Hawaii Five-0 is a police procedural…….. Hawaii Five-0 is a show of action……. Hawaii Five-0 is a show of adventure……. Hawaii Five-0 is a show of murder, arson, kidnap, and other such mayhem……. Hawaii Five-0 is a show of international terrorists, human trafficking, drug dealers and mob bosses……. Hawaii Five-0 is a show of BAMF SEALs, BAMF cops, car chases, gun battles, hand to hand combat and explosions.

And we love every single minute of it all.  But, never to be forgotten, never to be overlooked, Hawaii Five-0 is a show about family, Ohana, blood ties recognized but totally not necessary.  Yes, as much as we love all the action and adventure, Hawaii Five-0 always comes back to Ohana.

I really loved this episode and I wasn’t sure I was going to.  Yeah, I know, I love pretty much every episode but this one had a very good chance of being one that wouldn’t measure up for me.  First off, this was a Danny-less episode which is always a first strike against any episode for me.  Second, I knew from the synopsis this was going to be a two-story episode where the stories had no connection to each other, where characters from one story would have little or no contact with characters in the other story.  And lastly, this seemed to be an Alex-light episode as well.  No Danny….. strike one.  Two unrelated cases….. strike two.  Limited Alex….. strike three.

But, that didn’t happen.  I found this episode to be extremely entertaining and very… very enjoyable.  Both stories were well written and they both afforded us with opportunities to learn more about established characters, Noelani and Adam.  There was even a small tertiary snippet for Junior where we learned a little more about his family and which set up things for an upcoming episode.  Any time we get to learn more about our favorite characters is a win in my book.

I thought Adam’s story was awesome.  I really enjoyed learning just how hard it must be for anyone raised in a crime family who doesn’t want their life dictated for them.  Just look at poor Tamiko.  First her father (and Adam’s father) tried to push the two of them together in an attempt to make each family business stronger.  When Adam refused to be married off by his father, Tamiko was forced into an arranged marriage by her father which was, predictably, total misery.

It was uncharacteristically nice of her father to realize the mistake he made forcing her into a marriage of convenience.  It was also amazing that, even after finding out her true love was an FBI agent embedded in the family in an attempt to take them down, he was, out of love for his daughter, not only letting the marriage proceed, but setting them up financially so they could disappear and live a normal life.

It seems Tamiko’s fiancé was a man with a heart of gold.  Years earlier, evidence he provided sent a man away to prison leaving his pregnant wife alone.  But he felt bad for the man’s wife and was assisting her and her child financially to help her make ends meet.  It was this man, furious to find the man who sent him to prison was involved, even if only financially, with his wife, who killed Tamiko’s fiancé.  But her father is a formidable man.  He may not have killed Tamiko’s fiancé, but he wasn’t going to allow the man who destroyed his daughter’s happiness walk away or simply be arrested.  I will say though, that I hope all the alphabet agencies in the real world aren’t as infiltrated with moles and snitches as the fictional agencies are.  Here we are yet again.  Tamiko’s father has someone in the agency who alerted him to her fiance’s true identity.

I found that I really like the chemistry between Adam and Tamiko.  It’s also interesting that in the CBS Press Release for this episode, Tamiko is listed as a “recurring” character so it seems we will be seeing her again.  I can’t help but feel for her though.  She so desperately wants to leave the life she was born into and one knows better how she feels than Adam.  Is it too soon for Adam to be attracted to someone new?

I’m not sure about that but I’m pretty sure we really don’t have to worry about Adam going back for that “drink” Tamiko’s father set aside for him.  Adam turned his back on the Yakuza a long time ago.  He knows who he is now.  He’s in a good place, not only with Five-0, but also with his Five-0 Ohana.  I honestly can’t see there being anything the Yakuza could offer him that would make him turn his back on everything and everyone that’s important to him now.  Besides, even if he got involved with Tamiko, she doesn’t want anything to do with the Yakuza life either.

Of course, this is Five-0 and, unless you’re Lou and Renee, a happy relationship isn’t seen as interesting.  I hope TPTB aren’t looking to give Adam a “will he or won’t he” storyline wrapped around Tamiko and her father.  Meaning, I hope they don’t make them fall in love only to have her father force Adam into making a choice between his love for her and his love for his Ohana.

Photo Credit:  @alohaspaceman on Twitter and IG

But, I’m getting ahead of myself here.  Let’s just see where, if anywhere, this is headed.

Both stories in this episode were very strong.  So strong, in fact, that it’s hard to tell which one was the “main” story.  Noelani’s story was powerful and extremely poignant.  Kimee was incredible throughout the entire episode.

We’ve seen Noelani as the consummate professional in the field, as well as being cute, gregarious and downright funny outside of work.  But this episode afforded us the chance to see her in ways we never have before.

She was fiercely determined to help her friend and mentor no matter how terrified she was at being forced to retrieve a heart valve from a body in the morgue.  But she had the presence of mind to know someone (Five-0 of course!) would eventually look for her, so instead of just swiping her ID badge, she physically signed into the morgue with Dr. Chu’s name.  Smart thinking there, babe!

Then she not only assists Dr. Chu in the surgery, she singlehandedly mounts an escape attempt.  I can’t be the only one who literally cheered from my sofa when she hit that jerk over the head with a fire extinguisher!  Who knew our Noelani could be so badass??

