Episode reaction
Overall, I was very pleased with the first episode of season 2. It was exciting, involving and had enough angst and surprises. Plus, most important, it involved the team and their sense of family really well.
Things I loved:
Steve with the beard and orange jump suit. He's sexy enough that even that ugly prison outfit he's gorgeous.
Steve liking Danny without a tie. You can tell Steve thinks Danny looks hot.
Steve saying jail wasn't anything hell week didn't train him for.
Steve getting shanked by Hesse. I'm sure he thought Hesse was going to kill him, but realized he'd been given the opportunity to escape. Steve was hurt just enough to bleed and be in some pain but not to stop him from being able to run, punch, fight and do all the stuff he usually does.
Steve's escape and his trying to tend his wound in the men's room. Ouch! And germs in that filthy place!
Steve in the cop uniform.
Joe not being worried about Steve having escaped and being wounded. "He can take care of himself." And in telling Jenna he trained Steve, I guess that's why they cut the other line from the trailer.
Steve passed out in Max's bathroom. He finally ran out of steam; he's only human. And as he said, it was the only place he had to go. Though I would have preferred Danny taking care of him, of course, he looked beautiful on Max's couch shirtless. And the conversation with Max was adorable: Steve telling him to call him Steve, Max hypothesizing about the weapon that made the wound and saying the news was "scary" so he didn't watch it.
"Why are you yelling at me?" "I'm not yelling at you." What a great exchange between the two of them, with Max informing Danny he was being "loud." But to Danny, it wasn't yelling. It was foreplay.
I took Danny pacing back and forth and keeping his back to Steve and Chin during the following part of the conversation as being him not wanting to show how upset and worried he was about Steve. Loved Steve looking past Chin to announce he was all right, underscoring Danny had yelled at him instead of asking. Danny would have done that with Grace if she got lost, yell first, ask if okay second. And Danny's voice when he asked Steve if there was any way he could talk him out of going after Wo Fat, so soft, and Steve's reply "has it ever worked before? Danny?"
The cargument. Danny telling Steve to be the "invisible man" and to stay down and out of sight in the back seat of Max's car. Danny not wanting to talk much about Rachel having not his but Stan's baby. Someone on one of the comms said she thought they made Danny "over it" too soon, but I think his not wanting to talk shows he still was upset. Plus, I'd rather not dwell on it. I'm sure he was kicking himself for letting himself believe that she was really going to come back to him. And I loved Steve feeling bad for Danny (but secretly relieved? glad Danny won't have a reason to leave Hawaii, for sure.)
The baby being Stan's. And that we didn't even see Rachel this ep.
Chin slugging those guys with Wo Fat and getting the one guy's wallet. His moves were cool.
The "arguments" between Danny and Chin and Steve and Chin, with Chin explaining he could only help Steve from inside the force. Very touching and just emotional enough. And I liked Joe pointing out that the argument between Chin and Danny wasn't helping Steve.
Danny pointing out that there should have been a wound on Steve's neck from the stun gun.
When Chin said if they were wrong about the camera in the governor's study, they'd be sharing a cell with McGarrett, Danny saying, "I call top bunk."
Kono -- getting away from the baddie by herself. She doesn't need saving by the guys. I knew she was going to come out of that trunk literally kicking butt. And those booties she was wearing looked great on her.
Loved all three guys on the boat catching Wo Fat's boat. Steve jumping on, and asking Danny if he was "ready." Danny saying "no" but being ready all the same and jumping on. Steve replying, "Good. Come on!" -- very Starsky and Hutch-like. And Chin shooting while steering.
Kono taking out the buyer and her introduction to Joe.
"Book 'em, Danno."
When Chin nodded toward Danny in his office and asked Steve if he was really going to be okay, and Steve headed there, I was oh, yes!
Finding out Jenna may be with Wo Fat.
Things I'd've preferred to have gone differently:
Danny and Chin immediately questioning Hesse about stabbing Steve, instead of wanting to go to the hospital to see that Steve was okay. Plot-wise, fine. But they didn't seem terribly concerned about whatever injury had been inflicted on Steve by Hesse.
Danny really being in his office alone being sad instead of watching the rest of Steve's father's tape. I was so ready for Steve to go in there and comfort him and for them to have a moment, yet script-wise they needed to get that part in. I'm not really thinking his father was actually in cahoots with Wo Fat though, but I like that it's providing angst for Steve. Why would his father have wanted his meeting with the governor and Wo Fat to be on tape if he was really bad?
Things we saw in the trailer that weren't in the ep itself. I hate when this happens with movies but usually you don't get it so much for tv shows. I wanted to see Steve tell Danny he looked worse than he did. I will take that canonically as being from another visit Danny paid to Steve. And I thought it was dumb they cut the line where Joe told Chin he trained Steve.
