Photo Credit:  Ian Anthony Dale on Instagram

Hi everyone!  I hope you’ve all had a great week.  Here we are again, enjoying yet another really good H50.  I was a bit worried about this episode, for no other reason, except that it was coming after last week’s extremely highly emotional one.  Sometimes, that leads to the next episode being a bit of a letdown but, thankfully, that wasn’t the case here.  While this episode, co-written by Chi McBride and directed by Ian Anthony Dale, didn’t have the highly touching impact that last week’s episode had, it was still pretty emotionally charged in its own right.  And it was a single-story episode with not only the entire team working together but with lots of Steve and Danny togetherness as well.  My absolutely favorite type of episode.

Chi’s scripts always seem to revolve around the Grover family and this one was no different.  We met Lou’s niece Siobhan only seven episodes ago when she told Lou she wanted to follow in his footsteps and be a cop. And here she was, already a stand-out recruit at the HPD Academy. That didn’t take long.

Photo Credit:  CBS

The opening scene between Danny and (we now know her real name) Joanna’s sister was extremely touching.  Annika Marks managed to tear my heart out again.  She was so incredibly believable in Marie’s grief.  And Scott played Danny’s reactions to her perfectly. You could see there were so many things he wanted to say, so many ways he wanted to comfort her, but he was so choked up all he could manage to say was “I’m so sorry” over and over again.  Of course, Marie understood. She read the police report. She knows what Danny did to try to save Joanna.

I do wish we could have had at least one line to say that the jerk who killed Joanna had been taken into custody but, honestly, the way the scene ended with the two of them clinging to each other in their grief was so poignant and heartbreaking I really didn’t need to hear it. I’m just going to assume that he is.

I, of course, liked this episode a lot but I have to be honest, it kind of gave me a similar feeling to Danny’s story in last week’s episode.  I really enjoyed that story as well, particularly the fantastic acting of both Scott and Kate Siegel, but it felt to me that the only reason why that story was being told was to concretely show that Danny was 100% ready to move past Rachel.  That’s the same feeling I got watching Bonnie’s story.

It was a good story, but it really felt like the only reason for it to be told was to further the “what the hell is Adam doing..” story.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love Nia Holloway as Bonnie and no one can turn on the emotional waterworks as well as Chi. He’s so good at being able to go from frantic worry, to murderous rage, to desperation in the span of only moments.  It’s always a gut punch whenever a big strong guy dissolves into tears and no one does that better than Chi.

Photo Credit:  CBS

Of all the guys Bonnie could have gotten involved with, she had to pick a Yakuza plant within the Academy. Of course, she didn’t know he was Yakuza, but he had to know her uncle was Five-0.  No, Bonnie isn’t a blood relative of Lou’s and, obviously, doesn’t share his last name but I can’t believe in the “getting to know you” part of their relationship, Bonnie didn’t mention why she wanted to be cop and the person who inspired her to do so.

This is where the story gave me the same feeling as last weeks did.  Bonnie’s bad-boyfriend could have been anyone. But Chi and Matt Wheeler chose to make him Yakuza.  Joanna came into Danny’s life to propel his character away from Rachel and Endo and Bonnie’s story was only told to further advance whatever the hell Adam’s story is supposed to be.

I’m going to say this again…. I do not like this story one bit even if I love what Ian is doing with the material.  Especially in this episode, I was very impressed with the amount of time Adam was on screen considering that Ian was also directing. The old adage “a good actor can elevate the material” really applies with this story.

Photo Credit:  CBS

For the life of me, I can’t figure out what the hell is going on here.  I pray to God this is a long con of some sort, like when Kono was undercover for Fryer back in Season 2, because this behavior of Adam’s makes no sense.  And this story is turning the team into something I never thought I’d see them be.  Distrustful and secretive.  Steve and Danny are searching Adam’s apartment behind his back while Lou, all buddy-buddy with Adam, is keeping him busy and distracted while they do it.

Photo Credits: CBS

I fully understand Steve’s desire to “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” but the fact that Adam has now found himself in the latter category is very disconcerting. Steve has had his doubts about Adam for a while but now it’s downright outrage coming from Lou.  If looks could kill, when Adam walked out of that jungle, he would have perished on the spot.

I did notice something after Adam got Bonnie back to Lou.  He walked out of the jungle and he and Steve made eye contact.  There was a very subtle nod between them.  It was definitely there but I can’t decide what it could mean.  It seems pretty obvious that if Adam is undercover, he’s doing it for someone much higher up the food chain and that Steve doesn’t know anything about it.

There’s no way Steve would have put on a charade of searching Adam’s apartment in front of Danny because Steve wouldn’t deliberately keep Danny in the dark over something so important.  He would trust Danny with the truth. Steve was definitely in the dark when they were there.

But that nod between he and Adam? Could Steve have found out something after the search of the apartment?  Was that nod an understanding of some sort between them?  Or was it simply “I’m happy you were able to get her back safely but don’t think we’re not going to be talking about this.”

UPDATE:  A huge thank you to @ernsand2 on Twitter for capturing the exact moment for me! ❤️❤️❤️

Whatever it is, Adam sure has a hell of a lot of explaining to do.  No, I do not like this story one bit.  However, the acting of everyone involved in it is making it easier to bear.  But I really can’t wait until it’s over and hope to God that when it is, we have our old Adam back again.  Maybe there is some hope…..

Yup, this is the kind of episode I love. One story, everyone working together to solve the problem and lots and lots of Steve and Danny time.  The Steve/Danny feels were all over this one.  Right from the start, when Danny was called into the ME’s office to meet whoever arrived from Joanna’s family, there’s no way Steve was going to let Danny go alone.  And Steve knows Danny so well that when the usually overly talkative Danny didn’t want to talk about his meeting with Marie, Steve didn’t push.  When Danny’s ready to talk, Steve will be there.

The last scene between them at the house was golden.  The scene was one of blissful domesticity.  First off, it was wonderful to see that Eddie is his old, cheerful self again while the guys banter over scrambled eggs and “bacon days”.  I honestly don’t know if most of that scene was adlibbed or not, but it sure felt like it was.  If it wasn’t, Matt and/or Chi wrote it perfectly.

There were several throw backs in this scene as well.  Steve and Danny have been going at it over eggs and breakfast since way back in Season 1. There was also the line “you get what you get and don’t get upset” which is exactly the same thing Danny once told Charlie at the dinner table.

Then there was that look, that fleeting look, on Steve face when Danny told him the repairs on his house were almost complete, so he’d be able to go home soon.

Steve had that exact same look when Junior told him well over a year ago that he was looking for an apartment.  Just like he was happy that Junior was beginning to feel settled in Hawaii, Steve’s happy that Danny’s life is getting back on track.  But those good feelings are immediately tempered with the dread of the house being empty again.

Steve really likes having a full house, having a “family” living under its roof again.  With Junior deployed, Danny has filled the void.  If Danny leaves, and Junior is still away, I don’t think Steve can bear the thought of rattling around an empty house again.  It’s a pretty safe bet that Danny will eventually go home.  I just hope it’s not for a very long time because I just adore all the time they are spending together.  I really don’t want to see it end.

Lastly, I want to send a truly heartfelt Congratulations to Ian Anthony Dale, his beautiful wife Nicole and their adorable son Roman on the birth of their second child, a baby girl.  Ian shared the wonderful news via his Instagram account this past Monday with an adorable picture of himself, Nic and the little lady.  I’m sure you all will join me in sending them all the warmest of best wishes.  Ian is embarking on an adventure he can’t fathom yet.  There is nothing in this world that can reduce a big, strong man into a gooey puddle like a little girl.  I know he’s totally ready to be a phenomenal #girldad!

Well, that’s it for this week my friends.  I know this review isn’t quite as long and rambling as usual (maybe that’s not a bad thing, eh? 😉🤣) but I’m in the process of preparing for a little winter vacation.  I’m up to my neck in prep so not a ton time for screen caps.  Just a few this week.

I’m not sure when I’ll get to see next weeks episode but I’ll try to throw together something if I can.  Until then, Have a great week.  Aloha.  Malama Pono

Back in 2010, when asked why he wanted to re-boot Hawaii Five-O, Peter Lenkov recalled how much his father had loved the original and how much he enjoyed sitting with his dad week after week to watch the show. He also commented on how, in the original, they never really touched on the personal lives of the Five-0 team all that much.  Those guys just went to work every day and, for the most part, the episodes ended at the office too.  He wanted his new Hawaii Five-0 to be more than just a procedural.  He wanted it to show life outside of work too.  He wanted it to have heart and emotion and deal with the personal lives of his characters as well.

It is, in my opinion, what has made this show so successful for the last ten years.  It has something for everyone.  It’s a good old-fashioned procedural, with gun fights and explosions, and car chases galore.  But it also has very compelling characters with real life triumphs and tragedies and an Ohana that ties it all together with compassion, togetherness and, yes, love.  It’s all those elements that keeps me tuning in week after week.

Needless to say, I was both looking forward to this episode and apprehensive about it at the same time.  The press release promised an episode full of anxiety, angst and worry.  The sneak peeks showed us a harrowing car accident involving Danny and an almost fatal encounter with cars involving Steve and Eddie.  This was going to be either a “keep a tissue box close by” episode or an “I’m gonna need a full bottle of wine for this one” episode.  Naturally, it wasn’t a perfect episode, but it was a damn good one none the less.

Once again, we have a two-story episode where the stories are completely separate from each other but this time, I’m not really sure which story was supposed to be the A side, and which was supposed to be the B side.  I didn’t put a stopwatch to it or anything, but I think the time was split pretty evenly between them.  And, damn, if they didn’t both pull on the heart strings.  It was a very different type of H50 episode without a crime of the week, gun fights or car chases.  It was actually pretty depressing come to think about it.  What made this episode so good was the acting of the principle players in each story.  Kate Siegel, Scott and Alex and, of course, Eddie.

 Danny and Leslie: Something else Peter said many years ago, was “a happy Danny is a boring Danny” but ohhhhhh how I do love to see a happy Danny.  Like back when he used to go out with Gaby.  I can remember Kono saying she liked Gaby because she made Danny happy and she liked to see him happy.  I could not agree more.

Leslie was wonderful.  I immediately loved her and her flirting with Danny in the bar.  The way Danny looked at her and the way his smile reached all the way to his eyes and lit up his entire face was beautiful to see.

Photo Credits:  CBS

Their “bathroom encounter” was unexpected but totally hot.

Their attraction was instantaneous, and their banter was easy going and totally natural. The chemistry between them was off the charts.  In just those few short hours, it was obvious these two had all the makings of a great couple.  Tragically, they weren’t destined to have anywhere near the kind of time to find out.

I do want to address a couple of things I saw people discussing on Twitter. The first thing is a complete error which a close viewing of the scene will show.  Some people were bemoaning the fact that Danny pulled out the piece of metal which was impaling Leslie in her back.  Please, go back and watch the scene closely.  He did no such thing.  She leaned forward in her seat and when she did, Danny saw the piece of metal, protruding through the back of the passenger’s seat.  Leslie “removed” the metal herself when she leaned forward.  Danny seeing this, pulled the metal out of the seat so she could comfortably (or as comfortably as possible) sit back without impaling herself again. He did not pull the metal from her body.

The second thing is how Danny couldn’t call for help because there was no cell service in the area and that the kid who drove them off the road was texting while driving.  That second part is open to individual interpretation.  It could definitely be seen as a continuity error.  How come the kid had service, but Danny didn’t?  Or, it could just as easily be that the kid didn’t have service either.  The way he was holding the phone, away from him and holding it up, is the way a person holds a phone when they are searching for a signal, not how one holds a phone to text.  I think that’s what he was doing.  Holding his phone up and moving it around trying to find a signal.  Since there was no service in the area, as seen on both Danny’s and Leslie’s phones, I choose to go with option #2.

As for those who keep saying you don’t need service to send a 911 call, that is also not correct.  If there is no service in an area, there is no service in the area period. It’s like if you have a land line telephone in your house but there are no phone wires physically attached to your house, the phone won’t work because there’s no dial tone.  In other words, you have no service.  The phone is nothing more than a paperweight.

