This week, the team meets up with an old friend in what ends up being a somewhat forgettable episode of Hawaii Five-0.
In most shows, a mysterious assassination sparking a mob war wouldn’t feel so bland, but it’s hard to come after the spectacle of the wildfire and the frantic drug bust of the past two episodes. It’s also a bit confusing because the episode order was changed. This was supposed to come before last week’s episode, which makes a bit more sense. It’s clearly a breather episode that shows how Tani adjusts to the team.
One great thing about the show is its use of supporting characters. Familiar faces from past seasons are always popping up to lend a hand on the current investigation. In this case, Danny and Steve reconnect with former MI-6 agent and James Bond cosplayer Harry Langford. He happens to be in Hawaii enjoying his retirement, but quickly tires of what he calls the “Soulless luxury of five-star hotels,” and his travel partner, Veronique.
It’s good that Harry’s in town, because the team definitely needs his help. It all begins when Jimmy Okada, the head of the Okada crime family, is taken out in a well-executed hit. The FBI agents who were monitoring him for a potential RICO case are trapped in their van, and we only hear the action over the radio. It makes for a somewhat staid cold opening, but Harry’s presence luckily makes the case a lot more interesting.
The team needs Harry to get to paranoid weapons dealer Loto Manui, who would be the only one able to provide weapons to the killers. Loto knows the faces of every cop on the island, which explains why the team has never gone up against him before. They think they can use Harry to bluff him, but he ends up in the back of a gun-filled van teaming with hostile bad guys. Luckily, Harry takes them out and Loto eventually gives up the location of a rival gang.
The head of the gang, Viktor, protests his innocence. They were making a play for Okada’s turf, but only after he was charged in the RICO case. Lou verifies Viktor’s story and provides proof through the ballistics report. Now, the audience can understand why we only heard the hit in the cold open. It was a bit of subterfuge. We were meant to think that it was a hit team, but it was a sole assassin who took out ten armed men with the FBI none the wiser.
Harry isn’t just here to help the team with the case. He’s also here to be brutally honest about Steve and Danny’s retirement dreams. He doesn’t think that their current quarrel about booth fabric matters because the restaurant will go down soon anyway. The two are exasperated that they’re working so hard for their dream retirement when Harry is throwing his away for a chance to get back in the action.
Meanwhile, Lou and Tani are cautioning Okada’s son not to take any rash actions and hunt down his father’s murderers. Kamekona, who knows how to read the mood of the island’s citizens, predicts that things could get very ugly, very quickly. Taking out Okada is a big move, and it could lead to a lot more violence down the line.
After Jerry relays the ballistics report, Lou and Tani trace the gun to an unassuming piano teacher who’s a horrible liar. Before they can take Mr. Walcott down the station, revenge comes knocking on their door. Okada’s son didn’t listen to reason. First, he went after the waitress who served as the inside man for the job and then went after the man who pulled the trigger.
Lou and Tani definitely get the exciting action scene of the week as they take out the gunmen in a sequence set to a classical piano composition. In their effort to keep Walcott’s student safe, Lou and Tani lose track of the assassin himself. The weapons cache they find in his basement proves that he’s the right guy.
The show delivers its next twist of the episode when we find out that Walcott wasn’t hired by anyone. He was actually just a devoted father until a hit-and-run tragically killed his son. This all had nothing to do with Jimmy Okada’s less-than-savory criminal activities and the mob war. It was all just a father’s grief. He spent three years training himself, met the waitress in a grief support group, and planned to take out Okada.
It’s revealed that Walcott also blames Okada’s son, which makes him the next target. The team storms the building, but none of them can talk him down. He gets his revenge, but promptly gets arrested and taken away by the team. Steve and Danny thank Harry for his help by offering to make dinner for him and Veronique. They’re actually just unwitting test subjects for the restaurant menu. It doesn’t go well, and Harry and Veronique enjoy a romantic dinner at the shrimp truck instead.
Ultimately, the episode is fairly unremarkable, but Harry tries his best to add some levity to the proceedings. He turns on the charm for Tani and urges Steve and Danny to enjoy the job they have. There’s some simple moments where the cast can’t keep a straight face that makes me glad that Harry just happened to drop by. Hopefully, it won’t be another full season before we see him again!
What did you think of tonight’s episode? Let me know in the comments!
