Happy Sunday everyone!  Sorry I’m late, but it seems Mother Nature has finally decided that seven months is quite long enough for winter and decided to serve us up a bona fide Spring day.  Just couldn’t seem to drag myself away from it.  But, there’s fun work to be done so let’s get on with it, shall we?

Ahhhhhh…..now that was a fun episode! Yeah, it was a filler episode; one that doesn’t move any story line further along and pretty much a stand-alone proposition.  It’s no surprise that in a 25-episode season you’re going to get stand-alone filler episodes every once in awhile. But that doesn’t mean they have to be dull or mundane.  It’s always a big bonus when they actually have a bit of heart in them and/or are a lot of fun.  This episode had both.

This episode had plenty going for it.  First off, there were two story lines instead of three.  Of course, my first preference would always be one great story that involves the entire team, but if there must be more than one story, two isn’t so bad.  Next, both stories had something going for them.  One, a study in how to solve a decades old murder with good old-fashioned police work and the other an entertaining little tale of a runaway Royal out for a bit fun which turns into something potentially much darker.  Lastly, it’s always wonderful when there’s a great guest star, one who doesn’t detract from the episode but whose presence actually enhances it.

Crime of the Week:  I saw quite a few people on Twitter after the episode call this a “cold murder case” but that’s not really accurate.  A cold case is one that was worked, probably very diligently, but no resolution was ever achieved.  This really wasn’t a cold case, because, as Tani sadly pointed out, no one ever knew the disappearance of Lara Levy was a murder.  This isn’t a case that went cold. It’s a case that never was.

I suppose I can forgive writers David Wolkove and Matt Wheeler for making me feel incredibly old with their dialog about we poor unfortunate souls who had to haul our butts out to a video store in the hopes that the movie we wanted to see was available for rent.  At least I never had a Betamax machine! 😊 But isn’t it lucky that Jerry does have one, and an old TV to watch the tape on as well.  He’s Jerry.  Of course, he does! 😊

“What are the chances that this won’t be disturbing…” Yeah…well…. That one was easy to call, wasn’t it?  It was a pretty certain bet that someone anonymously mailing a tape to Five-0 wasn’t going to be sending them a Disney princess movie.

This case was a great exercise in down and dirty police work, and it was so great to see Lou mentoring “the kids” through the process.  All the technology readily at their fingertips with the Magic Table wasn’t doing them a bit of good.  An old, grainy video tape.  No clear views of anyone’s face, so facial recognition was out.  A “room 13” room key and an old cell phone (the kind you only used to actually make phone calls) pinpointed the crime to have taken place in the 90’s but that was about it.  Oh yeah, there was that creepy heavy breathing.  Still, very little to work with.

But this story was less about the case itself than it was in the interaction between Lou, Tani and Junior.  These three are golden.  I can’t help thinking that Lou might feel right at home as the elder statesman/father figure teaching young ones as if they were his kids.  The interactions between them were not only instructional but moving and at times, very funny.  Some of the lines, and particularly Lou’s reactions, had me seriously laughing out loud.

Poor Junior and Tani; they’ve spent their entire lives with technology and instant information in the palm of their hands.  That puts them at a distinct disadvantage when faced with a case where there is little to no information available. But they both have extremely good heads on their shoulders and with Lou’s help, they begin to put the pieces together.

I especially liked the way Lou maneuvered them through those various puzzle pieces.  And it was interesting watching Tani and Junior making cold calls to try to pinpoint which motel had a “room 13” in the 90’s.  Have we ever seen Five-0 have to do that before? It was cool to hear Lou telling them why many buildings don’t have a room #13 or 13^th floor.  The exchange between them when Tani asked, “You know how when you’re watching a movie with the family and a sex scene comes on?”  Oh my God… the look on Lou’s face was priceless. 😆😆

And this case was more than just a little bit creepy.  The idea that a vent in the ceiling of a motel room could be the conduit through which a Peeping Tom could be watching everything going on in the room is chilling, as was the closet full of video tapes from years of such peeping.  Can you imagine the fear the wife of the peeper must have been living under all those years for her not to tell a soul about what her husband was doing?  And, isn’t it also rather pathetically ironic that the man who lived with the guilt of witnessing a murder for years would then threaten the life of his wife if she told anyone?  What a slime ball.

But it was the keen eye of Lou that finally helped them figure out who their killer was.  A pilot who was having an affair and routinely meeting Lara Levy at that motel.  It doesn’t happen all that often, but I like it when the team finds their perp on the mainland and go there themselves to haul them back to Hawaii.  I couldn’t help but feel horrible for his wife as our team took him away.

