By Stu Robinson,
The first three episodes of CBS’ new Hawaii Five-O left me optimistic about the direction the show was going. Then Episode 4 aired Monday, delivering a lot of stuff that I never saw coming.
For a couple of weeks, now, I’ve urged Hawaii Five-O viewers “not to sweat the details. … Just sit back and enjoy the fast-paced stories, attractive visuals and snappy dialogue.” But it’s a slippery slope from there to total implausibility, and Episode 4 skied all the way down.
The show’s writers abandoned many of the developing plot lines to cast Steve McGarrett as Jack Bauer in their version of “Hawaii Two-4.” From the violent jailbreak in the opening sequence, the metaphorical clock is ticking as McGarrett and crew try to catch up with the escapee, who is adding to his body count by the minute.
What’s behind the rampage? There is no time for exposition, so don’t think you’re going to answer that question on your own. The villain just growls and shoots people, until Five-O puts the magic pieces together so that McGarrett/Bauer can put a few bullets into the bad guy, sending him (literally) down a slippery slope to death.
Hardly anything in Episode 4 was even remotely plausible:
- A hardened inmate (D.L. Hughley in the series’ first celebrity cameo) talks after McGarrett beats him one-on-one on a basketball court in the prison yard.
- A guard who abetted the escape in which several of his colleagues were killed talks after about 20 seconds of questioning.
- The escapee’s girlfriend rats him out at the mere threat of losing her lucrative job waitressing in a diner.
- And the coup de grace – after losing the suspect during a pursuit, McGarret whips out his cell phone, connects to a gorgeous female naval officer on an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf and persuades her to locate the bad guy using a military satellite.
Which brings us to the repartee du jour:
Chin Ho: “You got her to use a military recon satellite, and then you made a date?”
McGarrett: “I’m a multitasker.”
Chin Ho: “Impressive.”
The female officer, who looked to be in close quarters with McGarrett in the scenes from next week, wasn’t the only thing I didn’t see coming. With the Five-O team in hot pursuit the whole episode, the show’s ongoing daddy issues had to be shouldered by Steve’s sister, Mary Ann McGarrett.
Say what? Yes. Out of nowhere, McGarrett has a sister. Not quite nowhere, actually: the airport security office, where she ended up after messing with the restroom smoke detector on her flight to the islands. Sis appears to have issues that extend well beyond Papa McGarrett.
It will be interesting to see where this subplot is going. Could there be a romantic triangle involving Danno, who in earlier episodes seemed interested in Kono?
Some other notes that washed over my transom:
- On the product-placement front, McGarrett’s muscular Camaro was AWOL, replaced by a big Chevy truck.
- A Hawaiian Airlines ad has run in each episode so far.
- Hawaii Five-O‘s ratings are getting a boost from viewers using DVRs.
- The University of Maryland’s marching band won a CBS contest to perform the show’s boffo theme song with its performance at the Maryland-Navy football game Sept. 6.
To me, Episode 4 messed up the vibe the series was developing in the first three episodes. It was a shock to the system, leaving me to wonder where the writers will go next.
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Stu Robinson, a college friend of the TV Tyrant, is a writer, editor, media-relations specialist and social-media guy based in Phoenix.