Hi everyone!  Have you all come down from your sugar high from Halloween?  Well, whether you did or not, this week’s H50 didn’t lessen the high one bit.

I thought, perhaps, this week’s episode might be a bit of a filler, between the great Halloween story from last week and next week’s monumental and highly anticipated 200^th episode.  Well, that sure as hell didn’t happen.  This episode was wonderful, full of emotion and Ohana.  The theme of friendship was strong in this one on so many levels.  Just to name a couple:

– Steve’s faith in his old friend and the palpable pain etched on his face at his death.

– Danny having a blast watching Steve get arrested and being cuffed to a table.

– The possible budding friendship between Steve and Emma.

– Tani battling with herself over whether to turn Adam in. Her guilt over it because Adam saved Koa’s life.

So, let’s break it down, shall we?

Just how many more people can Steve lose?   Just this season alone, Steve has lost two old and dear friends.  Tom Hennessey in the premiere and Carson Rodes this week.  If you add in the other agents who were “cocooned” and killed, even if they weren’t close personal friends of his, that makes what? Six?

And this one was particularly hard to take because, unlike Hennessey, Steve and Carson had reconnected and renewed their friendship only a few days earlier.  Had gone out for drinks, and spent time together reminiscing over shared experiences and their long-time bond forged of friendship and service.  These two were so close in fact, that at one point, Steve had offered him a place on Five-0.  That speaks volumes!

I especially loved the scene between them.  We’ve heard Steve talk about old friends plenty of times, even heard him say he’d recently “spoken” to them or something like that, but this time we got to see it.  It was wonderful to actually see the friendship, the connection with our own eyes.  To have his friend killed only days later, and under a huge cloud of suspicion was extremely difficult for Steve to reconcile and because we got to see the friendship first hand, hard for us to reconcile as well.

And just how awesome was Noelani to realize it so immediately?  How could she not?  Just like Alex the actor, Steve the character displays every possible emotion in his facial expressions.  NCIS investigation or not, Noelani understood Steve’s need to not only see and be with his friend, but to try to understand what the hell happened.

Written by Rob Hanning and Paul Grellong, with the wonderful Peter Weller in the director’s chair, the case of the week was a wonderfully convoluted story of kidnap and rescue, of mistaken guilt and redemption, of abuse and flight, of joy and reunion.  I was so thrilled it turned out that Steve was 100% right about his friend.  Carson was the good guy all along.  Thank God!  Bad enough Steve had to lose another friend, at least it wasn’t another friend who went to the dark side.

As always, we have to commend Alex for his work in this episode; in his ability to take Steve from shock, to mourning, to anger and determination and even to the lighter moments of bantering with both Danny and Emma.  He was extraordinary but then, when is he not?

It’s easy to laugh when you know there’s no danger:  I loved Danny in this episode but, of course, I love Danny in every episode! I’m especially happy the writers are pairing Steve and Danny together as often as they can this season.  I know I’ve said this before, and I hope I get to say it a lot more this season, but their partnership has such a great Season 1-2 feel about it these days.  It does my heart such good to see them as they always should be.

Once again, except for when Steve was with Emma, he was working the case with Danny by his side.  The scene in the morgue, Danny stood by as a strong sentry as Steve sat and mourned his friend and he was the one who broached the subject of Carson’s personal affects with Noelani, not Steve.  The same way Noelani knew of Steve’s need to be with his friend, Danny knew Steve would not rest until he found the truth about what happened.

But what I really enjoyed the most was Danny’s ability to add a bit of levity to the episode.  Danny’s joy over Steve getting arrested was awesome.  The look on his face when Emma entered HQ was priceless and I loved how he counted off as Emma listed all of Steve’s offenses and slapped the cuffs on him.   🤣🤣

The scene in the “conference room” was even better.  “Can I post this on my Instagram account??” 🤣🤣again!

Of course, I know there will be those who will grouse and complain that Danny was being annoying and disrespectful and hurtful and every other adjective they can think of but, personally, I loved every moment of it.  I love that the bond between them is so strong that Danny is able to tease his friend, bring a bit of lighthearted levity to the situation.

Because, in that moment, Steve was feeling very low, still grieving, and handcuffed to a table unable to be out there trying to find the truth.

Danny’s arrival was like the sun coming out from behind a dark cloud.  He wouldn’t be walking into that room in such high spirits if things were so dire.  Of course, Steve already knew his stay there was going to be short lived; knew Danny was headed to the Governor.  But still, you could see the immediate lift in Steve’s demeanor the moment Danny walked in the door.  He couldn’t stop the grin on his face!

Danny was able to have so much fun with it all because he too already knew, from the moment Emma walked into HQ that it was all totally temporary.  Poor Emma, not knowing about that pesky immunity and means thing!

We can never have too many friends:  I have to say, I’m intrigued with the new character of Emma Warren.  I wasn’t sure how much I was going to like her at the beginning.  I didn’t like how she immediately jumped to the conclusion that Carson had kidnapped that baby, but I did like that she realized how much his death affected Steve.  Although she asked that he back off and let NCIS handle the investigation, she did say she’d keep him in the loop as much as possible.  She didn’t have to do that.

Of course, there wasn’t a single person watching who didn’t get a good chuckle out of Steve promising Emma he’d stay away from her investigation.  Unfortunately for Emma, we know him a lot better than she does!

I totally got her indignation when Steve crossed the crime-scene tape and her anger when he removed a piece of evidence.  As much as I loved that Steve did it, because I love my SEAL, she was 100% right in her reaction.  I honestly don’t know how Steve’s gotten away with half the stuff he’s pulled over the years and it was fun to see someone stand up to him.  Steve in cuffs is something I never thought I’d see.

