids to show his support of her. I always liked Rachel and I hope now we see more of her.
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x20 "Huikau Na Makau a Ka Lawai'a / The Fishhooks of the Fishers Become Entangled"
"Old Five-0 ally, PI Harry Brown, brings to them a case of a wealthy man's wife and mistress who have both been kidnapped."
There's two words for this episode: too substantive. So much was packed into this episode that its run time nearly exceeded the 44-minute cut-off. The case itself is a perfect place to start: where better than the end? Not only did it transpire that both the husband and the wife were having affairs, but the wife's affair was with one of the kidnappers; she had faked her kidnap, sold out her husband's mistress and extorted a million dollars from her husband before being discovered by Five-0, at which point Harry decided to show her what a real kidnapping felt like on the way to Five-0 headquarters. They almost double-bluffed me with this: I had suspected her involvement halfway through the episode (I'm shocked I'm still this slow on the uptake sometimes), but considered it confirmed when she was packing to run at the same time as her kidnapper boyfriend fled the police. When she was kidnapped "again", I had to wonder if I'd made a mistake, but it turned out to have been Harry's work. Fair play to the writers for that.
On the character side of things, the episode started with a hilarious anecdote from Grover about how his daughter getting into college had effectively killed his dreams of retiring on a boat, as fees would set him back $150k easy. I suppose that's the parents' viewpoint they don't present to their kids, but somehow Grover's delivery of it made this more comical than anything else. Of course he's proud, but he's allowed to dream too. Or not, as the case may be.
Elsewhere, the season's theme of reflection continued to drive home talk of Danny retiring, only this time it did so by bringing him and his family back together. His ex-wife Rachel, rarely seen since season 1, has now split from her current husband Stan. Danny refuses to consider the possibility they will reunite (he still has a girlfriend at the moment), but he helps her tell their kids to show his support of her. I always liked Rachel and I hope now we see more of her.
VIEWERS:
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE:
VERDICT: A strong episode. The plot was perhaps a little easy to guess but the double-bluff had me doubting myself. Good sideplots continuing the season theme. 8/10
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x21 "Ua Malo'o Ka Wai / The Water is Dried Up"
"While McGarrett, Danny, Chin and Kono chase a lead on at-large Yakuza boss Michele Shioma, Grover and his son head to Chicago where Grover will testify against his ex-partner."
There were two stories here, and more clearly than in any previous episode could they be separated into two categories: one story for plot, and one for substance. Lou Grover's plot carried the substance.
In taking his son Will to Chicago while he testified against his corrupt ex-partner Clay (who had murdered his wife but was imprisoned for stealing drug money), he hoped to achieve two things: ensuring Clay's last appeal failed - and having some good bonding time with Will. The whole thing started off with some hilarity as Grover tried to motivate Will to pack, and was throughlined with constant references to his dating Danny's daughter Grace. But things gradually grew more serious as Grover's wet-behind-the-ear police protection distrusted him, and the rest of his old friends gave him the cold shoulder. What started as some decent father-son gags ended up being a very poignant plot about how doing the right thing can have negative effects. I felt really bad for Lou in the end, and that's a testament to both great acting and great writing.
However, for all the greatness of Grover's scenes, Jerry stole the rug from underneath him with his cheer-inducing receipt of a Five-0 investigator's badge, something he was hankering for pretty much since his first few appearances in season 4. In saving his four Five-0 friends from probable death at the hands of Shioma's Yakuza (after the totally not surprising reveal that Shioma had in fact not been killed in a mutiny), Jerry was finally accepted as a full-blown Five-0 member.
VIEWERS: 8.73m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.0
VERDICT: I hoped to see Clay return and some courtroom scenes but as the episode progressed it became clear that was only a base for the real meat of the B-plot. A-plot was meh, but had an excellent ending. 8.5/10
In "Black Tears", McGarrett learned that his grandfather was a hero in the Pearl Harbour attacks, which is all heartwarming and lovely except it had no actual relevance to either plot strand beyond the victim being an ex-Pearl Harbour survivor. This was one of those character points that should have spun an episode, not a C-plot that really wasn't even significant enough to really be called a C-plot. And let's not forget that Hal Holbrook played the ex-Pearl Harbour survivor killed in the opening scene, in a total waste of Hal Holbrook's talents.
