S05.E11: Ua 'aihue (Stolen)

[photo fox]

When a tourist is killed after unknowingly transporting a stolen Van Gogh, an undercover Kono and Chin enter the world of black market priceless art and are taken hostage. Also, McGarrett asks Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto to help train Kamekona to beat Chef Sam Choy in a shrimp cook-off.

[BW Manilowe]

The English translation of the title is "Stolen". If you read the press releases in the H50 section that are posted at cbspressexpress.com (which I assume you did to get the plot summary you posted, which *is* accurate based on what was in the ep press release), the English translation for the title is *always* included somewhere (I forget where, specifically,) in that press release. If you got the plot summary there, you should've been able to get the English title translation too.

If you want to include it as the source of your quoted plot summary (as I do when starting an ep thread), here's the link to the ep's press release at cbspressexpress.com:

http://cbspressexpress.com/cbs-entertainment/shows/hawaii-five-0/releases/view?id=41551

The English title translation can be found in the linked press release in a sentence in parentheses between the plot summary paragraph & the "Cheat Tweet" info for the ep, by the way.

[janeta]

Mozzie! :-)

ETA: where was Danny?

Edited January 10, 2015 by janeta

[benteen]

Fun episode.  I've had an interest in art since college so I like episodes like this, even if it was mostly about art theft.  Always good to see Rebecca Maher.

[BooksRule]

I was glad to see a happy ending, especially since the episode description said that 'a tourist is killed after unknowingly...'  and I didn't expect him to survive.

 

Was Danny's absence even mentioned?

[buckboard]

Might have been better to postpone a hostage episode, what with the events in Paris today.

[shapeshifter]

With Rebecca Maher, that made 3 Lost alums in the episode, right?

I wasn't sure why an unemployed guy who spent money he didn't have to take his family on a luxury vacation in Hawaii was deserving of $1,500,000. Shouldn't Jerry (who caught the bad guy and probably got his neck brace at the free clinic) have gotten some? Or how about the local children living below the poverty line?

Anyway, Kono's dress and hair for the second undercover op were red-carpet-worthy gorgeous. Too bad they didn't have more glam shots of it, but she had to spend most of the scenes on the floor.

Other than for plot drama, was there any reason Jerry didn't turn off the connection once he saw that the bad guys were looking for who was transmitting?

[BW Manilowe]

No, Danny's absence wasn't mentioned. I guess they're so frequent now the writers either can't think of enough plausible explanations for them, or they don't think they have to bother. And that kinda bugs me when they won't even write in a "throwaway" line explaining his (or Alex/Steve, Kono/Grace P., DDK/Chin)'s glaring absence from an ep... like when Steve said Danny was on the North Shore (taking Grace to Cheerleading camp, when he also ended up meeting his apparent current girlfriend, Amber Vitale) & not working the team's case. It would be nice, for the at least 1 viewer who might notice the absence. You know?

As far as Scott's concerned, I've heard for awhile now he renegotiated for less screen time/more free time for his other pursuits/life in LA. I've also heard he supposedly only works on the set in Hawaii something like every couple of weeks (so he may actually be filming scenes for multiple eps simultaneously when he's on set now). I don't know how true either of those things are though.

I could see him probably wanting more time in LA this season--at least since his daughter was born right at the end of the summer hiatus. Her mother/Scott's partner was workIng in the wardrobe department on the show, I think since it started. I'm not sure she's working in the wardrobe department this season, even since her maternity leave/Family Medical Leave Act time off (normally up to 3 months, or early October in this case) should've ended. If she (& the baby) is based in LA now, & Scott's as good a Dad as I think we all hope he is, I could see him wanting to spend more time in LA to be with them (or at least with his daughter). I've also heard his partner, like Scott, doesn't like being in Hawaii that much; so the pregnancy at least gave her an "out" as far as working in Hawaii's concerned (though I've never heard for sure she's actually not working on the show anymore).

I know all that probably begs the question of "Why don't they just write Scott/Danny out?". I think it's 'cause they don't wanna lose the chemistry between Alex & Scott & between their characters, or even the chemistry between Scott & Teilor Grubbs/Danny & his daughter, which helped make the show a hit in S1. They'll deal with having less of it, if they have to, but don't wanna lose it completely. They did write the original Danny out before the original show ended though (James MacArthur had done at least 10 of the 12 seasons & wanted to do other things), so writing Danny out isn't unprecedented.

