474 post: character, Rachel
Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who are mothers or close-to-mothers. Honestly, I know a lot of women who have a tremendous amount of love and influence over children. So happy day to all of you aunts, teachers, neighbors, foster mothers, and others out there, too. Thank you!
I thought that since my day to post falls on Mother’s Day here in the US, it would be appropriate to talk about all of the mothers on the show. Of course, there’s Rachel, and then there’s…..uh….we also have…0.o...Wait! Does Peter Lenkov have “mommy issues” as well as “daddy issues”? I couldn’t think of any other mothers, other than the occasional guest appearance. We already know that fathers who have sons are like red shirts on Star Trek: guaranteed short lifespan. (Which reminds me! Joe, you should reconsider how you like to call Steve “son.” I’m kind of worried about how S2 is going to end for you.) Mothers (other than Steve’s) aren’t as unlucky as fathers, but they don’t show up much, either.
So, that leaves Rachel, if I want to focus on mothers!
Rachel has been in 8 episodes, according to imdb.com. I only came up with 7; they say she was in He Kane Hewa' Ole but “uncredited.” I looked through my screencaps but couldn’t find here. So I have pics from 7 episodes!
I’ve gone back and forth on my personal opinion of Rachel, but she seems to be a pretty good mother. They haven’t shown us a lot about her and Grace or the new baby (Charles?).
We heard about Rachel several times before we met her. They started out portraying her as a mean, vindictive ex-wife. Remember Danny’s Psycho ringtone for her? And she kept his Santa suit in the divorce!
We finally met Rachel in 1x10 Heihei (Race), when our boys had to use her home for surveillance. We didn’t see much of her with Grace, but she seemed nice enough, if a little bitter and edgy (understandable).
She appeared in 1x16 E Malama (To Protect), when she and Grace were involved in a carjacking. She did her best to protect Grace.
Danny’s brother seemed to make a point of including Rachel in get-togethers during 1x18 Loa Aloha (The Long Good-bye). Maybe he wanted to get them back together, maybe he wanted the family time for Grace, or perhaps he just liked Rachel.
She made a brief appearance in 1x23 Ua Hiki Mai Kapalena Pau (Until the End is Near), when Danny was in the hospital after being poisoned. She wasn’t able to be with Grace for the first part because she and Step-Stan were on Maui.
The biggest episode of S1 for Rachel was probably 1x24 Oia'i'o (Trust). We found out she was having an affair with Danny and wanted him to leave Hawaii with her because she was pregnant with his baby (or so she thought). Our last view was of her and Grace leaving on their own, because Danny had his hands full with the Governor’s assassination and related stuff.
So far in S2 we’ve seen Rachel in 2 episodes. The first was 2x14 Pu’olo (The Package), when she needed Danny in the delivery room for the baby’s birth. Papa Stan was out of the country (I still wonder about that). She seemed quite happy to be a mother again.
In 2x15 Mai Ka Wa Kahinko (Out of the Past), Rachel has to deal with her daughter being kidnapped and her husband being shot. All with a newborn baby on hand, too.
I don’t see that she’s listed to appear in the upcoming S2 finale, although Grace will be. Who knows what S3 will bring for Rachel!