S05.E21: Ua heleleʻi ka hōkū (Fallen Star)

[BW Manilowe]

When a performer is killed at a convention of Elvis impersonators and his body is stolen, Five-0 must track down the culprits who are after the hidden diamonds sewn into the victim's costume. Also, Gabriel Waincroft returns to ask Chin for help getting off the island.

Original Airdate: April 10, 2015

SOURCE: http://cbspressexpress.com/cbs-entertainment/shows/hawaii-five-0/releases/view?id=42230

[shapeshifter]

I rarely watch this show anymore but this episode was pretty good. Was that really Jorge Garcia singing?? Regardless, he totally pulled off the Elvis personna. Who knew that was his superpower?

[dwmarch]

This show is at its best when it embraces how ridiculous it can be. A Bosnian war criminal dressed as Elvis (and wearing millions in fake diamonds), blasting away at an Elvis convention with a huge box-fed machine gun? Why not?

 

Speaking of that gun, where did he get it? I know gun laws in the US are pretty liberal but I'd assume there's a waiting period to purchase guns that can shoot light aircraft out of the sky. Perhaps he had it in his checked baggage?

 

Let me get this straight: Jon Lovitz puts together a crew to break into the wine shop and steal the dead gangster's diamonds. They then take the diamonds to a costume shop and have them sewn into an Elvis suit. The Elvis suit gets loaned out for this convention so Lovitz's crew comes back and murders the shop owner. They also raid the morgue and steal the body. Then for some reason they hang around at the Elvis convention until the dead gangster's brother comes in and kills all of them. Somewhere in the midst of all of this, the ETA who got the diamond suit by mistake is murdered by an obsessive fan with a hearing problem. 5-0 solves all of these cases in a day. At least it wasn't boring.

 

Chin's house doesn't have a security system? I know he doesn't really need one when he can make a phone call and have 8,000 cops show up at his door before he can even get home but still... a commercial-grade burglar alarm would have really been an asset here.

 

Was that Papa Noshimuri in the pictures with Adam? I thought he got chopped up into little pieces by Wo Fat. I remember making a "today's secret ingredient..." joke back at TWOP. So we're blending the Gabriel plot with Adam and Kono's pending nuptials I assume? Maybe Gabriel wants Kono for himself since he already knows she has terrible taste in men.

[Roselle]

That episode was all kinds of hilarious...which was good... I guess...if that's what they were going for. They certainly packed a whole hell of a lot in there. The massive gun in a guitar case was the highlight for me. At least the whole team featured (although the Steve/Lou partnership building is feeling horribly obvious but then...needs must I suppose), and there were some funny lines. What a very mixed bag this show is.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Roselle

[MissLucas]

The moment I saw Jorge Garcia in the Elvis get-up I knew (or rather hoped) we would get to him doing a song by the end. We've seen him sing before at the end of an episode - I think it was a Sinatra song - but it was rather brief. I'm glad they gave him more time in this episode.

 

Loved the little bit of continuity when Chin talked about Jerry singing Elvis during their High-School years, Grover ordering a girly drink, Danno informing Steve on the proper plural of Elvis and Steven actually correcting himself.

 

I guess there was a crime plot too - but who cares about that? Same goes for Chin's brother-in-law and his shenanigans. The episode was hilarious in the over-the-top way H05 does best with lots of A-Team level violence where only the bad guy gets killed in a massive shootout in the middle of a hotel lobby. (I'm assuming the cops he hit suffered just flesh wounds or he was a bad shot - same goes for the officers outside the autopsy building). I'm not complaining.

Edited April 11, 2015 by MissLucas

[Raja]

Considering the general casualty rate among HPD I assumed that both those at the Medical Examiner's office and the hotel were killed.

[Artsda]

Good episode and interesting plot twist coming up with Adam in the pictures tied to Chin's brother in law. I guess what ever this is will lead into the 2 hour finale. 

[Dot Com]

Oh there was dialogue? I couldn't tell with the so-called "background" music blaring over 98% of the episode.

[Moxie Cat]

 

Oh there was dialogue? I couldn't tell with the so-called "background" music blaring over 98% of the episode.

