This episode had a little bit of everything. And even though I won’t rank it as one of my favorites, it was extremely enjoyable and I liked it very much. I think I’ll give this one another A.

I’m going to start this review a bit backwards this week and start off with a few of the holes I’m sure everyone noticed.

• No Danny…..again. Ok…I understand that apparently Scott has worked something out with TPTB for more time off. I honestly don’t have a problem with that. With the addition of Grover on the team I don’t feel like we’re limping along with a leg missing as much as I did when it happened last season. I totally understand Scott is a new father thousands of miles away from his baby daughter. I have no problem with him not being in episodes…once in a while. But it just seems to be happening more and more frequently. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again….the Steve/Danny friendship is what makes this show for me and I will always miss it when it’s not there.

It’s perfectly logical that Danny would be recuperating after his ordeal in Colombia but I’m kind of glad they didn’t go into detail about that. Steve’s comment that it had been a rough week and Danny would be back next week was enough for me to know what he was talking about. Going into detail about his injuries or how much he needed time to mend would have only highlighted, to me anyway, all the times Steve has been injured, tortured, electrocuted, water boarded, damn near beheaded, yet never seems to get time to recover. Too bad Danny couldn’t have absorbed some of Steve recuperative powers through years of osmosis.

And although I love Grover and he fills in quite nicely all the time, in this particular instance I would have loved if Steve and Danny had been in the barber shop together. I would have loved seeing Steve ping-pong from Danny to Odell in the wise-crack department. I would have loved to hear Danny try to tell Odell how to do his hair or better yet refuse to let Odell get near him with a pair of scissors.  I would have loved a Danny rant…. “A shave Steven…A SHAVE! It was supposed to be just a shave and a haircut…..2 bits! Once again….danger magnet…..that’s what you are!” Ok…so shoot me… I love Danny and I really hope he’s in all the remaining episodes of this season.

• Ummmmm guys…. This is 2015. Who doesn’t have a phone? Ok…maybe Odell doesn’t have a land line in the shop. That’s understandable…many people don’t have land lines but no cell phone? How do you conduct a business, regular customers and walk in’s or not, without a phone? But I’m willing to let that one slide. But Steve…… I realize you’re there to relax and unwind but please…you left your phone in the car? Ok…human error. It’s 6am, you toss the phone on the car seat as you’re driving and simply forget it when you get out. It happens. But you’re Five-0 and a SEAL to boot. You don’t leave your essential equipment behind. Just because its 6am doesn’t mean a case can’t come up.

Not only that but Chin, Kono and Grover, working on Jerry’s case, never noticed that Steve didn’t show up for work today? They didn’t ring his phone to find out where he was. It would have repeatedly gone to voicemail and they would have known something was up because Steve always answers his phone…until today, of course. It reminded me of when Danny had his phone turned off when he was away with Amber. I didn’t like it then either. Like with Danny, you want peace and quiet Steve? Put the damn thing on vibrate but at least have it with you.

• I realize that Steve was in Odell’s shop at 6am. He stated that Odell had given up his morning surfing to open the shop just for him. Other shops and stores on the block wouldn’t be open for hours yet. They also stated that they were pretty far from any residential area. So even if there was enough firepower there to wake the dead it could have taken that long for someone to hear it. But once they did, I’m sure they didn’t call HPD and say they heard “a gunshot”. I’m sure they reported the amount of gunfire they were hearing. And HPD sends only one cop to investigate?

  

  

• I also thought it was really funny that with a gazillion rounds of ammo shooting up Odell’s place the glass front of the flower shop right next door is completely intact. That’s some pretty precise shooting there.

• The last scene with the photos of all those kids missing and presumed dead. Why didn’t Five-0 know about that and why weren’t they already working that case? There looked to be well over a dozen photos in that pack. How is it that was never reported?

