Wishful thinking
This week's guest stars on "Hawaii Five-0," from left, Pauly Shore, Jaleel White and Kevin Farley.
It’s funny how some people handle aging. Some deal with it gracefully, embracing wrinkles and maturity with class and sass, while others want to revisit an age when they had more fun and freedom.
But sometimes trying to reclaim your youth can really bite in painful and dangerous ways. Perhaps folks need to keep their wishful thinking in check when it comes to holding onto youth or wanting to shed responsibility and a mundane life.
It’s advice the hapless, married accountants played by Jaleel White, Pauly Shore and Kevin Farley could have used after they found themselves on a spring break they didn’t plan or count on in this week’s “Hawaii Five-0.”
“Hoʻamoano” (“Chasing Yesterday”) followed two storylines. One dealt with White, Shore, and Farley trying to explain their “Hangover”-esque tour of Hawaii and how they woke up with the body of a club waitress in their hotel room. The other dealt with Jerry (Jorge Garcia) helping the Five-0 team find a woman on the FBI’s most wanted list.
The episode, written by John Dove and directed by Stephen Herek (who also directed “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” and “Mr. Holland’s Opus”), was funny and fast-paced, dealing more with the two cases than character arcs or heavier season themes. While fans may have wanted more depth and character time, this episode was a meld of humor and all of the Five-0 team each had a chance to shine. I didn’t really need all of the focus on the three guest stars, but all three were great as married men going through a mid-life crisis that turned deadly.
All three actors are well-known for their comedic timing; White is known for his years on the sitcom “Family Matters” as the nerdy Steve Urkel, Shore is the consummate hard-partying buddy, famous for his stoner catch phrases, and Farley is a cool reminder of the amazing physical comedy established by his older brother, Chris Farley, who died in 1997. They were all given opportunities to remind us of the characters which made them famous — White tried to charm his way into the hearts of several young women, Shore made viewers laugh with his “Shaka, bruddah” and his crazy turn at trying to be a fire dancer, and Farley’s impressive flop into a ball pit showed his ability to live up to his family name.
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I also liked how Five-0 handled the murder investigation and the three accountants. The interrogation of each one individually by McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin), Danno (Scott Caan) and Grover (Chi McBride) was a great show of their investigation skills and helped to recreate the night of spring break antics in a more interesting way.
Kono (Grace Park) and Chin (Daniel Dae Kim) teamed up again this week to work Jerry’s kidnapping-turned murder-turned FBI case. I always love when the cousins pair up for some action. But I think what I liked even more was the fact that Duke (Dennis Chun), Kamekona (Taylor Wily) and Max (Masi Oka) all had a few strong moments during the episode.
Duke’s scene with McG and Danno was perfect, and Kamekona’s two scenes with Jerry showed Kamekona at his entrepreneurial best. And Max telling Grover about “a bottle of absinthe, a regrettable tattoo, and 48 hours in a Mexican prison” while on spring break in college was among the best lines of this episode.
Spring break in Hawaii is a little different than it is elsewhere. The weather doesn’t really change too much, so it’s really just a way to market a trip to college students and people tired of snow and storms. And in this case, I guess those tired of their wives as well.
But before you think every spring break ends with a dead girl in a tub that doubled as a beer cooler, remember the death of the waitress had to do with money and greed. The spring break antics were just a cover the murderer used to conceal his crime.
I thought the twist in the plot was interesting. The waitress’ long lost father wanted to see her before he died and might have given her part of his $20 million dollar estate he was going to leave to his only son — who of course, killed her to keep the money. I definitely didn’t see that coming.
I also didn’t see the twist in Jerry’s case. After initially seeing a woman being kidnapped, it turned out the alleged victim was actually wanted for sex trafficking by the FBI. Chin and Kono tracked her down to a coffee farm on the Big Island where young women were being used as slave labor. Related or not, those two really know how to shoot their way out of a situation and ask questions later; I love that about them. I also love the fact that when there’s a tough shot to make, the guys let Kono take it.
I liked this episode. It wasn’t gut wrenching, but it was funny and showed how the Five-0 team works so well together, and seeing real life Honolulu Police Department Chief Louis Kealoha make an appearance was a sweet touch. I would have liked a little more discussion between McG and Chin about the pictures Gabriel left of Adam and the unidentified Asian gentleman, but that might have been more wishful thinking on my part.
REDUX SIDE NOTE
Only three more episodes are left in season five and we still don’t have official CBS confirmation about season six. Next week’s episode, “Moʻo ʻōlelo pū” (“Sharing Traditions”), finds Kono stranded at sea and the Five-0 team desperately searching for her.
On May 8, season five wraps up with two episodes. “Luapoʻi” (“Prey”) starts the evening with Rachel (Claire van der Boom) returning to deliver some serious news to Danno. “A Make Kāua” (“Until We Die”) will finish the season with Kono and Adam’s (Ian Anthony Dale) wedding and the Five-0 team searching for a nuclear weapon.
Sounds like an explosive night!