[dwmarch]

I've been waiting five seasons and a hundred-some episodes for this show to put Kono in a leather skirt and wow did they ever put her in a nice one! Interesting implication there too. McGarrett says "he's a perv" and then looks to Kono to say she's going undercover. She's got a perfectly fitted leather skirt on standby. Well, as long as she finds occasion to wear it again, I can't worry too much about where she got it.

 

I didn't think I'd like the Kamekona plot (especially when they cut away from leather-clad Kono so we could see a Karate Kid homage) but it turned out pretty good in the end. I loved the whole cooking on a hot plate powered by a car battery. But I would imagine a hot plate and car battery would be both prohibited items in a prison. Maybe Kamekona was in minimum security.

 

Jerry crashed into that ambulance not knowing who was in it. The others were right, he is turning into McGarrett with that kind of recklessness. Otherwise if Jerry saw the bad guys escaping, figured out which vehicle they were going to go for, let his passenger out, gunned the engine and successfully rammed the vehicle to disable it, he damn well deserves that badge he asked for!

Edited January 10, 2015 by dwmarch

[edmattes76342]

I really enjoyed this episode.  We got to see the talent of Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park who are usually more in the background.  Besides her acting ability, Grace is very good as a model and it was good to see her in four different costumes.  Its interesting to note that Daniel is the director of Episode 5.17 which is now in production.  His talent will be shown soon in another part of the business.  The Kamekona story was good too.  I liked watching him cooking the shrimp on the hotplate and hearing the story on that ... and the guest star celebrity chefs helped that story too.  My biggest complaint is that Danny wasn't even mentioned.  I think they should have made an excuse for his absence.

[Raja]

Might have been better to postpone a hostage episode, what with the events in Paris today.

Atrocities are happening somewhere every day now. Might as well drop cop dramas to avoid daily headline ripping.

That a real life terrorist may have used the same escape and evasion plan that the crooks did was surreal. It stopped me from sniping at the plan.

What I don't get is criminals sitting on a million dollar product but that isn't enough they will murder and face life imprisonment for more millions.

[shapeshifter]

Atrocities are happening somewhere every day now. Might as well drop cop dramas to avoid daily headline ripping....

Yes.

...What I don't get is criminals sitting on a million dollar product but that isn't enough they will murder and face life imprisonment for more millions.

Most--if not all--real criminals show short-sighted judgement, even when they think they're playing a long con. I get more annoyed with highly convoluted murder plots that imply the doer was able to plan for all contingencies, because clearly they aren't planning for getting caught. Just my opinion, which is clearly not popular among writers, readers, or watchers of fictional crime.

[benteen]

I couldn't get over how dumb the gunman (can't remember his name) was in the beginning.  All he had to do was cover his face, knock out the man, and steal his briefcase.  It would have resulted in a call to the police but sure as hell wouldn't have led to an islandwide manhunt.  Then to add stupidity to stupidity, he manages to trail the suitcase over his victim's blood.  Brilliant!

 

I'm still trying to figure out how he smuggled the art in the first place and didn't get caught by the airline scanners.

[Kel Varnsen]

Interesting episode, better than last weeks, although the lack of Danny deserved a little bit of explanation I think.

 

But complete fail on the music department though. If you are going to do a Karate Kid thing for your cooking competition you shouldn't use Eye of the Tiger for your competition montage. You should use "You're the Best Around".  Cool learning Kamekona's back story and how he got into cooking though when he was in lockup.

[auntiemel]

I just had to point out that the tourist who got shot at the beginning - when his kids are restless, he tells his wife to take them to the pool to have lunch while he unpacks, after which he will bring the bathing suits down to them and they can all go swimming.

Implicit in this plan is either that they will all have to find some random location (inside a hotel in which they have a room) to change into their suits, or that they are going to all follow him right back up to the room from which he carried those very suits, and change back into them - in which case, why the pointless parade of the bathing suits? Couldn't they have just waited in the room?

I'm starting to think that possibly poor logistical foresight was part of the reason he was fired from his consulting gig!

[Mittengirl]

Maybe a poolside cabana?

What threw me was a kid who has just been sitting on a plane for about 10 hours wanting to sit in a hotel room and watch a movie. Which was probably how he spent most of the travel time up to that point. After leaving Grand Rapids in January-ish, getting outside in Hawaiian weather would have been infinitely more appealing.

I didn't even realize Danny was missing until I watched one of the late night TNT episodes. As soon as I saw him, I wracked my brain trying to remember if he had been in the prime time episode. It took me a while to decide he had not been.