You don’t need to have an account with a cell provider to send a 911 call.  That’s why shelters for battered women give out cell phones for emergencies.  They don’t need to have Verizon or AT&T or Sprint, etc., the phones will dial 911 without it.  But there still needs to be service in the area.  I do agree, though, with those who say that after ten years and all the situations pretty much everyone on this team has found themselves in, Five-0 really do need to think about carrying SAT phones everywhere they go.

 The acting of Scott and Kate in the crash scenes was fantastic.  Kate’s ability to act out such a traumatic injury, with pure emotion and facial expressions and little to no physical movement was amazing.  Most of the dialog went to Danny but I loved Leslie’s spirit and her ability to keep a sliver of her sense of humor in a horrible situation.

When Leslie’s heart stopped beating, when all the life and light left her eyes, all the breath was knocked out of me.  Kate was awesome.  I’m so very sorry we won’t get to enjoy her marvelous acting in the future.

It was almost as hard to watch Danny’s struggle as it was to watch Leslie’s physical pain.  He was so powerless to save her, but he tried so hard to stay strong and give her hope in such a hopeless situation. He kept trying to make her smile and, more importantly, to stay awake until help could get there.  Watching him desperately yelling for help and blaring the car horn in an attempt to keep Leslie awake was so hard to watch and seeing him break down when she lost her battle truly broke my heart.  I didn’t cry enough to warrant the box of tissues at my side, but I did shed a tear for what could have been.

Watching Danny as he walked away down that long desolate road was heart breaking, walking without a thought to what he’s doing or where he’s going.  The man was simply dazed and numb.  Scott totally rocked these scenes.

Leslie told Danny she saw three digits of the license plate on the car that ran them off the road. I hope the inclusion of that one line means we will see some follow through on this.  That kid deserves to pay for the life he took.  I don’t expect to see a long drawn out story, but I do expect to hear at least a line stating the kid was found and arrested.

But, honestly, what was the purpose of Danny finding the “woman of his dreams” if they were just going to immediately kill her off any way?  I personally see only one reason for this story to even be told. After several subtle references to Danny’s relationship with Rachel this season showing that things were not moving in a good direction, this episode was, in my opinion, designed solely to show that Danny has finally gotten to a point in his life where he’s emotionally ready to move on from Rachel.  It’s tragic Leslie died but the fact that she existed in his universe at all shows he’s ready to move on, he’s ready to have a great connection and build a future with someone other than Rachel.

Dear Lord, it’s about friggin’ time!  I’m thrilled they’re still friends.  The chemistry between Scott and Claire is marvelous and I hope we get to see Rachel again from time to time. I like that they’re lovingly co-parenting their children with no bitterness or animosity.  But as a couple, I’m equally thrilled Danny has finally come to his senses.  There is way too much deceitful water under that bridge.

Steve and Eddie:  It’s something I’ve always found fascinating.  You can sit down and watch a TV show or movie with a bunch of people; a movie with all kinds of violence, injuries and death, and most of those people will take it in stride and just sit and watch and enjoy the film.  But put an animal in the mix, especially if that animal is a dog, and have that dog be injured or, God forbid, killed and most of those people will totally dissolve into an inconsolable puddle.  Naturally, I’m one of those people.

When my husband and I first moved into our new home a couple of years ago, someone left the gate open and our dog got out.  In a neighborhood he was not familiar with he, naturally ran right for the street.  I was screaming his name and crying and running.  I was terrified.  Luckily he turned and ran back into the yard and wasn’t hurt but I think it took an hour for my heart to stop pounding.  And that was a residential street with very little traffic.  Not a street with four lanes of horrendously busy traffic.  Having a disoriented and terrified Eddie running loose in that traffic with an equally terrified Steve dodging cars trying to get him out of there was an incredibly nerve-wracking way to begin an episode.

Photo Credits:  CBS

Luckily, it seemed to be an off day for everyone on the team.  Danny was having a couple of personal days, Lou was away with Renee moving Will off campus at college and Tani and Quinn were, well, I don’t know, just together, I guess.  And Steve was totally consumed with Eddie and trying to figure out what was causing this sudden change in his personality.

I adored how everyone was truly concerned about Eddie.  Danny’s “tell Eddie I love him” touched my heart as did Lou making arrangements from afar for Eddie to see a canine PTSD specialist because “I love that dog!”.  Tani and Quinn left no stone unturned in trying to help Eddie too.  I know we always say it, how the Ohana on this show is truly amazing and while we already knew Eddie was special to them all, it was still wonderful to see them rally around him the way they did.

Watching Eddie laying on the floor and/or in Steve’s lap looking so despondent was bad enough but every time he sadly whimpered, he tore my heart out.  Seeing his back story in Afghanistan, how the handler he loved so much was killed was also incredibly sad. When you think about it, Eddie has lived through that trauma twice.  His handler in Afghanistan and his DEA handler in Hawaii both died in his presence.  Is it any wonder Eddie snuck out of the house to lay on the grave of his friend the last time?

Photo Credits:  CBS

Tani and Quinn tracked down a member of the military unit in which Eddie served in Afghanistan. Listening to him tell the story of Eddie’s time there was so sad, and it showed the loyalty Eddie had for his handler and his unit and the love and respect they gave him in return.

It was a pretty quick leap from listening to that story with only a fleeting mention of flowers to the discovery of those very same flowers being grown in Steve’s neighbor’s yard but the fact that it was the flowers that triggered Eddie was a fascinating twist.  I really loved Steve’s neighbor too.  She was so bubbly and enthusiastic about her love of plants and yet so instantaneously willing to remove the plants which triggered Eddie from her garden.  She mentioned she has a son.  I wonder if she has a husband too?  Anyway, I never considered that military dogs could suffer the same way as humans because of the traumas suffered on the battlefield. I’m glad the show tackled a story like this.

But there was more to it.  Just like Leslie was a conduit for us to see Danny finally ready to move on with his life, Eddie’s bout with PTSD was a conduit for us to see Steve finally be comfortable with voicing his own feelings about what’s been going on in his life in the last year.  It might not be full blown PTSD for Steve, but he’s been through a horrendous stretch and he’s finally able to admit the effects it’s had on him.  I like the continuity of Dr. Emma coming over to take care of Eddie and Steve explaining to her why he didn’t call her again after their first date. Although I personally don’t remember one single time when Steve has ever let his personal life suffer because of his job, he did go out with Emma before Doris died so I can see how that would put someone off pretty much anything, especially casual dating for a while.

Steve has never been one to open up about his inner feelings much so the times when he has done it are always pretty memorable.  Telling Lou about Freddie.  Telling Danny about his stage fright and the way “McGarrett” men are built, is another.  So it was a really beautiful moment when Steve admits that Eddie has pretty much been his emotional support for the last year and how without Eddie and his entire Ohana, he couldn’t have gotten through it all.  Considering the losses both Steve and Eddie have endured, is it any wonder they are such kindred spirits?

Video courtesy of @alohaspaceman on Twitter and Instagram

It’s also ties in with the short scene where Tani admits to Quinn how worried she is for Junior on his SEAL mission.  Quinn and Tani have really become good friends and I loved how she tried to reassure Tani that Junior will be ok. It’s totally understandable for Tani, seeing the way service has affected Eddie and Steve to be worried about Junior.  I’m sure she’s not only worried about the physical danger he may be in but also if what he experiences will affect him emotionally as well.  Like Tani, I can’t wait for him to get home and be safe.

And then there’s Adam. Did you see the way they all looked at him when he showed up on the other side of Steve’s front door? Not one of them gave any sign of relief or happiness that he’d come back. Both Tani and Quinn looked like they were just waiting for Steve to give them any indication as to how they should react.

These are the kind of small moments where Alex simply shines. His face was a hard mask when he first saw Adam, then as they moved close for a “welcome home” hug, Steve’s expression was more open.  But that hug? That was not a typical “envelop your friend closely and fully with both arms, hand behind the head” McGarrett bear hug. It was stiff and it was distant, and Steve’s expression was angry and distrustful.  All in the span of about 30 seconds.  Alex is a truly remarkable actor, but then, we already knew that.

I really don’t like this Adam storyline but that hug and that expression on Steve’s face gives me hope for some great acting between these two coming down the line.  That and the fact that Ian has said he really likes the material he’s been given is the only thing getting me through this story.

I really liked this episode. The acting from everyone was top notch and the emotional impact was strong.  I’m not saying I want a slew of episodes like this one, but it was a good change of pace.  I’m very curious to see what comes next.  The writers have been doing a really good job this season with continuity between episodes.  I have confidence there will be references to what happened to Leslie in next week’s episode and that Steve will be there for Danny, just like Danny was there for Steve after Doris died.  I’m looking forward to seeing them deal with this together.  There are those promo pictures of Steve and Danny having what looks like a rather intense exchange in Steve’s kitchen in the next episode.  I can’t wait to see what’s going on between them there.

So, until next week my friends!  Aloha.  Malama Pono

All screencaps are mine unless otherwise noted.

Well, here we are, another week and this review is super late. This is getting to be a really annoying habit but at least this week the reasons good ones.  Spent most of Saturday with family and woke up on Sunday to the most beautiful January day.  Sunny and 70 degrees.  Unheard of around here in January.  So, I spent a majority of my day outside enjoying the sun on my deck.  But.. duty calls so here is it…. better late than never, right?  😉

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Please Lord give me strength…. That was my prayer going into this episode when the synopsis and the sneak peeks made it more than obvious we were going to be handed my least favorite type of episode.  Not a one, not a two but a three story entry where everyone is separate and not one story relates to another.  Auuugghhh… yes, give me strength.

But, you know what?  This one wasn’t so bad.  I’m sure there will be some who will say it was boring because there wasn’t any gun battle, no car chases, no explosions and no intense SEAL level hand-to-hand combat.  All that is 100% true, except for the boring part.  Well, for me anyway.  I actually really enjoyed sitting back and watching this one.  It was sort of calm and relaxing.  Like, every once in a while, switching Sirius from hard rock to smooth jazz.  A nice little breather.

The three stories in this one consisted of 1) Steve and Danny dealing with school bullying 2) Grover and a golf club murder and 3) the ongoing annoyance which is Adam.

Let’s start off with Adam and get it over with.  For the love of God, please someone tell me there is more to this story then we’re being shown at the moment because every new scene annoys me more than the last.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love what Ian Anthony Dale is doing with the material.  He’s a wonderful actor and it’s nice to see him being given something to really sink his teeth into other than just being Kono’s husband, jilted husband or number 6 (or 7) around the magic table.

But I just don’t get the reasoning behind what’s going on with Adam.  There was no buildup to it other than when Masuda told him to stop fighting his heritage.  From the moment Adam met Kono, over nine years ago, he never questioned his decision to stay away from a Yakuza life.  Even in his most desperate moments, when he was imprisoned, when he was unemployable, when Kono left him, he never wavered in his resolve that he was moving in the right direction away from the life he was born to. Now, all of a sudden, he’s diligently working to “reclaim” his birthright as its leader?  Why? Because he loves Tamiko? She hates that life.  Because Kenji killed Masuda? Reprehensible, for sure, but why would Adam throw his entire life away for a man he, really, barely knows?

And now, he’s supposed to head back to Hawaii, somehow re-ingratiate himself with Steve and the rest of the team, so he can spy on them? These people who have been there for him for years.  The people who gave him a family when he was lost and alone with nowhere to go?   The man who, basically gave him his life, that he was affectionately throwing footballs to just a few weeks ago at Thanksgiving?  Nope… makes absolutely no sense.

I have no idea where this is going and, I know it’s cliché and I know it’s been done before, but I really hope this is all a long con and even if Steve doesn’t know about it yet that he will very shortly and they’ll begin to work together toward whatever the final objective is.  There are things we’ve seen that have been presented one way which could be seen entirely differently.

For instance, Tamiko. She has said, over and over again, how much she detested her father’s “business” and how much she didn’t want any part of it.  Even her father was willing to allow her to marry an FBI agent and let them disappear with a big financial settlement, to get her away from that life.  She’s repeated it several times that she had no issue with her father, that it was his “business” and the life she was forced to live because of it that she detested.  Now, she seems content with Adam heading straight toward a life she herself wanted nothing to do with?

