‘Hawaii Five-O’ Recap: ‘Pahele’

Now this is the kind of “Hawaii Five-0” episode I like! No silly plots and playing dress up, just a lot of suspense and action. The show returned after a week hiatus with a busload of private school kids taken hostage. While it first appeared that the kidnappers were after a large ransom from their wealthy parents, their demands were actually for the 5-0 team, who recently apprehended one of the men along with $80 million in cocaine. Throw in a big explosion, a shootout at a concrete plant and also another clue into the Wo Fat mystery, and I was glued to my TV set.

Here’s a look at The Good, The Bad and The Weird.

The Good

• Danno wearing a tie again. I like my favorite New Jersey cop nicely dressed.
• Jay Katsu – That’s an awesome character name. I’d like to see someone named Terry Burger next episode.
• “Is that him?” – McGarrett. “Not unless he’s wearing a Willie Nelson disguise.” – Danno.
• 5-0 should send Kono into the interrogation room more often. She always gets better results. I’m sure there are lots of guys willing to tell her anything she wants.
• The return of Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa. No matter what character he plays, he’s always such a badass.
• It was so refreshing to see the 5-0 guys get played by Castillo. I loved the twist a la “The Usual Suspects,” one of my favorite films.
• “Book em Danno.” is back!

The Bad

• Can we have an episode where McGarrett doesn’t end a phone call in the first scene with “I’ll be right there?”
• Why send a long wordy text when you’re in trouble? Just dial 911, leave the phone on and they can trace the call. Right? Or have I watched too many movies?
• “I hate heroes.” – Good looking terrorist lady. Was that a shot at Masi Oka (star of former TV show “Heroes”), who didn’t appear in this episode? Didn’t miss him at all, by the way. But I did miss Kamekona.
• Were they really trying to dig the truck out of that 100 foot high dirt pile by hand?

The Weird

• Officer Westin’s running. Very weird. Very elbow-y.
• Speaking of Officer Westin… She sure did know how to turn that large dirt conveyor off very quickly.
• Speaking of operating large construction machinery, Chin Ho sure was mighty proficient with that large loader! What, do these guys build houses during their time off or something?
• That school teacher hugged McGarrett for just a tad too long after getting rescued, don’t you think? I immediately thought of Kate Winslet in “Titanic” – “I’ll never let go!”

I also loved the twist at the end with Joe White. I kind of always figured that he was more than he appeared to be. I can’t wait to find out who Shelburne is and what his/her relationship is with the McGarrett family, Joe White and Wo Fat. This show is definitely getting interesting again!