S01.E16: Pono

[AnimeMania]

Em takes the day off to spend time with her mom but races into action when she comes across an unresponsive cave diver. Will confides in Vince about his personal anger issues. Meanwhile, Laka searches for a missing local.

Premiere Date: Monday, March  3, 2025     FOX     9pm

[DanaK]

I hope Em doesn’t get let down by her mom again

Poor Laka not getting a live rescue win. But at least the family will have closure

[FnkyChkn34]

So... did we finally get some character growth?

We learned that Will has anger issues and always has... that's something, at least.  Maybe not super interesting, but something.  Laka spent all day searching for someone, knowing that as time passed, he wasn't going to find him alive.  But even as command told him he could stop, he still did it.  That's something too.  

Em's mom is a complete piece of work.  We may not love Em, but she doesn't deserve this trainwreck, and now we are also learning why she is the way she is.

Kainalu has super rich friends, that are his age?  Sure, it's possible, but then why does Kainalu not also have a trust fund or access to family money of his own? Maybe his parents took it all away when he became a lifeguard, I don't know.  But at least they explained the plot hole from last week. 

[blackwing]

Way too much Em's mom.  I get that she is in town for the triathlon and wants to see Em, but why do we the viewers have to see it?  She is super clingy.  It's natural that a mom wants to see her child, but these two have had issues, so maybe let Em do the inviting instead of forcing herself on her?  Em took the whole day off to be with her, but that wasn't enough for mom.  She wanted dinner, then breakfast, then invited her boyfriend and his teen son to dinner without even asking first.  Ugh.  I hope the triathlon is next week so this woman can leave town.  The actress and the character are super irritating.

The rescues were well done this week.  The cave rescue was exciting and once again I loved the underwater photography.  The recovery of the body of the spear fisherman was sad, but realistic, and showed a lot of strength of character from Laka.

Good to understand a little about why Will is the way he is.

The stars of the episode once again to me were Hina and Kainalu.  I like these two, now we are going to see Hina get jealous of her good friend Rosie even though she practically shoved Kainalu into Rosie's arms.

Zero of the episode once again is Sonny.  Of course it wasn't going to end well when he showed up to Ocean's school to demand that she go to college.  Why couldn't this conversation have been done at home?  And how many times do we need to see Sonny as the stern strict parent?  It's beyond old.

14 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

Kainalu has super rich friends, that are his age?  Sure, it's possible, but then why does Kainalu not also have a trust fund or access to family money of his own? Maybe his parents took it all away when he became a lifeguard, I don't know.  But at least they explained the plot hole from last week. 

Yes, those two friends are the ones we have seen before.  The woman is his ex-girlfriend.  She invited Kainalu to some kind of engagement party (I think) and he brought along Hina, who said she refused to dress up.  The ex's fiance also went to school with them, and Kainalu seems to have thought he was a loser back then and now.   Hina told them off and stole a bottle of booze when she walked out.

I really don't like the fiance, he seems like every rich guy who thinks he is cool and popular because he is rich, but in actuality is a complete tool.  I'm glad Kainalu and Rosie won the game and now this guy at least is following through on his word and will invest in Kainalu's idea.

Kainalu has super rich friends and his family is super rich themselves.  That school that Hina always mentions, Punahou, I believe is an elite private school in Hawaii.  I think it was mentioned on Hawaii Five-0 as well.  Kainalu probably does have a trust fund or access to his family's money, but asking for money from his dad comes with a price since his dad essentially cut him off until he stops being a lifeguard.  I thought his dad came around a little in the episode when Kainalu almost died and when he realised how his son was saving lives, but apparently not yet.  Kainalu is too proud to beg for money and won't give up his job.

This episode we met Laka's tutu, who is very much alive.  I'm wondering when we are going to see Kainalu's mom or Hina's dad, if ever.