S10.E21: A ‘ohe ia e loa’a aku, he ulua kapapa no ka moana (He Cannot Be Caught For He Is an Ulua Fish of the Deep Ocean)

[BW Manilowe]

After Steve receives a posthumous letter from his mother that contains a cypher, Danny is attacked by someone willing to kill to steal it. Also, Five-0 must help Lincoln Cole (Lance Gross), an anonymous good Samaritan who’s in the crosshairs of some very dangerous people. Chuck Norris guest stars as a retired sergeant major who helps Lincoln hide from authorities in order to protect his anonymity.

Original Airdate: March 27, 2020

SOURCE: https://www.viacomcbspressexpress.com/cbs-entertainment/shows/hawaii-five-0/releases/view?id=54810

[BW Manilowe]

Well guys, here we go... The next to last episode is about to start. Enjoy if you can.

[Twilight Man]

So this and the last episode were supposed to run back to back originally,

but due to basketball getting shut down (among other things),

they decided to break it up, which IMO was good because the two episodes

barely have anything to do with each other.

Quote

Chuck Norris guest stars as a retired sergeant major who helps Lincoln hide from authorities in order to protect his anonymity.

"Hello, special guest star.   Are you actually going to do anything???   Even Evander Hollyfield pretended to do something when he guest starred on NCIS:  LA  a few weeks ago??"

"All I need to do to look awesome is stand here and hold this axe.  Why???   Because I'm-------"

"YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, we KNOW who you are!!!!"

Edited March 28, 2020 by Twilight Man

[preeya]

So this bad-ass Lincoln guy would have been a great candidate for Five-0 had the series not been coming to an end.

Chuck Norris - WTF!

McGarrett would never like NJ.

Anyone think the cipher might be some kind of a joke? (although Doris wasn't the joking type)

 

 

 

[Passepartout]

Doris was more of a sarcastic type IMHO

Yeah Steve would not like NJ but wished that they would explored that as Danny would make fun of Steve not liking NJ as Steve earlier seasons teased Danny about not liking Hawaii

Danny should had said no Steve, I am driving no and's, if's, nor but's about it. Wished he would do something like that as Steve should had relented but that is a military thing and his controlling ways.

Lincoln Cole is a lot of like Steve but sadly we will not get to have that character development there. 

Really will dread next week and that people like Catherine are not coming back. 

[Sweet Tooth]

In one single episode, Lincoln did more than Adam has done in the last ten.

He would have made an impressive new member. 

He needs his own show.

I was like...is that Chuck Norris? Nah, it's just someone who looks like him. 

 

[BW Manilowe]

3 hours ago, Sweet Tooth said:

In one single episode, Lincoln did more than Adam has done in the last ten.

He would have made an impressive new member. 

He needs his own show.

I was like...is that Chuck Norris? Nah, it's just someone who looks like him.

It was Chuck, all right. His son, Eric, was the stunt coordinator on the show from 2017-the series finale. Which is probably how they eventually got him to do the (basically a) cameo appearance (& probably how they got Scott’s dad to do an ep in S2, though Scott’s dad had a much bigger part than Chuck did; Chuck’s part was more the size of Jimmy Buffett’s recent appearances in the show). I was reading overnight about how Peter Lenkov said he’d wanted Chuck on the show for a long time (I don’t know if this was before or only since the last 3 seasons when Chuck’s son was actually working on the show), & he finally got him.

[roamyn]

7 hours ago, Passepartout said:

Doris was more of a sarcastic type IMHO

Yeah Steve would not like NJ but wished that they would explored that as Danny would make fun of Steve not liking NJ as Steve earlier seasons teased Danny about not liking Hawaii

Danny should had said no Steve, I am driving no and's, if's, nor but's about it. Wished he would do something like that as Steve should had relented but that is a military thing and his controlling ways.

Lincoln Cole is a lot of like Steve but sadly we will not get to have that character development there. 

Really will dread next week and that people like Catherine are not coming back. 

I did like Lincoln Cole’s character.  He would’ve been a good team member, if you have Steve or Danny or Lou retiring.  Or Quinn gone.

Spoiler

Catherine is coming back.  Rumor has it that she & Steve leave the islands hand in hand, based on filmed scenes.

Which....barf.

[Raja]

I was sure the old Sergeant Major was going to show up to break Lincoln out of MP custody or something when 5-0 was asking now what will we do.. I guess Chuck Norris was vacationing in Hawaii and did a solid for someone.

