Hawaii 5-0 guest starred D.L. Hughley last night

I’m beginning to feel I don’t need to review Hawaii 5-0 anymore. Does anyone remember L.A. Story where Steve Martin’s weatherman character pre-taped his episodes, because, 99.9% of the time it’s always sunny in Los Angeles? I only watch now in case there’s a bad episode and people notice my jarringly glowing review. This week’s episode featured yet another ’90s actor as a “villain,” while interweaving the gang’s investigatory strengths with plot threads containing realism and subtlety. Although McGarrett’s sister and a diminished role for Chin Ho/Kona served as weak notes, everything else proved pretty solid.

First off, I had to question the casting of D.L. Hughley as a prisoner serving two terms. What’d they do, imprison him for bad jokes? Actually, never mind. Either way, between Hughley and Marsters, the casting directly has a mad-on for the ’90s. Although our hero clearly had to win the 1-on-1 game, kudos to the writers for initially showing McGarrett’s cluelessness without magically healing Danno (the world’s most awesome coach). The two-handed, behind-the-head slam dunk seemed a bit much, but future episodes should feature more of McGarrett/Danno/Chin Ho’s natural athleticism.

However, let’s jump back to the episode’s strengths. While McGarrett continued as the crime-solving lovechild of Encyclopedia Brown and Mr. Wizard, both he and Danno demonstrated dual investigatory awareness of the videotaped Shawshank prison break-out (although all 4 seemed obtuse about the real target). I continue to congratulate the writers for avoiding penning a mentally impotent elite task force outside McGarrett.

The realism continued with Danno’s knee. I hate when shows pretend that falling off buildings, getting hit by buses, and rolling over cars doesn’t cause any trauma to the human body. Considering I once fractured a bone while walking down the street, I like that they gave Danno a torn ACL, a limp and a cane without slowing down his contribution to the show. Sure, they had to incorporate it, but I wish more shows did it without the impetus, (including showing O’Loughlin’s stunt-acquired torso bruises). Another thing I like? Scott Caan has an amazing physique, but at 5’5” he’s practically a midget. Considering the Tom Cruise-precedent, I’m glad they didn’t cardboard box Caan’s height to pretend equivalence to O’Loughlin’s 6’0”.

Another small item I appreciated included the subtle interweaving of the new name into the show from the floor boards to Kona/Chin Ho introducing themselves. Although McGarrett identified himself as the “Governor’s Task Force” at the airport, clearly he disseminated the nickname throughout the island since last week.

However, speaking of the airport brings me to the only false note this week. Because I find O’Loughlin facially expressive, I don’t view McGarrett as closed-off or animalistic as Danno states. Even so, I don’t believe the sister character served as a good character exploration device particularly considering her clichéd “Daddy hated us” speeches and her hackneyed wild child activity. I’ve always found myself impressed by the show’s total package. Although pre-episode one, I found myself uncertain about Caan and Kim in the roles of Danno and Chin Ho, the minute the episode started my questions abated into rabid fan-dom. Although I remain on the fence about the team’s junior member, Park has her moments. However, this character/actress serving as McGarrett’s sister did nothing for me. This is the first time I blatantly found myself wanting to pimp slap as opposed to high five the writers/casting staff.  Since Taryn Manning is essentially a series regular now, I hope she improves.

Another item I didn’t find realistic included Kona’s laptop. While they’re experimenting with her character’s skill set, is the entire island wireless or does she also have the most insanely fast 3G/4G connection?  Although I will assume her satellite-connected laptop didn’t require internet access to watch live TV chopper traffic feeds, I wonder still.

Quotes

Danno: “Why do you have aneurysm face?”
McGarrett: “I will literally pay you to stop talking.”

McGarrett: “What’s to stop me from taking that basketball and beating it out of you?”
Hughley (to Danno and McGarrett): “How long you two been married?”

Chin Ho: “You got her to use a military recon satellite and then you got a date?
McGarrett: “I’m a multi-tasker.”

Clacked by An Nicholson
on Oct 12, 2010 @ 10:00 EST5EDT