After what I thought to be a slow-moving Season 4 finale, Hawaii Five-0’s Season 5 premiere proved that this season has all kinds of potential.
As we saw last season, Steve bid farewell to Catherine and former SWAT Captain Lou Grover (he’s also now a series regular) joined the task force, but now the team of five (Steve, Danny, Chin, Kono and Lou) is united and ready to fight crime, which is exactly what the first episode of the fifth season gifted them.
The episode opens with quite the eerie moment. As Annette Funicello’s “Aloha Oe (Farewell to Thee)” plays, we see a quiet beach and ocean, vacated cars, empty hotels, among other apocalyptic-like scenarios.
We’re quickly transported to seven hours earlier, where Danny and Steve are in therapy -- more like marriage counseling -- as part of the annual psychological audit of personnel mandated by the governor. Mainly, the two bicker in their usual fashion, especially over the fact that Danny never drives his own car to which Steve replies he gets car sick if he doesn’t drive. As usual, these two act like a married couple, and I love every bit of it. However, they move past it once they start reflecting on how their team formed and Steve put it nicely, “We’re more than a task force. We’re ohana.” After five seasons, these two have formed such a tight bond, but it’s extremely enjoyable to see their fights and jabs at one another. That’s what a true bromance is all about.
Moving on to the meat of the episode, it focuses on a surveillance drone that killed (this is putting it mildly, as these people are basically annihilated) seven people and injured 19 more. Eventually (in typical H50 fashion), they figure out that a former UAV (Unmanned aerial vehicle) employee named Jonathan Redmond, played by Ned Vaughn, is behind the drone and is connected to Lawrence Turner, who is guilty of espionage. The team decides to evacuate the streets and keep everyone inside (enter the eerie opening scene). Jerry (yay for Jorge Garcia being back in Hawaii as a series regular!) says he can lock down the drone with some materials from the hardware store (who is he, MacGyver?). Well, he does it and basically saves the day. Not only does he stop the drone (all while hilariously wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet), gives Kono and Chin the coordinates of Redmond and uses the drone to take down a plane landing on the streets of Hawaii to rescue the aforementioned Turner.
What do we take away from this? He might be a conspiracy theorist, but Jerry shouldn’t be taken for granted. In addition, when Steve gets shot (yes, he gets shot in the thigh) he can still chase down a suspect, and Danny has zero luck with cars, because his is once again ruined thanks to the drone. Also, it’s important to note that Amanda Setton (The Crazy Ones) popped up in the recurring role of Dr. Shaw, Max’s trainee. And because Max has a way with words, Danny will now be called the following, which is how he described Danny to Dr. Shaw: a “deeply cynical misanthropic short-tempered partner.”
Don’t get me wrong, the main crime story was fun, fast-paced and involved a drone, but the highlights of the episode were showcased at the very end.
First, Adam (who was shown shirtless and wet at one point, and this is, obviously, an important detail to note) wants to marry Kono, but she’s hesitant after everything they’ve been through. Kono doesn’t want to lose him. Well, we all know how relationships fare on this show, so maybe this will be the one that lasts. Let’s hope, because I can’t get enough of Adam.
Next, at the beginning of the episode Chin is being watched. Near the end, Chin visits Malia’s brother (on Malia’s two year death anniversary), Gabriel, in prison. We learn Chin’s being followed by Internal Affairs, as they think he has the money Gabriel previously tried to bribe Chin with. All Chin wants is for Gabriel to sign an affidavit saying the money never changed hands. Gabriel, in his “well-mannered” ways, says he’ll think about it. Knowing Chin’s luck with I.A., this will all go very badly. Hasn’t he been through enough? Admittedly, haven’t we also kind of already done this storyline at the beginning of the series? Let’s hope it takes a different, more interesting turn.
Then, we see Jerry surveilling a bookstore. He believes the owner, played by Greg Ellis, is printing counterfeit money, and Steve promises to help Jerry with his “case.” Ellis' character is onto Jerry and declares to his scary looking colleague that they’ll deal with it.
Lastly, when Danny arrives home a mysterious man appears. He announces himself as Marco Reyes. Apparently, he’s friends with Danny’s brother (Matt aka Dane Cook aka the brother who laundered money and escaped). It seems Matt took something from him, and Marco wants Danny to help him get it back.
Whew! That’s a lot to happen in the last moments of the episode, right? Overall, I say this was a decent premiere. I mean, you can’t go wrong with all these twist, turns, storylines and subplots! All of these open-ended stories provide a variety of scenarios for the remaining season.
I don’t know about you, but, as of right now, Five-0 is going in the right direction.
What did you think of Hawaii Five-0’s Season 5 opener? Let us know in the comments!
