H50 Ep: Ina Paha
Okay, I waited a couple of hours to start writing this because this is another episode where I ended up with Very Strong Feelings and I wanted to keep the swearing to a minimum. Seriously, you should see my notes. So much swearing.
I do not know what TPTB were thinking. They missed a bet on so many levels. This was the 100th episode. The ending song was called "All For One." The ending montage was of all the ohana moments ever (and it's telling that most of them were not recent). Based on that, was it too much to ask for the entire episode to be about the Core Four, instead of having Five-0 spend approximately two minutes looking for Steve while the rest of the episode was The Steve & Wo Fat Show?
Also, if the intent was to show what would have happened to everyone if Hesse hadn't killed Steve's dad, then TPTB need to read some fic to figure out how an AU works. It's not just about plopping everyone down in Opposite Land. History only would have changed from the point of Hesse not shooting John McGarrett forward. Nothing that happened before that would've been affected by that event changing. Without the burning need to avenge his father's death, Steve probably would have gone back to the SEALs. Danny would still be wearing suits and partnering with Meka, and he would still have been divorced from Rachel because that happened long enough before these events that Rachel had already remarried. Chin would still be a disgraced cop working as a security guard, and without Five-0 Kono would have graduated from the police academy and become a beat cop like the rest of her graduating class, because changing an event changes what comes after that event, not what comes before.
And what the hell was up with all the violence? Was this really an 8:00 p.m. show on a broadcast network? I'm really not generally squeamish about violence, but if this had been a fan fic, I would have back-buttoned out of it hard for how over the top the torture scenes were. Also, Danny shooting Hesse twice while he was unarmed and in a hospital bed was so completely beyond the pale that I'm boggled that anyone in the writers room thought this was a good idea. And there's no blaming that on 9/11 because 9/11 happened many years before Danny met Steve and Danny wasn't like that then.
On the plus side (I guess), this whole episode would be a much more plausible trigger for a PTSD story line for Steve than that ridiculously manufactured BS with Freddie that was hinted at and then dropped like a hot rock.
I do wish Danny had shooed everyone out of the room at the end to give Steve some privacy and then stayed with him while he cried. Steve deserved to not have to put on his game face for anyone after what he'd just been through, but he could safely lose it in front of Danny.
And I sincerely hope Wo Fat is dead for real this time, because his vendetta with Steve and his family had gotten repetitive and I lost interest in it ages ago. I suppose Wo Fat's dad will be Steve's boogieman from now on.
And P.S., Wo Fat, Doris being your glorified babysitter for however long doesn't make you and Steve brothers. It's not like she adopted you and you and Steve grew up together.
Ugh. The fail is strong with this one. At least AU Danny and AU Steve still made a good team. Maybe they would have wound up hanging out together sometimes when Steve had leave.
I do not know what TPTB were thinking. They missed a bet on so many levels. This was the 100th episode. The ending song was called "All For One." The ending montage was of all the ohana moments ever (and it's telling that most of them were not recent). Based on that, was it too much to ask for the entire episode to be about the Core Four, instead of having Five-0 spend approximately two minutes looking for Steve while the rest of the episode was The Steve & Wo Fat Show?
Also, if the intent was to show what would have happened to everyone if Hesse hadn't killed Steve's dad, then TPTB need to read some fic to figure out how an AU works. It's not just about plopping everyone down in Opposite Land. History only would have changed from the point of Hesse not shooting John McGarrett forward. Nothing that happened before that would've been affected by that event changing. Without the burning need to avenge his father's death, Steve probably would have gone back to the SEALs. Danny would still be wearing suits and partnering with Meka, and he would still have been divorced from Rachel because that happened long enough before these events that Rachel had already remarried. Chin would still be a disgraced cop working as a security guard, and without Five-0 Kono would have graduated from the police academy and become a beat cop like the rest of her graduating class, because changing an event changes what comes after that event, not what comes before.
And what the hell was up with all the violence? Was this really an 8:00 p.m. show on a broadcast network? I'm really not generally squeamish about violence, but if this had been a fan fic, I would have back-buttoned out of it hard for how over the top the torture scenes were. Also, Danny shooting Hesse twice while he was unarmed and in a hospital bed was so completely beyond the pale that I'm boggled that anyone in the writers room thought this was a good idea. And there's no blaming that on 9/11 because 9/11 happened many years before Danny met Steve and Danny wasn't like that then.
On the plus side (I guess), this whole episode would be a much more plausible trigger for a PTSD story line for Steve than that ridiculously manufactured BS with Freddie that was hinted at and then dropped like a hot rock.
I do wish Danny had shooed everyone out of the room at the end to give Steve some privacy and then stayed with him while he cried. Steve deserved to not have to put on his game face for anyone after what he'd just been through, but he could safely lose it in front of Danny.
And I sincerely hope Wo Fat is dead for real this time, because his vendetta with Steve and his family had gotten repetitive and I lost interest in it ages ago. I suppose Wo Fat's dad will be Steve's boogieman from now on.
And P.S., Wo Fat, Doris being your glorified babysitter for however long doesn't make you and Steve brothers. It's not like she adopted you and you and Steve grew up together.
Ugh. The fail is strong with this one. At least AU Danny and AU Steve still made a good team. Maybe they would have wound up hanging out together sometimes when Steve had leave.