Photo Credit:  CBS

Happy H50 weekend!  As usual, I enjoyed this episode but, after talking to some friends and re-watching it, I have to admit to myself that, upon that second viewing,  it could have been done a bit better.  And while I think it did a good job of setting up the season finale next week, for the penultimate episode of the season it felt a little…. I don’t know….. blah.

I suppose it felt that way to me because there were things that just didn’t make a lot of sense.  Now, you know me… I am ridiculously easy to please when it comes to this show and things not making a lot of sense is something I wash down with a lot of KoolAid frequently.  It doesn’t affect my enjoyment of the show.  I just giggle at the silliness and accept it for what it is.  Like watching James Bond movies.  And I did like this episode a lot.  It had some great moments, some genuinely amusing ones, some incredible stunt driving and gun battle and some wonderful acting.

Photo Credit:  @alohaspaceman on Twitter and IG

Alex’s body language and facial expressions at moments when he had very little dialog was fantastic.  As always, there were pages of unwritten dialog portrayed in those moments.  Alex has always been so incredibly good at that.

But, still, there was an unevenness to this episode that can’t be ignored.  Like, let’s talk about Lou and Percy.  I really enjoyed their little story.  I love the fact that we could get an actual cargument out of them.  I love the way Chi and Clifton Powell, as Percy, play off each other.  Just like the wonderful chemistry between Chi and Michelle Hurd makes it easy to see them as husband and wife, Chi and Clifton are totally believable as bickering brothers.

This story was cute and finding out it was Flippa who was selling Percy’s baked goods as some sort of product research into opening his own business with Percy was a nice little twist.  This story was fun.

Photo Credit:  CBS

But did it belong in this episode?  It seemed totally out of context with what was going on in the rest of the episode and Percy’s line that there’s more than enough Five-0 personnel to spare Lou to help his brother was funny in the moment, but it turned out the team really did need Lou at HQ.  With Danny gone and Lou off with Percy, that left no one at HQ managing the magic table and tracking the team when Jerry was out in the field.  That didn’t make sense.

Then there is Aaron Wright.  I don’t find it unbelievable that a Government alphabet agency would make a deal with someone with a very specialized set of skills to use those skills to the Government’s advantage rather than having them either A) rotting away in some prison cell somewhere or B) being used against them.  So, Aaron working for NSA didn’t seem that far-fetched at first.

Photo Credit:  CBS

But this is Aaron Wright we’re talking about here.  This guy has been a master manipulator from the very first moment we met him.  Hell, considering the gene pool he and his brother Ian sprang from, he’s probably been a master manipulator since he was born.  It’s really hard to understand why everyone believed Aaron so easily.  The story woven around him, was really hard to follow, even on a second viewing, but they all went for it.  You’d think they’d have all been more cynical considering their past dealings with this guy.

Photo Credit:  CBS

This is where Grover and Danny were sorely missed.  Here is where one, or both of them, would have had something disbelieving and sarcastic to add to the discussion which would have at least voiced some skepticism at the manure Wright was shoveling.

Photo Credit:  CBS

Then there’s Jerry.  Now, don’t get me wrong. I was thrilled that Jerry totally laid Wright out with that right hook to the face.  It’s about friggin’ time someone got some retribution for Toast.  And I love that Jerry is taking more of an active role in everything Five-0 is doing these days.

Photo Credits:  CBS

But, I wish it had been Danny who threw that punch.  Actually, I had to ask a friend of mine when Jerry and Toast had ever actually met because I couldn’t for the life of me remember.  She reminded me that Jerry was in the “Poopy Penguin” episode the last time we saw Toast, and he tagged along on the breakfast trip to the mainland.  I guess he and Toast continued a friendship.

Photo Credit: CBS

But that’s not a friendship we’ve ever actually seen. Jerry sang a song of tribute to Toast at the end of the episode when Toast died but even then, it felt misplaced to me because we never heard Jerry even mention he and Toast had maintained any kind of connection.  What we have seen, over and over, are the clips from past episodes with Toast and those clips always include Steve and Danny’s history with him.  The fact that he was Danny’s CI long before Steve ever set foot back on Oahu.  That it was Danny who initially brought Toast into the fold.  That it was Steve and Danny who recruited him for help with cases.  That it was Steve who was forced to listen on the phone as Toast was brutally attacked and killed.

It’s why Alex’s ability to speak those pages of dialog with only his eyes is so incredible.  Jerry got to throw that punch, but as my friend so eloquently put it to me, he was able to “convey both his rage and disdain for Wright through his expressions and tone”.

