By Stu Robinson,
I don’t have much to say about Episode 21 of CBS new Hawaii Five-0 – to be known henceforth as “The Diddy Episode.” My major takeaway: The guy can act.
I’ve never been a fan of Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, but he joins a long list of performers — Will Smith, Queen Latifah, Ice Cube, L.L. Cool J — who have used rap to make names for themselves before branching out to acting. Add singers Justin Timberlake and Jennifer Hudson, as well as comedians such as Billy Crystal, Adam Sandler and Russell Brand, and it’s amazing how some individuals can excel in multiple genres.
All of which isn’t to say that Diddy will win an Academy Award anytime soon, but I was able to put aside my original “That’s Diddy” reaction and accept him as an undercover cop who is
targeted for death along his wife and son. The wife, played by model and Celebrity Apprentice contestant Selita Ebanks, is killed but the young son manages to hide.
Diddy’s character, Reggie Williams, a New York cop working undercover with the FBI, is wounded, but not enough to keep him from walking out of the hospital to hunt down his family’s attackers. That leaves McGarrett, still wearing an arm cast from his climbing accident in the previous episode, challenged with investigating the attack while at the same containing a resourceful Diddy bent on revenge.
That sets up a basic H50 pursuit episode, with additional evidence turning up just in time to advance the plot. I actually guessed the culprit, but not by analyzing the facts as presented; rather, it was an educated guess based upon having watched 20 other episodes of the show.
Another guest star this week was Keith David as crime boss Jimmy Cannon. David is one of those “that guy” character actors. He often plays African-American crime bosses or ministers.
For the second week in a row, the only secondary character to appear is Kamekona, the giant shave-ice guy. He makes an early appearance to cook breakfast for McGarrett, having lost a bet. But that set up doesn’t go anywhere. The only takeaway from the scene is that McGarrett receives another envelope containing evidence taken from his father’s tool box.
But that was it for the backstories. I wondered if Wo Fat might be involved in this week’s plot because the initial attack is committed by local thugs rather than Cannon’s regular goons, but I was wrong. Wo Fat’s name didn’t even come up in the episode.
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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.