Hello friends!  Long time no see!  How have you all enjoyed your summer? I hope you’ve all had a wonderful few months but now it’s time to face reality.  Labor Day weekend is upon us.  Local pools will close, and local schools will open and it’s time to go about the business of preparing for fall and winter.

However….. we all know that’s not what we’re thinking about here, is it?  Nooooo… We are seeing the light at the end of the very long hiatus hell tunnel.  To the day we all look forward to all summer.  The season premiere of Hawaii Five-0.  I can’t believe we’re starting Season 10 of our wonderful show and September 27^th can’t get here soon enough.

Photo Credit:  @alohaspaceman on Twitter

There haven’t been a ton of official spoilers but it still looks like there’s some great stuff heading our way from what we’ve seen courtesy of the great people in Hawaii who send us video clips and pictures from the filming going on around the island.

Before I go any further I want to send a special thank you to @hawaii_isla808 on both Twitter and Instagram.  Victor is an absolute jewel.  Being on the East Coast, every morning I wake up and can’t wait to get on Twitter to see what new gem he’s posted. I’m amazed at how much wonderful stuff he’s able to capture and thrilled he’s so gracious to share it all with us! From those of us lucky to have access to your wonderful work, mahalo Victor! ❤❤

So, what’s in store for us in the new season?  As of this writing there really hasn’t been a whole lot of true spoilers.  But we have had some indications of a couple of directions, even if we’re very short on solid facts.

Steve has a new truck:  I don’t know why this makes me so happy but I’m thrilled that Steve has a new truck.  Yeah, it’s another Chevy Silverado, but this one is a totally awesome red color.  I never warmed up to the silver truck since I loved the blue one so much.  Blue is Alex’s color, after all.  But this red truck is hot! Is it too much to hope that Danny gets a new Camaro this year too???

Photo Credit:  @hawaii_isla808 on Twitter

To be continued:  One is the aftermath of the Season 9 finale when Omar Hassan’s wife, Azra, smuggled a ceramic gun into HQ and took a shot at Steve with Jerry in close proximity.  So, who got shot in the finale?  Well, from the behind the scenes photos we’ve gotten from our friend Victor of Alex filming all around Oahu, Steve looks hale and hearty, if not somewhat scruffy.  It seems pretty obvious that Jerry probably took that bullet.

I’m curious to see how this event will play out for Jerry.  I wonder how it will manifest with his character.  Will there be a long medical leave and recovery period where we won’t get to see him much? Will he, in fact, fully recover and go back to work as the valued member of Five-0 that he is?  Will he recover and choose to leave the team?  Jorge is recently married, and his wife is based in Los Angeles.  Will he be like Scott and want to spend more time in LA with his family?  Will that mean less Jerry or no Jerry from now on?

I’m also curious to see how this event will manifest itself with Steve.  Is the reason he’s looking so scruffy and out of sorts in the BTS photos we’ve seen because he’s struggling with the guilt of Jerry’s shooting.  It was Steve, after all, who allowed Azra access to HQ.  It was Steve she was gunning for.  And we know from experience that Steve takes the safety of his team very personally.  I’m really looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

Photo Credit: @hawaii_isla808 on Twitter

Another to be continued:  Just the other day, there was this tweet from casting.

I’m thinking this could very well be Junior’s mom. We know she’s still around because Junior has mentioned her numerous times, but we’ve yet to meet her.  At the end of last season, there was that parole hearing where Junior showed forgiveness to the man responsible for the death of his sister.  That caused a major rift between Junior and his dad. It would make total sense for his mom to try to bridge the divide between them.  I love when we get to meet the families of our team, to expand the Ohana beyond just those we see week to week.  I don’t know for sure this is casting for Junior’s mom but it would be really nice if it is.

Other New Faces:  We do have some official news with regard to casting.  CBS has confirmed that Katrina Law will be joining the cast as a series regular.  She’ll be playing a character by the name of Quinn Liu.  Quinn is a Staff Sargent in Army CID.

Photo Credit:  https://twitter.com/TVLine/status/1161706624047865856

According to Peter Lenkov, she’s the team’s “newest recruit” so it sounds like, eventually, she’ll be joining the team.  TVLine describes her as “sharp-tongued in several languages” and with a “deep knowledge of military culture”.  Considering that it also says she’s been “recently demoted for insubordination” it sounds like she’s going to be a great foil for both Steve and Danny.

Just like Jenna and Lori before her, Quinn enters the Five-0 orbit in a less than congenial way.  Jenna barreled her way into Five-0 headquarters pretending to be a CIA Agent looking into John McGarrett’s investigation.  Lori was sent in by Governor Denning as a spy/babysitter to keep Five-0 and specifically Steve in line.  While both started off as antagonists they both (before Jenna betrayed Steve to WoFat) became friends and trusted members of the team.  Both, especially Lori, coming to realize that the Five-0 way of doing things, while not conventional, is usually the best way to get things done.