Meanwhile, Hawaii Five-0 chose also to go down the annoying route of forcing a murder investigation into every apparently non-plot-related scene they can: here, it was in shoehorning a dead body into the construction site at which Kono's husband Adam Noshimuri worked. Not that I didn't like the plot - it was the better of the 2 main plots - but this kind of lazy writing always irks me.
In the main plot, Five-0 followed a group ex-military-turned-bank-robbers; their actions were undertaken in support of a fallen comrade's wife, whose house was about to be foreclosed on. And yet the writers never attempted to make their cause a noble one, and the fact they were doing it for a justifiable (if no less criminal) reason was largely ignored for the one-dimensional aspect of the baddies' personalities, representing an oversight, if you ask me.
Which is what this episode mostly was. Oversight after oversight, topped with a little bit of tired trope.
VERDICT: If ever there was an episode of TV to demonstrate the definitions of "filler" and "shoehorning plots into mundane situations", it's "Black Tears". The fact that the B-plot was nonetheless enjoyable doesn't apologise for the shoehorning. 6/10
This has to be summed up as one of the best episodes of the season, partly because of its unique structure (I don't remember another Hawaii Five-0 episode built like this). That unique structure was to take the focus of one character and make them almost the only Five-0 character to appear in the episode at all. Sure, Lou, Kono, Chin and Jerry made appearances, but only for a few minutes and never in scenes with Danny. He was off with his old HPD captain saving a comatose witness who had been close to waking up from the cartel who wanted him dead.
One of the brilliant things about the episode was the use of the flashbacks of Danny six months after arriving in Hawaii juxtaposed with the present day Danny to give us insights into a number of show themes. Not only do we see how isolated Danny was back then in terms of work and personal life, but we then realise how far he's come given he now has an entire circle of close friends and colleagues. Not only that but flashbacks take us to Danny's fractured relationship with his wife Rachel, who blocks him from seeing his daughter Grace, whereas in the present day Danny and Rachel seem close to reuniting (even if Danny needs to break up with his current girlfriend first), while he now has a son Charlie with Rachel as well. And on top of that, the reflective theme of the episode matched with the reflective theme of the season, especially when it returned to talk of Danny retiring.
But by far the best thing to come out of this episode was an answer to the question "why was Danny at McGarrett's house the very first time they met?" And it transpires it was all because Captain Tanaka took him off the case his witness had gone missing from and put him on the John McGarrett murder case. Cue the final scene a wonderful copy-paste of the very first time Danny and McGarrett met.
VIEWERS: 7.78m
There were two stories here, and more clearly than in any previous episode could they be separated into two categories: one story for plot, and one for substance. Lou Grover's plot carried the substance.
 |
| Jerry proud to receive his Five-0 badge |
VIEWERS: 8.73m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.0
VERDICT: I hoped to see Clay return and some courtroom scenes but as the episode progressed it became clear that was only a base for the real meat of the B-plot. A-plot was meh, but had an excellent ending. 8.5/10
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x22 "Waimaka 'Ele'ele / Black Tears"
"Five-0 chase a group of ex-military soldiers who have turned to robbing banks. Meanwhile, Adam finds a bone at the construction site he works and suspects foul play."
In "Black Tears", McGarrett learned that his grandfather was a hero in the Pearl Harbour attacks, which is all heartwarming and lovely except it had no actual relevance to either plot strand beyond the victim being an ex-Pearl Harbour survivor. This was one of those character points that should have spun an episode, not a C-plot that really wasn't even significant enough to really be called a C-plot. And let's not forget that Hal Holbrook played the ex-Pearl Harbour survivor killed in the opening scene, in a total waste of Hal Holbrook's talents.