There was that scene a couple of episodes back when Adam was going into a high-level meeting where she asked him “are you sure you want to do this?”  This is one of those scenes which can be interpreted different ways.  As presented, it seemed as if Tamiko was asking Adam if he was sure he wanted to go through with trying to unseat Kenji and take over the Yakuza. But it could be seen a different way.  As her asking him if he was sure he wanted to go through with a plan, hatched by we don’t know who yet, to make it look like he’s turned his back on a respectable life and Five-0 in an attempt to bring the Yakuza down from the inside.

I’ve always really liked Adam, from the first time we met him, and I’ve always felt that he totally sucked as a bad guy, worse when he attempted to take over after Hiro died.  I love him as part of Five-0 and the Ohana.  And as much as I love watching Ian really act out this story, I really hope this isn’t a true path to the dark side for him.  I’d miss him as part of the Ohana.

The second story of the episode was Lou and Tani working a murder case at an upscale gold club.  I really enjoyed this story.  If it’s one thing Lou loves, it’s his golf.  We’ve seen him taking Steve out on the links, we’ve seen him get in hot water with Renee because he went golfing and forgot it was Valentine’s day, we’ve seen him drag a poor caddy around the course in 100 degree heat because it took him months to get a tee time on a favored course.  Hell, his missing golf clubs even made it into Steve’s muddled and drugged mind in the 100th episode five years ago.  This time, it was thanks to Renee winning some contest, that Lou gets to tee off at this hoity-toity golf club.

I really enjoyed Lou and Zev working this case.  I was sure we were going to get a classic H50 red herring and it would turn out Zev was the killer but, thankfully, I was wrong.  I did find Zev rather over-qualified to be the head of security at a gold club though. I mean, forensic accounting?  And he took down the bad guy like an old pro.  I get the feeling Zev led an entirely different life before he came to Hawaii and settled into a cushy job at a golf club!

But I really liked the way Lou and Zev worked together and how they coordinated with Tani at HQ and Duke at HPD to track down who the murderer was.

And wasn’t it really cool to see Paul Lacovara play the killer?  Paul is, of course, the H50 stunt coordinator and stunt double for Alex.  We’ve seen him on our screens a zillion times, so it was cool that he finally got to have some actual lines! And that golf cart/foot chase had to be one of the funniest ever.  Right up there with Steve and Danny in the little red tourist scooter thingy a few years ago.  It may not be a standard Five-0 vehicle, but Lou’s driving skills were on point.

I also got a kick out of Tani walking into HQ and finding the place totally deserted.  It made me laugh at first because it reminded me of a few times when we’ve had episodes where everyone seemed to be somewhere else and we’d find ourselves asking “wasn’t there anyone at work that day?” 🤣

Of course, Adam is in Japan and Junior is… well, we don’t know where Junior is.  That phone message he left for Tani tore my heart out.  I’m not part of a military family so I won’t even attempt to try to understand what it must feel like to hear a message like that, or as Steve pointed out, to have to leave a message like that.  Of course, Junior will be fine, and he’ll be back before we know it but still.  The worry written all over Tani’s face was heartbreaking.  Like Junior, I’m looking forward to him getting home and for the two of them to pick up where they personally left off.

And then there is Steve and Danny.  It goes without saying, this was my favorite part of this episode.  There wasn’t much of it, but what there was, was perfection.  I’ve said this before, but this season has been, in my opinion, one of the best McDanno seasons we’ve had in years.  We might not get the quantity of Steve and Danny time that we used to get in the early years, but this season the limited quantity has been bolstered by the great quality of their time together.

This is no exception.  I really enjoyed the little talk they had in the principal’s office about excessive worry causing wrinkles and asking about “Mrs. WoFat” and Adam.  Even if he’s not there 100% if the time, Danny is still fully engaged in what’s going on.  He, along with Steve, have been trying to reach Adam and Steve is 100% right.  Adam sure as hell has a lot of explaining to do.  It’s funny though, isn’t it, that he’s dodging Steve and Danny’s calls, but he readily answered the phone when Tani called him last week?

With Rachel not around, as usual… of course, it’s Steve who accompanies Danny to the principal’s office to discuss the bullying problem Charlie is having at school.  Steve is absolutely family, Charlie’s uncle and Danny’s “emotional support” friend.  (Do you need special paperwork to bring this type of “emotional support animal” on a plane, I wonder? 🤣). The way the principle simply accepts this explanation was hysterical.

Naturally, Steve has Danny’s back when they go out and try to find Blake’s dad, Luke, when he doesn’t show up for the meeting at the school.  After last week’s crossover, it was fantastic to get back to a true McDanno cargument again!  I mean, seriously guys?  They hacked Luke’s cell phone to GPS track him down?? 🤣 🤣 Noooo that’s not excessive at all, Danno! 🤣 🤣

I loved the way Scott played these scenes.  The way he dialed back Danny’s annoyed anger at Luke the moment he heard that the guy was going through a divorce and that was causing Blake to act out, was perfect.

I saw someone mention on Twitter Friday night (and I’m sorry I can’t remember who it was so if it was you… let me know) how cool it is that ten years in we’re still learning new things about our Ohana.  This episode gave us a couple of new morsels we never had before. Steve being bullied as a kid when he went to military school was one more to add to a long list of tidbits we’ve learned about him over the years.

As someone who was very much the picked-on kid at that age, I can attest that, while a horrible thing to live through, it can sometimes make a person mentally stronger.  I’m not taking anything way from anyone who’s been subjected to such abuse who did not come through it stronger.  I can only speak for myself but what it did for me was make me more attuned to bullies and to go out of my way to never do anything even remotely similar to anyone.  And as a parent, I was always one of the first to step in whenever I saw it happening in my daughter’s school.  I cannot abide a bully.

We also got a glimpse into what it’s like to be in the military, especially as a SEAL, when there is a call up and they’re forced to simply leave home, without notice.  At least Junior was able to leave Tani a message.  I’ve heard that sometimes they are simply ordered to report and not tell anyone where they are.  A loved one just comes home one day, and they’re gone.  Hearing Steve tell Tani that as hard as it is to get that call, it’s just as hard to have to make it, gave us some insight into something he probably had to do and watched others do many times throughout his military career.

Lastly, not since Season 1 when Danny told Steve how Matt was there for him in the weeks following the breakup of his marriage, have we heard Danny open up about his divorce as he did in this episode and how it affected Grace.  His understanding about what Luke is going through, as well as how it’s affecting Blake was awesome.  He really opened up to Luke, about the trauma everyone in the family feels and how it will probably get worse before it gets better.  A brutal assessment but very honest.  But the thing I loved the best was his advise to “never… ever… disrespect your ex in front of your kids.”  It’s something, after everything that’s gone down between Danny and Rachel, no matter all the terrible things she’s done to him, he’s never done.  We’ve never once heard Danny say a bad word about Rachel to his kids.

I absolutely loved the look on Steve’s face as he listened to Danny talk to Luke.  And when Danny told him to be sure to call him and Steve if he ever needed someone to talk to about it all, the look on his face was pure pride and affection.  Danny is the best dad in the world and volunteering to be there for another dad going through the same trauma Danny knows so well was one of the best things I’ve ever seen him do.  Charlie and Eddie have a new friend in Blake and, it looks like Steve and Danny have a new friend too.  It’s too bad we’ll probably never see him again.

Like I said before, McDanno time might be more limited than it was in the early years, but it’s been really pretty great this season. Of course, I’d love to see more of them together.  Everyone who loves McDanno wishes that.  But the times they are together this season have really been pretty great.

If we can’t have quantity, I’m happy with having this great quality.  Scott is obviously in fewer episodes this season and Alex has cut back too.  This episode was very Steve (and Danny) light but was still a McDanno joy.  All I can say is, if Alex is going to get a Steve light episode, I’m loving that all his time in the episode is spent with Danny, whether they’re working a case or in personal time.  McDanno always rules!!

 Well, that’s it for this week.  Sorry for being so late again.  This is the last new episode for a couple of weeks.  H50 returns with a new, Danny centric episode on January 31^st.  The episode also focuses on a backstory for Eddie and his time spent in Afghanistan.  It should be a fun and intense episode.  I’m really looking forward to it.

Until then….. Aloha.  Malama Pono

None of the above screen caps are mine. A majority of them are courtesy of CBS and the always wonderful @alohaspaceman on Twitter and Instagram.  I’ve kept watermarks on any and all pictures as applicable.

Photo Credit: @magnumpicbs on Instagram

Ahhhhhh crossovers! Like everything else in life, there are all kinds of different opinions about them.  There are those who don’t like them because they feel they’re contrived for the sole purpose of just being a crossover, to force a bunch of characters together with no real connection and no thought as to how to make it a good story.  Others don’t like them because while one show might be a favorite, the other isn’t and they feel they’re being forced to watch a show they really don’t want to watch just to see the other half of the crossover.  Or worse, missing out on part of the story because they refuse to watch the other show.  Some just don’t like them… period.

Of course, there’s the flip side; people like me, who simply love them. I’ve always loved them.  I can remember watching the original Magnum back in the 1980s and loving the crossovers they did with “Simon and Simon” and “Murder She Wrote”.  I watched all three shows so getting to see a two-hour block of my favorite shows with all my favorite characters interacting was fantastic.

Even when I don’t watch one of the shows, I like crossovers because it gives me the opportunity to see a show I haven’t seen before and, just maybe, I’ll find a new favorite.  For example, I had never watched NCIS:LA until the H50 Season 2 crossover but having discovered it, I became a big fan of NCIS:LA as well.  Even if I don’t end up watching the other show, that’s ok too.  I just consider the characters of that show like I would any other “guest stars” on my favorite show.  So, yeah…. I really love crossovers and was extremely excited for this H50/Magnum crossover and I’m happy to say, I was not one bit disappointed.

It’s interesting how sometimes it’s seems to be too hard to write a 42-minute episode with just one story but for a two-hour crossover event, one great story spanned both episodes.  One simple plot point, the NOC List, was enough to drive 85 minutes of great TV.  When I first read the press release and it said, “Steve and Five-0 enlist the help of Magnum…..” I couldn’t wrap my head around how it would be written that Five-0 would need the help of a private detective let alone actively “enlist” that help.

Photo Credit:  CBS

What a great idea to have the bad guy Five-0 is tracking be the “cheating husband” Magnum and Higgins are surveilling.  It brought both teams together in such an organic way it was seamless.   It reminded me of the Season 2 crossover with NCIS:LA where the bad guy (Dracul Comescu) was a long-time nemesis of Callen and NCIS.  It makes it so the teams are working together for a real purpose, not just haphazardly being thrown together only for the sake of having a crossover.

Besides, after a year and a half of all these people living on the same island and working with the same people (Noelani, Harry Brown) and hanging out with the same people (Kamekona, Kawika, Nicky DeMarco) it was only a matter of time for their paths to cross.  Actually, 18 months was a very long time for them not to cross.

Photo Credit:  CBS

This story was pure H50. It was action packed, it was explosive, and it was convoluted with a classic red herring.  Yeah, there were a couple of things here and there that were a little head scratchy.  Like Eddie was right there to go all “fierce guard dog” on Higgins, but where was he while Casa McG was being trashed, even though, of course, I’m thrilled Eddie wasn’t hurt by whoever broke in.  I also thought the take down of the guy at Halawa and the retrieval of the SD card was a bit too easy, but I understand why it had to be wrapped up at that point to move the story forward into the Magnum hour.

Other than that, I can’t really think of anything else about this episode that wasn’t great. And what made it so was the incredible interactions between the casts of both shows.  Everyone who was in the episode had a part to play and everyone contributed to the story.  But it was the humor and the fantastic Easter eggs sprinkled throughout the episode that made it such a hoot to watch.  And judging by all the great behind-the-scenes videos and pictures posted by members of both casts in the weeks leading up to Friday night, it sure looked like they all had a blast working together.  I hope that bodes well for more crossovers with the main casts in the future, even if they can’t be whole episodes.

