Photo Credit: CBS
Hi everyone. As much as I know there are some out there who would prefer to never hear from me again, I’m back with more love for Hawaii Five-0. It’s taken me awhile to get my head around the ending of the show and how, or even if, I was going to write on this blog again.
To be honest if it wasn’t for the fact that the finale has caused so much heated debate within the fandom, this “hiatus” wouldn’t really feel all that different than any other. I always feel a letdown at the end of each season. Not because the show itself has let me down in any way (well, most of the time) but because it will be months before I’ll get to see my favorite characters again in new episodes.
What I’m feeling now is pretty much the same. Not too different to every other April or May after the end of a season. It really only hits me when my mind naturally goes to the place it’s gone for 10 years. The place that says, “I know it’s tough, but it’s ok, it’s only 3 months until filming starts again”. That’s when it comes to me. Comes with a very resounding “clunk”. That’s when I feel it in full force. There won’t be any filming starting… ever again.
But such is life. Everything has a beginning, a middle and an end. All good things come, eventually, to an end, whether we’re prepared for it or not. Whether we like it or not. Life goes on and so, I suppose, do blogs.
I debated with myself on what the content of this blog in a post-H50 world would be. What would the first topic be? There was the obvious one, of course, but I decided that particular dead horse has been beaten far long enough. Both in lame episode reappearances and in (while quite entertaining) the ongoing discussions on social media. I think, for the fans who frequent this blog, those opinions were covered pretty well in the review of the finale and its subsequent comments.
That’s not to say the topic won’t ever come up again. It’s inevitable that it will. After all, you can’t discuss the sinking of the Titanic without mentioning the iceberg, right? Those discussions will go on, I’m sure, as do all discussions when a finale is a huge disappointment to the larger part of a fan base. I know people who are still scratching their heads over the end of LOST or are infuriated with the end of The Sopranos.
In the weeks since the series ended, once the initial disappointment over the way the finale basically trashed ten years of character development, I found my thoughts moving away from what might have been; away from what should have been and back to what was. What were the reasons I fell in love with this show from the very first moments I watched? The individual episodes that stood out. The special moments. The guest stars. So many wonderful things that made Hawaii Five-0 stand out as so exceptional for so long.
When we learned that Season 10 was going to be only 22 episodes, I’d planned to use the extra hiatus time to go back and re-watch from the beginning. I used to do that every summer hiatus. Before Season 2, I re-watched Season 1. Before Season 3, I re-watched Seasons 1 and 2. And so forth. It was only in the last three years or so that I didn’t go all the way back, but still re-watched at least two or three prior seasons before the newest September premiere. Because Season 10 was ending so early, I was excited to have a lot of extra time before the show returned in September to do a full re-watch. Well, now I have all the time in the world.
So that’s what I’m going to concentrate on. Starting from the very beginning. Because, for all the action, adventure, angst, love, hate, drama, ridiculousness, beautiful people in beautiful places, Aloha, Ohana, etc., what this show was first and foremost was a hell of a lot of fun.
I’m not going to do any full episode reviews. I admit I did think about it. Since I stared this blog at the beginning of Season 5, there are four seasons that I did not review. But to be honest, I really don’t think I have the stamina to write ninety-three more full length reviews. Besides, a lot of the fun for me in the reviews is in the speculation of things to come, trying to guess where the writers are going with a story and all the “what’s going to happen next?” Obviously, I can’t do that because we all already know all of what came next.
There are two choices when we sit down with a stack of DVDs of our favorite shows. Do we pop in disc #1 and watch straight through to the end or do we pick and choose which episodes to watch based on particular stories or favorite scenes or guest stars who were in those individual episodes? For the purpose of the next few blogs, I’m going with option #2.
Sitting down to re-watch from the beginning, which episodes would I gravitate to first and why? I hope, as I post these blogs over the coming days and weeks, you’ll chime in with what you agree with and, please do, what you don’t agree with. Add in any favorite episodes or individual scenes or moments you feel I shouldn’t have left out or make your opinions known if I added something you feel wasn’t up to par. You know how much I love an honest, friendly debate!