The most touching scene was Tani’s sorrow over the fact that Lara Levy really was a forgotten woman.  She had no family, I guess she didn’t have many friends, other than the roommate who initially reported her missing.  She was murdered, and no one ever knew it.  Tani has such a good heart.  She wants to bring closure to someone, a friend or family member who never knew what happened to Lara, but there just isn’t anyone.  It was a very poignant moment when Lou explained to her that sometimes there isn’t any closure only justice for the victim.  Sometimes it’s easy to forget just how young and new to the work Tani is.  It’s wonderful to know there is such an experienced and warmhearted mentor there to guide her through.

Lady Sophie:  I know there are probably those out there who thought this story was stupid.  Ok, so maybe it’s not the type of work our task force should be doing but it sure was a hell of a lot of fun.

First off, this was obviously a down day for Five-0.  The case Lou, Tani and Junior were working on was literally dropped into their lap.  It’s a fair bet to assume that if it hadn’t, they’d probably have spent the day on paperwork or cleaning guns or something.  The same for Steve and Danny.  They would probably have been doing the same if they didn’t get a call from our old friend Harry Langford and an invitation for lunch.  And like the case that dropped into the laps of the others, a day with Lady Sophie or, more specifically, a day chasing after Lady Sophie dropped into their laps as well.

Harry is in town with an old family friend, Lady Helen Mortimer, and her daughter Sophie.  There were so many wonderfully funny scenes in this story I spent most of the time with a huge smile on my face.  I loved the semi-casual name dropping about meeting of The Queen and Danny asking Lady Helen how far down the line she was to the throne.  I don’t know what was funnier.  The exasperated look on Steve’s face or the comically indulgent look on Harry’s.  The fact that Sophie outed her mother as knowing exactly how far down the line she is was hysterical.

There was this one weekend, when my daughter was about 15 years old when I came down with a cold that could have felled an elephant.  Unfortunately, it was the weekend I had promised my daughter we’d go shopping for clothes she needed for an upcoming weekend trip with the family of a friend.  So, I asked my husband if he’d be so kind and take her to the mall.  The look on his face when they got home was only slightly less agitated than Steve’s was in the next scene and he made me promise to never make him do it again! 😃

This scene was adorable.  First off, hungry, cranky Steve is absolutely adorable. Of course, it wasn’t just that he was hungry.  I mean, the man is a SEAL. He’s gone without food, water and proper bathroom facilities plenty of times.  This had more to do with the agony of shopping with a teenage girl.  Watching her try on outfit after outfit, not able to make up her mind, going back and trying them all on again… oh my God… it used to drive me insane.

Also remember, Harry has done this before.  It seems Sophie always does this.  Doesn’t pack properly as an excuse to shop the moment she gets where she’s going.  Danny is also used to it.  He’s shopped with Gracie zillions of times.  But Steve?  This was a new type of pain.  Sitting there watching Sophie try on outfit after outfit, each one probably worse than the one before, he was probably thinking he’d found a new torture technique for the next time he captures a terrorist.  Add hunger on top of it.  No wonder the guy was cranky as hell.

“I just feel like it’s my duty to warn you guys that my personality is about to take a serious left-hand turn if I don’t get some food in my system.” Translation:  Get me the hell out of here now!  It would seem when confronted with this situation, Charlie isn’t the only five-year-old psychopath with low blood sugar. 😊 And speaking of five-year-olds, Danny refusing to give Steve any of his animal crackers because “it’s my food” was perfect.  It seems not only are they an old married couple at times, they can be toddlers simultaneously too.

And like the scene in the hotel room, I can’t decide what was funnier.  Watching Steve get more agitated by the minute, Danny stoking the agitation with animal crackers or Harry’s obvious enjoyment of their antics.

But the best part was Danny being the one to finally put an end to it by picking out the individual pieces from three different outfits to put together the perfect ensemble to finally satisfy Sophie.   The look on the faces of both Steve and Harry were priceless.

Unfortunately, that’s the moment Sophie chooses to take off on her own personal island adventure, sans her three watch dogs.  Am I the only one who thinks Sophie might have some practice in doing things like this before?  I mean, she managed to disappear from under the noses of a James Bond MI6, a seasoned HPD and Five-0 detective and a Navy SEAL.  Not too shabby.

I absolutely loved Danny in this episode.  You know how much I love Daddy Danno time and this was Daddy Danno just without the kids.  He was in perfect Daddy mode in the dress shop using his experience to try to get them out of there and I had to laugh about how he knew exactly how to use social media to track Sophie online thanks to his spying on Gracie.  Thanks to Grace, Danny knows teenage girls and a teenage girl’s best friend will always know what no one else does.

