Thoughts on Hawaii Five-O's Second Season

New scripted programming's difficult to find as Christmas nears, which is why I'm writing about Hawaii Five-O for the second time in 2011. I wrote about the second season premiere in September. The episode followed Steve's escape from prison, and it involved a ton of nonsense. Despite the nonsense, it was an action-packed and entertaining hour of TV. I wrote nothing but kind and complimentary words for Hawaii Five-O then; four months later, I'm less enthused about the show.

I missed two or three episodes and fell asleep twice during the North Korea episode. The writers introduced several new characters. Several episodes this season were spent on a possible corrupt Kono arc that ended exactly one would expect such an arc on H5O to end. Lauren German joined the cast as the female version of McGarrett. Masi Oka joined the show as a socially-awkward forensic doctor who endears himself to the 5-O crew. Terry O'Quinn's been around since the premiere as Joe White, McGarrett's father's best friend and, now, father figure to McGarrett. The majority of the time White's been eating shrimp. And when that's not happening, he's getting into trouble.

Something's off about the show in season two. I cannot explain what the core issue is. The increasing cast has hurt the show. One of the most enjoyable things in season one was the core four 5-O characters, who solved crime and kicked ass together, then hung out as friends would after the day's drama ended. Now, characters appear in scenes willy-nilly. One episode left Danny out for the entire first act. I wondered if Caan was busy that week, curios to hear an explanation for why Danny sat out the week. As soon as act two began, Danny showed up on the crime scene. Of course, no one needs to know why one character's on a scene and not the other. I'd just like to. McGarrett's more entertaining in scenes with McGarrett than he with any other character. Whenever O'Loughlin and German share a scene, the energy instantly disappears from the episode. Perhaps it is the cast.

None of the arcs have been good this season. McGarrett's involved in the never-ending Wo Fat nonsense. Jenna's betrayal in North Korea was met with a disappointed look and a prolonged glare from McGarrett. Jenna represented an opportunity for the series to take a risk. Instead, she apologized, and then was murdered and therefore redeemed. The gang swooped in, rescued Steve, and then went back Hawaii. Each time Steve learns something, he uncovers more questions. Joe White's a trouble-maker. In one episode, he confessed that he withheld information from McGarrett, explaining that McGarrett needed to let things remain where they were, that it's pointless to torture oneself with information too late to physically react to. Steve was surprised once more when someone told McGarrett that White possibly murdered his father after interrogation. Terry O'Quinn's slowly transformed his portrayal of Joe White into a hybrid Joe White-MIB (the Man In Black). The last scene of the episode, a cliff-hanger to be specific, was between the two characters. Steve wanted to know the Truth. Joe White responded, 'there are truths with a capital T--just a bunch of truths with lower case t's.' Actually, White didn't say that--my former philosophy teacher said that. What he said to Steve was, 'I wish you didn't say that' with the look like 'I'm about to turn into a pillar of black smoke and destroy you.'

Danny's personal life is in flux; his daughter's too cool for him now; he has no place to live. One week he lived with McGarret. Another episode he considered living in a place in which a brutal murder took place until a friendly ghost scared him away. Danny's interested in Autumn Reeser whenever she's in an episode. In the latest episode, Danny invited Lori over for a spa day. Danny also hand-cuffed himself to Lori because he claimed he wanted to demonstrate some maneuver for escaping handcuffs. McGarrett and White arrived just in time to witness the locked-up co-workers. Danny claimed to have lost the key. No one believed him. The woman was completely oblivious to it all.

Chin and Kono haven't done much this season. Kono briefly flirted with the dark side; however, the dark side was actually just an undercover job for Tom Sizemore in which she investigated the nefarious deeds of one Billy Baldwin. Chin re-connected with his ex-wife in one scene. A later episode had a scene in which Malia worried about Kono to Chin. The latest episode concluded in their marriage--Chin and Malia, not Malia and Kono (though that'd be an interesting development). Kono and Kamekona cried.

The second season's been directionless. Each episode introduces a new case to solve. None of the cases interest me. The same damn beats are hit every week. The arcs suck. The banter's not as fun. I'm going to end the post now with a Youtube clip.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK