HAWAII FIVE-0 Puts Up a Good Fight

In “Ka Hakaka”, Hawaii Five-0 investigates the murder of restaurateur Jake Griffin in an apparent home invasion. Meanwhile, Joe White (Terry O’Quinn) calls in NCIS agent Kensi Blye (Daniela Ruah) to examine the recovered video of John McGarrett and Wo Fat (Mark Dacascos).

The motive and person behind Jake’s murder were well hidden. Five-0 traced the home invasion team to a valet service used by Jake’s restaurants. The invaders would duct-tape a husband/father to a chair and threaten his wife and children until he revealed where the family kept their valuables; however, their methods had not previously included murder.

According to Jake’s will, his son would inherit his fortune, but not for another six years. Until then, Jake’s sister had control. Jake’s sister was also a good suspect in that she had been in charge of Jake’s restaurants but had left abruptly under something of a cloud.

Another good suspect was an MMA fighter who worked out at a gym Jake owned. Jake had taken a gun away from him–the same caliber as the murder weapon–but the gun was missing from Jake’s office, and the fighter fled from Five-0 when confronted.

There was also plenty of action in the subplot of the recovered video. Kensi Blye’s lip-reading skills revealed that John McGarrett and Wo Fat were talking about something called Shellburn, but no one knew what Shellburn was. As a fan of NCIS: Los Angeles as well, I’m glad Kensi contributed something significant to the case, not just a seconds-long cameo.

Later in the episode, Wo Fat broke into Joe White’s house, and I had no idea how they would react to each other. Wo Fat knew who Joe was, and as helpful as Joe has been with Steve’s pursuit of Wo Fat, he’s also warned Steve against digging too deep. I thought the episode went away from Joe for too long after this confrontation, but I like how it ended, with Wo Fat killing the aging man who originally hired John McGarrett to investigate Governor Jameson’s corruption.