Each week the characters of “Hawaii Five-0” face many different kinds of criminals — and if there is one element that the bad guys usually share, it is the fact that they are all pretty good liars.

While McGarrett (Alex O’Louhglin) and the Five-0 crew always seem to take their deceit in stride, this isn’t the case when a member of their own team turns is caught in a lie. The title of this week’s episode is “He waha kou o ka he‘e” which is Hawaiian for “yours is the mouth of an octopus.” Written by Matt Wheeler and series regular Chi McBride, the title is a traditional ʻōlelo noʻeau or Hawaiian proverb and poetical saying that literally means “you are a liar.” It is a play on the Hawaiian words, “waha” which means “mouth” and “he‘e” which means “octopus,” but together the word “wahahe‘e” means “to lie.”

The episode has the team trying to find Grover’s (McBride) niece Siobhan (Nia Holloway), who has gone missing from the police academy. When they question her boyfriend, fellow HPD recruit Endo Tanaka (John Harlan Kim), they discover he has lied not only about what he really knows about her disappearance, but also about his true identity. Endo is the godson of Kenji Higashi (Fernando Chien), the current head of the Yakuza in Hawaii.

While the storyline literally deals with the lies Endo feeds the team about Siobhan’s disappearance, it is Adam’s (Ian Anthony Dale) connection to the Yakuza and the lengths to which he continues to conceal his true intent that concerns us the most. The episode is Dale’s directorial debut and really showed that he is more than just a talented actor. The storyline is well-paced, and the emotional tension was expertly balanced. Dale kept the suspense within the storylines high, which helped create several powerful moments for both Grover and Adam.

DANNY’S AFTERMATH

In one of the first scenes of the episode, Danny (Scott Caan) comes to the medical examiner’s office, and we learn that the girl he tried to save in last week’s episode was named Joanna (not Leslie, as Siegel was originally billed as in the press release). Danny is there to meet her sister, Marie LaPietra (Annika Marks), who has come to pick up her personal effects. Marie tells Danny, “It wasn’t your fault. I know you did everything you could.” She hugs Danny and cries as he apologizes several times. The scene is incredibly sad as Marie takes comfort in the fact that she got to talk to the man who was with Joanna in the last moments of her life.

It would have been great if Danny had spoken to McGarrett about his feelings about finding and losing Joanna. We still don’t know how he really feels about her death and what he thinks about his own loss. While he and McGarrett have several scenes together, even a sweet one in McGarrett’s house with Eddie, the extent of discussing the accident is when McGarrett asks him if he wants to talk about it and Danny tells him, “What am I gonna say?”

ADAM PLAYS BOTH SIDES

Beyond dealing with the aftermath of Danny’s car accident, the episode mostly deals with Adam playing both sides of the legal fence as he has returned to Five-0 and yet, seems to also be working with the Yakuza. McGarrett doesn’t seem to trust Adam. So while Grover meets Adam for coffee at Kamekona’s Shrimp Truck, McGarrett and Danny search Adam’s apartment to see if they can find anything that will give them a clue as to what Adam is thinking, or planning, or doing outside of Five-0. While they find nothing, Danny does encourage McGarrett to have a conversation with Adam about why he quit the team.

We know McGarrett is right to be suspicious. Adam may not be the Oyabun of the Hawaii Yakuza clan, but he is no friend to Kenji, who currently sits in that seat. For the rest of the episode, Adam is busy working with Five-0, as well as with the Yakuza, to find Grover’s niece. When Tani (Meaghan Rath) reveals that Siobhan’s boyfriend is Endo, Adam recognizes him right away as the Yakuza lackey he worked with the night before as they moved several bodies from a known Yakuza dumpsite. Endo seems to be the last person who was with Siobhan before she disappeared, and Adam knows he has to act in a way that could jeopardize his position in both worlds.

GROVER’S WORST NIGHTMARE

Really the hardest parts to watch had to be the deeply emotional scenes with Siobhan and Grover. Siobhan is kidnapped and marked for death when she realizes her HPD recruit boyfriend Endo is tipping off drug dealers based on information he is gathering while attending the academy. When she thinks she is about to be killed, and she drops to her knees to pray, was both emotionally and visually difficult to watch.

Yet it was the Grover scenes — when he interrogates Endo desperate to get information about where he can find Siobhan, and then when Adam brings her out of the jungle in one piece and Grover embraces her, weeping because he is so relieved she is alive — made the biggest impact in the episode. They not only showcased McBride’s superior acting talent but also showed Dale’s talent as an up and coming director.

Wendie Burbridge writes the “Five-0 Redux” and “Magnum Reloaded” blogs for staradvertiser.com. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.