I thought that Joe would actually come "to the rescue" -- not that I preferred the idea of the team needing or therescued or not being able to help themselves, but it was advertized that this character was going to come and save the day. I thought he'd have information about Wo Fat, weapons, clout, something. As it was, he was there to support them and lend a hand, yes, and be there as a father figure for Steve and for an introduction to the character, it was fine. But it wasn't the way the trailers would have had us think it was going to be. Still, he did recognize the medal and knew whose it was, so that was something the others couldn't have learned without him.
The Lt. Governor,Richard. T. Jones, who played a character named James Ellison on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. See my TS story about this. , showing up to re-instate Five-0 at just the right moment. Yeah, I didn't really want Steve taken back into custody (though that would have proved interesting, I think, and would have given Joe more to do, so they could get him out again and would have meant it would take longer to wrap up that part of the storyline) and just forgetting that Steve escaped from jail, punched out an EMT and a cop and that Danny and Chin broke into the governor's residence. It was great that the tape was there and provided the evidence that Steve didn't shoot the governor and that she was guilty of blowing up Laura's car -- and cool that it doesn't show Wo Fat's face -- but really, Lt. Gov? But Kono is still in trouble??? Still, setting up Five-0 in the first place was pretty quick. Oh well.
Kono still in trouble about the money, and her killing a man when she wasn't authorized to carry a weapon. I'm sure that will be used in the department's case against her, which for the plot makes sense, but she shouldn't have killed the guy. It would have been a lot better for her and for them to get info from him if he'd just been wounded. Or if Joe had killed him instead.
Hesse being killed. Plot-wise, okay. But I've always said that James Marsters was wasted in this role; he has so much more to contribute acting-wise and I'd've loved to see the Hesse character developed way more than they ever did. And it was a shame that he was offed just as we found he had a sliver of humanity in helping Steve and admitting such to Chin and Danny.
Questions:
How did Joe contact Danny to pick him up when his plane landed? Would he have known that Danny was part of Five-0 and just checked the phone book? No biggie, not like it was a huge plot hole, but it would be interesting to know.
How was it that during Steve's hour in the yard, Hesse was able to get to him? Again, no biggie, and having been a fan of OZ, I know prison guards aren't always where they're supposed to be.
For that matter, how did Wo Fat infiltrate the prison and stab Hesse? Hesse wasn't in a cell at the time and conveniently, there were no other guards around as Wo Fat casually walked out of the jail.
If Kono was part of Five-0, how is it that she is suspended from the HPD? We have never clearly been shown how this works. She's an officer of the HPD but since she's with Five-0, how can she be suspended for something she did with them?
Steve, Danny and Chin are no sooner reinstated as Five-0 than they are shooting people dead on Wo Fat's boat and Steve is letting the one guy loose as "chum" to catch the shark. Hello? Is the Lt. Gov going to be okay with all that? (Plus, when Danny indicated Steve was probably sending the guy out to get killed, I couldn't help but think of The Closer and how Brenda has gotten herself into a lot of trouble by doing the exact same thing.)
How much recording space was on that camera that Steve's father left in the governor's study? He was killed at the beginning of last season, which in show time is approximately a year ago. We didn't see when he installed it, but it couldn't have been very long before he was killed, still, how much is recorded? I think Danny said most of the meeting between Jameson, Wo Fat and Pa McGarrett was erased; was that because it taped over stuff allowing the fateful shooting of Jameson to be there? And was it battery operated? Wouldn't it have run out of power? (I remember the 12 hour vhs tape recorded on Wiseguy when Sonny garrotted Pat the Cat.... ah, technology!)
Foreshadowing about Jenna -- that Joe had Chin and Danny let Jenna know he was on his way to meet with her, which in retrospect allowed her to be ready for him and not have anything that would have incriminated her out where he could see it. And him saying she "seemed to know Wo Fat pretty well." Her statement that it was "almost personal" with her was supposed to mean it was about her dead fiance.
Other thoughts:
When Steve opened that case full of money on Wo Fat's boat I thought, if it's ten million, they could use it to replace the money that was missing.
Steve should be pretty banged up from all that running and jumping and punching guys out... his wound should be bleeding and hurting. Not that we actually get any real h/c on the screen but fanfic, yes.
I've always thought that interrogation room they have is really dark and intimidating, looks sound proof in case they rough someone up and it should be in a basement somewhere, but it's obviously just another room in their headquarters. Thought it was funny they just let the baddie let himself out through their office when nobody else was there.
Overall, this was a really good episode. We don't always get perfect writing with all things accounted for on this show, so any holes aren't really out of the ordinary. And time seems a bit relative in Hawaii as they always seem to get a lot done in 24 hours, but I have no real issues with that stuff. As long as they get the relationship and characterizations correct, I'm happy.
I think it was good that they are having Steve question his father's involvement but I doubt they will actually make him corrupt.