It looks like Quinn may be another cut out of that same mold.  The press release says she “comes into the show after an explosive collision with Five-0 on a case involving veterans.  She will soon become a local ally….”.

Photo Credit: @hawaii_isla808 on Twitter

I’m very curious to see how this situation is going to play out.  I mean, at this point Five-0 has seven full time team members.  Is Quinn going to be number eight?  That’s a pretty large team and with only 42/43 minutes per episode, I’m interested to see how the time will be distributed.  I’m not really overly concerned about it though.  I’m sure with the individual filming schedules the actors have, along with Alex, Scott and Chi doing less of the physical running and jumping (not that Chi did a huge amount anyway, bless his heart), there will be plenty for everyone to do.

Photo Credit: @hawaii_isla808 on Twitter

Another to surface on social media in connection with H50 is actress Katie Wee.  In an Instagram post, which has subsequently been deleted, Katie posted a picture of she and Alex in what looked like a date scene between her character and Steve.  Of course, I have no idea why she felt the need to pull the post down, other than, perhaps, it gave away a part of a plot TPTB didn’t want out there just yet.

I, personally, don’t think this date is any indication that her character is a new love interest for Steve, as I’ve seen people on Twitter speculate (and/or pray for).  As much as I would adore for that to happen for Steve, I honestly don’t think that’s what this is.  I think it’s just a way of showing that Steve is, finally, ready to step out a bit since his breakup with Lynn.  It’s a good, healthy step in the right direction for him.  He’s been alone too long.  He needs someone to love, confide in, and trust (above all trust).  Of course, he has all those things in Danny ….. 😉 😉

It looks like actor Rob Morrow (@officialrobmorrow on Instagram and @RobMorrow_ on Twitter) will be making an appearance (or more) on the show as well.  He’s been having a blast all over Oahu.  He went diving with the SEALs at Trident Adventures and he’s been posting IG videos and selfies from all over the island and the H50 set.  I don’t know what character he’s going to be playing but he sure is having a lot of fun while he’s there filming.  Check out his Instagram and Twitter feeds for some really fun stuff.

Photo Credit:  @RobMorrow_ on Twitter

More than just the star:  As I’m sure you all know by now, Alex is going to be directing again this season but what’s really exciting is that, instead of an episode being written around a story idea of his, the episode he’s directing is one he personally wrote.  This episode, already filmed as Production #10.01, has already finished primary filming although we still don’t know which Episode number it will be shown as.

What we do know is that the Navy SEALs who run Trident Adventures and who appeared in Episode 8.24 (when Steve and Junior saved Joe White) were at the Blessing Ceremony for the first day of shooting in July when this episode was being filmed so it’s a good bet that the episode will have a military/governmental story line.

Photo Credit: tridentadventureshawaii on Instagram

And Doris is back!  Isn’t it fascinating that given the opportunity to write his very own episode that Alex would choose to write one that revolves around Doris? He’s said in the past that he thinks that is a story line that deserves to be completed and it seems he’s taken it into his own hands to write the next chapter in the story, whatever that may be.

Photo Credit:  @ChristineALahti on Twitter

Sunset on the Beach:   The annual funfest that is SOTB has been scheduled for September 19^th.  Like last year, this year’s event will be a two-fer with the Magnum PI cast and as usual, the season premieres of both shows will be shown on Queen’s Beach.  This year’s gala will also include a special performance by the band Train. As always, it’s going to be a great party on the beach for those lucky enough to be able to attend.  For the rest of us, we’ll just have to live vicariously through those who are gracious enough to share their experiences with us on social media.  

Welcome to #HawaiiFriday:  Don’t forget that CBS has decided to give us a one-two Hawaiian Punch this coming season.  H50 will no longer be on at 9pm EST but will be shown an hour earlier at 8pm with Magnum PI following at 9pm.  I know many are not very happy with this change.  Many are worried that ratings will fall with H50 leading off the night and they very well may.  But, H50 is a much stronger show than Magnum and it seems, CBS feels they have a much better chance of a successful night with H50 leading the way.  Only time will tell but with the two Hawaiian shows, which exist in the same universe, back to back, maybe we’ll be treated so more references in each show about the other, as well as, a full blown crossover which fully utilizes both casts.  I could go for that!

Photo Credit:  @stephenhillacts on Instagram

For those of you who are Blue Bloods fans, they will still be on at 10pm.  For those who normally would tune in at 8pm to see MacGyver, that show will be returning in the beginning of 2020.

So… what are you guys looking forward to in Season 10?  I’d love to hear all your ideas, your wants and your not-wants.  It promises to be another great season but then this is our favorite show.  So of course, it’s going to be a great season.

Aloha.  Malama Pono