Hawaii Five-0: Back to Pick Up The Pieces

As Season 1 of the reimagined Hawaii Five-0 came to a close, the writers put McGarrett, Danno, Chin Ho, and Kono in trendy cliffhanging jeopardy. Mainly, viewers will recall, McGarrett was arrested after breaking into Governor Jameson’s (Jean Smart) mansion to confront her over the death of aide Laura Hills (Kelly Hu). Wo Fat (Mark Dacascos) appeared out of nowhere, tasered Steve, and framed him for Governor Jameson’s murder.

In last night’s Season 2 premiere, an imprisoned McGarrett was led into the exercise yard, where his father’s killer, Victor Hesse (James Marsters) shanked Steve. The twist here was that Hesse avoided all vital organs, actually intending to give Steve a chance to escape from prison once he was loaded into an ambulance.

Victor later explained to Chin and Danno that Wo Fat wanted him to kill McGarrett, after which Wo Fat would have Hesse killed to avoid being implicated in John McGarrett’s murder. Victor hoped that Steve would get to Wo Fat first.

After jumping out of the ambulance, into traffic, Steve stole a policeman’s uniform and made it to M.E. Max Bergman’s (Masi Oka) house, where the doctor treated his shank wound. If you watched Five-0 last season, you’re familiar with its far-fetched scenarios. I didn’t mind much in this case because I knew the predicaments the team was in last season would require, shall we say, “creative” solutions? Many clues and leads came as if by magic through McGarrett’s SEAL training officer, Joe White (Terry O’Quinn), who simply showed up in Hawaii to help.

The key piece of evidence was video footage from a camera hidden in the governor’s office by John McGarrett. The elder McGarrett had been hired by an old friend and concerned citizen to privately investigate rumors of Governor Jameson’s corruption. The same camera recorded events on the night of Governor Jameson’s murder, exonerating Steve for the crime.

The acting governor (Richard T. Jones) then reinstated Five-0 along with Steve, Danno, and Chin Ho, but claimed Internal Affairs was still investigating Kono. The acting governor also said he would keep the team on a shorter leash than Governor Jameson had. I hope this leads to tighter plotting, but we’ll have to see how short the leash really is.

The episode ended with Wo Fat escaping pursuit (of course), and killing Hesse anyway. The twist was that Jenna Kaye (Larisa Oleynik), former CIA analyst and current friend of Five-0, apparently provided the getaway from the scene of Hesse’s murder.

Overall I’d say the pace of Season 2′s premiere was frenetic. Though there was a subplot of Wo Fat selling radioactive material, the episode was mostly about picking up the far-flung pieces of the team. In the opening credits, I noticed two writer-producer teams whose work I’ve enjoyed: Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters (Law & Order, Reaper) and Melissa Glenn and Jessica Rieder (Leverage). Here’s hoping they cleaned up Season 1′s mess as best they could and the show will get better from here.