Hawaii Five-O "Ha'i'ole (Unbreakable)" Review

Hawaii Five-O's the rare procedural I watch weekly. The word "rare" implies that I watch procedurals regularly every once in awhile, though, which is untrue. I watched Shawn Ryan's The Chicago Code last season but never enjoyed an episode as much as I enjoyed Hawaii Five-O. I wondered why because Shawn Ryan's among the most respected and creatively talented in television. One thing unifies the many procedurals scattered across the networks: boring episodes. Many procedurals take themselves too seriously as if their episodes will solve the problems of urban crime or political corruption only for the story to resolve itself in simply with a clean confession from the suspect, so the characters can return to their complicated lives for five minutes at the end.

Hawaii Five-O is a fun procedural. Lenkov's procedural's guilty of taking itself too seriously sometimes, especially whenever Wo-Fat's involved. The history of the McGarrett family, anything involving Danny's ex-wife, and Chin Ho's history with Hawaii PD's a source of serious storytelling. I tolerate these instances of serious storytelling because they're interesting. Also, the characters are fun and will crack smiles during each episode. Five-O's different from the grim-faced fictional cops who police the streets of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago or Philadelphia. There's nothing gritty about the series because of its lush Hawaii setting. Each episode begins with several seconds of helicopter footage over one of Hawaii's beautiful islands followed by a scene with banter then another scene before some crime's committed that dominates the rest of the episode until the final five minutes. Sometimes they detour and buy water ice from their buddy or a character's involved in a light-hearted B or C story.

The first season ended with the Five-O team disbanded following the murder of the governor. McGarrett went to jail because he was found with the gun that took the governor's life. Chin Ho returned to the Hawaii Police department. Kono lost her badge as part of an investigation. Danny contemplated moving to New York to be with his ex-wife and daughter. The episodes don't waste time. Within ten minutes, McGarrett escapes prison and the narrative's running at break-neck speed. Chin Ho and Danny need to clear Steve's name and implicate Wo-Fat. Joe White (Terry O'Quinn), who trained McGarrett, arrives to Honolulu to his expertise to the team. The episode moves fast. The locations change in the blink of an eye. There isn't much to write about unless I decide to write a detailed summary. The action's simply and storytelling 101: McGarrett needs to clear his name so he and the team figure out how to accomplish that goal. There are obstacles, chase scenes, and fights, but McGarrett's name's cleared after a friend of his father's leads them to a security camera in the governor's office. It's enough to clear McGarrett but not to implicate Wo-Fat in the murder.

The A story resolves the season one cliffhanger but the arc's nowhere near a resolution. Steve McGarrett's going to climb down the rabbit hole of his family's history in season two because his father used to meet with the corrupted governor and villainous Wo-Fat. Wo-Fat warned Steve about his family's shady history, which he's unable to shake from his head. I'm interested in what Steve learns about his family during the course of the second season. I'm not too interested in the continuation of Wo-Fat on the show, though, because I don't even remember when he was introduced as a big bad. Furthermore, I'm less interested in Jenna's involvement in Wo-Fat's gang. The premiere ended with that plot twist. Again, I don't remember her introduction, and I suspected she'd be more evil than good because she plopped into the show willy-nilly with some connection to Wo-Fat that eludes me. Larisa Oleynik's not a nuanced actress. The scene between her and Terry O'Quinn gave away the twist because she acted suspiciously and O'Quinn eyed her suspiciously. So, I'm not interested in the reason she double-crossed Five-O and I dread the episode when the team uncovers the truth.

Danny chose work over family. The decision bit him in the ass because Rachel's moving back in with Stan. It just so happened that Stan's the father of the baby, not Danny. The previous sentence will make no sense to anyone unfamiliar with the series. The news transformed Danny into a morose individual who only half-heartedly banters with McGarrett. The decision to move Rachel and his daughter back to Hawaii prevents any sort of age-old tension between the former couple. There won't be any guilt-trips from Rachel because he chose work over family life in New York City. Instead, there'll be more unresolved romantic feelings from both characters, which worked last season. Also, any scene involving Danny and his daughter were great. It'd be too cruel for the writers to take Danny's daughter from him.

Lenkov and his writers made good decisions during their hiatus. The conflict between Chin Ho and Danny's easily handled (said conflict stemmed from Chin Ho arresting McGarrett last season and declaring to Danny that 'Five-O's no more'). Arbitrary and unnecessary conflict doesn't happen on the show. Perhaps the writers know how tiresome it is to watch, and perhaps it's a drag for them to write. I hope the Wo-Fat storyline takes a break for several episodes because the stand-alone ones are very fun.

I'm not writing about the series weekly. I just wanted to share my thoughts about a solid CBS police procedural.

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