By Stu Robinson,
Another week of CBS’ new Hawaii Five-0, another set of daddy issues.
In Episode 22, a famous fashion photographer (played by Rick Springfield) is burned alive in his trailer at a shoot. He had just proposed to one of his bikini models – gotta love the writers – and we quickly find out that she is pregnant,
Rick Springfield plays a fashion photographer in love with one of his models.
so the baby will be born without a father. The plot twists and turns, with a couple of red herrings thrown in, and eventually we find out the killer was the photographer’s estranged adult daughter, angry about being abandoned and masquerading as a production assistant on the photo shoot.
The major subplot involves Kono working with smart-aleck lab technician Charlie Fong (Brian Yang). He’s handsome and claims to have met her before but won’t say where or when. She doesn’t remember him, and it becomes a running gag in the episode as she makes repeated attempts to get the information from him. (At one point, she asks if he went to her high school; he says no, he went to Punahou School – alma mater of President Obama, class of ’79.)
Both Kono and Charlie are into gadgetry, which helps with the product placement. She shows him how she can check the fuel level in her Chevy Cruze with an OnStar app on her smartphone. Later, as the two collect samples from 12 Lex Brodie’s gas stations on Oahu, she demonstrates the Cruze’s high-tech sound system. But regardless of how sophisticated the Cruze may be, it still struck me as unwise for them to drive around sunny Honolulu with 12 gallons of gasoline samples in the trunk – even if subsequent testing did reveal the killer.
As long as they were highlighting Kono, the writers found a way to put Grace Park in not one but two bikinis – one at the beginning of the episode and one at the end as she helps Kawika teach surfing to kids with the Mauli Ola Foundation, which uses surfing as a natural treatment for kids with cystic fibrosis. Loyal H50 views met Kawika (Kala Alexander), the tough but honorable leader of a North Shore surf gang, way back in Episode 6.
In the two ongoing backstories, McGarrett returns from a run to find another piece of evidence from the stolen toolbox in an envelope tucked under his windshield wiper. Meanwhile, Chin Ho stubbornly wants to continue taking the fall for stealing $200,000 from the Honolulu Police, even after his uncle confesses. He tells the police the uncle’s statement can’t be trusted in light of his aunt’s recent death. The police say they’ve been watching Chin Ho for years, waiting to catch him spending some of the stolen money. When he claims he never spent any of it, they say, fine, bring the cash to us. Of course, he doesn’t have the cash because he didn’t steal it. So, in a move that defies credibility, he borrows it from a local bookie (an early suspect in the week’s murder) using his home is collateral.
In an equally implausible scene, McGarrett and Danno use Kamekona, the giant shave-ice vendor, to lead lure the bookie by having him call they guy and say that he won’t pay up. There is just no way real cops would leave a friend and valued source with that kind of exposure.
No other secondary characters appear in Episode 22, though McGarrett brings up his Navy girlfriend (last seen in Episode 15) in an exchange with Danno when he is shown a page with data along the lines of “DET-9/OKC+9” and “ATL+2/CHI-2”:
- McGarrett: “I’m gonna send this to Catherine. She can have the boys in intel run it through …”
- Danno: “Whoa … it’s not coded text. No need for your little Ramboette. This is not your cloak and dagger spook speak; this is Danny’s world.”
- McG: “Oh?”
- Danny: “These are bets.”
Speaking of running gags, when they track down the bookie, he greets them with:
- Bookie: “I take it you’re part of Honolulu’s law-enforcement community?”
- Danno: “What gave us away?”
- Bookie: “You’re wearing a tie in Hawaii.”
In the final scene, bikini-clad Kono is approached by lifelong female friend with, of all people, the mysterious Charlie Fong in tow. Turns out he and Kono kissed during a game of spin the bottle at the friend’s 10th birthday party. Flirting ensues, likely indicating that Kono has a new love interest and viewers have a new secondary character.
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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.