[sigmaforce86]

I thought Chuck Norris was going to be the code breaker that Lincoln said he'd contact for McGarrett but since he didn't show up again and he's not in the credits for part 2 I guess that's all for Chuck.  If that's the case it was a disappointingly short cameo.

If the show was being renewed I would have fully supported Adam being killed in the shoot out with the gang and Lincoln getting a pardon and joining the team.

It was a pretty good set up and episode although I'm honestly surprised they spent that much time on the crime of the week and not following the story of the package from Doris; basically leaving the final mystery and the general "goodbye" vibe for the final hour.   This is going to be the fastest mystery in the history of the series; any other time it would be a full season arc.  I am actually a little curious how this is going to play out - my guess is if they don't end with the team in the station like it's just another day and instead have some of their stories or futures come to an end they'll still leave just enough open to accommodate a few TV movies down the line.  It happens sometimes but for the most part they rarely fully close the door on a successful series.

[Raja]

They did bring in the widow of Wo Fat and drop her earlier. The masked stuntman going hand to hand with Danny seemed too old for Wo Fat Jr.

[Sweet Tooth]

3 hours ago, Raja said:

I was sure the old Sergeant Major was going to show up to break Lincoln out of MP custody or something when 5-0 was asking now what will we do.. I guess Chuck Norris was vacationing in Hawaii and did a solid for someone.

See above. His son is the stunt coordinator.

I was surprised that Steve threw up his hands. I was sure he had something up his sleeve. But I guess when it comes to the military, he knows to actually comply. It's the only time I've seen him give up that easily.

[Raja]

3 hours ago, Sweet Tooth said:

See above. His son is the stunt coordinator.

I was surprised that Steve threw up his hands. I was sure he had something up his sleeve. But I guess when it comes to the military, he knows to actually comply. It's the only time I've seen him give up that easily.

The Marine Corps Commandant being one of the Joint Chiefs must be someone above the mere Justice Department folks pushed away by Hawaiian governors. And why was the Commandant so personally involved?

I am guessing that the writers don't know why Purple Hearts are awarded. It was not like the Gunnery Sergeant was getting a Navy Cross after leading his unit into an ambush but getting the survivors out.

[Sweet Tooth]

35 minutes ago, Raja said:

The Marine Corps Commandant being one of the Joint Chiefs must be someone above the mere Justice Department folks pushed away by Hawaiian governors. And why was the Commandant so personally involved?

I am guessing that the writers don't know why Purple Hearts are awarded. It was not like the Gunnery Sergeant was getting a Navy Cross after leading his unit into an ambush but getting the survivors out.

I immediately thought it was suspicious they were pushing so hard and so fast and was certain that they were somehow impersonating or were going to be the ones to hurt Lincoln.

Usually when H5-0 gives up that fast, it's for plot purposes, like when Grover gave up that house to the jerky dude, and the house blew up. So I was convinced this was something of the same. 

As a matter of fact, when Lincoln started rebelling, I was caught off guard and thought it was one of the other guys.

Also, the Commandant was a pretty well-known actor, so I thought for sure he'd play a bigger role.

[DoctorAtomic]

On 3/28/2020 at 12:54 AM, Sweet Tooth said:

In one single episode, Lincoln did more than Adam has done in the last ten.

This I will very much miss.

I actually liked that Steve said 'I don't know if I care' about the letter from Doris. 

Was the camera work weird?

Cool gun battle at the end though.

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by DoctorAtomic

[DKay]

Yassirrrr!  Continue the show!!!  Would love to see some more of the good acting, storyline-enhancing, & not-so-bad-on-the-eyes 😉 Lincoln/Lance Gross as a regular each week!!  He did more for me in one epi than Adam has ever done on his many seasons!  So sad to face next week's last epi! 😭

[BW Manilowe]

9 hours ago, DKay said:

Yassirrrr!  Continue the show!!!  Would love to see some more of the good acting, storyline-enhancing, & not-so-bad-on-the-eyes 😉 Lincoln/Lance Gross as a regular each week!!  He did more for me in one epi than Adam has ever done on his many seasons!  So sad to face next week's last epi! 😭

I wish we could continue the show, but it just wouldn’t be the same without at least Scott there if Alex doesn’t think he’s up to coming back.

