Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Hawaii Five-O: Season 2

 

The 23-episode second season of Hawaii Five-0 aired during the 2011/2012 TV season. The season starts out shortly down the line from the events that ended season one. Steve is in jail after being framed for murder, and Kono is suspended. The cliffhanger from season one is mostly resolved in the first episodes as they had to find a way to get Steve out of Jail, although Kono's storyline extends further into the season. This season involves Wo-Fat (who was introduced midway through the first season) a lot more, and the team investigates ties between Wo-Fat and McGarrett's family in the process. There is some cast turnover, with Taryn Manning being reduced to a recurring role and the addition of Lauren German to the main cast as a Homeland Security officer named Lori Weston, who is assigned to the task force by the new Governor. Masi Oka is promoted to a series regular this season and Terry O'Quinn (from Alias and Lost) is added in a major recurring role, Joe White, who is a former mentor to Steve in the Navy. Ian Anthony Dale is also added as a recurring character Adam Noshimuri who is the son of the local Yakuza leader.

The series continues to be a combination of procedural case-of-the-week stories and serial arcs that span throughout the season. There are a couple of different crossovers with NCIS: Los Angeles, including a two-episode crossover in the second half of the season in which Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J appeared on Five-0 and Daniel Dae Kim and Scott Caan appear on NCIS. The season ends on yet another cliffhanger with a major reveal that involves Steve and sets up what the large story arc for season three will be.

The Blu-Ray set is a six-disc set that includes the episodes and a good number of bonus features. The A/V quality is great once again, especially the visuals of Hawaii that look great in HD. The extras include commentary tracks on two episodes, a few making-of and behind-the-scenes documentaries, a featurette on the NCIS crossovers, a featurette on real-life Navy Seal training, deleted scenes, and a gag reel.

Overall, the series continues to be strong in its second season. It does a good job balancing the large ensemble cast and has great guest stars and recurring stars. Ed Asner guest stars as his character from the original series August March, James Caan (of course Scott's father) makes a guest appearance and basically rips on Danny the entire time. Jimmy Buffett, Patty Duke, and Robert Englund also make guest appearances as do William Sadler, Michelle Borth, and Will Yun Lee, who steals every scene he is in as Sang Min. The show has a good blend of action and drama with some comedy (usually in the form of the Steve-Danny bickering) mixed in. It is well-written and acted, and while it does rely heavily on the original series, it is not a carbon copy of the original show. So, if you are a fan of police procedurals, this is a good one to watch, but definitely watch season one first so you are up to speed with the characters and the storylines.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Hawaii Five-0: Season 1

 

This is a 2010 reboot of the Jack Lord-helmed series that ran from 1968 to 1980. The 24-episode first season aired during the 2010/2011 TV season. It starred Alex O'Laoughlin, Grace Park, Daniel Dae Kim, and Scott Caan in the main roles. The supporting and recurring cast included Taylor Wily, Dennis Chun, Teilor Grubbs, Taryn Manning, Will Yun Lee, Michelle Borth, Masi Oka, and Mark Dacasos (among others). 

In this version, Commander Steve McGarrett, played by Alex O'Loughlin, is an ex-Navy Seal who returns to Hawaii to track down a terrorist who killed his father, Officer John McGarrett (played by William Sadler). He is tasked by the Governor of Hawaii to form a new task force with legal immunity to take down the criminal underworld of Oʻahu. McGarrett enlists Honolulu newcomer Danny Williams (played by Scott Caan), a divorced detective who moved from New Jersey to be closer to his daughter; Chin Ho Kelly (Played by Lost's Daniel Dae Kim) who is a disgraced police officer and a protege of McGarrett's father; and Kono Kalakaua (played by Battlestar Galactica's Gras Park) who is Chin Ho's cousin, a former surfer and soon-to-be Police Academy graduate.

The series is mostly a case-of-the-week procedural that does have some serial threads that span throughout the season. Those mainly involve the character of Victor Hesse (played by Buffy's James Marsters) and a former Chinese government agent turned criminal, Wo-Fat, played by Mark Dacascos. The series also had a strong recurring cast, including Taryn Manning as Steve's sister, Mary Ann McGarrett, Jean Smart as Governor Pat Jameson, Taylor Wily as Kamekona Tupuola, Will Yun Lee as Sang Min Sooh (who is a criminal who sometimes acts as an informant for Five-0, Michelle Borth as Lieutenant Catherine Rollins a love interest for Steve who helps on cases from time to time, and Masi Oka (from the series Heroes) as Dr. Max Bergman, Chief Medical Examiner. Some of those characters would have larger roles in later seasons, and others would be reduced. The season ends on a major cliffhanger going into season two with the fates of multiple characters hanging in limbo.