I even understood her being so standoffish with Danny when she entered that conference room.  Putting myself in her position I can easily hear myself saying “What the hell is with these guys? One invades my crime scene and the other one invades my office?”

As the episode went on, I found myself liking Emma more and more.  She could have dug her heels in and been a real hard-ass after Danny showed up with the letter from the Governor but she didn’t.  When Steve proposed that the investigation would progress more effectively if NCIS and Five-0 worked together, she agreed to pool resources.  Again, she didn’t have to do that.

Once that ice was broken, I really liked how she mellowed out.  I loved her reaction to Steve in the car; complaining about his interruptions.  And I loved that little flirt when she asked what her “other talents” were besides math!

So yes.  I enjoyed their car banter and I enjoyed the little flirting between them and the fact they’re going out for drinks.  It’s nice they had no hard feelings over his interference in her case nor that she arrested him.  It’s nice they may have an opportunity to be friends.  God knows Steve’s lost so many friends.  Even if we never see her again, it’s nice to think he may gain a new friend here.

 

Eventually, there comes a time when enough is enough:  Well, Adam is finally home and in terrible shape.  Adam and Kono are no more.  Yeah, not a huge surprise here, right?  The long-distance marriage made absolutely no sense last season and having it try to continue into this season made even less sense than that.

I’m ambivalent over the reason for the breakup however.  I don’t know.  Maybe it’s because we didn’t see the disintegration between them first hand that I find it hard to reconcile the two people who moved heaven and earth and endured so much to be together come to the conclusion that they’re now two different people only a year after they could finally be together.  Maybe it would feel more real to me if Kono had been killed in the line of duty or something.  An event which tore them apart rather than a mutual decision to separate.  But…. that would have been so incredibly harsh, and I do love Kono even if I feel she’s being incredibly selfish in this situation.  But then again, isn’t Adam also being selfish?  See… like I said… ambivalent.

Regardless of the reasons, Adam is home and distraught and in a bad way.  I was happy Tani went back to HQ and filled Steve in on Adam’s situation and that Danny went over there to check on him.

I loved that scene between Adam and Danny.  Danny is such a great friend and, of course, he knows first hand what it’s like for a marriage to break up.  Danny remembers all too well when he was feeling the exact same way as Adam is now and how his brother Matt “pulled him off the ledge”.  I was a bit disappointed Danny didn’t actually bring that up to Adam until I remembered that Danny’s never told anyone about that except Steve all those years ago.

So now Adam is going to be Five-0.  From a logical standpoint, Adam getting a badge is kind of dumb even though I’ve always loved Adam from the beginning.  It just doesn’t seem fair that Junior is a SEAL and yet he had to go to the Academy in order to qualify for Five-0 but Adam is handed a badge because he’s “helped out” in the past.  Granted, I always felt Junior going to the Academy was less about his qualifications and more a way for Steve to be sure his “combat” experience would translate well to the “street” but still.

Adam is not a cop and he’s an ex-con.  It’s not logical at all.  Also, when you really think about it, just like Abby and Sarah were written off the show when Chin left, so Adam should have been written off when Kono left.

BUT BUT BUT BUT….. I love Ian so much and I’m so totally thrilled he’s still on the show and I’ll get to see him on my screen every week that I’m willing to just go with the illogical and enjoy myself.  Critics be damned!

“There will be a time when we must choose between what is easy and what is right.” But, of course, there is still the issue about the gun.  We know it’s the gun that killed Noriko.  We know Tani put the gun back in the kitchen drawer when Adam went into the other room to pass out.

We also know Tani did not call in the tip to HPD.  After all, Tani told Junior she put the gun back and there’s no reason for her to lie to Junior. He’s the only one she confided to in all this so there’s no reason to lie to him now.  I was a bit surprised that it was Junior’s idea to call in an anonymous tip but I’m glad that Tani didn’t do it.

I did like how Adam confronted Tani over the gun though.  It was a bit of “turn around is fair play”.  She thought the worst of him…… he thought the worst of her.  They now both know they were wrong, and they and their friendship can move on.

But then who called in the tip?  It wasn’t Tani.  I don’t believe Junior would do it behind Tani’s back.  Captain Keo?  Or, obviously, Noriko’s real killer. I’m really curious to see how this works out.  Will Adam and Tani now try to investigate this on their own?  I hope to hell not.  It’s bad enough Tani has kept this away from Steve and the team this long.  I would hate for Adam’s first action as a member of Five-0 to be keeping something like this from Steve.  Let’s just hope both Tani and Adam get their heads out of their asses and do the right thing and tell Steve!

Of course, we can’t forget about Duke:  The most touching scene of the night.  Duke, returning, in uniform, to HPD where he belongs!  I loved that Steve had assembled a crowd to greet him, all excited to see Duke back at work.  I especially loved the mutual admiration, respect and, once again, friendship between the two men as they warmly greet each other then formally salute!  It was absolutely wonderful!

And let’s also not forget:  I haven’t gone into the actual COTW much here today because, for me at least, this episode was more about the character interactions than the actual crime.  But I do want to say that I really enjoyed the fact that everyone on the team contributed to solving this case.  This was the kind of episode I like.  One major COTW with the entire team involved and (if we must have a secondary story) it’s small and doesn’t take away from the main focus.  This was the perfect mix.

Lastly, I want to just say a word about Jerry and Lou!  These two are comedy gold.  Their little excursion to find the tail number of Carson’s plane was priceless.  More of this, dear writers!  Please!

Well, that’s it for this week my friends.  A really enjoyable episode in what has been, so far, a fantastic season.  It looks to only get better moving forward.  Next week is the much anticipated 200^th episode and it looks like it’s going to be an awesome story.  Not that I ever have any doubts about that.

So, until next week.  Aloha.  Malama Pono

All screen caps are mine.