Photo Credit:  @katrinalaw on Instagram

Photo Credit: @perdita_weeks_ on Instagram

Photo Credit: @perdita_weeks_ and @meaghanrath on Instagram

Of course, everyone already knows all the best scenes in the episode.  Every scene between Steve and Thomas was fantastic.  We already knew from sneak peeks that Steve would commandeer the Ferrari.  But, of course, he would 😉🤣. Thomas’s asking if it was a “Rainman” thing and commenting on Steve having control issues was a fantastic call all the way back to the Christmas Episode of Season 1 when Danny said the exact same thing to Steve about him always driving the Camaro.  It’s also great to think back to that three -show panel discussion at Paley when Alex said he liked the idea of a crossover because he wanted to get his hands on that Ferrari. 🤣

Photo Credit:  CBS

Photo Credit:  @jayhernandez001 on Instagram

Steve scoffing at the possibility of Thomas being Robin Master’s “White Knight” was funny too.  Mostly because I have to agree with Steve.  Don’t get me wrong, I really like Magnum but when I look at all the SEALs we’ve seen in connection with both these shows, including their buddy Nuzo on Magnum and the real SEALs who guest star on H50, Thomas is the least convincing to me.  He just doesn’t look like SEAL material to me but then, that’s understandable considering I’ve spent the last ten years watching Steve.

The best scene, however, was the one with Steve, Thomas, Rick and TC in the van. Rick and TC fanboying over the “greatness” that is Steve McGarrett was hysterical, made even more enjoyable because of the increasing jealousy of Thomas.  Again, I like him a lot, but he is, as Steve observed about the “White Knight”, very cocky.  Watching him squirm while his buddies gush over Steve was priceless. It was also really cool to be reminded just how awesome SuperSEAL has always been, so much so that he’s legend among other SEALs.

Photo Credits:  CBS

But, all in all, Steve and Thomas worked together well, and by the end, came to have a mutual respect.  It was cool that Thomas recognized the photo of Joe White in Steve’s office and, like with Rick and TC in the van, it showed how connected they really all are as “team guys”.  I really hope we get to see them get together for that beer someday.

Photo Credit:  @alohaspaceman on Twitter and Instagram

The next best team up of the night was Tani and Higgins.  These two are like kindred spirits. Tani thinking being a spy would be cool and Higgins immediately sensing the closeness between Tani and Junior.  I really liked how Higgins told Tani about the MI6 agent she was involved with (a story we previously saw unfold on Magnum) and giving her the advise that if she can find happiness with someone, even if it’s someone she works with, she should go for it.  It’s been such fun all this season to watch Tani and Quinn bond, having it happen between Tani and Higgins was icing on the cake.  And how adorable was Tani, all nervous and tongue tied, asking Junior out?

Photo Credit:  CBS

There were so many great lines and scenes in this episode it would be impossible to highlight them all unless I sat here and transcribed the entire episode!  🤣 The scene in HQ when Steve and Thomas return was a particular highlight.  The entire scene was hysterical.  Rick and TC gushing over Steve had nothing on Lou trying to pump Steve for information on how awesome it was to drive the Ferrari and Steve’s whispering “I’ll tell you later” was adorable.  Then Lou tells them about how Steve was tortured in the sensory deprivation tank, an story Quinn never heard about either.  But the best part?  Lou asking Tani and Quinn if the bickering between Thomas and Higgins reminded them of anyone, Steve denying (without even having to guess who Lou is talking about) that it didn’t resemble he and Danny in the least, and the look between Tani and Quinn when Tani disagreed with him.  30 seconds of pure perfection.

Photo and video credit:  @alohaspaceman on Twitter and Instagram

This was a fantastic one-story episode, with everyone working one case.  Just the way I love an episode to be.  The only deviation was a small scene between Tani and Adam with Tani trying to understand why Adam is behaving the way he is and trying to convince him that he has family, people he can rely on.  It was a very short scene, but it was really heart breaking.

Photo Credit:  @alohaspaceman on Twitter and Instagram

The crossover into the Magnum PI hour was a bit less satisfying.  It was a really good episode but, honestly, it could have been just a regular Magnum episode if it wasn’t for the fact that Tani and Quinn were featured.  I guess I found it less satisfying because it was only Tani and Quinn.

Photo Credit:  CBS

I would have loved for it to be a full crossover, like the H50 hour was but it’s understandable that Alex, who already works a full 25-episode season, didn’t want to be committed to do a 26^th full episode.  It does make you wonder what army descended on Five-0 that could contain the entire team, especially Steve, though! 🤣

Meagan was awesome throughout the entire Magnum episode.  She was totally bad ass, was incredibly scared and desperate but until she gave a beat down to that moron who deleted the NOC list, she managed to be stay pretty focused.  I did love how she threatened to burn Kamekona’s shrimp truck if he didn’t give them the SD card Steve told him to protect.

Photo Credit:  @alohaspaceman on Twitter and Instagram

The reunion scene between she and Junior was fantastic. The relief and the love between the two of them jumped off the screen.  No kiss?  Nope and I’ll tell you why.  Like I said at the beginning of this review, there are undoubtedly fans of H50 who don’t watch Magnum and didn’t want to watch it on Friday, even as part of a crossover.  Those H50 fans would be invested in the Tani and Junior relationship and would be really upset if the long-awaited kiss happened on a show they don’t watch, making them miss it.

That’s what happened when H50 crossed over with MacGyver.  That crossover wasn’t a true crossover like this one, in that there weren’t two episodes covering one story.  It was just a weekly MacGyver episode that Chin and Kono happened to be in.  It was in that episode that Kono casually mentions to Jack and Mac that Madison Gray, a storyline that had run on H50 for several months, was dead.  H50 fans who didn’t watch MacGyver totally missed the denouement of that story and were justifiable upset about it.  This was perfect.  We’ll get that Tani and Junior kiss, but we’ll get it on Hawaii Five-0, where it should be.

Photo Credits:  CTV

I liked how the episode ended with everyone at Rick’s place for drinks, dancing and darts. I loved the flirtation going on between Quinn and Rick (can we dare ship “Quick”??). Who knows, maybe the next little crossover will be a Rick mention on H50 about the two of them meeting up for a drink or vice versa on Magnum.  The only thing that would have made the end better is if Steve, Danny and Lou, having been released, had joined everyone else at Rick’s place to celebrate.  Oh well…. maybe next time.

Photo Credit:  CBS

That’s it for this week gang.  Please feel free to comment on all your favorite moments because, like I said, there were just too many to list them all.  Have a great week.  Aloha. Malama Pono.

Super distracted this weekend and now, not feeling too well, so no screen caps from me this week.  Pictures above have their photo credits noted.

  🎉🍾  Hauʻoli Makahiki Hou  🍾🎉

Happy New Year and welcome to the last day, of the final year, of the first decade of the millennium.  Tomorrow we begin 2020 full of hopes, dreams, plans, and endless possibilities.  What will the new year bring?  New beginnings, births, deaths, new jobs, retirement, travel, relaxing nights by the fire, triumph, tragedy…. all of the above…. none of the above?  In essence.. it will bring life …. in all its complexity and all its simplicity.

The turn of a new year also, obviously, gives us the opportunity to look back on the year that was.  Personally for me, 2019 was a very good year.  Everyone in my family stayed healthy (or as healthy as we all were at the beginning of the year, anyway! 😉).  We started the year with my daughter home for the holidays from Australia.  We hadn’t seen her in almost a year at that point so it was wonderful to have her home.  It was so much fun doing all the mother/daughter things again and, of course, we spent many hours planning for her October wedding.  Doing it together was a dream come true.

In May, my husband and I took our yearly trip to the beach where we were met with the best weather we’ve ever had there for that time of year.  It was relaxing and rejuvenating, as a trip to the beach always is and so needed, since the months that followed were filled with wedding planning and everything that includes.  With my daughter back in Australia, I was in control of everything and as anyone who has ever planned a wedding can tell you, it’s exhausting, especially if you’re doing it all alone.

But… ohhhhhhh… it was so worth it.  The wedding day dawned dark, dreary and full of rain but the weather gods smiled down upon us and by mid-afternoon the sun was shining and everything went off without a single hitch.  It was absolutely perfect.  The bride radiated beauty and happiness and the groom was beaming every second of the day and night.  Seeing the smiles and the love on the faces of my daughter and my new son was more than I could have ever dreamed.  There isn’t one thing that could have made the day any more perfect.

Of course, the year was mostly filled with the everyday things that make up life. Work, family, taking care of the house and the gardens and spending time doing the things that make life fun.  One of those things is this blog and the friends I have made because of a little TV show called, Hawaii Five-0.

I’m not going to do any long retrospectives on the episodes which made up the year 2019.  There are plenty of other blogs and reviewers who will undoubtedly do all kinds of lists reflecting back.  Who needs another one?  🤣  But I will say, that in my opinion, 2019 was a great year for H50 with many really great stories and moments.  I’d like to highlight some of my favorites:

January 11, 2019:  9.12 – Ka Hauli O Ka Mea Hewa ‘Ole, He Nalowale Koke (A Bruise Inflicted on an Innocent Person Vanishes Quickly)

February 1, 2019:  9.14 Ikiiki i ka lā o Keawalua (Depressed with the Heat of Kealwalua)

February 22, 2019:  9.17 – E’ao lu’au a kualima (Offer Young Taro Leaves to the Gods Five Times) – Directed by Alex O’Loughlin

March 8, 2019:  9.18 Ai no I ka ‘ape he mane ‘o no ko ka nuku’ – He Who Eats ‘ape is Bound to Have His Mouth Itch)

April 5, 2019:  9.20 – Ke ala o ka pu (Way of the Gun)

April 26, 2019:  9.22 – O ke kumu, o ka māna, ho‘opuka ‘ia (The Teacher, the Pupil – Let it come forth)

May 3, 2019:  9.23 – Ho‘okāhi no lā o ka malihini (A Stranger Only for a Day)

September 27, 2019:  10.01 – Ua ‘eha ka ‘ili i ka maka o ka ihe (The skin is injured by the edge of the spear) Season 10 Premiere

October 4, 2019:  10.02 – Kuipeia e ka makani apaa (Knocked Flat by the Wind; Sudden Disaster)

“Kuipeia e ka makani apaa” — Tani and Junior must plot an escape for themselves and several civilians after they become trapped inside a deadly tunnel collapse, while Five-0 investigates the cause and culprits of the cave-in. Also, Eddie the dog uses his field experience and sniffs out a bomb that has been planted in McGarrett’s home, on HAWAII FIVE-0, Friday, Oct. 4 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured L to R: Beulah Koale as Junior Reigns and Meaghan Rath as Tani Rey. Photo: screengrab/CBS ©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved (“Kuipeia e ka makani apaa” is Hawaiian for “Knocked flat by the wind; sudden disaster”)

October 18, 2019:  10.04 – Ukuli’i ka pua, onaona i ka mau’u (Tiny is the Flower, Yet it Scents the Grasses Around it)

October 25, 2019:  10.05 – He ‘oi’o kuhihewa; he kaka ola i ‘ike ‘ia e ka makaula (Don’t Blame Ghosts and Spirits for One’s Troubles; A Human is Responsible) – Happy Halloween – WELCOME HOME MAX!!! ❤️❤️

November 8, 2019:  10.07 – Ka ‘i’o (DNA) – Written.. Directed… Produced and Staring Alex O’Loughlin!  THE BEST EPISODE OF THE ENTIRE YEAR!!!!!