Hawaii Five-0 has come to an end. But the fascination for the show, the love for the characters, the location, the stories, and the friends we have all made along the way will always be alive and well. I look forward to continuing those friendships here and on social media for a long time to come. I hope you all will continue to like this blog now that new shows are over. If so, I will be eternally grateful. For those who leave, who chose to follow other shows or blogs, thank you for the support you’ve given to me and this blog and I hope for nothing but the best for you.
See you all soon. Stay home… stay safe…. Aloha. Malama Pono.
Hawaii Five-0 Kool-Aid 
Good for You, Linda … by all means, Bring It ! Last nite around 9pm I felt the same emotion as l did Friday a week ago.. But the pain is easing a little, bit by bit. On the positive side, I marvel at the video tributes that have flooded YouTube in the past 12-13 days. What an exciting way to celebrate 10 terrific years. I’ll be watching for your takes with great interest !
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I am also very sad that I didn’t have my Hawaii 50 last night. My favorite will always be the first episode, with the way that Steve and Danny met. It roped me in right from the beginning. It was explosive. It made me love Mondays. I looked forward to every Monday after that. And I fell in love with Danny. Steve was pretty awesome too. I will never forget that first show. There were a lot of other great ones to but I loved the first one. It was a love affair that lasted 10 years. I wish we could have another 10 but it is what it is. They all deserve a break. It is well earned. Thank you for taking the time to write this article.
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Looking back, I realized there are whole seasons for which I never went back and looked at the deleted scenes and other DVD set extras (the DVD sets not coming out ’til the new season was up and running didn’t help) — so that right there is something I can do to stay in the 5-0 groove.
Come to think of it, there’s at least one episode I never went back to watch (missed it ‘cos I was off-island when it aired) — the one where Danny and the there-and-gone forensics lady get stuck in the stalled elevator and Danny’s claustrophobia kicks in. I’m also not sure that I saw all the eps in the Alicia vs the murderer lady arc.
I get what you’re saying about your review process; going back over the earlier seasons would mean changing your approach to the review, making it mostly an analysis of the episode and maybe discussing how it sets things up for later episodes. I still think it would be cool, but then I’m not the one who’d have to do the work. 😉
Episodes to rewatch… they all tend to blend together in my memory, right up until I pick one and start it — and then turns out I remember more than I thought. 😀 S1 is the only one I’ve rewatched, and that was ‘cos I had the DVD set and one of those netbook-style portable DVD players on flights to and from Oahu. 😉
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So, thinking a little about this paragraph:
“In the weeks since the series ended, once the initial disappointment over the way the finale basically trashed ten years of character development, I found my thoughts moving away from what might have been; away from what should have been and back to what was. What were the reasons I fell in love with this show from the very first moments I watched? The individual episodes that stood out. The special moments. The guest stars. So many wonderful things that made Hawaii Five-0 stand out as so exceptional for so long.”
In hindsight, it’s striking me how Steve and Danny were sort of two sides of the same coin — very different ways of expressing things, very different ways of addressing situations, very different life experiences, but at their core, very similar — loyal to a fault, deeply caring, compassionate, familiar with grief and loss, hugely protective of those they love or consider their responsibility (and for all Danny seemed on the surface to be a stickler for detail in re: getting things done right so they’d stick, look at him when Gracie or Steve were threatened – he was ready to kill to protect his family, rules be damned).
I’m also struck by one of the qualities Danny seemed to treasure above all else about Steve — the gentle, compassionate heart, the “testosterone-filled marshmallow” whose greatest joy was finding and fixing broken toys and bringing them into his found family. Danny got to see and recognize those qualities by refusing to back down, by challenging Steve to let him in, by proving himself worthy of Steve’s trust over and over. Their partnership, their friendship, made the show for me; without it, I’d never have stood with H50 for a decade.
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Such a great idea, Linda! I couldn’t imagine doing 93 more reviews, but I kinda like Bert’s idea of rewatching from the beginning and discussing how to put those early episodes in perspective with what we know happened going forward!
Looking forward to more discussion centered on the entire series! Can’t wait for the next installment!