[shapeshifter]

I just had to point out that the tourist who got shot at the beginning - when his kids are restless, he tells his wife to take them to the pool to have lunch while he unpacks, after which he will bring the bathing suits down to them and they can all go swimming.

Implicit in this plan is either that they will all have to find some random location (inside a hotel in which they have a room) to change into their suits, or that they are going to all follow him right back up to the room from which he carried those very suits, and change back into them - in which case, why the pointless parade of the bathing suits? Couldn't they have just waited in the room?

I'm starting to think that possibly poor logistical foresight was part of the reason he was fired from his consulting gig!

LOL! What struck me as wrong with that bit, was that first he lectures them on not spending their Hawaiian vacation in a hotel room, but then, instead of planning to go to the beach, they're going to swim a pool. Maybe it's just my own preference for non-chlorinated water, but I thought the father's decision bordered on hypocritical.

[Bishop]

I thought the episode was good. I did miss Danny, but at this point I asumer that team members, especially Danny who has a daughter gets a day off. Yes, it should have been mentioned. But not so much that it was a big deal.

I loved that the main team was working together (sans Danny), but even my favorite side characters were featured like Komokomo and Jerry. It had humor, action, and everyone looking really good great in dress clothes and it had a nice ending. I was happy.

Danny and Steve are back together again next week. So I'm looking forward to that too. Good episode overall.

Edited January 12, 2015 by Bishop

[jhlipton]

I've been waiting five seasons and a hundred-some episodes for this show to put Kono in a leather skirt and wow did they ever put her in a nice one! Interesting implication there too. McGarrett says "he's a perv" and then looks to Kono to say she's going undercover. She's got a perfectly fitted leather skirt on standby. Well, as long as she finds occasion to wear it again, I can't worry too much about where she got it.

 

I thought she looked much better in the dress she wore to the private party.  I don't think Grace is all that good-looking, but the second seemed much more perv-catching than the first.

I'm still trying to figure out how he smuggled the art in the first place and didn't get caught by the airline scanners.

 You mean how he got his bag out, got that huge painting out of it, got shot-guy's bag out and made the transfer without ANYONE noticing?  PLOT!

 

This "master-criminal" shoots a guy at point-blank range and doesn't kill him (even though he clearly meant to) and is totally "camera shy" but lets some kid get his picture.  PLOT!

 

As for the reward, shot-guy was nearly killed, had his vacation ruined and will be facing a massive hospital bill.  I didn't mind him getting the reward.

[blackwing]

Also, with regards to the guy sending his kids and wife down to the pool.  Why couldn't they have changed into their bathing suits IN THE ROOM before they went downstairs?  How long would it take to open up a suitcase and pull out the suits?  After all, as the wife said, she packed all of the bags (except for his) herself.  How was he going to find the suits easily?  Would have made more sense for the wife to get them, change, and go downstairs.

 

The other thing that failed is that literally two seconds after his family leaves, the shooter knocks.  Was he literally standing right outside the door and they walked right past him?  Production could have at least had him do something for 15 seconds (open the balcony door, look at the view, check his phone, etc) before having the shooter appear.

 

Overall, I liked most of this episode, but then again, I can't stand Danny, so this was a breath of fresh air.  But the Kamehona subplot was a complete fail for me.  After five years, I have grown tired of this character.  He was OK in small doses but now he's become a complete cartoon.  Cooking on a hot plate in a sawed off coffee can?  I also was horrified that the great Morimoto would stoop to sabotaging a renowned chef's food in order to win a competition.  I get that it's just supposed to be for laughs, but the real Morimoto would have more honour and rely on his own skills.  I guess Morimoto the TV character is a different story.

 

The art bounty hunter lady reminded me a lot of Amy Adams.  I forget what movie Adams did an English accent in, but for a while, I actually thought it was her.

Edited January 12, 2015 by blackwing

[ChelseaNH]

Maybe it's just my own preference for non-chlorinated water, but I thought the father's decision bordered on hypocritical.

 

"We are paying for this hotel and we are going to USE ITS FACILITIES.  Got it?"

[jhlipton]

re Morimoto: This is the guy that can make salmon ice cream (yes, salmon!) taste good.  He doesn't need to cheat to win.

 

They made a big deal about the Shrimpalooza cook-off, but it was only Kamehona and Choy.  I was disappointed -- I wanted a third party to win!

