Here’s hoping for an epic boatgument before these bad guys show up on Monday’s episode, “Lana I Ka Moana.” And no doubt Danny’s reference to Hannukah will even further confuse those who have been speculating about his religious beliefs!
Hawaii Five-0 cast, Sunset on the Beach 2012, Photo Officer 808
Terry and I went over the long list of questions written by you Undercover Special Agents, and there was lot of great material. I was inspired to use a few of those questions on the red carpet, but unfortunately I didn’t have hour long sessions with each of the actors, so I couldn’t get into really detailed questions.
So our works was cut out for us. There were many great questions, some were general, and some were specific. What we were looking for was a brief question that could provoke an interesting or thoughtful response. I didn’t get a chance to use this question, but Terry and I thought it was one of the best of the bunch:
kels says: For Alex or Michelle: What is the nature of Steve & Catherine’s relationship? Does he have actual feelings for her, or did he intentionally choose a woman who is never around because he cannot bring himself to be vulnerable with another person?
We thought it was an appropriate question for the new season, with Michelle Borth coming on board as a series regular. Congratulations to Kels, we’ll be in touch with you soon to get your information so we can get the last of the Hawaii Five-0 season 2 badge to you!
For the second year in a row executive producer Peter Lenkov has landed on The Hollywood Reporters “Top 50 Showrunners” list. The boss-man behind Hawaii Five-0 joins such heavy hitters as Steve Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Shonda Rhimes, and Aaron Sorkin on a list of tinseltown’s powerful creative minds.
THR’s criteria:
1. Direct responsibility for the day-to-day creative output of a scripted TV show that has aired for at least one full season (unless he or she also had another show on the air). 2. How prolific the showrunner is: Those with more shows on the air were more likely to be included. 3. Nielsen ratings, especially relative to other shows on the same network. 4. Emmy attention and critical praise. 5. Professionalism and reputation among studio and network executives.
They probably should add “gracefully accepts criticism on social media” as the sixth factor. Many the Five-0 fan, myself included, have not been shy in letting Peter know when we’d like the show to make adjustments. He accepts that without attacking even his harshest critics, and deserves extra points for that.
The show that inspired me to write: Lenkov: Magnum P.I. In fact, there was this incredibly cool episode entitled “Did You See the Sunrise” written by Don Bellisario that turned on the lightbulb. Got me dreaming, thinking I’d like to write something like that some day.
My big break: Lenkov: Selling a spec called Demolition Man to Warner Bros.
My TV mentor: Lenkov: Larry Hertzog, Joel Surnow, Pam Veasey… there’s been many amazing folks who’ve influenced me over the years.
My proudest accomplishment this year: Lenkov: Work-wise: Getting a season three pick-up. Personal: Potty training my three-year-old.
My toughest scene to write this year: Lenkov: McGarrett sitting down with his mom and asking her why she faked her own murder 20 years ago.
The most absurd note I’ve ever gotten:
Lenkov: Ask me when I’m retired.
The aspect of my job as showrunner that I’d rather delegate: Lenkov: Where to hold the wrap party.
My preferred method for breaking through writer’s block: Lenkov: Looking at a mortgage statement.
If I could add any one writer to my staff, it would be: Lenkov:Shane Black.
The show I’m embarrassed to admit I watch: Lenkov: Real Housewives of Orange County.
The three things I need in order to write: Lenkov: Coffee. Final Draft. A smile from my wife.
If I could scrub one credit from my resume, it would be: Lenkov: Just one? Seriously? Can I have two or three?
Last week’s episode was a kickstart to the new season, with guns blazing and the Grappling Hook Helicopter in all its glory. The season now shifts into regular gear with last night’s episode “Kanalua”, which featured the return of Hawaii Five-0 bad guy August March.
“Steve, only *now* you take your shirt off?!?” Photo CBS, Norman Shapiro
As a stand alone procedural episode, I thought it was great. The chase scenes through downtown Honolulu were executed well, and there was great action with the shootout. The bromance continued well, and I got a few laughs when Ed Asner and Masi Oka were thrown into the banter. The only time when the story lost me a little was Catherine’s (Michelle Borth) ease of cracking the security password, but it went to show her ability in intelligence gathering.