 

Thank you--so it wasn't just me! The background music was particularly egregious during the end shootout: there was some alt-rock song playing that really didn't seem to fit with the scene. Don't they usually just have action-type score music during scenes like that? The song really lightened the scene, which was odd considering it focused on a seriously bad-ass criminal with a machine gun shooting (and apparently killing) both tourists and police officers.

 

Jon Lovitz's house was beautiful though.

[Mittengirl]

I missed the last few minutes of the show when the sound dropped inexplicably; what did Gabriel say to Chin that caused the SWAT team to be called in? I knew something was going to happen between those two when Chin wasn't with the rest of the team at the hotel.

I am just tired of the Chin corruption storyline and have never cared about Kono and Adam. I wish they would put an end to both storylines this year and, if they come back next season, never bring them up again.

[ganesh]

This show is at its best when it embraces how ridiculous it can be.

 

They didn't deliver any pay off for all the pizzas.

 

I mean, the show is whatever. I liked Chi McB's reading of "good" as a react to "Elvis has left the building."

[bmoore4026]

Seems like they're wrapping up a lot of loose ends late in this season, like this could be the last one.

 

Given the discussion about the previous episode and how quite a few of the actors don't like doing the show, this shouldn't come as a surprise.

 

But couldn't they continue the show with Daniel Dae Kim?  Maybe come up with some new characters, one of whom is also named Danno?

[shapeshifter]

They didn't deliver any pay off for all the pizzas.

Yeah, but everyone knows pizza is just as good left over cold the next day--or nearly as good.

[dwmarch]

I missed the last few minutes of the show when the sound dropped inexplicably; what did Gabriel say to Chin that caused the SWAT team to be called in? I knew something was going to happen between those two when Chin wasn't with the rest of the team at the hotel.

 

Gabriel was mwa-ha-ha-ing about how he had a special surprise for Chin. Chin said something like "Where do you want to meet?" and Gabriel came back with "No need, it's already at your house!"

 

I hope the real surprise is that Gabriel upper-decked Chin while at his house. Since DNA evidence is not an issue in this case, it was a perfect opportunity.

[ChelseaNH]

Kono calling Steve "Boss" just makes me happy.

 

Packing pizza in your luggage?  Bleah.  Cold and soggy and sloshed around.  No thank you.

[JessDVD]

It's so fortunate for all TV cops that Bad Guy Gun Training never includes a lesson on aim.

[littlecatsfeet]

 

 

Oh there was dialogue? I couldn't tell with the so-called "background" music blaring over 98% of the episode.

 

 

Thank you--so it wasn't just me! The background music was particularly egregious during the end shootout: there was some alt-rock song playing that really didn't seem to fit with the scene. Don't they usually just have action-type score music during scenes like that? The song really lightened the scene, which was odd considering it focused on a seriously bad-ass criminal with a machine gun shooting (and apparently killing) both tourists and police officers.

 

The song was actually "Suspicious Minds", an Elvis song, but it sounded like some Ramones wannabees doing it.

 

Was that really Jorge singing or at least lip-synching to himself? 

[Bazinga]

 

It's so fortunate for all TV cops that Bad Guy Gun Training never includes a lesson on aim.

There is also a course at Bad Guy Gun Training School to never shoot a main character.  Bad guys shoot everyone, but for some unknown reason, just threaten Max but don't shoot him.  Just looks ridiculous.

Edited April 13, 2015 by Bazinga

[Vermicious Knid]

What I got out of this episode: Max and Jerry hang out together?

 

As somebody pointed out last week, why is a task force that answers only to the Governor getting involved in garden-variety murders? Until the jewel heist came into it this was pretty mundane. It looks like Max maybe called them directly? Otherwise it was an excuse to have a lot of people running around dressed like Elvis. Which is what we just call Thursday here in Las Vegas. They could have at least worked in a cameo from El Vez.

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/el_vez_the_mexican_elvis_che_guevara_meets_viva_las_vegas

[betsyboo]

ridiculoo but hilarious.

[blackwing]

I enjoyed this episode with the exception of Jon Lovitz.  Hate him, I hope we never see him again on the show.  