Well, now that that’s out of the way….. I don’t want to give you the impression that I didn’t like this episode because I did…very much. There are certain things that have never bothered me. In all the years I’ve been watching this show there have always been things that make me scratch my head, things that are silly or unbelievable. There have always been WTF moments. But I love this show, I love the characters and the stories and no matter what I don’t like or think could be better, it has never diminished my love for the show as a whole. I feel like they should be mentioned but I have no issue with overlooking them after that because what’s good about this show is always enough to override what could be better. But, of course, that’s just me. Glass is half full…ya know? This episode had funny moments, touching moments, death, destruction, a great twist and managed to get me reaching for a tissue to dab a few tears. So yes…everything I love about Five-0.

• I know there are those who don’t care for Jerry but I love the big guy. Seems he’s still living with Chin and trying his best to earn money. I guess spinning a sign for Kamekona doesn’t pay all that much so he’s standing in as a plant for HPD lineups. He obviously never thought he’d actually be picked as a perp considering the guy is as innocent as a new babe. The forlorn look on his face as he’s in that line up was adorable.

  

So, of course, he gets picked and now our conspiracy theorist is living his worst nightmare in an HPD interrogation room. The rest of the team knowing full well that Jerry is innocent set off to track down the real home invader while Jerry cools his heals at HPD. And how adorable is he asking Chin to look after his mom after he’s sent away? Big teddy bear is what he is.

  

This story was great comic relief especially when it turned out Max was Jerry’s alibi. Max is a terrible liar and Chin soon found out the boys had been out gambling the night before. Max’s concern when he found out Jerry was in trouble was very sweet. I love it that these two geeks are friends outside work.

  

Chin decides to check out the home invasions himself and finds they are escalating in violence. It was a nice way to give him, Kono and Grover something to do. It wasn’t the strongest case out there, filler really, but at least we got to see the rest of the team in action.

I really really like Grover. I knew I would, right from the beginning but I was one of those who thought he should have remained SWAT commander. I worried his alpha ego would clash with Steve’s and they wouldn’t be able to work together. I also liked the friendly animosity between them and was afraid we’d lose that too. I have never been so happy to be wrong. Lou is awesome as the 5th Five-0. I LOVED how he stood up against the real home invader. I wouldn’t want to tangle with him one bit either. He was also dead accurate in his assessment that Gabriel will be thinking Chin owes him big for killing Coughlin last week. A nice bridge back to last week’s episode.

  

  

• That opening scene with Steve in Odell’s chair getting a shave. All I kept thinking was…..WATCH THE FACE…WATCH THE FACE… Honestly, I have always thought that guys who get a shave like this must be the most trusting souls in the world. I mean…seriously…the guy has a straight edge at the throat! Makes me shudder to think about!

But Steve is completely relaxed and enjoying his ME time, so much so that at one point it looked like he drifted off. It’s nice to see Steve take some time for himself, just relax and let someone else take care of him for a bit. When he told Odell it had been a tough week, I immediately thought this must be just a few days after the last episode and all the emotional trauma surrounding Chin and, of course, Danny. But it seems that Doris, again, is plaguing his mind. Another really nice bridge to the last episode.

  

  

Steve and Odell were great together. It has become obvious over the years that Alex basically has chemistry with everybody! The banter between these two when everything went sideways was fantastic. Can they recycle bullets??? OMG I was cracking up. But Odell, scared as hell as he was, managed to do everything Steve told him to do, taking care of the wounded Eran, trying to escape, going outside to roll down the security gate (and damn…that bullet came close!), coming up with the Molotov cocktail idea and eventually being the one help take Eran down.

  

It really took me back to find out Odell is an attorney. But I can totally relate to his story. I once worked for a doctor who was only a doctor because his father demanded it. He never wanted to be a doctor so he chose the easiest specialty he could find, one where he could work any hours he wanted, never had to deal with emergencies and honestly didn’t have to treat actual sick people. It was rather sad he couldn’t have done something with his life that he really enjoyed. I’m glad Odell followed his Grandpa Jack and found happiness in his life. I’m also really happy he was able to pry a bit of information out of Steve about Doris. “She aided and abetted a man who was trying to kill me for years, then she went into hiding so I couldn’t call her on it”. Yeah…that about sums it up. I really hope we get to see Odell again in the future.