Letting the Cat out of the bag
The show writers once again have the challenge of working in a strong female character to the show. I think they’ve learned from miscues and the vocal criticisms of season 2 and are working hard to break Catherine Rollins into the mix at a nice, easy pace. Michelle stated at her tweetup here in Honolulu a few months ago that Cat would be there to help the team, without an overbearing presence, and I think the writers have successfully accomplished that so far. She’s helped protect Doris while the rest of the team tracked down Wo Fat last week.
You’re a heart breaker, dream maker, love taker, ball breaker, don’t you mess around, no no no! Photo CBS
This past week, she did her own intelligence recon with the agent. So she’s there to support the team, much like Jenna Kaye was there to support the team, but her transitions into the case are seamless and I hope Cat continues to develop.
A kinder, gentler Hawaii Five-0
A noticeable difference that I appreciated was the time with character development and interaction spent with the team. A good amount of time was spent with Chin’s scattering of Malia’s ashes, and individual scenes of the team members consoling Chin. As expected, Chin’s cousin Kono picked up a lot of that duty, but what was pleasantly surprising to me was Danny making a gesture to bring Chin back to the group outside of Tropics bar.
Kanalua, CBS
Daniel Dae Kim once again nailed the scene perfectly, telling Danny the story of how he and Malia met. I hope this is a trend that we see a lot of this season, with more interpersonal development amongst the team members. Peter Lenkov and especially Bob Orci promised a lot more character development, and I believe it is definitely headed that way.
The return and departure of August March
One gripe I’ve slowly come to grips with is the short shelf life of many of the supporting characters of the show. Big name actors have brilliantly played characters that unfortunately meet their end much sooner than I’d like to see. I absolutely loved Tom Sizemore as the hard nosed Captain Fryer. I loved to hate William Baldwin as Frank Delano. Even Karl Herlinger’s quietly menacing “Toothpick” had just enough substance for me to want to see more. Last, August March (played by Ed Asner) entered the Hawaii Five-0 Hall of Fame of the Faithfully Departed. Not remembering much about him from the classic series, Ed played the deceptively sly but malicious August March in season 2, who seemingly got away with murder and grand larceny. March returned in Monday’s episode as the mastermind of the lithograph heist, despite his schemes, he leaves a trail of evidence the Five-0 team picks up on. Alas, March decides he can’t go back to jail, and checks out permanently, thanks to the help of a semi truck. I understand that in the Five-0 universe, most characters have an expiration date, but some like Fryer and March you’d like to see from time to time. So Mr. Asner, we bid you a fond “Aloha” and thanks for the memories of August March from the old series to the new.
And now, “Things We Learned About Hawaii From Hawaii Five-0, Episode 302, “Kanalua”
1) Chin floated a lantern at the end of the episode, which takes from a Buddhist tradition that honors the dead. Each May, the Lantern Floating Hawaii group organizes a huge event on O’ahu’s south shore where volunteers launch thousands of floating lanterns, some of them intricately decorated, oftentimes with a note honoring a loved one who’s passed away.
Courtesy Lantern Floating Hawaii
2) Kamekona (Taylor Wily) blew a conch shell at the beginning of the episode. It usually was used to announce the arrival of royalty or to mark the start of an event.
While not excellent news, (and we knew it wouldn’t be) Hawaii Five-0 did in fact wring out a few more viewers now that the “Live + Same Day” DVR numbers have been released. The final ratings have the CBS show scraping ahead of “Castle” in the all-important demo, and adding a few more viewers that were previously attributed to “Revolution.” But here’s the good news for the Five-0 faithful: the ratings for the J.J. Abrams sci-fi show have been declining each week. Although, I’ve heard some positive reviews of “Revolution,” people are saying that will require patience and a weekly commitment in order to stick with it. If that’s the case, I think we’ll see even more viewers returning to watch McGarrett and team, as the MTV generation rebels against another Abrams show that strings you along for years before providing answers to it’s many mysteries.