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Wendie Burbridge is a published author, playwright and teacher. Reach her via Facebook and follow her on Twitter.
13 responses to “Wishful thinking”
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I’m glad the episode was a lot better and had far more or better humor in it than the guest-stars’ pick-up lines and scenes in the two sneak peeks – there’s just nothing appealing about drunk “older” guys trying to pick up young women on spring break. Whoever picked those scenes to promote the episode, could have made a far better choice – such as using the scene with Max talking about his spring-break experience with absinth, or any scene with Jerry and/or Kamekona in it. I loved them.
As to the cases – I was already suspecting the half-brother of the dead waitress when Five-0 talked to him for the first time. After all, money and greed have always been popular motives for murder, so it came as no surprise that this young man did not want to share with a sibling he had not even known about until recently.
Like you, Wendie, I enjoying seeing the cousins working together on case no. 2 which had more surprising turns in it than the other one. And I always love it when Kono gets to shoot the bad guys – or rather the evil woman, in this case.
Overall, I really liked the episode and thought it was fun – and I definitely enjoyed the view of Steve in Blue at the ceremony. Mahalo to the wardrobe dept. 🙂
As to your comment about Season 6 not being officially confirmed: Since there are two ongoing charity auctions for set visits to H50, I think we don’t need to worry that our favorite show might not get renewed because those set visits would not be possible if there was no Season 6 😉 Nobody from the show would want to make a fool of himself by auctioning off a prize that could not be “delivered”.
Wendie,
I agree that we got to see some great scenes with three of the “regulars”. I especially the one with Duke. He nails every scene he is in. Overall enjoyed the ep. Like everyone still waiting for it to be renewed for next year.
Paul
Well, Wendy, it wasn’t my favorite episode but there have been so many great episodes this season and I can’t expect to be blown away every week. And I think we are leading up to a pretty explosive season finale. But this episode had it’s high points too. One thing I loved seeing was Jaleel White on my TV screen. I’ll admit this. I am old enough to remember him from his Steve Urkel days. He was hilarious then and he is still hilarious now. I loved when he was explaining wild boar hunting to his wife while his eyes were popping out looking at the women in bikinis. Jerry story was pretty good and had a really good twist to it. And, of course, we got to see Steve and Danno looking pretty good all dressed up. My favorite moment as always are the Steve and Danno bromance. I loved when Uncle Steve right away saw the wild party going on and told Danno to make sure Grace goes to an online college. As always, we all got a little of what we like in the show. I love when Kono and Chin work together. The two storylines always works well for this show. I guess what I love most about that, is you get to see the whole team. When one of them is missing, it’s like it throws the whole show off. But, I get it, they have to have some free time too. Dreading the end of the season and I hope they all (every one of them) come back to us next season.
This wasn’t my favorite episode,either,but it was enjoyable! The three guys gave new meaning to the term”mid-life crisis” and it was funny watching them being interrogated. Loved the team up of Jerry,Chin & Kono on the FBI case. I knew Kono would take the last shot and she hit her target dead on(pardon the pun). The ceremony for Jerry was very nice and the medal was well deserved! Glad that Chin shared the photos Gabriel sent him with Steve,but he still doesn’t know who the gentleman with Adam is. We’ll surely found out during the last three episodes!
YES Wendie I agree with your recap and I am ANXIOUSLY awaiting Rachel’s return!!!
Hmmmm, 3 guys out drinking and none of them had to pee when they got back to the hotel room?
Good light episode setting up the dramatic finale I’m sure. End of the season and the storylines are allowing the actors a bit of a break with not too much screen time for any one. Jorge continues to win our hearts in his role as Jerry. Go Speed Racer.
Thanks for the recap Wendie.
I liked the episode, too. Poor Jerry, he had never seen a dead body, been kidnapped, and ect. since he meet H50. It was a slightly silly with a serious edge to it.
Season 6, right now! Pleeeeaaassseee CBS!
I did not see it coming that the son killed her either. Sometimes I don’t understand the motivations of killers (even though I know its only TV). I think I would be delighted to find out I had a half-sister if I had grown up as an only child. Even if he had to split the inheritance 50/50, that still should have been plenty.
This one was good except that the murder victum in the bathtub (near the start of the episode) was never given a name or how she had ended up dead in the room with the trio of men from the mainland as that was not explained at all over this most recent one at all. As for next week’s show (showcasing Kono) which is now in promotional status on CBS-TV until it airs on Friday night in the US of A it is almost like what Tom Selleck dhad done starring as Tom Maginum on ‘maginum, p.i.’some years back. I’m also still hoping that CBS has given our fave show the green light to return for a new season beginning in fall and not keep us in the dark like this until the current season is pau.
PS: I’ve also been enjoying Jogre as “Jerry” since I’d always enjoied watching hiim on “Lost” too!
She was named Rebecca Oleana. The guys gave her one of the many room keys, and she used it when she realized she was being followed. But the bad guy caught up to her and killed her in the hotel room.
THE POOL PARTY EPISODE~ i was so jealous i couldn’t go to this one 🙂