[HurricaneVal]

Loved the Morimoto/Kamekona subplot.  I loved it that Morimoto was all "No, nope, no way" until his competitive edge was honed with the mention of his arch rival Sam Choy.  I liked how tongue-in-cheek and in-jokey it was, especially with Kamekona's "Iron Chef" mention.  I was waiting for Wo Fat's non-evil twin of The Chairman to be the judge at the Shrimpalooza, but alas, that would have been a bridge too far.

 

No Danno.  :(    I haz a sad. 

 

But I get it.  They just need to make these character absences more seamless and logical.  So Scott wants to be in LA with his family?  Danno is in court.  They're law enforcement officers, right?  So they bring criminals to trial.  So they have to go to court.  So make Danno go testify as an explanation to his absence.  He testifies because he's the logical member of the team to go--he has the experience and demeanor and story-spinning skills to be the 5-0 team member who does the court stuff.  It could become a "thing."  Steve's too much of a hot-head goof, Chin has the whole "asset forfeiture locker" scandal reputation, Kono is still a rookie, Lou still isn't really a "core" team member and is new to the island, so all that makes the long-suffering Danno the one who has to take one for the team and make the court appearances in order to to make their cases stick.  Simple.

 

But along with that logical explanation, they need to take the "Danno" stuff and not just jam Chin or Lou into that role and give those characters Danno's lines.  It just doesn't work.  I get that there's emergencies, like when Chin did the NCIS:LA crossover episode when AOL went to rehab and there really wasn't time to re-write the dialogue, so it was a bit jarring when Danno would say an obviously Steve line with Chin responding with an obvious Danno line, or when Chin would just take over the Steve part.  That wasn't a good fit.  But in this case, the writers have time to account for the character shift, and write the episodes as a Steve/Lou episode, or a Steve/Chin episode rather than a Steve/DannoLou episode.

[BW Manilowe]

Loved the Morimoto/Kamekona subplot. I loved it that Morimoto was all "No, nope, no way" until his competitive edge was honed with the mention of his arch rival Sam Choy. I liked how tongue-in-cheek and in-jokey it was, especially with Kamekona's "Iron Chef" mention. I was waiting for Wo Fat's non-evil twin of The Chairman to be the judge at the Shrimpalooza, but alas, that would have been a bridge too far.

No Danno. :( I haz a sad.

But I get it. They just need to make these character absences more seamless and logical. So Scott wants to be in LA with his family? Danno is in court. They're law enforcement officers, right? So they bring criminals to trial. So they have to go to court. So make Danno go testify as an explanation to his absence. He testifies because he's the logical member of the team to go--he has the experience and demeanor and story-spinning skills to be the 5-0 team member who does the court stuff. It could become a "thing." Steve's too much of a hot-head goof, Chin has the whole "asset forfeiture locker" scandal reputation, Kono is still a rookie, Lou still isn't really a "core" team member and is new to the island, so all that makes the long-suffering Danno the one who has to take one for the team and make the court appearances in order to to make their cases stick. Simple.

But along with that logical explanation, they need to take the "Danno" stuff and not just jam Chin or Lou into that role and give those characters Danno's lines. It just doesn't work. I get that there's emergencies, like when Chin did the NCIS:LA crossover episode when AOL went to rehab and there really wasn't time to re-write the dialogue, so it was a bit jarring when Danno would say an obviously Steve line with Chin responding with an obvious Danno line, or when Chin would just take over the Steve part. That wasn't a good fit. But in this case, the writers have time to account for the character shift, and write the episodes as a Steve/Lou episode, or a Steve/Chin episode rather than a Steve/DannoLou episode.

I totally agree with you on the writers' need to make Scott's (or whomever's, especially if they play any of the original core characters of Steve, Danny, Chin or Kono) absences a bit more seamless & not ignored. I'd even take semi-lame excuses like "home with the flu, recovering from an emergency appendectomy (or other surgery), had wisdom teeth/dental surgery, since he's a single, primary custodial parent Danny had to stay home because Gracie had 1 of those things I named happen to her, etc."

They at least bothered to write it into the repeat they aired last Saturday night. That was the ep where Lou & Steve were still fighting like cats & dogs whenever they were together, but Governor Denning paired them to serve an arrest warrant on Nick Jonas' computer hacker character (the ep where we met the character, not where he kidnapped Grover's daughter & Wo Fat shot him to death). Towards the beginning of that ep, Steve's on a phone call with someone he obviously knows. When he hangs up, he tells Chin, I think, that it was Danny calling from Jersey, where he'd gone for his Dad's 60th birthday party; Danny was calling to tell Steve about the fancy foreign sports car his Dad had bought himself for his birthday. I can't remember if Lenkov wrote the ep, or who did write it, but I loved that they threw that bit in, instead of leaving us to imagine what happened to Danny so he couldn't work the case that week. I just wish they'd be more consistent about excusing a core character's/actor's absence (if planned) in an ep. They do it 1 week, but not the next. Sheesh...

