‘Hawaii Five-O’ Recap: ‘La O Na Makuahine’

And, we’re back!

After missing the big red carpet premiere of the Season 3 first episode yesterday at Sunset on the Beach since I was on the mainland, I had to wait like every other “Hawaii Five-0” fan until Monday night to get the answers from the Season 2 cliffhanger. Who will Chin Ho choose to save, his wife or his cousin? Who’s McGarrett’s mom and what’s her story? What will Kono be wearing in this episode? These questions have been burning at fans of the show all summer.

It was also announced over the summer that veteran actress Christine Lahti would play McG’s mom, and that Michelle Borth would be joining the cast as a regular, reprising her role as Lieutenant Catherine Rollins. How will these two new additions mesh with the core team?

Let’s jump right in to The Good, The Bad and The Weird to find out.

The Good

• Kono is alive! A high wind advisory is issued throughout the state at approximately 9:05 p.m., as fan boys simultaneously breathe a giant sigh of relief.

• Danno’s ringtone for his ex-wife is “Evil Woman.”

• McG calls Danno “Boo Boo” in their first cargument of the season. Yeah, I’d be upset too. I’m always the “Yogi” in any bromantic relationship.

• Kono executing the Hilary Swank “The Next Karate Kid” maneuver and then shooting Toothpick. I hated that character anyway. It’s never good when an actor is outperformed by a prop.

• Chin getting his revenge by killing Delano in cold blood. I was hoping that the writers wouldn’t chicken out and let Delano live and they delivered.

• Daniel Dae Kim’s solo scene as he goes back to the scene of his wife’s death was convincing and moving. I’d be saddened by the waste of those two perfectly cooked chickens in the oven too.

The Bad

• I have to say it. I don’t like Christine Lahti’s Shelburne character. She just doesn’t make sense. She chose to protect her family from Wo Fat by staging her death, yet supposedly knew that her husband spent the better part of two decades searching for her murderer, in effect bringing him closer to the man she was trying to protect him from. Shouldn’t she have stepped in at some point to intervene and resolve the mystery? Why let it play on and eventually get her husband killed? Lahti seems miscast as McG’s mom as well. She’s supposed to be tough and worldly, but just comes off as bossy and annoying. I really hope that the writers can improve her character over the course of the season.

• Speaking of additions to the cast, why is it necessary? Last season we saw Masi Oka and Lauren German join the cast. This year it’s Lahti and Michelle Borth. Why can’t they just concentrate on the core team of four? That way they don’t have to think of creative ways to get all the extraneous cast members involved as they did last season. What’s wrong with just bringing them on as occasional guest stars? If you have to add on cast members, I recommend adding some local talent such as Dennis Chun who plays Sergeant Lukela. As the son of Kam Fong who played the original Chin Ho Kelly, he’d be a fitting addition.

• Sorry, but I knew that Chin Ho’s wife was going to die. She suffered from HPWS – Hollywood Policeman’s Wife Syndrome. The role of any officer’s wife in a movie or TV show is to either die or divorce their cop husband. Since Chin Ho was a newlywed, that only left one option for her.

• I’ll say it each and every time. I don’t like it when the characters wear shoes in the house. McG grew up in Hawaii so he should definitely know better.

• So it appears that McG’s mom intentionally allowed Wo Fat to get away. I’m sure the show will address the reason why soon enough, but if she’s supposed to be so smart, why fake a shootout by shooting the three bullets at the floor? Why not shoot them at the wall to at least make it seem like she tried to shoot Wo Fat? The writers really need to start tightening their stories up.

The Weird

• I didn’t know Halawa Correctional Facility was near Makapu’u.

• Those cops in the Wo Fat police escort must have had “Gangnam Style” playing too loud on their radio. How could they have not heard (or seen) that chopper approaching them?

• Scott Caan is slowly and surely turning into his dad James Caan, and I like it.

• Even sons of yakuza bosses can deliver cheesy romance lines.

Other than the satisfying deaths of Toothpick and Delano, I was quite disappointed with the Season 3 premiere. I hope that the writing over the rest of the season improves. I’m already enthusiastic about next week’s episode which brings back Ed Asner, reprising his shady character August March from one of my favorite episodes of last season.