Next week, Lauren German's character arrives. Gird your loins, slashers.
Things I loved:
Steve with the beard and orange jump suit. He's sexy enough that even that ugly prison outfit he's gorgeous.
Steve liking Danny without a tie. You can tell Steve thinks Danny looks hot.
Steve saying jail wasn't anything hell week didn't train him for.
Steve getting shanked by Hesse. I'm sure he thought Hesse was going to kill him, but realized he'd been given the opportunity to escape. Steve was hurt just enough to bleed and be in some pain but not to stop him from being able to run, punch, fight and do all the stuff he usually does.
Steve's escape and his trying to tend his wound in the men's room. Ouch! And germs in that filthy place!
Steve in the cop uniform.
Joe not being worried about Steve having escaped and being wounded. "He can take care of himself." And in telling Jenna he trained Steve, I guess that's why they cut the other line from the trailer.
Steve passed out in Max's bathroom. He finally ran out of steam; he's only human. And as he said, it was the only place he had to go. Though I would have preferred Danny taking care of him, of course, he looked beautiful on Max's couch shirtless. And the conversation with Max was adorable: Steve telling him to call him Steve, Max hypothesizing about the weapon that made the wound and saying the news was "scary" so he didn't watch it.
"Why are you yelling at me?" "I'm not yelling at you." What a great exchange between the two of them, with Max informing Danny he was being "loud." But to Danny, it wasn't yelling. It was foreplay.
I took Danny pacing back and forth and keeping his back to Steve and Chin during the following part of the conversation as being him not wanting to show how upset and worried he was about Steve. Loved Steve looking past Chin to announce he was all right, underscoring Danny had yelled at him instead of asking. Danny would have done that with Grace if she got lost, yell first, ask if okay second. And Danny's voice when he asked Steve if there was any way he could talk him out of going after Wo Fat, so soft, and Steve's reply "has it ever worked before? Danny?"
The cargument. Danny telling Steve to be the "invisible man" and to stay down and out of sight in the back seat of Max's car. Danny not wanting to talk much about Rachel having not his but Stan's baby. Someone on one of the comms said she thought they made Danny "over it" too soon, but I think his not wanting to talk shows he still was upset. Plus, I'd rather not dwell on it. I'm sure he was kicking himself for letting himself believe that she was really going to come back to him. And I loved Steve feeling bad for Danny (but secretly relieved? glad Danny won't have a reason to leave Hawaii, for sure.)
The baby being Stan's. And that we didn't even see Rachel this ep.
Chin slugging those guys with Wo Fat and getting the one guy's wallet. His moves were cool.
The "arguments" between Danny and Chin and Steve and Chin, with Chin explaining he could only help Steve from inside the force. Very touching and just emotional enough. And I liked Joe pointing out that the argument between Chin and Danny wasn't helping Steve.
Danny pointing out that there should have been a wound on Steve's neck from the stun gun.
When Chin said if they were wrong about the camera in the governor's study, they'd be sharing a cell with McGarrett, Danny saying, "I call top bunk."
Kono -- getting away from the baddie by herself. She doesn't need saving by the guys. I knew she was going to come out of that trunk literally kicking butt. And those booties she was wearing looked great on her.
Loved all three guys on the boat catching Wo Fat's boat. Steve jumping on, and asking Danny if he was "ready." Danny saying "no" but being ready all the same and jumping on. Steve replying, "Good. Come on!" -- very Starsky and Hutch-like. And Chin shooting while steering.
Kono taking out the buyer and her introduction to Joe.
"Book 'em, Danno."
When Chin nodded toward Danny in his office and asked Steve if he was really going to be okay, and Steve headed there, I was oh, yes!
Finding out Jenna may be with Wo Fat.
Things I'd've preferred to have gone differently:
Danny and Chin immediately questioning Hesse about stabbing Steve, instead of wanting to go to the hospital to see that Steve was okay. Plot-wise, fine. But they didn't seem terribly concerned about whatever injury had been inflicted on Steve by Hesse.
Danny really being in his office alone being sad instead of watching the rest of Steve's father's tape. I was so ready for Steve to go in there and comfort him and for them to have a moment, yet script-wise they needed to get that part in. I'm not really thinking his father was actually in cahoots with Wo Fat though, but I like that it's providing angst for Steve. Why would his father have wanted his meeting with the governor and Wo Fat to be on tape if he was really bad?
Things we saw in the trailer that weren't in the ep itself. I hate when this happens with movies but usually you don't get it so much for tv shows. I wanted to see Steve tell Danny he looked worse than he did. I will take that canonically as being from another visit Danny paid to Steve. And I thought it was dumb they cut the line where Joe told Chin he trained Steve.