Sophie’s best friend, Carlotta, is obviously another hellion like Sophie.  She throws up all kinds of attitude when Harry tries to find out what Sophie is up to but then she sees the most magnificent man on the planet standing next to him.  “Helloooo Steve McGarrett!” 😃😃 Finally, a female on this show who has eyes and isn’t afraid to show it.  I have never understood why every female (and some males for that matter) don’t react like that whenever that man walks into a room! And the look on Steve’s face.  One part embarrassed and not a small other part, slightly smug! 😃😃

Carlotta reluctantly tells the guys about the cute guy Sophie met on a dating app.  Danny manages to find online pictures of them both at a local pool party after asking Carlotta for the picture Sophie had sent her.  “Could you send us the photo? For investigative purposes.  Not because he’s cute.  Allegedly.” OMG… Danny was hysterical this entire episode.  And isn’t it funny how not only does Danny know how to troll social media, but Steve knows what “timelines” and “likes” are. 😃

Of course, Travis can’t help but brag on his page that he’s attained one of his #LifeGoals by meeting and labeling Sophie as a “real life princess”.  Now, not only is Sophie out there without protection, everyone knows about it.

Of course, you just know this little outing of Sophie’s is going to go very wrong eventually.  This is Five-0, of course, so what happens?  Yup… Sophie is taken by a bunch of low lifes who intend to sell her to some prince who wants to add to his harem.  Haven’t we seen this sex trafficking bit before?

Oh well, never mind. At least Sophie was bright enough to realize something might be off and to also realize that Harry would eventually track her down.  A bit of lipstick and a clever clue and we get the wonderful opportunity to see Steve and Harry go all 007 to board the boat where Sophie is being held.

Not only does Harry rise out of the sea without the bad guys ever seeing or hearing him, but Steve, off camera as Harry’s backup, sending one of them flying off the top of the boat was really funny.  “What’d I miss?  Oh, hey Soph!” A punch here, a kick there, one fired bullet, another bad guy into the drink and Sophie is rescued.  I hope she’s learned a valuable lesson and won’t be trying to escape again any time soon.

I did wonder where Danny got to during the 007 adventure to the boat.  I guess since there wasn’t any way Danny was going to swim out to the boat, they didn’t see the need to include him anywhere in the scene.  I don’t know… maybe he went off to get some malasadas for Steve or something.  But Danny was there with Steve and Harry as they escorted Sophie back to her mother.  The quick disappearance and reappearance was a little jarring, but I was happy Danny didn’t just disappear for the rest of the episode.

But, I honestly wish the writers wouldn’t do that.  Ok, it’s pretty obvious Danny isn’t going to do the James Bond thing and swim out to that boat, but at least throw a line or two in there or something.  “You guys do realize I’m not swimming out there, right?” “No problem, Danny. We need someone to coordinate with the Coast Guard from here”.  See, isn’t that easy??

It also wasn’t all that surprising to find out that Harry was Sophie’s real father.  I mean, there were subtle clues everywhere.  First there were the looks between Harry and Lady Helen back at the hotel.  “Harry is like family to us”.  Then there was the indulgent way Harry was with Sophie during her shopping spree.  Not all that unlike Danny is with Gracie.  Harry pretty much lost his mind at the idea of Sophie being out and about unprotected and the look on his face with Sophie’s “father” arrived for a full family reunion was extremely telling.

Let’s face it, it really wasn’t a very shocking reveal.  But it still gave the story a nice warm emotional ending.  Danny may have been the one to bring it up, but you could tell by the look on his face that Steve had figured it out as well.

I did find it interesting that it was Steve who questioned Harry about whether Sophie had the right to know who her real father is and not Danny.  Danny was so adamant that Charlie know he was his father, you’d think he’d be the one to question Harry.  But when I really thought about it, I like the fact that Danny backed Harry’s decision.

Sophie is already rebellious and head strong and, as we saw, apt to get herself into hot water with reckless behavior.  Throwing a monkey wrench into her life with such a reveal wouldn’t do her any favors and would, more than likely, make things much worse.

Adam has left the building:  Of course, this was not a third story line in the episode, thank God.  I was perfectly content with just the two stories.  But there was a mention of Adam and the murder of Noriko.

Danny points out to Steve that it is uncomfortably convenient that Adam left for the mainland on the very same day Noriko was killed.  Steve isn’t stupid, he sees that connection as well, but he’s decided he’s not going to deal with it until he’s forced to.  It seems obvious now that H50 has been renewed for Season 9, Steve probably won’t have to deal with it until then.

So, there you have it.  A great little episode that had a lot of heart and a lot of fun.  I sure hope Harry comes back again.  He’s a cool breeze on a hot sticky day. Harry melds with the team extremely well when he’s simply golden when he’s with Steve and Danny.  He obviously found a kindred spirit in Steve and he makes no secret that he is extremely fond of Danny. He enjoys their antics and their bantering and can hold his own when he joins in.  I already can’t wait for when he comes back yet again.

I hope you all have a great week my friends.  See you next week.  Aloha.  Malama Pono

All screen caps are mine unless otherwise noted.