Meanwhile, Hawaii Five-0 chose also to go down the annoying route of forcing a murder investigation into every apparently non-plot-related scene they can: here, it was in shoehorning a dead body into the construction site at which Kono's husband Adam Noshimuri worked. Not that I didn't like the plot - it was the better of the 2 main plots - but this kind of lazy writing always irks me.
In the main plot, Five-0 followed a group ex-military-turned-bank-robbers; their actions were undertaken in support of a fallen comrade's wife, whose house was about to be foreclosed on. And yet the writers never attempted to make their cause a noble one, and the fact they were doing it for a justifiable (if no less criminal) reason was largely ignored for the one-dimensional aspect of the baddies' personalities, representing an oversight, if you ask me.
Which is what this episode mostly was. Oversight after oversight, topped with a little bit of tired trope.
VIEWERS: 8.40m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.0
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x23 "Wehe 'ana / Prelude"
"Danny's old HPD captain locates the missing witness from Danny's final HPD case over seven years ago, but so do those who want him dead."
This has to be summed up as one of the best episodes of the season, partly because of its unique structure (I don't remember another Hawaii Five-0 episode built like this). That unique structure was to take the focus of one character and make them almost the only Five-0 character to appear in the episode at all. Sure, Lou, Kono, Chin and Jerry made appearances, but only for a few minutes and never in scenes with Danny. He was off with his old HPD captain saving a comatose witness who had been close to waking up from the cartel who wanted him dead.
One of the brilliant things about the episode was the use of the flashbacks of Danny six months after arriving in Hawaii juxtaposed with the present day Danny to give us insights into a number of show themes. Not only do we see how isolated Danny was back then in terms of work and personal life, but we then realise how far he's come given he now has an entire circle of close friends and colleagues. Not only that but flashbacks take us to Danny's fractured relationship with his wife Rachel, who blocks him from seeing his daughter Grace, whereas in the present day Danny and Rachel seem close to reuniting (even if Danny needs to break up with his current girlfriend first), while he now has a son Charlie with Rachel as well. And on top of that, the reflective theme of the episode matched with the reflective theme of the season, especially when it returned to talk of Danny retiring.
But by far the best thing to come out of this episode was an answer to the question "why was Danny at McGarrett's house the very first time they met?" And it transpires it was all because Captain Tanaka took him off the case his witness had gone missing from and put him on the John McGarrett murder case. Cue the final scene a wonderful copy-paste of the very first time Danny and McGarrett met.
VIEWERS: 7.78m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.9
VERDICT: A well-timed venture into the past of one of the best characters on the show, marrying with the current theme perfectly. 9.5/10
After a Danny-centric episode, we get a Danny-less episode. These tend to be on the less interesting side of things just by default, because the central pairing of Danny and McGarrett is being divided, but the problem is too many of these big storylines occur when Danny isn't present. Earlier in the season, episode 150 which saw the return of Catherine and McGarrett's mum was devoid of Danny (and it was a hugely important episode); again, here, Danny was missing from a terrorist plotline that didn't even give one of the usual tired explanations for his disappearances.
But the episode was pretty good. Coming off the back of the Danny-centric episode it wasn't likely to match up and didn't, but there were some great scenes, including McGarrett flashbacks to 2007 when he worked at Gitmo and showed kindnesses to a terrorist rather than torture him. Ten years later, that kindness is repaid, and because of that Five-0 save a plane full of military.
The side plot boggled me a little bit - why was it relevant at all that ex-criminal-turned-crime-scene-cleaner Hirsch needed help with his business plan to get a bank loan? - but it took the final scene where Kamekona and his wise words show up to realise how the story fit with the episode theme, which wasn't necessarily about second chances, but about how showing kindness is a good deed and can see good deeds returned.
Also, no way Chin takes the job offer to Frisco.
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x24 "He ke'u na ka 'alae a Hin / A Croaking by Hina's Mudhen"
"McGarrett is informed by a terrorist held in Guantanamo Bay of an impending terrorist attack."