I’m sad about facing the final episode Friday night too. Heck, I was sad yesterday when I deleted the Hawaiian language keyboard from my iPhone (I figured there’s no time like the present; might as well not procrastinate), since I don’t need it anymore because there won’t be anymore Hawaiian language titled episode synopses to post.

On another note, according to Peter Lenkov, that slower version of “All for One” (the song Five for Fighting’s John Ondrasik wrote for use in Episode 100) that’s been on at least 1 recent promo, now with the word “Ohana” added to the title, is apparently supposed to be on iTunes (& probably Amazon mp3) any day now, if anyone wants to add it to your collection of H50-related stuff. It wasn’t available over the weekend; I’m thinking they’ll release it sometime this week, before/the day of the finale airing. Another song to add might be “All Good Things” by Jackson Browne, the song that was played in the ep where Masi Oka’s Max Bergman left Hawaii to work with Doctors Without Borders in Madagascar; it was played around where Max said his individual goodbyes to the team & the others.

[greyhorse]

Like everyone else has said, this Lincoln Cole dude would have been an awesome Steve replacement.  Would have been interesting if he would have been allowed to run the team as a complete newbie, or if Junior given his military background would have taken the reins.  Even the guy's name is cool - Lincoln Cole.  That's badass.

What was Lincoln's plan when he gave himself up in exchange for the woman and kid?  He had no weapon and was obviously going to get shot in the head right there.  Did he just not care?

The cast didn't know the series was ending until recently, right?  Or has it been planned all season?  Did they get called back to do these reshoots?  All of a sudden, once the series was announced it was over, we get all this dialogue of team members concerned for Steve and his mental state.  Obviously we as viewers all know why.  But it just seems forced.

I'm hoping the cipher leads Steve to some private island that Doris acquired and that buried on it is a huge boatload of cash.

[Raja]

2 hours ago, greyhorse said:

Like everyone else has said, this Lincoln Cole dude would have been an awesome Steve replacement.  Would have been interesting if he would have been allowed to run the team as a complete newbie, or if Junior given his military background would have taken the reins.  Even the guy's name is cool - Lincoln Cole.  That's badass.

What was Lincoln's plan when he gave himself up in exchange for the woman and kid?  He had no weapon and was obviously going to get shot in the head right there.  Did he just not care?

The cast didn't know the series was ending until recently, right?  Or has it been planned all season?  Did they get called back to do these reshoots?  All of a sudden, once the series was announced it was over, we get all this dialogue of team members concerned for Steve and his mental state.  Obviously we as viewers all know why.  But it just seems forced.

I'm hoping the cipher leads Steve to some private island that Doris acquired and that buried on it is a huge boatload of cash.

Suicide in the line of duty by bad guy was Gunny Cole's plan I think 

[BW Manilowe]

2 hours ago, greyhorse said:

Like everyone else has said, this Lincoln Cole dude would have been an awesome Steve replacement.  Would have been interesting if he would have been allowed to run the team as a complete newbie, or if Junior given his military background would have taken the reins.  Even the guy's name is cool - Lincoln Cole.  That's badass.

What was Lincoln's plan when he gave himself up in exchange for the woman and kid?  He had no weapon and was obviously going to get shot in the head right there.  Did he just not care?

The cast didn't know the series was ending until recently, right?  Or has it been planned all season?  Did they get called back to do these reshoots?  All of a sudden, once the series was announced it was over, we get all this dialogue of team members concerned for Steve and his mental state.  Obviously we as viewers all know why.  But it just seems forced.

I'm hoping the cipher leads Steve to some private island that Doris acquired and that buried on it is a huge boatload of cash.

Regarding the bolded: You didn’t realize it, but if you had used Junior’s last name instead of his first in your sentence, it would’ve said “If Reigns given his military background had taken the reins...” & you’d have made a funny.

It’s hard telling, honestly, when the rest of the cast knew this was it. Alex was probably thinking about it most/all of the time; I feel like probably until the absolute last minute that he had to give notice to Peter Lenkov, the rest of the Producers (of which he was also 1 this season; probably with actual power behind the title, as opposed to other, mostly TV, actors who get titles like that after a certain time on their shows), & CBS so they could either start locking S11 into place or give notice to the rest of the actors they needed new jobs & so CBS could start looking for something else to put into the timeslot.