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Oh, remember how we drove ourselves batty trying to figure out how the writers would get Steve’s neck out of that seemingly air-tight noose going from 1.24 to 2.01? I remember trying to come up with workable scenarios for Danny them to prove Steve’s innocence, and then PL them came up with something completely out of left field (and threw in a convenient “one/two week later” to allow for all sorts of stuff to be tidied up off-screen, if we were so bold as to say “oh, by the way, what about *this* plot point?”) 😉
There were certainly a lot of interesting plot branches that were never explored after they popped up in their specific episodes — like Danny actually *seeing* and talking to a ghost at that fancy apartment building (Mrs. Kekoa, the older lady gardening out in front of the building, who warned him about the dodgy elevator). Dude SAW A GHOST!! a real, live, identifiable ghost. That was trippy. (Though I guess Steve saw and spoke to his dead father often enough, and we have to accept that as ghosts being a real part of the H50 universe, or Steve having some troubling mental issues…) 😉
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I was hooked from the pilot. I miss my Friday nights in Hawaii. Magnum P I can’t replace my Friday nights in Hawaii, sorry to say. I hope to see both Alex & Scott in new projects someday. Thank you for continuing the blog. It will be fun remembering favorite episodes with you all here.
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I’ve been watching MPI now it’s back on and in H50’s timeslot, but it’s a bittersweet experience – like visiting a friend’s house after someone else has moved into it. The house (Oahu) is still the same, but the old, familiar faces aren’t there any more – only your memories of them and the good times shared there.
The familiar aerial establishing shots – the Honolulu skyline, coming over the Ko’olaus towards Kaneohe, tracking along the H-1 through downtown, flying along the Waiks shoreline… stylistically the two shows are understandably very similar.
It’s a shared universe, so we’re inevitably going to see Magnum & Co at (or at least outside) familiar official buildings, like the Water Board building that’s served as the exterior for the CME’s office all these years – not to mention the buildings on either side of the Ali’iolani Hale (the multi-storey one “Diamond Head” of the Hale stood in for HPD HQ a few times early on, and the old sorta Spanish-style post office building Ewa of the Hale played courthouse many times). I’m wondering how long it’ll be before we see either the Ali’iolani Hale or Hilton Hawaiian Village turn up – the Hale especially, as it’s so tightly bound to H50.
I think the first time we see Kamekona’s shrimp truck in this post-H50 world is going to be more than a bit melancholic – it’s been our team’s go-to hangout place for years, now. (Though I guess MPI has La Mariana).
Did H50 ever go up into the Aloha Tower? I know they shot several times at the (I think?) now defunct Aloha Tower Marketplace, but I don’t remember them ever going up into the tower itself.
I don’t think they ever went out to the Polynesian Cultural Center either, did they? Or Sealife Park, out by Waimanalo? Or the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center and Museums? (I was going to say Fort DeRussy, but I think H50 did shoot there).
So I guess there are still a lot of places H50 never went – or haven’t been to in years – that MPI could use as locations. That’s the beauty of being home-based on Oahu — a mind-boggling array of cool places to take your show on location without treading on the toes of LOST or H50.
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I really needed this. I’m so glad you’re continuing the blog. Friday night’s will never be the same. I’ve been losing myself in audio books and fan fixes, definitely avoiding the TV…..still feeling way too much animosity to a certain EP, so thank you, thank you because this already makes me feel better.
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Hi Linda,
A great Idea. I miss this show terribly as do so many fans. I am more disappointed each week with finale, even though we can’t change it, I am not ready to let go as yet.
I would enjoy the reviews continuing and thank you for doing this.
Somewhere in my mind I am hoping TPTB would do a movie to properly end this show as it should be with more thought and time to show what these characters meant to each and change the history of the show the way they did.. We have a lot of time on our hands these days and probably for a while longer, so seeing my favorite show and characters from the start would be something that I would appreciate. Take care.