“Ka ‘i’o” — When the CIA informs McGarrett that his mother has gone rogue on her undercover mission and may have killed her partner, Steve goes solo to Mexico to bring her home and prove her innocence, on HAWAII FIVE-0, Friday, Nov. 8 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured: Alex O’Loughlin as Steve McGarrett/ Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS ©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved (“Ka ‘i’o” is Hawaiian for “DNA”)

November 22, 2019:  10.09  – Ka lā‘au kumu ‘ole o Kahilikolo (The Trunkless Tree of Kahilikolo) Happy Thanksgiving

“Ka lā’au kumu ‘ole o Kahilikolo” — It’s Thanksgiving, and while Junior and Tani track down the thief who robbed his parents’ home, Five-0 investigates the murder of a beloved philanthropist and the theft of his ultra-valuable koa tree. Also, Danny moves in with McGarrett, on HAWAII FIVE-0, Friday, Nov. 22 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured L to R: Ian Anthony Dale as Adam Noshimuri, and Alex O’Loughlin as Steve McGarrett. Photos: Karen Neal/CBS©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved (“Ka lā’au kumu ‘ole o Kahilikolo” is Hawaiian for “The Trunkless Tree of Kahilikolo”)

“Ka lā’au kumu ‘ole o Kahilikolo” — It’s Thanksgiving, and while Junior and Tani track down the thief who robbed his parents’ home, Five-0 investigates the murder of a beloved philanthropist and the theft of his ultra-valuable koa tree. Also, Danny moves in with McGarrett, on HAWAII FIVE-0, Friday, Nov. 22 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured L to R: Beulah Koale as Junior Reigns, Meaghan Rath as Tani Rey, Ian Anthony Dale as Adam Noshimuri, and Dennis Chun as Sgt. Duke Lukela. Photos: Karen Neal/CBS©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved (“Ka lā’au kumu ‘ole o Kahilikolo” is Hawaiian for “The Trunkless Tree of Kahilikolo”)

“Ka lā’au kumu ‘ole o Kahilikolo” — It’s Thanksgiving, and while Junior and Tani track down the thief who robbed his parents’ home, Five-0 investigates the murder of a beloved philanthropist and the theft of his ultra-valuable koa tree. Also, Danny moves in with McGarrett, on HAWAII FIVE-0, Friday, Nov. 22 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured L to R: Eric Scanlan as Natano, Cassandra Hepburn as Lana, Katrina Law as Quinn Liu and Scott Caan as Danny “Danno” Williams. Photos: Karen Neal/CBS©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved (“Ka lā’au kumu ‘ole o Kahilikolo” is Hawaiian for “The Trunkless Tree of Kahilikolo”)

“Ka lā’au kumu ‘ole o Kahilikolo” — It’s Thanksgiving, and while Junior and Tani track down the thief who robbed his parents’ home, Five-0 investigates the murder of a beloved philanthropist and the theft of his ultra-valuable koa tree. Also, Danny moves in with McGarrett, on HAWAII FIVE-0, Friday, Nov. 22 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured: Scott Caan as Danny “Danno” Williams and Katrina Law as Quinn Liu. Photos: Karen Neal/CBS©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved (“Ka lā’au kumu ‘ole o Kahilikolo” is Hawaiian for “The Trunkless Tree of Kahilikolo”)

“Ka lā’au kumu ‘ole o Kahilikolo” — It’s Thanksgiving, and while Junior and Tani track down the thief who robbed his parents’ home, Five-0 investigates the murder of a beloved philanthropist and the theft of his ultra-valuable koa tree. Also, Danny moves in with McGarrett, on HAWAII FIVE-0, Friday, Nov. 22 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured L to R: Eric Scanlan as Natano, Cassandra Hepburn as Lana, and Beulah Koale as Junior Reigns. Photos: Karen Neal/CBS©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved (“Ka lā’au kumu ‘ole o Kahilikolo” is Hawaiian for “The Trunkless Tree of Kahilikolo”)

“Ka lā’au kumu ‘ole o Kahilikolo” — It’s Thanksgiving, and while Junior and Tani track down the thief who robbed his parents’ home, Five-0 investigates the murder of a beloved philanthropist and the theft of his ultra-valuable koa tree. Also, Danny moves in with McGarrett, on HAWAII FIVE-0, Friday, Nov. 22 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured L to R: Ian Anthony Dale as Adam Noshimuri and Taylor Wily as Kamekona. Photos: Karen Neal/CBS©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved (“Ka lā’au kumu ‘ole o Kahilikolo” is Hawaiian for “The Trunkless Tree of Kahilikolo”)

“Ka lā’au kumu ‘ole o Kahilikolo” — It’s Thanksgiving, and while Junior and Tani track down the thief who robbed his parents’ home, Five-0 investigates the murder of a beloved philanthropist and the theft of his ultra-valuable koa tree. Also, Danny moves in with McGarrett, on HAWAII FIVE-0, Friday, Nov. 22 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured L to R: Alex O’Loughlin as Steve McGarrett and Dennis Chun as Sgt. Duke Lukela. Photos: Karen Neal/CBS©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved (“Ka lā’au kumu ‘ole o Kahilikolo” is Hawaiian for “The Trunkless Tree of Kahilikolo”)

“Ka lā’au kumu ‘ole o Kahilikolo” — It’s Thanksgiving, and while Junior and Tani track down the thief who robbed his parents’ home, Five-0 investigates the murder of a beloved philanthropist and the theft of his ultra-valuable koa tree. Also, Danny moves in with McGarrett, on HAWAII FIVE-0, Friday, Nov. 22 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured L to R: Ian Anthony Dale as Adam Noshimuri, Scott Caan as Danny “Danno” Williams and Kimee Balmilero as Dr. Noelani Cunha. Photos: Karen Neal/CBS©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved (“Ka lā’au kumu ‘ole o Kahilikolo” is Hawaiian for “The Trunkless Tree of Kahilikolo”)

December 13, 2019:  10.11 – Kā i ka ‘ino, no ka ‘ino – (To Return Evil for Evil)

Fantastic stories…. great action…. lighthearted moments…. many fantastic Ohana moments…. all of these things made 2019 a great year for H50.  There were so many more great moments I could have mentioned but then, this would be as long as the last Harry Potter books!  But, the main thing, the best thing about the last year, for me at least, is the ongoing wonderful relationship between the most important characters on the show…. Steve and Danny.

Yeah, I know, as a long time McDanno, I’ll always find a reason to highlight these two, no matter what.  And I’m sure there are plenty who will disagree with me.  But I’ve really enjoyed the interaction between my favorite characters this year.  It seems, to me at least, that the writers have creatively come to terms with the amount of time Scott is on set nowadays.  It’s more than obvious that his “five episodes a year less” terms have been amended since he’s in less episodes this season than ever.

But, the writers are using the time he’s there so much better now.  There’s been a lot more McDanno time and it seems to get better every week.  Danny’s “mold” issue and, coming up, a sewage issue, that will keep Danny living in Casa McG for weeks.  Weeks!!  Is it perfect? No.  It can’t be perfect unless things go back to the way they were in Season 1 and since we know that’s an impossibility, I’m content with the writers doing all they can to maximize McDanno time as much as possible when Scott is available.  The more time they can work these guys into situations together, the better.

I know, some will call it fan-service to McDannos and some will find any number of other mean-spirited things to say.  Personally, I could not care less.  Call it whatever you want.  If it means I get to see my two favorite guys on screen for significant amounts of time…. together…  I’ll be a very happy camper.

But most of all, what made my H50 2019 special, is you.  Everyone who reads this blog, and those who choose to comment.  I’m so grateful for your support and, along with all those I’ve met through social media because of H50, I’m thankful for all the friendships I wouldn’t have if not for this show.  Thank you all soooooo much.

And another special thank you:  All the pictures above were taken from previously posted blogs over the past year.  The vast majority are screencaps of mine but a lot are beautiful edits done by Lisa (@alohaspaceman) on Twitter and Instagram.  I give her credit every week whenever I use her stuff but I wanted to give a special shout-out to her again for an entire year of letting me steal her stuff to make my blog better.  Mahalo Lisa!  You rock sistah!!!

So here’s to the New Year 2020. Here’s hoping you all have a wonderful year and that everyone is happy, healthy and prosperous. I hope you all have a year filled with joy.  And here’s hoping we’ll all be together for many more new years to come.  And here’s to the rest of Season 10 of Hawaii Five-0 and to the beginning of Season 11.

Hauʻoli Makahiki Hou.  Aloha nui loa.  Malama Pono.

Happy (almost) week before the holidays everyone! Well, holiday preparations are well under way.  So much so that the entire weekend got entirely away from me with shopping, decorating, cooking and a really fun Christmas Faire in our little town.  Sorry this review is so late.

Once again, this was a two-story episode but this week, both stories were really good.  No beating around the bush this week… let’s just get to it:

Adam:  I know I just said I thought this story was really good so let me clarify.  As of now, and I say that because I sincerely hope there is more to it than is apparent right now, the only thing that’s making this story worthwhile for me is the acting attached to it.  It’s no secret that Alex and Ian are fantastic actors.  The old saying that “an actor can elevate the material” certainly applies here.

Steve tried so hard to hold onto the faith he’s always had in Adam.  He was totally prepared to give him the chance to explain and clear up the question of how his watch ended up at a crime scene.  It was palpable how his emotions moved from one emotion to the next. His loyalty to Adam quickly gave way to an almost despair that Adam wasn’t giving him answers then to shock when Adam took off his badge and placed it, along with his gun, on Steve’s desk.   But when Adam turned and walked out of his office, Steve’s anger exploded.  And he has every right to be angry because he’s 100% correct.  He has been on Adam’s side from the very beginning.  From the moment he and Kono became a couple, Steve has always been in Adam’s corner.  Alex played this scene absolutely perfectly…. as always.

And as fantastic as Alex was, Ian was just as great.  Actually, Ian had very few lines, since most of Adam’s “dialog” was purely emotional reactions.  You could literally feel all his emotions as much as Steve’s.  The horror of seeing his watch in Steve’s hand.  The panic that there wasn’t any way he was going to be able to talk his way out of it.  The horrendous realization that he only had one option.  It was heartbreaking.

Photo credit:  Kurt Jones (@jonesydop) on Instagram

Photo credit:  @alohaspaceman on Twitter and Instagram

But it wasn’t just Alex and Ian.  Dennis Chun was awesome in this scene too.  The look on Duke’s face from last week when he first brought that watch to Steve carried over into this episode as well.  Just like Alex and Ian, Dennis was able to make you literally feel what Duke was feeling.  Adam is Ohana to Duke too and he showed that by taking that watch to Steve and not just issuing an order for Adam’s arrest. He wanted to give him the chance to explain too.  The look on Duke’s face the entire time alternated between disappointment, disbelief and, like Steve, anger.  When Adam walked out of Steve’s office, Steve had to literally hold Duke back to stop him from going after him.  The three of them killed this scene.

Then there was Danny.  It was a cool role reversal between Steve and Danny with regard to Adam.  You would expect Steve to try to defend Adam and for Danny, who once said “once a criminal always a criminal” (or something to that effect) to be against him.  But Danny kept trying to understand what reasons there could be for Adam’s behavior.

I understand that because Danny was skeptical back then but over the years he not only came to trust Adam, he brought him into his Ohana.  Danny’s the one who pulled Adam out of his booze induced funk after his marriage broke up. It was Danny who brought him his Five-0 badge.  Charlie considers him an uncle, just like Steve and Lou.  Adam went to Danny’s house on Christmas Eve to make sure the chimney was clear for Santa.

It’s bad enough Danny needs to accept what Adam has done, but he also needs to come to terms with putting aside that original skepticism.  It’s like having to throw an “I told you so” at yourself.  It’s really too bad we didn’t get to see Danny confront Adam.  Hopefully we’ll get to see that in an episode to come.

Photo credits:  CBS

If all the actors keep bringing their A+ game, I might just be able to muddle through the silliness of this story because it just does not make sense. Adam’s throwing away everything he’s worked years for and all the friends he has for Tamiko.  I mean, I understand he loves her.  I’ll give them that.  They’ve known each other and been friends their entire lives.  If Hiro and Masuda could have had their way, these Yakuza children would have been wed ages ago.  It’s more of a foundation for a relationship than we ever got between him and Kono.  The first time we saw that Adam and Kono even knew each other existed they were in the shower.  At least with Tamiko we have some preexisting history and we’ve seen them together as friends before they ended up in the shower.

I guess the problem is it’s all happening way too fast.  I can buy Adam and Tamiko as a couple, but I can’t buy Adam walking away from his Ohana this radically.  All of a sudden, just because Masuda told him he couldn’t fight his heritage, he’s running toward a life he was never a part of in the first place?  And what about Tamiko?  She said she detested the life her father led and didn’t want anything to do with it.  Now, she’s ok with her fine, upstanding, lover leaving Five-0 to join the Yakuza life she hates?  Huh?