I feel like it was planned all season; probably ever since S9 started, actually (if not earlier), like with the “let’s retire & start a restaurant together” subplot (that was last season, right?), or with the suddenly dropped “Steve has radiation poisoning from carrying around that dirty bomb without a lotta protection, & that was soon after Danny donated half his liver to Steve, too (which was in S6, I believe). I think they even were dropping subtle hints early in this season. They just didn’t know which of those plotlines would actually be Alex’s swan song until he told them. I also don’t believe they did any reshoots to reflect characters discussing Steve having burnout, etc. No. They’ve been building up to this at least since Steve had to undergo a liver transplant with half of Danny’s liver, if not earlier. Sometimes it was put across more subtly than others; sometimes they kinda hit you between the eyes with the foreshadowing.

I ran across a couple of articles from TV Line (& pretty much the same content was printed in other publications/on other websites) again recently, in light of the ending of the show. The first article was done around the time of the 150th episode filming. In it, towards the bottom, Alex says something about his injuries & having problems just getting through S7; he’s pretty sure if there’s an S8, he won’t be there.

Then, a year & a half later, in another TV Line article—this time promoting his directorial debut on the show— he says he would be amenable to coming back to the show for a potential S9. Which he did. As well as an S10. I think he put the fans who loved the show so much,  & all the locals who’d lose jobs if the show ended, ahead of his own health for as long as he possibly could & S10 was his limit.

[Roselle]

It's rather sad isn't it that so many actors feel they have to be seen to "do their own stunts" - how often have we seen interviews with leading men (because, let's face it, it's still mainly men who get the action leads) who proudly claim it? AOL did. It's a like a badge of courage or dedication or something. All kudos to them - There have been some exceptional fight/action scenes over the years in this show - it's what many loved most, I guess. It certainly must take a lot of hard work and hard knocks for any of the actors that do it but while the stunt team are paid to make them look good and I'm sure are excellent at training them, the kind of injuries AOL is suffering is a result. 

Of course, action sequences can be ruined if they're poorly directed and show someone taking/giving the hits but looking nothing like the actor who is supposed to be at their heart. There have been a few of those too over the years in H5-0 - most often IMHO with stunt doubles for Scott Caan, which suggests to me that he is one actor who would rather not get hurt unnecessarily.

I'm one of those who, though sorry to see the end of the show, actually believes it was somewhat overdue but I do believe Alex O'Loughlin has done an amazing job with his role and has been truly dedicated to his responsibility as the lead. It's just, like I said, sad that misplaced macho pride (or is it industry/gender expectation?) has seen him pay the price with his health. 

[BW Manilowe]

2 hours ago, Roselle said:

It's rather sad isn't it that so many actors feel they have to be seen to "do their own stunts" - how often have we seen interviews with leading men (because, let's face it, it's still mainly men who get the action leads) who proudly claim it? AOL did. It's a like a badge of courage or dedication or something. All kudos to them - There have been some exceptional fight/action scenes over the years in this show - it's what many loved most, I guess. It certainly must take a lot of hard work and hard knocks for any of the actors that do it but while the stunt team are paid to make them look good and I'm sure are excellent at training them, the kind of injuries AOL is suffering is a result.

Of course, action sequences can be ruined if they're poorly directed and show someone taking/giving the hits but looking nothing like the actor who is supposed to be at their heart. There have been a few of those too over the years in H5-0 - most often IMHO with stunt doubles for Scott Caan, which suggests to me that he is one actor who would rather not get hurt unnecessarily.

I'm one of those who, though sorry to see the end of the show, actually believes it was somewhat overdue but I do believe Alex O'Loughlin has done an amazing job with his role and has been truly dedicated to his responsibility as the lead. It's just, like I said, sad that misplaced macho pride (or is it industry/gender expectation?) has seen him pay the price with his health. 

Regarding the bolded: The thing about Alex is, he isn’t just another actor who thought he could do his own stunts & now his body’s paying the price. He’s (or he was) an actual trained & licensed stuntman in Australia. Perhaps some of those stunts he did on H50 were still out of his league (shrugs)?

Regarding the second bolded: Scott may or may not have wanted to risk his body as much as Alex, over the seasons, but he did his fair share of his own stunts too. I remember reading he had to go to the ER once from getting stuff like wood splinters, or something, in an eye probably during an explosion related stunt. OK that’s only 1 injury, but I’m still sure he did a lot of his own stunts too.  And yeah, most of his stunt doubles didn’t look that much like him, compared to Alex.

 

 

 

[Passepartout]

Yeah as really however it seems except for extreme ones. Alex did almost all of his stunts.

Really got to give him credit over it.