 

I agree that there was no payoff for the pizzas.  Pizza is fine cold, but the problem with these pizzas are that they were supposedly warm and room temperature.  Then you have pizzas sitting in luggage unrefrigerated for the 10 hour plane ride plus the four hours or so that it took to work the case.  Those pizzas should be disgusting and potentially capable of causing stomach issues.  I wish there had been a scene of Grover opening his luggage and he and Steve taking a whiff and making a face.

 

They probably didn't do it though for fear of getting sued by Lou Malnati's.  And psssstttt, Grover, if you're really from Chicago you know that Lou Malnati's will ship.

[Raja]

What I got out of this episode: Max and Jerry hang out together?

 

As somebody pointed out last week, why is a task force that answers only to the Governor getting involved in garden-variety murders? Until the jewel heist came into it this was pretty mundane. It looks like Max maybe called them directly? Otherwise it was an excuse to have a lot of people running around dressed like Elvis. Which is what we just call Thursday here in Las Vegas. They could have at least worked in a cameo from El Vez.

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/el_vez_the_mexican_elvis_che_guevara_meets_viva_las_vegas

I wouldn't expect the real HPD to have that many murders to handle in any case. With 22 episodes a year it would about cover every real life homicide

[BW Manilowe]

Deleted because I hit "Send" too fast & didn't catch it. Sorry!

You can find my complete answer in the post below (I hope).

Edited April 15, 2015 by BW Manilowe

[BW Manilowe]

I enjoyed this episode with the exception of Jon Lovitz. Hate him, I hope we never see him again on the show.

I agree that there was no payoff for the pizzas. Pizza is fine cold, but the problem with these pizzas are that they were supposedly warm and room temperature. Then you have pizzas sitting in luggage unrefrigerated for the 10 hour plane ride plus the four hours or so that it took to work the case. Those pizzas should be disgusting and potentially capable of causing stomach issues. I wish there had been a scene of Grover opening his luggage and he and Steve taking a whiff and making a face.

They probably didn't do it though for fear of getting sued by Lou Malnati's. And psssstttt, Grover, if you're really from Chicago you know that Lou Malnati's will ship.

Count me in on actually wanting to see the missed payoff--good or bad--on the hand-carried Chicago Deep-Dish, Chicago-Style, pizzas.

But you'd have to think Grover wouldn't have been so stupid as/been *written* so stupidly as to have actually not at least packed them in a separate carry-on, brought specifically for this purpose & equipped with enough of those "blue ice" packs (only self-contained heat packs, in this case) to stay reasonably warm enough & minimize the food poisoning possibility across the Pacific.

Of course, nobody could foresee Five-0 being slammed by this case immediately on Lou's landing either.

I know we didn't see it, but was there ever any scene long enough for Lou to have "passed them off", onto someone who could conceivably have taken them to Lou's house or arranged for Mrs. Grover to come get them at HPD or the Five-0 offices?

I'm thinking of, like, the first time Mary went to visit Steve, & that Convict escaped Hālawa Prison to get back his half of the loot he split with another con who faked his ID & apparently served little-to-no prison time; Steve pointed out his truck to a young uniformed officer, tossed him the keys, saying that was his sister in the truck, he was supposed to get her food somewhere, take her back to his office & not let her outta his sight until Steve got back later. At which point Steve returned with Kamekona to take over "babysitting" Mary.

By the way, it's really less than 10 hours, nonstop, between Chicago (O'Hare) & Honolulu. My family did it once. I think it was around 8 1/2 hours. It's 10 hours on the Hawaiian Air nonstop between JFK in NY & Honolulu.

Perhaps someone from Lou Malnati's did vet the script, & that's why that plot line was left hanging? I know they say the governmental/military agencies with a big presence in Hawaii vet the scripts, so...

I'm pretty sure Grover is a native Chicagoan, & would know Lou Malnati's ships; I'm less sure Chi's a native Chicagoan, but I'm pretty sure he's lived there long enough to know they ship.

But I think Lou wanted the "instant gratification" of being able to eat at least 1 of the pizzas as soon as he got home & could reheat it. For him, that was the best way of getting them there, other than trying to figure out when to ship the pizzas so they'd get to Honolulu the same day as he did (of course barring any airport/airline weather delays--probably for snow storms--that would ruin his whole plan).