Photo Credit:  CBS

I do really hope that in next weeks finale, when Danny inevitably comes face to face with Wright, the writers remember that the longest relationship Toast had on this show was with Danny and they let him give Wright more of what he has coming.

For all it’s unevenness, this episode did have one of the best chase scenes we’ve had for a very long time.  Junior might be our JuniorSEAL but Tani is a chip off the ol’ Steve block as well.  She’s as fierce a driver as he is when she’s on someone’s tail.  I half expected Junior to exclaim his “rational concern” at any moment.  And who else’s heart literally stopped when the SUV sent airborne and flipped over?  An RPG?  Seriously?  Good thing Junior has a good eye and Tani has great reflexes.

The gunfight that followed started off as pure Bonnie and Clyde.  I still can’t believe they got out from under that hail of gunfire.  I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like that aimed at our team before.  Well, there was that time when Chin was fired on like that.  The Season 4 premiere when Danny’s Silver Bullet went kablooie!

It was an amazing scene with Steve showing up just in the nick of time, of course, just as “planned”.  But this was another head scratcher.  I just can’t believe the writers actually had Steve send Junior and Tani out as bait to draw out the killers.  Well, not the bait part, but the doing it without any backup part.  Danny has always bitched at Steve for going into things without backup but that’s usually Steve taking the foolish risk.  Risking himself is second nature to Steve but he never risks his team.

Photo Credit:  @alohaspaceman on Twitter and IG

Tani and Junior are riding around in an SUV as bait, Jerry is with Steve and Adam in the van, Lou is with Percy, God knows where Danny is, and there is no one back at HQ monitoring any of this?  Junior and Tani didn’t even have HPD backup.  Nope… not right.

The best part of this episode for me was Junior’s story.  I thought it was really well done.  It was integrated into the episode, as a whole, by having Junior’s thoughts wander to the court proceedings all during their day.  It didn’t take anything away from his ability to do his job well, he’s a professional after all, but it was on his mind as it’s only natural it would be.

One thing I was very happy about was, after the events at the wedding last week, we didn’t open the episode with Junior and Tani in bed or something.  TV writers always seem to think that’s the next natural progression every time a couple make eyes at each other on the dance floor, especially at a wedding.  It’s so cliché and we know for a fact that just because a couple wakes up in bed together the next day, that doesn’t mean a damn thing with regard to their relationship if the foundation isn’t already there, or hasn’t already been damaged by previous events.  I like how the writers are bringing Tani and Junior along slowly.  It feels so much more realistic then if they’d fallen into bed too quickly.

Tani going with Junior to the probation hearing was perfect.  They are solidifying themselves as great and loyal friends above all else.  They are there for each other and support each other through thick and thin.  Any romance or commitment they may or may not eventually make, that foundation of solid friendship and loyalty will serve them well.

It would have been so easy for Junior to be cynical with regard to the speech from the man responsible for Maya’s death.  After all, he just spent the entire day listening to a man talk about his regret over previous crimes and his insistence that he’d turned over a new leaf.  It was all lies.

It would have been so easy for Junior to say to himself, “Why should I believe you?  What’s the odds that you’re blowing smoke up my ass and won’t just turn around and do the same thing again to someone else?”

But, as always, we see that Junior has a heart of gold.  He believed in the man’s sincerity and did a very noble thing.  I only hope his rebuilt relationship with his father can survive it.  After all, he and his mother thought it best to not even tell him the man was up for parole.  How is he going to tell his father that he not only got paroled but Junior was a big reason why?  Something tells me dad isn’t going to appreciate Junior’s generosity of heart.

So, all in all, a good episode but one that could have been a lot better.  I really liked it, but I would have preferred to love it.  What it did do was set things up very nicely for what should be an action packed and very intriguing season finale.

Season finale!  Now that we have the officially official word from CBS that we’re coming back for a Season 10, at least we know that no matter what happens in next week’s finale, we’ll be back in September to see how it all works out.  That’s a load off.  Now we can enjoy bitching about how slow the summer hiatus is again for another year.

I don’t know when I’ll be posting my finale review next week.  I’m leaving on a vacation at the ass crack of dawn on Saturday, so I won’t be writing anything for at least a couple of days.  If I manage to drag out my laptop in the few moments when my butt isn’t plopped on the beach, I’ll get it out sometime during the following week.  I’m sure by the time I manage to post something, all the topics will have been all talked out on Twitter or other blogs but that’s ok.  I just can’t let the season end without carrying the blog over its own finish line!

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone out there celebrating with the people they love.  I hope you’re all having a fantastic weekend!  Aloha.  Malama Pono