I thought that Joe would actually come "to the rescue" -- not that I preferred the idea of the team needing or therescued or not being able to help themselves, but it was advertized that this character was going to come and save the day. I thought he'd have information about Wo Fat, weapons, clout, something. As it was, he was there to support them and lend a hand, yes, and be there as a father figure for Steve and for an introduction to the character, it was fine. But it wasn't the way the trailers would have had us think it was going to be. Still, he did recognize the medal and knew whose it was, so that was something the others couldn't have learned without him.
The Lt. Governor,Richard. T. Jones, who played a character named James Ellison on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. See my TS story about this. , showing up to re-instate Five-0 at just the right moment. Yeah, I didn't really want Steve taken back into custody (though that would have proved interesting, I think, and would have given Joe more to do, so they could get him out again and would have meant it would take longer to wrap up that part of the storyline) and just forgetting that Steve escaped from jail, punched out an EMT and a cop and that Danny and Chin broke into the governor's residence. It was great that the tape was there and provided the evidence that Steve didn't shoot the governor and that she was guilty of blowing up Laura's car -- and cool that it doesn't show Wo Fat's face -- but really, Lt. Gov? But Kono is still in trouble??? Still, setting up Five-0 in the first place was pretty quick. Oh well.
Kono still in trouble about the money, and her killing a man when she wasn't authorized to carry a weapon. I'm sure that will be used in the department's case against her, which for the plot makes sense, but she shouldn't have killed the guy. It would have been a lot better for her and for them to get info from him if he'd just been wounded. Or if Joe had killed him instead.
Hesse being killed. Plot-wise, okay. But I've always said that James Marsters was wasted in this role; he has so much more to contribute acting-wise and I'd've loved to see the Hesse character developed way more than they ever did. And it was a shame that he was offed just as we found he had a sliver of humanity in helping Steve and admitting such to Chin and Danny.
Questions:
How did Joe contact Danny to pick him up when his plane landed? Would he have known that Danny was part of Five-0 and just checked the phone book? No biggie, not like it was a huge plot hole, but it would be interesting to know.
How was it that during Steve's hour in the yard, Hesse was able to get to him? Again, no biggie, and having been a fan of OZ, I know prison guards aren't always where they're supposed to be.
For that matter, how did Wo Fat infiltrate the prison and stab Hesse? Hesse wasn't in a cell at the time and conveniently, there were no other guards around as Wo Fat casually walked out of the jail.
If Kono was part of Five-0, how is it that she is suspended from the HPD? We have never clearly been shown how this works. She's an officer of the HPD but since she's with Five-0, how can she be suspended for something she did with them?
Steve, Danny and Chin are no sooner reinstated as Five-0 than they are shooting people dead on Wo Fat's boat and Steve is letting the one guy loose as "chum" to catch the shark. Hello? Is the Lt. Gov going to be okay with all that? (Plus, when Danny indicated Steve was probably sending the guy out to get killed, I couldn't help but think of The Closer and how Brenda has gotten herself into a lot of trouble by doing the exact same thing.)
How much recording space was on that camera that Steve's father left in the governor's study? He was killed at the beginning of last season, which in show time is approximately a year ago. We didn't see when he installed it, but it couldn't have been very long before he was killed, still, how much is recorded? I think Danny said most of the meeting between Jameson, Wo Fat and Pa McGarrett was erased; was that because it taped over stuff allowing the fateful shooting of Jameson to be there? And was it battery operated? Wouldn't it have run out of power? (I remember the 12 hour vhs tape recorded on Wiseguy when Sonny garrotted Pat the Cat.... ah, technology!)
Foreshadowing about Jenna -- that Joe had Chin and Danny let Jenna know he was on his way to meet with her, which in retrospect allowed her to be ready for him and not have anything that would have incriminated her out where he could see it. And him saying she "seemed to know Wo Fat pretty well." Her statement that it was "almost personal" with her was supposed to mean it was about her dead fiance.
Other thoughts:
When Steve opened that case full of money on Wo Fat's boat I thought, if it's ten million, they could use it to replace the money that was missing.
Steve should be pretty banged up from all that running and jumping and punching guys out... his wound should be bleeding and hurting. Not that we actually get any real h/c on the screen but fanfic, yes.
I've always thought that interrogation room they have is really dark and intimidating, looks sound proof in case they rough someone up and it should be in a basement somewhere, but it's obviously just another room in their headquarters. Thought it was funny they just let the baddie let himself out through their office when nobody else was there.
Overall, this was a really good episode. We don't always get perfect writing with all things accounted for on this show, so any holes aren't really out of the ordinary. And time seems a bit relative in Hawaii as they always seem to get a lot done in 24 hours, but I have no real issues with that stuff. As long as they get the relationship and characterizations correct, I'm happy.
I think it was good that they are having Steve question his father's involvement but I doubt they will actually make him corrupt.
Next week, Lauren German's character arrives. Gird your loins, slashers.