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I am so glad you are continuing this blog, Linda! I,for one, would miss it terribly. Having said that, I want to go back to the premiere of this series and my thoughts about it. Having been a fan of the original series, I wasn’t sure if this series would-or even could-measure up to the original. I shouldn’t have worried, as there were connections to the original right from the start,beginning with the opening credits and of course, we had the ultimate connection, Dennis Chun,whose father,Kam Fong,was Chin Ho Kelly in the original series. I will always be appreciative that Dennis was a part of this show and I know his father would have been proud,too.I really loved the dynamics of the Steve & Danny relationship and only wish it hadn’t been tortured so in the series finale. When DDK & GP left at the end of season 7,I knew the show would not be the same and it wasn’t,but Meaghan & Beulah breathed new life into it and I really enjoyed seeing their on-screen relationship as Tani & Junior evolve and I believe it would have evolved further had there been a Season 11. Looking forward to the discussions in the weeks to come!
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What a great idea! I’m looking forward to more! I was in love with Alex from his prior 2 tv shows and was so excited that he was cast for H50 (I watched the original with my dad so very sweet memories). I watched the pilot, fell head-over-in-heels in love with him all over again and was completely hooked.
Let the discussions begin! Thanks for doing this!
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Thank Goodness you’re continuing this blog. I wasn’t sure you would but really hoped you would. I absolutely agree, the show was for me the heart of Steve & Danny’s loyalty to each other in working & solving cases together. The Whole show grew each season from that base, even stronger right up to the middle of the finale. So it literally blew my mind that the entire premiss of that core base was just abandoned in the end. Ten years of being presented in that view (for me) Ruined in the last 15 or so minutes. The minute Steve left Danny on the beach the rest of the writing seemed thrown together like dough on the wall, eventually it falls off and hits the floor with a thud! That whole last scene was dough on the floor to be out in the trash.
Take care & stay safe ❤️
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Thank you, Linda, for deciding to do some blogging on the earlier episodes of Hawaii Five-0. I look forward to seeing them. I wasn’t sure I wanted to come back to anything related to the show. I’ve finally been able to forget the last few episodes. I found your site two or three years ago and I’ve read some of your earlier posts from seasons before that. Your thoughts seem to be similar to some of mine so I’d like to see what you think about earlier episodes as well as some of your posters. I have always appreciated your love for this show even when you didn’t agree with its direction. I could always tell you had a genuine love for the show in general and not just specific characters. I’m sure having something fun to escape to will be valuable in this current situation. Stay safe and be well!
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Hi, Susan! I kind of laughed at the end of your post. The series finale and your post reminded me of the early 90’s when I was in college. Spike Lee was very popular for his culturally insightful movies. After watching several of his movies I became disappointed. The movies would start of well and would continue to tell a good story. However, Lee would put his artist take or spin on the final scene or ending of the movie and I would sit there thinking what the hell did that have to do with the whole movie. My father and I had the same thoughts and to this day my sister won’t even bother to watch his movies.
It’s rare that I see a series finale these days and find any satisfaction. I almost dread hearing a show is having their series finale for fear that I’ll be disappointed. I was expecting that much from this one, but I thought that there would be only one disappointing part. I was wrong. Someone I follow posted a link to this site from a McDanno shipper and I think it is one of the most objectively insightful views on the finale. After reading this and seeing a few other posts from followers on the board it has really helped me to overlook at lot of the finale.
I don’t know if I should post these links or if it is a good idea. Some may enjoy this if you haven’t already read these. Linda, if you think that his wasn’t a good idea or inappropriate and need to remove this I understand and apologize for posting it.
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Hi Denee! No need to apologize. There is a setting on this blog which prevents comments with links from posting on the page. You wouldn’t believe how many people try to post stuff on here that is wildly inappropriate. But I read through the posts you linked to and even I don’t agree with 100% of what was said, they all make very valid points so I see no reason to remove them. Thanks! ♥
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Hi Denee, I loved that. Yes, that helps more than you know. I’m seeing it this way from this point on, LoL finally something I can handle! Thank you for posting this. Thank you Linda for keeping it. I was sort of venting in my earlier comment but it just came out the way I felt, like in the original move “The Odd Couple” when Oscar throws the spegitti/linguine on the wall & it just hangs there sliding down the wall. That’s how the ending felt like to me, just a big mess on the floor. But I have a new perspective now, thanks to you, stay safe 🤗
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