Things are looking up for Hawaii Five-0, even though the overnight ratings still have them in last place. Based on the “live” numbers, it appears that some of the “Revolution” audience may be revolting and finding their way back to CBS, but Castle is still bringing in the most viewers. The 18-49 demographic is still firmly in favor of “Revolution,” but it remains to be seen how many of them stick with the show. In light of the viewer numbers from the past two weeks, it may be time for CBS schedulers to rethink using sitcoms as lead-ins to the Alex O’Loughlin-led cop drama.
Lots of “feels” in this one, mainly from Chin. But despite grieving his loss, brother Chin still gets his cop on and helps out with the case, which, I’m sorry to say, was horribly predictable. But hey, August March was back! Ed Asner is always fun to watch, even if his time is brief. But a interesting car chase, some emotional character moments, a good guest star and one surprise “ending” at the end didn’t really add up to a wowing episode.
The Pros:
– The funeral. The traditional send-offs on Hawai’i are always beautiful.
– The car chase – okay, I admit. Hackneyed car chases are a staple on this show. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all and they either end up in a fiery explosion or with Team McGarrett running them off the road. But that taxi pulling a stunt turn and driving BACKWARD using the bus as a shield was pretty damn snazzy.
– Max Bergman returning Danny’s snark. Hey Danny, when you act obnoxious, expect other to repay you in-kind, dude.
– Catherine does Steve a favor. That’s pretty much her job, isn’t it? Doing Steve a favor? But I miss her doing cool stuff with computers in a military context, not parading around in cut offs using sex appeal to trick information out of hapless government officials. But hey, at least the guys watching the show got their quota of T & A per episode, right?
– Kono goes into the hostage situation. She’s the go-to girl for undercover ops.
– August March. I kinda love him for being able to play the unassuming little old man thing, when you know he’s the devious mastermind behind all of this. Because really, the minute we heard Asner was coming back, there was little doubt he’d be at the seat of this whole convoluted case. I loved him telling Danny to basically shut up and get off his bench in the beginning and I loved him reminding them that the little old guy was two steps ahead of them at every turn.
– August’s big goodbye. Okay, I jumped. I always jump when a character get’s plowed by a mack truck. Eew, Show. Eew. And not really the way I thought an iconic H50 baddie would go out in the end, but I guess it was his way of giving Five-0 the final “finger” instead of prison.
– Chin and the lantern. That was really touching.
The Cons (there are a few this time…)
– I am so incredibly tired of hearing McGarrett tell someone that “he can handle the truth” with regard to his mom or his dad or… anything. I say, let Steve plunge head first into Pandora’s Box and be done with it. If he can *handle it* let’s see him handle it. Show — don’t tell.
– This was one of those episodes where Danny’s snark wasn’t funny, so much as it was annoying. I like his snark in spurts but he was amazingly cranky in this. It was like he attacked everything that moved on this show with his curmudgeon-ness and frankly, I kept telling him to dial back the bitchy a bit.
– Predictable case was predictable. Art job and kidnapping? Worthless art red-herring and then the priceless art is discovered? Oh, August March is in this episode? Okay, he did it. And then kidnapped girl that is predictably found alive and well. The end.
– They make hand-held thermal imagers that police use for finding people in cars. I’ve seen them used on other shows. But H50 gets a whole satellite! (because it was the last five minutes of the episode and there was still that kidnapped girl to save) Okay.
– The fact that Momma McG never left the island was no shocker, Show.
The Verdict: B- or C+ A few good character moments and a good guest star didn’t balance out the montage of predictability in this episode.
Quite a few Alex O’Loughlin fans have been hoping to hear this news since the first season of Hawaii Five-0. With the many Asian characters inhabiting the shores of Oahu, it made perfect since to cast O’Loughlins’ former co-star and buddy, Daniel Henney.
Before Alex O’Loughlin rode his current wave of success on Hawaii Five-0, he played an organ transplant doctor on CBS’s Three Rivers. Rivers co-star Daniel Henney is now being transplanted to Hawaii for a November episode.
Henney will play Michael Noshimuri, the beefy, tattooed brother of Adam (Ian Anthony Dale), who was just released from Pelican Bay Penitentiary where he served 15 years. In other words: watch your back, McGarrett!
helps to support the blog, mahalo!