If you ask me, this subplot sounds like the Adam's Ribs episode of M*A*S*H.

That's the 1 where Hawkeye gets this craving for what he claims are the best ribs just about anywhere; so he calls this old girlfriend/1-night stand & arranges for her to pick up a huge-ass amount of ribs, sides, & sauce he's ordered (after his memory's been refreshed on where the restaurant is) & put them on a MATS flight to South Korea for him (&, naturally, every person he has to go through after he places the order, to get it to him in South Korea, takes their cut of the ribs, sides, & sauce--except for 1 person who, inexplicably, dislikes rib dinners; so the final outcome is a lot less ribs, sides, & sauce arrive in Korea than were originally ordered to be sent to Korea.

And Hawkeye seems to be the only 1 who loves the ribs, when they finally get to eat them; as soon as the ribs arrive, Hawkeye, Trapper & the gang are called into another long surgical session & can't have their "feast" right away. Everyone else (Trapper John & the others)--when they finally get to eat--just thinks the ribs are OK, but not necessarily worth all the trouble Hawkeye went through to get them there.

Raja: I get you were going by normal season ep numbers, at 22. But we've only had 1 22 ep season since the show started (last season, S4)--the majority have been 24 eps (24, 23--but planned for 24; an ep got cut when Alex went to rehab in S2--24, 22, 25). And, as we all know, this season has 25 eps "in the can" (the longest season, so far), with, like, 21 of the eps having already aired.

Edited April 15, 2015 by BW Manilowe

[Vermicious Knid]

I was curious so I checked the crime stats for Hawaii. And the murder rate does just about match the episode count. Way more rapes, robberies and assaults. And contrary to earlier this season, no arson.

http://www.usa.com/hawaii-state-crime-and-crime-rate.htm

[UncleChuck]

 

with lots of A-Team level violence where only the bad guy gets killed in a massive shootout in the middle of a hotel lobby. (

Only difference -- on A-Team, the most violent thing that ever happened to a bad guy is getting thrown over Mr. T's head into the back of a pick-up truck.  No one EVER died on A-Team.

 

 

[Bishop]

I thought it was a fun episode, and it did what it was suppose to do.  Was that Jorge really singing at the end?  He was fantastic.  Count me in as someone who is also tired of the Chin corruption angle.  It's been five years.  I DO, however, like Kono and Adam, and if it brings in a dangerous element like the Yakuza that can get the Five O team involved, than I'm all for it.  I did love seeing McDanno together for this one because I miss them.  Their chemistry is instant.  

 

As for Gabriel, I like him as the big bad, I think.  I just don't think Chin can carry it as his nemesis.  Maybe it's just me, but I feel topping the McGarrett/Wo-Fat rivalry is going to be very tough, and I don't see that same chemistry with Gabriel/Chin.  So I'm hoping that Chin starts the process, but that it spills over to the rest of the group.  It looks like the Yakuza may still be involved in Adam's life, which would bring in Kono and Steve and Danny.  I guess we'll find out.

Edited April 22, 2015 by Bishop

[kassygreene]

Very late to this party, but I believe Grover mentioned he bought the pizzas at the airport - presumably packed up for carry-on.  I know this can be done, as the last time I was in Boston I traveled home with someone who bought a pair of live lobsters at the airport, packaged for carry-on and (I heard) good eating the next day.  And on my first trip to Hawaii in '86, you could buy fresh pineapple or fine fresh beefsteak packaged for carry-on to take home  My sister and I made that trip as part of an unguided package, and our welcome to hawaii here's how to keep your lei fresh here's how to slice a pineapple please take the tours and book into a luau sales pitch was made by the original Kono hizself, Zulu.

 

 

Very nice guy.

 

Pineapple was targeted to the American tourists - fresh, sweet, and they provided samples.  My sister ordered one.  Beef was targeted to the Japanese tourists, because the cheaper cuts in Japan at that time were something like $50 / pound.  When you arrived at the airport you took your receipt to the designated spot, and they gave you a box...  Anyway, I'm sure those pizzas were packaged to survive.