The Blu-Ray set is a six-disc set that has the episodes and extras spread across the discs. The show looks and sounds great in HD. The visuals of Hawaii are awesome, and the handful of special effects that are used in the show look great. The extras include several making-of featurettes titled "Shore Lines: The Story of Season 1," "Grace Park's Hawaiian Tour," "Legacy" (which compares the reboot with the original series), "Picture Perfect: The Making of the Pilot," "Re-scoring the Theme Song", "Inside Comic-Con," (which has a portion of the Comic-Con panel), and "Inside the Box" (which refers to a toolbox figuring prominently in the season's story arc). Also included are deleted scenes, a gag reel, CBS launch promos, and cast and crew audio commentaries on two episodes. So, there is a good amount of material for people who like watching the bonus content.

Overall, the series is a good police procedural. It has a good blend of action and drama, with a strong theme of family. O'Loughlin and Caan are great in their roles as McGarrett and "Dano" who bicker like an old married couple. O'Loughlin does a ton of his own stunts (which led to a back injury that would plague him throughout the run of the series) and does a great job as the series lead. The writers do a great job developing the characters and getting the audience to care about them, which is critical to the success of a series like this. They also do a good job paying homage to, but not being a carbon copy of, the original series. So, if you are a fan of police procedurals, this is definitely a good one to check out.

DVD Review: Hawaii Five-O (2010): The Final Season

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the prior season, but no major giveaways from season 10+++

Season 10 of the show was not meant to be the final season, but when Alex O'Laughlan announced that he would not be returning to the show for an 11th season, the powers that be ultimately decided to cancel the series. So, the season finale that was supposed to be just a goodbye to the character of Steve McGarrett, ended up being the swan song for the show. And, for the most part, because of the already emotional nature of the show, it worked. In fact, the cast was told while they were shooting the series finale that the network decided not to pick up the show, so all of the emotion from the actors was very real.

Season 10 picks up shortly after the events of the season nine finale. We find out what happens in the aftermath of Jerry being shot. Jorge Garcia had already decided to leave the show, but he comes back for the first episode to allow Jerry to be written out. Most probably know the fate of the character already, but I will not spoil it. The big new addition to the cast this year was the addition of Sparticus and Arrow alumn, Katrina Law. I had only seen her on Arrow, so it is definitely weird hearing her talk in her normal voice, and not with Nyssa's accent. She plays Quinn, an MP who gets wrapped up in a Five-0 case and ends up joining the team. All the other characters are kind of at crossroads in their various lives. Steve is still reeling from the death of Joe White in the prior season, both Steve and Danny are trying to move on from their respective loves, Tahni and Junior have the will-they, won't-they get together dance going, Adam has moved on from Kono, this time being the one involved with someone with ties to the Yakuza, and Lou is adjusting to life as an empty nester.

The season pretty much follows its hybrid procedural-serial format. There are cases of the week that get intertwined with the larger story arcs that have prevailed throughout the show's run. In fact, old storylines are revisited again this season, and as a result, we see some old characters like Max, Doris, Wo-Fat, and even Victor Hesse. There were notable omissions from the season, including Teilor Grubbs (Grace Wiliams) or Joey Defore (Charlie Williams) even though there was a perfect opportunity to have them appear in the finale. Nor did Taryn Manning make an appearance as Steve's sister Mary, and there was definitely a storyline that would have allowed for her to appear. And of course, the notable omission of Grace Park (Kono) and Daniel Dae Kim (Chin) who left the show because of a contract dispute after season seven. Chances are, even if it had been known earlier that the series would be ending after season 10, there were likely too many hard feelings for either of them to come back. About halfway through the season, there was a crossover with Magnum PI one of the other 80s reboots that were developed by Peter Lenkov with Jay Hernandez, Perdita Weeks, Zachary Knighton, and Stephen Hill appearing on Five-0, and Megan Rath, Katrina Law, and Beulah Koale appearing on Magnum.

For those who get the DVD set, the extras include deleted scenes for select episodes and then on the final disc a twenty-three series wrap-up feature, an eleven-minute interview with Alex O'Loughlin discussing the evolution of his character and his decision to leave the show, and a four-minute gag reel. All in all, a decent amount of material.

Overall, the season was good. I think it could have been better if they had been more prepared for the series ending. Given that Alex O'Loughlin had hinted for years that he could not do the show much longer given the physical demands and the fact that he hurt is back pretty badly early on in the series, they should have really known that with him goes the show. The show obviously survived with major cast turnover in the past, but unlike shows like ER that did survive major cast members leaving, the character of McGarrett was the show, and the show would never have been able to survive without him. But, like I said above, given that the final episode was a send-off for the character of McGarrett it worked okay as a series finale, but would have been better with a couple more tweaks to the ending.