  

• Steve was in full-on hero mode in this episode. From the moment Eran hobbled into the shop Steve was going to protect him. Even totally outnumbered and out gunned there is no way he’s giving up without a fight. No one screws with SuperSEAL and gets away with it. The Molotov cocktail he and Odell cooked up reminded me of the General Pak episode in Season 1 and Steve’s take down of all the hitmen reminded me of when the KLM came after WoFat at the high security lock up. No one fucks with SuperSEAL!

  

  

  

• Speaking of Eran, I had a feeling there was going to be some kind of twist with him. Now, I’m not saying I figured out what it was, because I didn’t. It’s just with this show and particularly when an episode is written by Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt, nothing is ever as it seems right at first. So I was saying to myself…ok…seemingly innocent kid being tracked down by killers because he saw something he shouldn’t have. He seems sincere, truly scared by what he saw, a kid in real trouble. Hmmmmmmm I wonder….?

  

Of course, the twist, when it was finally revealed was a total shock. Suspecting him to not be what he seemed is one thing. What he really turned out to be was a twist I NEVER saw coming and, honestly, made me sick. The fact that his crime was so heinous his own father, a ruthless Armenian mob boss, wanted him dead because he felt he was “touched by the devil”. He also assumed HPD and by extension Steve and Five-0 had heard about all those missing children. I can’t tell from Steve’s expression if he DID know about it or not but I can’t believe, as I said above, if he had heard, Five-0 wouldn’t have been working that case.

  

  

• The last two scenes were what made this episode for me. They were two extremely well written and acted scenes. In the blue room, Steve is almost reluctant to tell the man that his son is dead even though the man already knows it to be true. He thanks Steve for doing what he, himself could not do. Rid the world of who he considered a monster even if he was his son. When Steve asks him to do the right thing, to bring closure to all the families of those lost children, I just KNEW the next scene would be my undoing. Steve almost seems afraid of what he would find.

  

Then Steve arrived at Eran’s secret room. This is the kind of scene that always solidifies my love for the acting style of Alex O’Loughlin. A scene with no dialog…yet a scene where Alex delivers pages of dialog with just his eyes and his movements. He slowly walks down the stairs and sees all the locks on the door. You can see immediately that he realizes what that signifies. He slowly reaches out to open the door. It feels as if he’s afraid of what he is going to find. The moment his light shines on the one small pink shoe on the floor you just know this is going to be horrible. Steve walks into the room, his light shining on the clothes and toys left behind by the small souls who were kept in this room. Steve’s reactions are so incredibly subtle, a man fighting to keep his emotions in check. A man fluctuating between sadness and anger. Then he opens that box and finds the pictures. Concrete evidence of the young lives Eran stole from the world. Boys and girls, so young, so vulnerable, dead at the hands of a monster. And Steve just loses it and I am gone!

  

   

   

  

I was beginning to think I was going to have to complain that for two weeks in a row Peter told us we would need tissues and we didn’t. Then the last scene played out. There is nothing in this world that does me in more than when an incredibly strong man is reduced to tears and Alex absolutely ROCKS the emo scenes like nobody’s business.

  

  

The fact that Steve broke down like this is, I hope, a telling sign that all the horrible and traumatic things that he’s gone through and witnessed in his life are finally catching up to him.  Like I said…I hope this is true and maybe….just maybe…we might see some of the PTSD story that was hinted at a year ago.  I mean, before now, a situation like this would have made Steve angry, brought out aneurism face ten fold.  Now it reduces him to tears.   I really hope this is explored more.

So there you have it.  Another solid A. It’s going to have to hold us for 3 weeks as we have to wait for March Madness to end before we see our show again.  It will be the home stretch…the last 6 episodes of the season.  I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us as we move toward the end of the season.  Have a great week my friends.

DISCLAIMER:  All screen shots are my own, taken from iTunes.  Also, as always, I have not read any other reviews on this episode before I wrote this.  I DID live tweet during the episode itself and was on Twitter for a couple of hours after.  Any resemblance to other blogs is purely coincidental.  Chalk it up to great minds thinking alike! Aloha!