And I really enjoyed how she performed the second surgery, following verbal instructions from Dr. Chu as she lay wounded on the floor.  I’m not sure which I loved more.  BAMF Noelani or pissed off Noelani.  Quoting my friend Lynnette, this episode showed “so many sides of the character, making her totally human and relatable.  The writers did a great job fleshing out Noelani in a way that makes everyone cheer for her.”  Kimee totally brought her A game in this one!

I had a hard time feeling sorry for the death of Dr. Chu.  I felt no shock or sadness at seeing her shot.  God, that sounds awful, doesn’t it?  But I can’t help but think there had to be other ways for her to make a living after the malpractice suit besides working for criminals.  I don’t know.  Couldn’t she have gone to some college and teach, or something?  Anything other than work for the scum of society?

Who I had no problem feeling sorry for, of course, was Noelani.  Her grief at not only losing someone she obviously loved but her grief at finding out she didn’t know her the way she thought was palpable.  Like I said before, I love it when we get to learn something new about our characters, so it was great to learn what, exactly, led Noelani into forensic medicine.  I have no problem understanding her reasoning; her fear of losing herself, by having to compartmentalize her feelings, when a patient is lost on the table.  I work for a surgeon and I’ve heard him say many times over the years that a doctor can’t “bleed for everyone who’s bleeding”.  It was heartbreaking to hear Noelani express guilt over not being able to help Dr. Chu after it was she who helped Noelani along her chosen path.

This episode looks to have been one of those lighter ones for Alex.  He wasn’t in the episode a great deal.  Steve was mostly running the murder investigation from HQ, and other than going with Adam to the killer’s boat and then raiding the warehouse where Neolani was, it was definitely an episode where Alex got a much needed breather.

But the last scene between Steve and Noelani made up for it all.  It was incredible.  Extremely touching and somewhat ironic.  Who better than Steve to understand everything she is feeling.  Who better than he knows the heartbreak of finding out someone you love and thought you knew isn’t the person you thought they were?  And who better to understand the need to compartmentalize feelings in order to do a job and the mental toll that takes?  As a SEAL, he’s a master at it.

It was really nice, however, to finally hear Steve say something about how he was affected by Joe’s death and how neither he nor Noelani could have saved their friends no matter who hard they wished they could.  How knowing it wasn’t their fault, knowing there wasn’t anything they could do, doesn’t make it one bit better.  It was an absolutely wonderful scene!

Photo Credit:  @alohaspaceman on Twitter and IG

I love scenes like this.  The acting is always so fantastic and Alex and Kimee did not disappoint.  Steve, as always was a rock for a member of his Ohana.  I find it fascinating that a man who has been through so much, who’s seen so much and lost so much can still be there for his friends.  So many people in his life have treated him badly.  Friends and lovers have betrayed him.  We don’t even have to talk about his mother.  He could so easily have turned into a cold hearted, bitter man.  Instead he’s always there, ready to encourage, comfort, share his experiences and the lessons he’s learned over the years. To be that strong shoulder when they need him.  What an absolutely remarkable man Steve McGarrett is!

I can’t end this review without mentioning Junior and Tani.   Their friendship has evolved and matured into one that is quite special.  I really love how Junior opens up to her about his relationship with his father.  I always get the feeling, even though it’s never been stated, that Tani has a real soft spot for the relationship between Junior and his dad.  It’s intimated that she had a very good relationship with her own father and I always feel like she really wants Junior to have the same type of relationship with his dad.  Tani’s father is gone but Junior and his dad still have a chance.

It’s nice to see that Junior and his dad are beginning to mend those broken fences and how Tani is always willing to lend a hand and go the extra mile.  Junior asks her to restore a beautiful old portrait of his mom and dad and so he can give it to him as a gift.  It really is a lovely thought.  Junior had found the picture in an old photo album in his mom’s closet.  It was very touching to hear Junior tell Tani how it was taken in their senior year of high school and how hard it is for him to believe they were ever so happy and carefree.  Giving this photo as a gift would have been unthinkable not too long ago.  It was so sweet of Tani to not only restore the picture, but to have it beautifully framed.

In a set up for an upcoming episode, we find out that the drunk driver responsible for his sister’s death is up for parole.  Junior is afraid of how his father is going to react to that news.  The synopsis for Episode 9.24 states that Junior will be speaking at the parole hearing.  Will he be speaking as an angry, grieving brother out to keep the person who killed his sister behind bars or will be noble and forgiving and show the huge heart we know Junior has?  What will it do to his father if it’s the later?

As for Junior and Tani, I know we’re headed toward something more solid between these two and I’m really looking forward to it because, honestly, can these two get any more adorable?  I had to laugh when Tani told Junior, for future reference, how he should never go through a woman’s closet.  Future reference being, possibly, her closet?? 😉🤣  Who really knows what’s in store for these two but, hopefully, like with Adam and Tamiko, if they do end up together, they’re allowed some measure of happiness.

Well, that’s it for this week my friends.  Only three episodes to go before the end of the season.  God, I hate the sound of that.  But next week Mary McGarrett returns to Oahu and that’s always a cause for celebration!

I hope you all have a wonderful week.  See you next weekend!  Aloha.  Malama Pono.

All screencaps are mine unless otherwise noted.