And Adam did have another option.  He could have just come clean to Steve and Duke.  He could have gone to Steve in the first place, when Tamiko was first taken and the “no cops or she dies” bull be damned.  It’s not like they haven’t ignored that warning a zillion times before.  No… I do not like this story one bit and all I can do is pray there is more to it that we’ll see as it progresses.  This absolutely does not make one bit of sense.

Daiyu Mei:  When we first heard there was going to be a WoFat connection mentioned in this episode it never occurred to me it could be a wife.  At first I thought maybe just someone who’d taken over WoFat’s “businesses”.  Then I saw the “old lady” beginning to peel off her disguise and thought maybe a daughter.  The sneak peek showed whoever she was, she’s not young enough to be his child.  Then I thought maybe a sister.  A wife never crossed my mind.

Of course, this is the second time in a very short period of time where we have a wife out for revenge, or whatever it is Daiyu Mei wants.  But this is very different than before.  It was quite obvious that Hassan’s wife didn’t think out her revenge very well, doing it right in HQ where there was no way she could get away with it.  This lady is chillingly thorough.  It’s obvious she’s been planning this for a very long time.

It seems logical that she probably has surveillance on Steve but it’s obvious he’s not the only one.  How did she know Junior would be at that particular gas station at that particular time if she wasn’t monitoring his movements?  She probably has eyes on them all.

She’s as meticulous and methodical as WoFat was.  And she’s just as ruthless.  She didn’t think twice about the innocent people on that tourist chopper.  She didn’t hesitate to mow down the weapons buyers just so she’d have a conduit to deliver her message to Steve.  She coordinated everything just for that one purpose.  She’s been wanted by Interpol for years, but she chose this time to come out of the shadows and dropped bread crumb after bread crumb to lead Steve and Five-0 exactly where she wanted them to go.

Photo credits:  CBS

Before Cullen’s house went boom with him inside, he told Steve there was much more going on than Steve was aware of.  Was Daiyu Mei behind the bomb left in the McG garage? Was she behind everything Cullen and his associates were up to?  It’s been years since we’ve had a full fledged, ongoing bad guy.  Not since Gabriel Weincroft and WoFat himself.  It seems that Daiyu Mei has been the new Big Bad for quite a while.  As much as I don’t like the idea that Steve could be in danger again because of WoFat, or in this case WoFat’s wife, I am looking forward to seeing Eugenia Yuan bring this character to life.

Photo credit:  @alohaspaceman on Twitter and Instagram

McDanno!! ❤️ I’m prejudiced, of course, but this was my absolutely favorite part of this episode.  There was so much Steve and Danny time, it almost had a feeling like the early years of the show.  I adored watching Steve and Danny work the case together the entire episode.  Watching them bounce ideas off each other was such fun and when they both checked out the house in the “no fly zone” together, it had such an early seasons feel it made my heart sour.

This is what hooked me on the show from the Pilot episode.  This partnership is and always will be the best on TV. It’s been fun this season to watch these two together.  I know it looks like there will be even more episodes without Danny in them this year and, of course, I don’t like that one bit, but it also seems the writers are taking pains to give us as much Steve and Danny time as they can whenever they are both in an episode.  Of course, it’s not enough.  It will never be enough because it can’t ever be what it was in the early years.  But they are doing a good job of giving us as much McDanno as they can this season and I am loving it!

The McDanno banter in this one was pretty much perfect, and it looked to me like Alex and Scott were really enjoying it as well.  Their delivery was spot on.  I love how Steve told Danny that he knew he’d “concocted a fake mold issue to stay” at his house but I especially loved how Danny not only didn’t deny it but said he’d only done it because he thought Steve needed him.  Even though it was done in a lighthearted way, the emotional connection was right there.  Danny was worried about Steve.  Steve knew, understood why Danny was there and really appreciated it.  It was perfect.

Photo credit:  @alohaspaceman on Twitter and Instagram

And that bonsai? I have a vision in my mind.  Danny wasn’t just worried about Steve when he made up the mold story.  He was worried about him from the moment he left to find Doris.  Remember back in S8 when Danny told Steve he was losing sleep because he was afraid Steve wasn’t taking care of himself.  That time, he hired a stress coach in a misguided attempt to help him.  But he realized the problem wasn’t Steve’s, it was his because he was making himself sick with worry.

Now, once again, worried about Steve going off to God knows where, he got himself a bonsai to help with stress relief.  The fact that he still has it and still tends to it shows that, just like making up phantom mold infestations, he’s still worried about everything Steve’s been through.  The appearance of Daiyu Mei on their landscape doesn’t bode too well for Danny’s stress levels going down any time soon.

Photo credit:  @alohaspaceman on Twitter and Instagram

But I’m not going to think about that right now.  Right now, I just want to think about the sewage backup at Danny’s house and the fact that it’s going to take six to eight weeks for it to be repaired and cleaned up.  Six to eight weeks of Danny living at Steve’s house.  I can’t wait to hear the arguments and the banter and the hilarity that’s going to come from that arrangement.  It’s the best early Christmas present the writers could have given.

Well, that’s it for this week my friends. This was a really great episode to end 2019 with.  We have what looks to be a couple of really great story arcs on the horizon (as least I hope Adam’s is going to be great) and six to eight weeks of McDanno to really look forward too.  I can’t wait to see where it’s all going to lead.

Here’s hoping you all have a wonderful holiday season.  Whatever holiday you celebrate, be it Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or whatever… have a HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY one!  See you in 2020.

Once again, I’m sorry this review was so late.  Not a lot of screen grabs this week but those that are here are mine except where otherwise noted.

Aloha.  Malama Pono

Happy H50 weekend!  Is everyone up to their eyebrows in holiday preparations?  I know I am even though my hubby has told me to scale back this year because of all the work that went into the wedding. But he knows me too well.  Scaling back simply means instead of doing a million things, I’ll only do 999,990 things! 🤣 So, bear with me if this review is a bit all over the place since I’m writing it in between a few hundred thousand other things! 🤣

I enjoyed this episode more than I thought I would.  First off, Danny wasn’t in it, which always means an episode has one strike against it before it even starts.  Add to that, I knew this was going to be another one of those episodes with two story lines, each not at all connected to the other.  You all already know how I feel about those, so strike two.  And, from interviews and spoilers, I already knew I wasn’t going to like the Adam story at all.  Strike three.  Thank goodness this isn’t baseball, because despite all that, I managed to like this episode more than I thought I would.  Let’s start with some of the fun stuff first.

Lou and the Kids:  I really love the way Lou has taken to Tani and Junior.  He’s a friend, he’s a mentor and I wonder if, in Lou’s eyes, it’s maybe a wee bit more.

First off, Lou missed a golden opportunity to make a few bucks off all that stuff in his garage.  Hasn’t the man ever heard of a garage sale?  That’s what my husband and I did when we moved a few years ago.  Thirty-two years in the same house means a ton of collected junk that you don’t remember you even had! It’s hysterical that Lou sold his house, has moved into a new shiny apartment but that garage is still filled to the brim.  My garage was spotless and practically empty before we had our first showing.

I do wonder when they all got around to finally cleaning out the place since they all got called to crime scenes before they ever even got started.  Regardless, Lou still took the kids out to the promised dinner as a thank you for their help.

The kids.  Listening to Lou reminisce about Samantha and Will and how much he misses having them around, does anyone else get the feeling that Lou has begun to look on Tani and Junior as, I don’t know, kind of like surrogates (in the best possible way, of course) for his own kids?  He’s taken to mentoring them both, the way a father would teach his own kids the ropes.  I’m probably way off base but it was still very sweet of them both to reassure Lou that, no matter what, he’ll always be needed.

Steve and Quinn:  I have no idea what TPTB have in store for these two but for now, I am loving their interactions.  They have a fantastic vibe between them, and I honestly can’t get enough of them together.  Of course, as a die-hard McDanno, Danny will always be my favorite partner for Steve and I still want to see them together as much as is humanly possible.  But, unfortunately, that’s not always possible with the way things are and if I have to live through episodes without Danny, then I’m perfectly happy to embrace Quinn.  Not that she should ever be considered any kind of a replacement because A) no one could ever replace Danny and B) she is very much her own person.  Fantastic in her own right.

She’s smart, she’s tough, she’s incredibly capable and she’s funny.  I like the easy comradery she’s developed with the entire team, but especially with Steve.  I like that, in a relatively short time, she’s comfortable enough to joke around with him.  That malasada scene was hysterical.

I do wonder about the references to Steve’s age and his cholesterol though.  Was it just something thrown in to justify the funny malasada scene or is this something we’re going to hear more about?  It’s funny to think all the way back to the second episode of the series when Steve wouldn’t eat a malasada Danny brought to his house “without bypass surgery”.  If the writers really want to connect back to the old days, they’ll have Danny say something to that effect with regard to Steve’s current cholesterol levels soon.

Photo Credit:  @alohaspaceman on Twitter and InstaGram

COTW:  I know the crime of the week is supposed to be the “A” story of an episode, but this one was relegated to the “B” side fairly quickly.  Not that it was a bad story, just that it kind of took a back seat to the other story of the episode.

It was a typically convoluted H50 story even if the outcome wasn’t a complete surprise.  The fact that all three victims were the same age, all came into large sums of cash at the same time and were all killed on the same day, in incidents which were designed to look like accidents, it was pretty obvious they’d all been paid off to keep some sort of secret.

So, some rich bitch killed a rich dude because he made stupid investments that caused her to lose money.  Ten years later, one of the witnesses the rich bitch paid off for silence finally grows a conscience and wants to confess about the murder and the cover up.  He’d spent the last ten years giving money to the Innocence Project in an effort to get the innocent man convicted of the murder freed and when he found out the man’s last shot at freedom was gone, he couldn’t live with the secret any longer.

That’s very noble….. I guess.  He’d given a lot of money to try to get the guy freed, but it was money he was never supposed to have in the first place.  Sure, he tried to help the guy, but he still managed to live a pretty good life on that blood money for ten years while allowing an innocent man to lose ten years of his life for something he didn’t do.  It’s all fine and well that he tried to get the guy freed, but wouldn’t it have been better to not allow an innocent man to be locked up in the first place?

I confess I got a bit choked up when Steve and Quinn were able to tell the guy he was a free man and would be able to finally see his daughter again.  Quinn said she’s in the 6^th grade, which would make her about eleven.  That means the poor guy hasn’t seen her since she was an infant.  The happiness pouring off that poor man was palpable.

Adam:  I know this was supposed to be the “B” side of this episode, but that’s not the way it turned out.  I’m going to be up front right off the bat.  I do not like this story at all except for one thing.  Ian Anthony Dale totally rocked the material.  It’s the one thing that made the story fun to watch.  He was magnificent in every single scene, beginning to end.  And while I do not like this story at all, I am looking forward to seeing what Ian does with it.  He’s an awesome actor and I have the feeling this story is going to give him a lot of opportunities to show us all just how good he is.  But the story itself… nope!  At least not the way it’s being laid out right now.

Why?  Ok.. anyone who has known me for a long time or has been reading this blog from the beginning are probably tired of hearing me say this, but I feel the need to say it yet again.  From the moment we first met Adam Noshimuri, he has never been a bad guy.  When we were first introduced to him in Season 2, his father said he kept him away from the business and a few years later, when we met his brother Michael, Adam told Kono that Hiro always intended Michael to take over the family business.  When we first met him, Adam was working in New York, far away from Yakuza connections.

When Hiro was killed, and with Michael still in prison, Adam attempted to be the leader but was so inept at it, he inadvertently allowed his legal muscle to lead him by the nose.  It was the Yakuza lawyer who had a CIA agent murdered and who convinced Adam he had to kidnap and murder WoFat in retaliation for Hiro’s death.  The lawyer himself considered Adam such a weak leader he tried to kill him himself, right on the tarmac before Kono put a bullet in him.  It only took a tearful plea from Kono to get Adam to lower his gun.  It was abundantly clear that the last thing he wanted to do was shoot Steve.  In that same episode, he duct taped Kono to prevent her from following him when he went after WoFat.  A real Yakuza leader would have just put a bullet in her head and been done with it.  But not Adam.