After a Danny-centric episode, we get a Danny-less episode. These tend to be on the less interesting side of things just by default, because the central pairing of Danny and McGarrett is being divided, but the problem is too many of these big storylines occur when Danny isn't present. Earlier in the season, episode 150 which saw the return of Catherine and McGarrett's mum was devoid of Danny (and it was a hugely important episode); again, here, Danny was missing from a terrorist plotline that didn't even give one of the usual tired explanations for his disappearances.
But the episode was pretty good. Coming off the back of the Danny-centric episode it wasn't likely to match up and didn't, but there were some great scenes, including McGarrett flashbacks to 2007 when he worked at Gitmo and showed kindnesses to a terrorist rather than torture him. Ten years later, that kindness is repaid, and because of that Five-0 save a plane full of military.
The side plot boggled me a little bit - why was it relevant at all that ex-criminal-turned-crime-scene-cleaner Hirsch needed help with his business plan to get a bank loan? - but it took the final scene where Kamekona and his wise words show up to realise how the story fit with the episode theme, which wasn't necessarily about second chances, but about how showing kindness is a good deed and can see good deeds returned.
Also, no way Chin takes the job offer to Frisco.
VIEWERS: 7.85m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.9
VERDICT: A decent episode, but writers need to readjust Scott Caan's weeks off with plotlines. There's no excuse he keeps vanishing for the biggest episodes of the season. 8/10
I was sceptical that, given Hawaii Five-0's lack of arcs building throughout the season, they would be able to produce a particularly thrilling finale.
Oh how wrong was I.
It began tamely enough, with the usual Danny and McGarrett banter, Chin getting it on with Abby and Kono taking Chin's stepdaughter out to collect party goods for a celebration of Jerry getting his badge. The storyline was slowly faded in as the sex trafficking victim from a few episodes ago, Moani, contacted Kono, having sketched the face of one of her captors in a therapy session. Five-0 put out a search for the bad guy, Deon, and found he was driving a truck around the island, with a dozen or so young girls inside.
Cue some of the most ridiculously amazing stunts I've seen in the show's tenure. Almost the entire second half of the episode was a car chase! Deon blew through HPD roadblocks, before being headed off the road so McGarrett could jump from a tunnel onto the back of the moving truck; they rescued half of the girls in a scene reminiscent of the movie "Speed", before McGarrett was forced to uncouple the truck and kill Deon in order to rescue the remaining girls.
It was an adrenaline ride far beyond what Hawaii Five-0 usually produces, and was just an all-round well-handled finale.
But what about the set-ups for next season? Kono, deeply affected by the girls and troubled by how widespread the operation is, has flown to Nevada to try and coordinate an operation to shut down further branches of the sex trafficking ring, while McGarrett has revealed he is suffering from radiation poisoning from the dirty bomb in episode 7x18.
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x25 "Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono / The Life of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness"
"Five-0 chase a sex trafficker through Hawaii."
I was sceptical that, given Hawaii Five-0's lack of arcs building throughout the season, they would be able to produce a particularly thrilling finale.
Oh how wrong was I.
It began tamely enough, with the usual Danny and McGarrett banter, Chin getting it on with Abby and Kono taking Chin's stepdaughter out to collect party goods for a celebration of Jerry getting his badge. The storyline was slowly faded in as the sex trafficking victim from a few episodes ago, Moani, contacted Kono, having sketched the face of one of her captors in a therapy session. Five-0 put out a search for the bad guy, Deon, and found he was driving a truck around the island, with a dozen or so young girls inside.
It was an adrenaline ride far beyond what Hawaii Five-0 usually produces, and was just an all-round well-handled finale.
But what about the set-ups for next season? Kono, deeply affected by the girls and troubled by how widespread the operation is, has flown to Nevada to try and coordinate an operation to shut down further branches of the sex trafficking ring, while McGarrett has revealed he is suffering from radiation poisoning from the dirty bomb in episode 7x18.
VIEWERS: 7.89m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.0
VERDICT: Stunning episode, well-rounded and thought-provoking. One of the best of the season. 9.5/10
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
WEEK SEVENTEEN - Steve McGarrett: "Book 'em, Danno!"
Tvr Roundup: Hawaii Five-0 Season 7: The Full Collection >>>>> Download Now
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