By Stu Robinson,

It’s been almost a week since CBS aired Episode 8 of its new Hawaii Five-O and, try as I might, I’ve been unable to come up with a unifying theme for this blog post. So I’m just going to start typing my observations. Perhaps a theme will emerge once I see words on a page. If not, you’ll be looking at more of a weekly update than a blog entry.

The episode begins with the grisly discovery of a body in the barbeque pit at a luau. Turns out that the victim not only was a Honolulu cop but also Danno’s old partner. When the widow – played by Dichen Lachman, best known as Sierra on the late, lamented Dollhouse – starts getting the runaround from police officials, she asks Danno to find out what’s going on.

I had a problem with this right away. The episode turns on how well Danno knew the victim and his family, yet the series premiere established that Danno was fairly new to Hawaii, having followed his ex-wife there in order to maintain a relationship with his young daughter. So it doesn’t seem like he would have had time to develop such a close partnership with the victim before McGarrett plucked him from the Honolulu Police Department to work on Five-O.

I know, there I go again. Those pesky details.

Anyway, Episode 8 brings a certain symmetry to the deepening McGarrett/Danno relationship. You’ll recall that in Episode 7, Danno was convinced the ex-Navy Seal holding hostages on the USS Missouri was guilty of killing his wife. McGarrett’s intuition disagreed, however, and led him to make Danno investigate further while he tried to resolve the standoff peacefully.

The roles are reversed in Episode 8. When HPD’s Internal Affairs division hints that the victim had been a dirty cop and Danno goes ballistic, McGarrett is inclined to believe that his partner is letting emotion lead him to conclusions that are contrary to evidence. Danno just feels patronized.

“If my word is not good enough, then I do not know what I’m doing here,” Danno says before charging out of the office.

Chin Ho, who has had his own run-ins with Internal Affairs since being accused of taking bribes, steps up to support Danno’s position and push along the investigation. Finding Danno at a bar drowning his frustration, he offers:

• Chin Ho: “His old man was the same way. McGarrett’s. The’ve got this laser focus embedded in their DNA. That’s why it’s good to remind them sometimes that their way isn’t the only one that works.”
• Danno: “Right now, somewhere, Steve just twitched.”

Later, Danno does manage to win over McGarrett by using their own partnership as an example.

• Danno: “Let’s say IA accused me of skimming off a drug book. And they showed you a stack of evidence that suggested I did it. Would you believe them?”
• Steve: “No, I wouldn’t.”
• Danno: “Why not?”
• [Pause]
• Danno: “Exactly.”
• Steve [chuckling]: “Okay.”

Meanwhile, Danno suddenly appreciates McGarrett’s penchant for over-the-line interrogation techniques. As the two speed through Honolulu with a suspect tied to the hood of their muscular Chevy Camaro, McGarrett reminds Danno of his previous objections and demands a free pass the next time he gets tough with somebody. Hardly a triumph for civil liberties, but kind of funny.

Daddy Issues

Danno’s relationship with his young daughter causes him to take the case even more personally because the dead partner had a son about the same age. It also gives him the credibility to win over a hostile witness who appears from a past episode.

Then, of course, there is Chin Ho’s observation about Steve taking after his father.

Guest Stars

Lachman does a nice job as the grieving widow seeking the truth. It’s quite a change for an actress we usually see kicking butt on screen – though she still looks like she’d be capable of tag-teaming with Grace Park’s Kono to take down bad guys in future episodes.

The actor strapped to the car hood is Bronson Pinchot (Perfect Strangers, Beverly Hills Cop), playing an art dealer who sells drugs from the back of his gallery.

Secondary Characters

No sign of McGarrett’s sister, girlfriend, the governor or the oddball coroner – just the gigantic shave-ice vendor, who is becoming the utility infielder of secondary characters, as well as a source of comic relief. “My two favorite overdressed white guys,” he says by way of greeting McGarrett and Danno when they visit his stand seeking information on a drug dealer.

Product Placement

We’ve seen a lot of the Camaro and other Chevrolets all season. In Episode 8, Microsoft ponied up to promote its Bing search engine. When the Five-O team infiltrates a party at the modern-art gallery to confront Pinchot’s character, Kono expresses skepticism about some of the art pieces.

“This is a Clifton Bowles original,” says Chin Ho, pointing to what looks like a building constructed from match sticks. “What, you don’t believe me? Bing it.” Sure enough, Kono whips out her smart phone, brings up the Bing home page and types in the artist’s name.

Even funnier, though, was an example of product placement gone wrong. A scene that referenced Mexican drug cartels and the recent violence they’ve committed across Mexico was followed immediately by a commercial touting travel in Mexico. Oops.

Final Thought

This was the third consecutive episode to conclude without McGarrett uttering the classic line “Book ’em, Danno.” What’s next, cutting the boffo theme song to make room for another commercial? The producers have done an effective job of establishing the new Hawaii Five-O in the current pop culture, but that’s no reason to abandon the iconic aspects that tie together the show’s two generations.

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Stu Robinson, a college friend of the TV Tyrant, is a writer, editor, media-relations practitioner and social-media guy based in Phoenix.