Adam has never had the skills to be an effective bad guy but that just doesn’t fit with the story they want to tell now.  We’ll just forget that when he did finally become the official head of the family business, the first thing he did was begin to legitimize it.  We’ll all just conveniently forget that he’s never been a true Yakuza boss.

I could go on and on about the ways Adam has proven that he’s not a bad guy.  That’s why it’s always infuriated me every time someone would say something like “Adam has changed”.  Adam has never needed to change.  He’s always been a good guy.

I’ve seen people on Twitter say things like “Adam just can’t catch a break” and I suppose that’s true but, honestly, most of his problems are self-inflicted.  He has a good heart and he’s intelligent but being intelligent and having basic common sense don’t always go hand in hand.  Adam has no common sense at all.

He acts on his emotions and his best laid plans are usually reckless and not thought out very well.  He makes stupid mistakes.  Like his watch, for instance.  He went through the trouble of removing the license plate from his very recognizable car, but neglects to take off a personal item, full of fingerprints and DNA?  And what did he think was going to happen to the guy he took to Masuda after they worked the guy over for information?  That he was going to be allowed to just go home and sleep it off?  Jeez!

And it’s all so unnecessary.  Yeah, the kidnappers told Masuda no cops but come on.  How many times have we heard that one that Five-0 has ignored?  Adam has risked everything he’s spent years working toward.  He has the love and the respect of Steve and the entire Ohana.  He has earned the respect of HPD.  Det. Beldon went to Duke with the information about Adam instead of just moving forward to bring him in.  The first thing Duke did was try to phone Adam.  Only people who respect and trust you give you the opportunity to explain yourself first.  And Duke didn’t issue a warrant for Adam’s arrest either.  He went to Steve, knowing he would also give Adam a chance to explain himself before moving forward officially.

In many ways, Adam is like Steve.  Steve has gone rogue plenty of times, most recently when he went off to look for Doris.  Steve’s been known to be reckless and head strong and leap into things without concern for himself but when Steve does it, it’s for the greater good.  He may do stupid shit every now and then, but he doesn’t break the law.  How is Adam going to get through this?

And I really want him to get through it because I’ve always liked Adam and I like him as part of the Ohana and I really don’t want to see that go away.  But he’s jeopardized the trust of those he should know will always have his back.  Steve has a huge heart and God knows he’s forgiven a lot of crap he’s gotten from a lot of people, but I can’t see how he can overlook this.  Adam kidnapped a man and is directly responsible for his execution  even if he, himself, didn’t pull the trigger.  He was involved in a shoot-out between the Filipinos and the Yakuza which left several people dead.  He was involved, not as a member of law enforcement but as part of Masuda’s men. I can’t see any of this sitting well with Steve.

So, no, I do not like this story one bit.  As I said above, not the way it’s being laid out right now.  Even though all these things happened, and I don’t expect Steve to brush them aside lightly, I’m hoping it will all be used to inject Adam into the Yakuza world as a spy for Five-0.  I’m hoping we’ll eventually hear Steve say something like “You want to make this right? You need to do this for Five-0”.  I’m hoping Steve will use this mess that Adam has created to go after the Yakuza.

Because I think Adam was right and Kenji planned the entire thing to grab control from Masuda. He’s really bad news and Five-0 will need to bring him down. Of course, if that is the path the writers are planning to follow, we won’t know about it until much later.  I’m really hoping from this point on, Adam’s story is a long con and when it’s finally completed, he’ll still be a trusted member of the Five-0 Ohana. But whatever happens, even if the story itself is not to my liking, I’m still looking forward to watching Ian totally hit it out of the park.

That’s it for this week my friends.  Please let me know what you think about all the events in this episode.  Am I totally off base?  I look forward to hearing all your views!

Aloha.  Malama Pono

Sorry, no time for screencaps this week.  All photos courtesy of CBS and @alohaspaceman

Photo Credit:  CBS

🦃 Happy Thanksgiving 🦃

Even when times aren’t the best, there are still things in life to be thankful for. Sometimes it’s not always easy to find those things.  Sometimes life hands us more burdens than we think we can bear but we always try to find the strength to deal with what life throws at us.  No one knows this better than Steve McGarrett.

Steve has gone through and endured more heartbreak and tragedy than should be humanly allowed.  He’s lost much in his life.  Friends, colleagues, comrades in arms, and he was there to personally witness the murder of both his parents.  Helplessly listening from thousands of miles away and then desperately trying to hold onto a life as it slipped through his fingers.  How the man is still on his feet is unimaginable.  Yet, he soldiers on.

Yes, Steve has lost more than anyone should ever bear but amid all the tragedy throughout his life, something miraculous happened.  He built himself a family. Starting when Danny Williams first walked into the McGarrett garage and carrying on through the last ten years, the Ohana that’s grown around Steve has been more fortifying, more loving, more grounding and more supportive than any family he had from when he was fifteen to that fateful day in September 2010.

Photo Credit:  New header photo courtesy of Katrina Law on Instagram

And what better day of the year to celebrate families than on Thanksgiving.  This episode did just that, revolving around all different kinds of families.

Family dysfunctional:  I’m not going to spend too many words on this family, or the crime of the week. To be honest, they could have cut the entire story out of this episode and used the time elsewhere.  It’s not that it was a bad or boring story. It’s just that the rest of the episode was so good and so touching, I’d have preferred this time been used to expand it.

As of this writing, I haven’t had the chance to go back and re-watch the episode but what I remember is a convoluted story of a stolen koa tree; an accidental murder that wasn’t a murder until it was; a brother and sister who let another brother think he’d committed the murder that wasn’t which was the murder they themselves committed; a disgustingly dismembered body with the head hidden inside said stolen koa tree.  All to avoid scandal and protect the family fortune they all couldn’t bear the thought of living without.  There are times when I think the writers should lay off the pepperoni pizzas late at night.

Family rebuilding:  We’ve known Junior for over two years now and from the very start, the relationship between him and his dad has been fraught with difficulty. We’ve watched as they both worked to mend the problems between them.  We’ve watched them grow closer and we’ve watched them fall apart again.

When we last left them, Natano had written Junior off once again after he stood up and supported the parole of the man who’d killed his sister Maya in a drunk driving accident.  They looked to be further apart than ever. But the Reigns family had once been so full of love they made space to bring into their home, a lost soul of a boy, Junior’s best friend, Owen. They kept him safe and gave him the opportunity to grow and prosper.  Unfortunately, Owen was forced back with this mother and this only led him down the same dark path of addiction she was on.

When Junior’s mom, Lana, called him distraught that the house had been robbed and not only her jewelry but Natano’s most priced possessions had been stolen from their secret hiding place, Junior knew it was Owen.

It didn’t take very long for Junior and Tani to track Owen down.  It was nice to see the bond they had forged as young boys was still there.  Owen still loved the family enough that he wouldn’t sell Natano’s Purple Heart, no matter how bad he needed a fix.  Junior still loved Owen enough to force him finally into seeking help in rehab.  I wish we could have seen Koa again in this episode but it’s great to know he’s still working and flourishing at the rehab center.  There’s no doubt that with Koa’s help and the new family he’ll undoubtedly form in rehab that Owen will at last have a fighting chance.

Watching Junior and Natano finally resolve their differences and come together was so incredibly touching.  Natano finally understands why Junior chose forgiveness for Maya’s killer.  And Junior now sees what Natano could never tell him.  Junior always thought, because he’d gone against his father’s wishes and joined the service and because Natano didn’t want Junior to write to him that he didn’t care about him.  Finding those letters from his CO to his dad in Natano’s cigar box told a different story.  Natano did care.  He did worry about him and he did always want to know that he was safe.  Junior and Natano weren’t the only ones crying during that scene.

Family maybe:  Will they or won’t they?  Will Tani and Junior finally see what everyone else can see?  That these two are more than good friends?  That they are destined to be a family themselves?

Now that Junior’s family drama is finally behind him, he can concentrate on what’s ahead for his life. And that looks to be Tani.  Like….duh!   She’s been there for him from the very beginning.  Even before he joined Five-0 he was confiding in her about his problems with his parents while she was confiding in him about her problems with Koa.

Well, Koa is settled now and so is Junior’s family.  It was so sweet the way he thanked her for everything she’s done for him over the last couple of years.  Now it’s time for them to take that next step.

Photo Credits: CBS

Maybe that’s why the writers haven’t had Junior move out of Steve’s place yet.  Maybe they’re holding off so that when Junior finally does move out, he moves in with Tani.  How awesome would that be?

Photo Credit:  @alohaspaceman on Twitter and Instagram

Then there’s Danny and Rachel.  I’m going to give this about the same amount of time the episode did.  The writers felt obligated to have Quinn bring it up, so I’ll address it, but Danny didn’t make it sound like “trying to work it out” was going all that well.  He had no enthusiasm in his voice at all.  When Quinn asked him how it was going, his “well, she’s not here” sounded, to me, very much like “if it was working out, she’d be here, wouldn’t she?”

Photo Credit:  CBS

Charlie and Grace are with Rachel for Thanksgiving.  Either Grace came home for the long holiday weekend or Rachel and Charlie flew to wherever Grace is in school. Danny didn’t feel he needed to be with them? Or Rachel didn’t feel the need for him to be there?  Either way, I don’t see that boding well toward “working it out” if they made no effort to be together on a family holiday.  Oh well… works for me.

Photo Credit:  CBS

Family united:  For people who always like to complain that there is no story continuity or that no matter what happens to Steve, he’s back to perfect in the next episode, these last couple episodes have been for you.  While it’s sad to watch Steve go through it, I’m glad the storyline of his mourning wasn’t dropped after one episode and has not only continued but has involved everyone in Steve’s Ohana.

Right off the bat, we see how it’s affecting Steve when Junior says that Steve doesn’t feel up to the family football game this year.  We all know how important that game always is to Steve so the fact that he’s not up for it, speaks volumes.

Junior goes out of his way to comfort Steve by telling him how he felt and what he went through when Maya died.  It’s so touching to see just how much Steve means to Junior and how much he hurts to see Steve hurting.

And then, of course, there’s Danny.  Ever since we found out that Danny was going to move into Steve’s place there was speculation on what the reason would be. My guess was termites! Having your house tented would mean you’d need a place to stay.  No.. not termites.  Mold!  But Steve is 100% right.  A poker face Danny has not.

Everyone… everyone… could tell from the moment the words left his lips that Danny’s house doesn’t have one speck of mold in it.  I think even Eddie knew he was lying.  “I’m not giving up my couch for this guy when there’s not a thing wrong with his house!!” 🤣

It’s the best thing ever that Danny faked having a problem at his house just so he could stay with Steve.  Sure, Junior is there but Danny still wanted to be there too.  He knows, well actually they all know, that this isn’t just another bad event in Steve’s life.  It’s been a horrendous year for him.  Think all the way back to the season premiere of Season 9 and on from there.  Betrayed by Greer, tortured…. again…. how many friends and old teammates died over that season? Then the death of Joe White, and now Doris.  Danny knows Steve is really going through major pain and he wants to be sure he’s there to help him, along with Junior and Eddie, through it.

And just like the rest of us, Steve knew all along what Danny was up to.  But Steve knows Danny’s only doing it because he loves him.  And Steve loves him right back.  Enough to, for now, let Danny think he’s pulling it over on Steve.  These two…. oh my heart! ♥♥

Will Danny still be there by the next episode? I doubt this is a long-term situation.  After all, it’s not like Danny is homeless like he was in Season 2.  He has a very nice house.  He said he needed to stay for six or seven days so I’m pretty sure by the next episode he’ll be back home.  Or maybe he’ll still be there until he and Steve have a heart-to-heart (which I would love to see!) and he’s convinced Steve is feeling better.  Either way, it’s ok.  Mission accomplished here! #McDanno still totally rules!

Photo Credit:  @alohaspaceman on Twitter and Instagram

Thanksgiving… A day for family, togetherness and love.  Junior, Eddie and Danny having Steve’s back on the home front.  The rest of the Ohana gathered around him emanating total love and support.  Lou telling him it’s “nice when you got a lot of friends that actually give a damn about you, ain’t it?” pretty much said it all.

Adam, knowing how much the family Thanksgiving football game has always meant to Steve, draws him into “a few downs before we eat?” No matter what, they’re all going to make sure he gets through this.