I also appreciated what they were able to do, basically "on the fly", after Alex needed his medical leave & they had to rewrite the NCIS: Los Angeles crossover so Chin & Danny were the lead Five-0 investigators on the case, instead of the originally intended Steve & Danny.

But I'll also never forget the unexpected "Danno" reference in the storyline, between Kensi & Deeks, where Deeks teased Kensi about being attracted to "Danno" (& calling him that) even though there was NO reference to the "Danno" nickname in either the H50 part of the ep or before that point in the NCIS: LA ep & no way the NCIS team could really know about that nickname. That was the ONLY thing that needed to be rewritten & was missed, at least that I caught. Mostly 'cause it stuck out like a sore thumb.

The way it was played, I don't even think you could buy they found out about the nickname offscreen. I mean, Chin doesn't use it at all. The only people/characters who use it are Gracie & Steve (& Lori used it in the S2 Halloween ep, but mostly 'cause she was pissed Danny was teasing her about what kind of Halloween costume she'd changed out of when they caught the case in the ep--so I count & don't count that as a "legitimate" use of the nickname).

[Vermicious Knid]

And still, CBS is not selling Kamekona shimp t-shirts.Aren't they all about merchandising?

[HurricaneVal]

OH yeah, that "Danno's dad bought the mid-life crisis fancy sports car" phone call.  That was a great bit of continuity, because wasn't it a few episodes after that where Danno's mom showed up on the island with her marriage in crisis?  See, when they're paying attention to the details, it all glues together nicely.  Or the whole "Danno went to Jersey to break the news of Matt's grisly death to the family" supportive phone calls, coupled with the following episodes having Steve meet up with Danny at his "thinking place."  That was well thought out.  When they're "on" they're "on" but sometimes they drop the ball.

[MegK]

Funny, I didn't even notice Scott wasn't in this episode until I read about it here. I've never been a big fan of "Danno," so I'm perfectly happy to have the character off doing something else. Apparently I'm in the minority on this, but I don't think they need to explain his absence. It'd become a running joke if one of the characters had to have a throwaway line every time -- "Where's Danny?" "Jury duty." "Hey, what happened to Danny?" "Flu." "What's up with Danny?" "Ingrown toenails." It's much better, in my opinion, to just make him a recurring character -- sometimes he's there, sometimes he's not. Same with Kono. Steve's interactions with Chin and Lou are more than enough to keep me entertained.

[Bishop]

 Cooking on a hot plate in a sawed off coffee can?  

 

 

He did it because Chef Morimoto asked him where got his passion for cooking, and Kamekono told him that he learned to cook in prison.  So Chef Morimoto asked him to show him how he cooked, and that's why he was cooking on the hot plate.  The coffee can, car battery, etc were the only tools Kamekono had in prison.  

 

I also was horrified that the great Morimoto would stoop to sabotaging a renowned chef's food in order to win a competition.  I get that it's just supposed to be for laughs, but the real Morimoto would have more honour and rely on his own skills.  I guess Morimoto the TV character is a different story.

 

 

Eh, it was done for a joke and not for the actual integrity of the chef.  I didn't think it was a big deal, and it made me laugh.  I'm just glad that Friday Danny is back and it looks like we get action and some character stuff with Steve's car going missing.  

 

As for Scott Caan, I don't recall reading anywhere that he has a smaller shooting schedule.  I think each actor gets time off, although Alex much less than the rest.  It's harder to explain Steve McGarrett's absence overall in more than one episode, and even then it's hard.  Considering that there are a number of good storylines coming up for the characters, I think many of teh actors took time off for the holidays and are now back in full swing for the rest of the year.  I just want to see more of the team rather than the guest stars and side characters.  Now that we are heading towards February sweeps, the stories should really start to pick up and I'm excited.  I can't wait for the fallout from stories that started already for Steve (with Wo-Fat, Joe White, and eventually Doris - and isn't the CIA after him too?  Isn't that why the tried to kill him in that building collapse?) and Danny (with the death of his brother).  That's why I love Five-O.  I get my procedural action stuff, but there are tons of character stories going on in the background too.  I can't think of another procedural show on tv that has that.  Most of the other shows are all procedural and very, very little (if any) character stories.  

Edited January 15, 2015 by Bishop