Photo Credits:  CBS

With his entire loving Ohana gathered around him, Steve’s gazes at them with the most humbling of bemused expressions on his face.  The open affection for him coming from them all was absolutely heartwarming.

Photo Credits:  CBS

It’s a picture of pure indulgence.  They are indulging Steve to grieve in the comfort of knowing they are all there to pick him up if he should fall.  And he’s indulging them because he knows they love him, and they need to know he’s going to be ok.  The love emanating from the TV screen was palpable.  I think this Thanksgiving episode is going to go down as my all-time favorite.

Well, that’s it for this week my friends.  I just want to say I’m thankful for the wonderful cast and crew of Hawaii Five-0 and all the time, effort and work they put in day in and day out to bring us so much fun and enjoyment every week.  I’m also thankful for all the wonderful friends this show has brought me and for everyone who comes here to read and sometimes comment on this blog.  You guys all totally rock!

Here’s hoping you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday filled with laughter and love and spent with all the people in your lives you love.

Aloha.  Malama Pono.

Screen caps are mine unless otherwise noted.

There have been some pretty monumental episodes of H50 over the years and sometimes, after such episodes, there’s a bit of a letdown.  The adrenaline high of the week before sometimes makes the subsequent episode seem less than ideal.  There’s also the annoying tendency of not having much, if any, continuity with the events which made the previous episode so monumental in the first place.  I went into this week’s episode expecting to feel a bit disappointed.  Boy was I wrong!  I really enjoyed this one a lot. More than I thought I would.  Oh… how I love pleasant surprises!

Even though this was a two story episode, one where neither story had any connection to the other, the writers (Chi McBride and Matt Wheeler) really did a good job giving us two very interesting and captivating stories while at the same time, not shying away from showing the full impact of what happened in last week’s episode.

Grover Family Dynamics:  I absolutely adore Chi McBride and think he’s a fantastic actor and while I’ve enjoyed many aspects of the episodes which center around Grover and/or his family, it’s really not one of my favorite story themes. I was completely done with the Clay Maxwell story years before it finally ended and while I like the dynamic between Lou and his brother Percy, I’m not in any rush to see him again. So, when I heard this was going to be, yet another story connected to Lou’s family, I wasn’t overly excited about it.

But, I must say, I really enjoyed this story a lot and that’s all due to Nia Holloway as Siobhan.  I thought she did an awesome job.  Here Siobhan was, being given the opportunity of a lifetime and yet she was sullen, unenthusiastic and, at times, downright angry.  Nia played her perfectly.  Of course, her true feelings were telegraphed very early on when all she seemed really interested in was visiting her Uncle Lou’s job.  Everyone thought they knew what she should do with her life.  Everyone assumed that just because she had a natural talent on the basketball court, that was the direction her life should take.  No one ever bothered to ask her what she wanted from her life.

Metta World Peace joined a long line of former and current athletes who have made cameo appearances in H50.  Most of the time we’ve had former NFL players make small “can I have your autograph” type of appearances so it was nice, this time, for an athlete to actually play a larger part.  It was fun watching Siobhan go up against him. I am curious to know why Lou owed him a favor, but we’ll never find out, of course.

It was great to see Michelle Hurd again as Renee.  It’s always a joy whenever she’s in an episode. She and Chi have such a wonderful natural chemistry it always seems like they are married in real life.  This is the relationship that works on this show.  Love, honesty, mutual respect, loyalty… what a perfect couple they are.  It would be so nice if Steve and Danny were able to find this kind of relationship for themselves too.

Like I said before, it was no surprise when Siobhan finally told Lou she wanted to be a cop just like him nor the fact that the “trouble” she’d gotten into in Chicago was all due to her trying to do the right thing and protect a friend.  It’s exactly the type of thing Lou would have done.

And I really loved the flashback to when she was five years old and Lou rescued her from the room where her mother had ODed.  It’s so sad to think just how often cops have to do such things every day in this country.  How it’s up to them to get a child out of there and, as Siobhan said, make them feel safe.  How much more tragic it must be when you actually know the family and already love the child?  That scene was so well done.

Crime of the week:  I really enjoyed the partner pairs for this case.  Junior, Adam and Eddie in the jungle; Steve, Tani and Quinn on the street.  I really love how they keep putting Tani and Quinn together as partners.  These two work so well together, in a “Steve and Danny” type of way.  Each of them have many of the same characteristics as Steve and Danny and we’ve seen how wonderfully that’s worked for over 10 years now.  I really love their partnership.

I do wonder though, who was supposed to be in charge at HQ that day?  I mean, Danny is away, Lou has the day off with Siobhan and no one expected Steve to show up for work after what happened.  I suppose that would leave Tani in charge, if you consider tenure.  Of herself, Junior, Adam and Quinn, she’s been on the team the longest.  Of course, they are all quite capable of handling cases on their own.

I also really love how Eddie seems to be utilized more this season.  He really needs to start being listed in the Press Releases as “main cast” because he’s been in almost every episode this season so far.  I know I’m not the only one who worries whenever he’s out in the field and we just know gunfire is about to erupt all around them at any moment.  My first instinct is always… “someone better cover Eddie”!  But, of course, Eddie is a 100% team player.  He even managed to take on one of the bad guys himself, giving Steve the opening he needed to take him down.  Damn but I love that dog!

I had no idea that DEA agent Richie Gormican was played by Jesse Johnson, son of Don Johnson.  I tweeted during the episode “Is anyone else getting a real “Sonny Crockett” vibe from this guy or is it just me?”. It was then someone told me it was Jesse, Don’s son.  It was a real “duh” moment because, of course he is!  I must have been blind not to realize it immediately.  The resemblance is uncanny!  What wasn’t hard to miss was the fact that the agent was sleazy from the get-go.  It was no surprise he ended up being in on the drug deal from the beginning.  It was even more obvious when I looked at the clock once the case was “wrapped up” and saw there was still 20 minutes left in the hour.

I really like the connection to the Cullen case though.  Cullen told Steve there’s more going on than Steve suspects.  Here we have more proof of that.  Whatever is going on, it must need to be heavily bankrolled and I’m sure the money from the sale of all that heroin was earmarked for it.  Someone big is running this operation.  Let’s, for now, just call him Mr. Big for want of a better title.

Cullen screwed up by not killing Steve.  Mr. Big eliminated him.  Bishop was Cullen’s right-hand man.  He allowed the heroin to fall into the hands of the authorities.  Once it was certain Bishop would survive his injuries from the gunfight in the jungle, Mr. Big had him eliminated too.  Gormican, probably sent in by Mr. Big to make sure the heroin arrived where it was intended to go, has been caught and the heroin ceased again.  Who wants to bet we get word fairly soon that some horrendous misfortune has befallen him in lockup and he’s dead too?

There’s also the question of Gormican himself.  How did he know about Doris? That mission was totally classified.  So classified that when Steve brought the bodies of Lucia and Doris back to DC, Junior and the SEALs were nowhere in site lest the CIA know he’d defied orders and not gone in alone.  But Gormican knew about the OP and about Doris’s death and that she was his mother.  Would a DEA agent have access to that classified information?  Would a DEA agent know the true identity of a CIA operative?  Would he know that “Shelbourne” is Doris?

Mr. Big, obviously compromised Gormican into service.  Steve was genuinely touched by Gormican’s sympathy over Doris’s death.  Did Mr. Big furnish him with the information he would need to insinuate himself into Steve’s trust?  And if he did, does that mean that Mr. Big is CIA?  Peter Lenkov did say a while back that our new Big Bad was someone connected to the past.  Who could it be?  Ohhhhh speculation is such fun!

And then there’s continuity:  There was continuity all over this episode.  Lou mentioned very early on in the season that he and Renee were looking for a new home, wanting to downsize after Samantha and Will both left for college.  And here we see them in their new awesome digs with the most spectacular view.

Then there was the Bishop and Cullen connection which connects us back to that storyline, also from the earlier episodes of the season.

And then there’s Steve!  From the first moment he was on the screen to the last, this man was an open wound.  The forlorn, dejected man sitting on the edge of his bed, ignoring his phone and lost in his misery was totally heartbreaking.  We’ve never seen Steve like this before.

Oh, we’ve seen him trying to process loss before, but we’ve never seen it projected over an entire episode before.  He is struggling to come to terms with so many things.  The death of Doris, naturally, but also his guilt over what part he played in bringing about her death.  He’s questioning himself over whether she’d still be alive if he’d left Mexico when she told him to.  He knows it’s not his fault; that Doris made her choices in life and there was really no other way this could have ended.  But there’s always that nagging voice that says, “if I’d left her to her own devises, she’d still be alive”.  All this would crush a lesser man.

Of course, we didn’t hear any of this.  Didn’t see any of it either.  All we did see was Alex’s performance and, as usual, the man is awe inspiring.  You could feel the weight Steve was carrying all day.  He told the team he needed to work, and you could literally see how much he needed it.  Alex moved with a heaviness about him that gave Steve an exhausted presence as he went about his day trying his best to concentrate on things other than Doris.  But, every time he was alone, his mind and his body went right back to those dark places.

I know we’ve said it a zillion times but, as always, Alex was able, with just his eyes and body language, to convey a multitude of emotions and pages of dialog without ever uttering a word.  God, I wish he could be recognized more for his amazing talent.

With a little help from his friends:  I was very impressed with the way the writers made sure the horrible events of last week weren’t just brushed aside after that opening scene and that Steve struggled with the fallout throughout the entire episode.  I really hope they continue to address it in subsequent episodes.  Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t want to see a despondent Steve as a long-term thing, but it would be great if we can see him going through the healing process over time.  But, I have no doubt he will heal because he is a strong man and because he has his Ohana.

Right from the beginning, they all have his back. Adam, Tani and Quinn tell Steve they can take care of the crime scene, that he need not be there.  Of course, he doesn’t listen.  Later, Adam and Junior discuss his well being while they’re walking through the jungle.  Adam is concerned that Steve might not be able to process everything on his own.  Junior agrees but says the best they can do is keep an eye on him and be there for him when he needs them.

But it’s Quinn who makes the first gesture.  At first I really thought it should have been Junior.  After all, he was there when it all went down and would understand best but that’s the rub right there.  Junior was there.  Steve doesn’t need to relive it; he needs to deal with it.  He’s questioning what he did, what Junior and the SEALs did with him.

He’s questioning whether he’s lost his edge.  He didn’t get Doris out of Mexico and he didn’t realize Gormican couldn’t be trusted.  Quinn pointing out that taking out multiple bad guys and stopping a ton of drugs from hitting the streets really makes for a pretty good day was something Steve needed to hear, even if he wasn’t prepared at first to process it.

But who he really needed was Danny. Of course, it was Danny.  Even from afar, Danny is the one person Steve can always count on.  He’s never let Steve down.  I loved how, by the end of the day, on his last thread, he reached out to Danny, who’d been calling and texting him pretty much non-stop.  That was so good to see. These two will always support each other, through everything.

Fighting tears, his voice cracking, he admits to Danny how he’s hurting, how he misses Doris.  He’s made the first steps in his recovery.  First with Quinn and more substantially with Danny.  “I just miss her, Danny”.

But what or who is he missing?  Is he missing Doris or is he missing the loving mother he lost when he was 15?  Is he missing her or is he missing the closely held dream that, as long as she was still out there somewhere, she might walk through the door again someday? And what if she did?  She wouldn’t be the mother he lost almost 30 years ago.  That person… his mother…. ceased to exist when that car blew up.

Photo Credit:  @alohaspaceman on Twitter and Instagram

Once again, he didn’t need to say any of this.  Alex portrayed it all in his body language, his eyes and those five little words.

I have to say I am absolutely loving this season so far.  Of the eight episodes we’ve had, only one hasn’t impressed me.  I hope the rest of the season continues at this pretty high bar.

Have a great week everyone.  See ya next week.  Aloha.  Malama Pono

All screen caps are mine unless otherwise noted.

I posted this thread on Twitter a couple of days ago in the wake of Episode 10.07.  I thought I’d post it here as well for anyone who may want to comment but not on Twitter.  It’s something the episode really made me think about, even all these days later.

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