S06.E06: Na Pilikua Nui (Monsters)

[BW Manilowe]

It's Halloween in Oʻahu, and Five-0 must track down a serial killer inspired by Frankenstein. Also, Jerry calls Five-0 for help when an armed gang raids a blood bank, and Danny must track down Grace who lied and snuck out to a Halloween party.

Original Airdate: October 30, 2015

SOURCE: http://cbspressexpress.com/cbs-entertainment/shows/hawaii-five-0/releases/view?id=43613

[janeta]

So if Jerry gives blood every year why does he not know they're going to take his BP and check his 'crit?

I want Danny to let Grace have it one of these days...

I missed the beginning-- someone remind me what's up with Max's mother...?

[Twilight Man]

From last week:

So the big question is ........................

Who is Max going to be next week?????

John Wick??    The Devil's Advocate?????   Don John (Much Ado About Nothing)??????

 

No fair dressing up as characters before he became famous.

 

Although I would love to see a person dressed as a doctor on Halloween and say

"I'm Clint Eastwood from "Revenge of the Creature"."

[BW Manilowe]

So if Jerry gives blood every year why does he not know they're going to take his BP and check his 'crit?

I want Danny to let Grace have it one of these days...

I missed the beginning-- someone remind me what's up with Max's mother...?

Max's biological mother was among the victims of the "Trashman" serial killer, shortly after leaving Max (as a baby) at a "safe haven" at a local church--from which he was apparently subsequently adopted (all the killer's victims were unwed young mothers who'd left their babies at the same church). This story was explored in S2 of the show--I think in Ep 220 (1 of the ones filmed while Alex was in rehab for his shoulder injury).

[janeta]

Oh right right--thanks. I remembered something about his mother being killed....

[mccartygirl]

I know this was the Halloween episode, but it was a bit too Criminal Minds for my taste. I don't know why it took so long for Danno to drive 35 miles one way to find Grace. What's the speed limit in Hawaii?

 

 

 

You'd be surprised how long it takes to get anywhere in Oahu. My dad lives 20 miles outside of Honolulu and it can take us 30-45 mins depending on the time of day. The H1 and H2 are often jam packed with cars. 

[Trey]

 

I know this was the Halloween episode, but it was a bit too Criminal Minds for my taste.

For me too, starting with the first suspect who had been arrested for animal cruelty - when they went in his house I was afraid we would see some poor dead animals and was glad it was just the guy hanging there - too bad they cut him down.

 

I really disliked Grace's attitude plus the actress seemed rather wooden and I think she's usually pretty good.

 

The rest of it was okay.

[anna0852]

 

Second is snotty Grace. That she didn't look mortified immediately when Danny showed up at the party, and he had to tell her multiple times to leave, just aggravated me to no end.

 

And maybe it's the actress's lack of affect, but her apology at the end left me really cold. She had no expression and seemed not to have remorse at all. I know there had to be some transition from the cute kid to a teenager, but this was the wrong way to go.

 

I was really expecting more of a fuss from Grace.

 

I was thinking that her lying and sneaking out actually made sense in the bigger picture. Not only is she hitting those "I know everything" teenage years but finding out her mother lied about Charlie had to have been a tremendous blow. And there is no way Grace doesn't know about it. Not if Danny is routinely visiting the hospital and Charlie is calling him Danno. I'd absolutely believe that Grace would be acting out in response to that information, plus what is very likely a divorce in progress between Rachel and Stan.

 

When Danny started up about being her father and protecting her (which incidentally seems the wrong tact, I've have gone with 'how dare you lie and sneak out'), I was really expecting Grace to respond by asking if he was sure that he was her father. After all, if Rachel lied about Charlie who's to say she didn't lie about Grace.

 

While the yearly appearance of a Halloween slasher killer squicked me out (whoever said they've been talking to the Criminal Minds writers is probably on to something), I really liked that Steve immediately recognized that Max was upset and why, as well as comforting him at the end. While Doris is alive now, Steve lived for 15+ years thinking she was dead and not knowing why. I don't think Steve gets enough credit his empathy or emotional sensitivity sometimes.

 

That being said, I hope that brief discussion at the end does not foreshadow Doris returning. I just can't see that going well at all, especially since Steve killed Wo Fat, whom Doris considered a son.

[buckboard]

Hawaii 5-0 seems to be spending more time focusing on the gory and violent than in solving the actual crime of the week.  I suppose most people enjoy this, because the show keeps doing it, but count me as one who doesn't.  Fist fights and gun fights go on and on in painful detail (e.g., Kono's husband beaten to a pulp by the Yakusha).  Then we see get to see the victims injuries in closeup details, especially in the morgue.

 

The scene in the basement showed the best and worst examples of this.  Steve fights with the criminal, but it is unusually short.  We see the post-fight scene with an injured Steve explaining what happened.  Then they show the latest victim's slashed body.  Then the shot slowly moves up her dead body, showing the injuries in more detail.  Then they slowly pan away from her body.  I got it in the first shot.  Didn't need to linger.

Same with the body parts.  Got it in the establishment shot that there were several body parts.  Let the M.E. explain that they belong to several different bodies.  I don't need to see all of the parts laid out.  What did they expect, that we'd start reconstructing the bodies at home?  Same with other morgue shots.  Let the doctor explain that the victim was poisoned or show in the head or whatever.  I don't need to see rotting flesh or chests cracked open.
 
 

[kili]

Then they show the latest victim's slashed body.

That was not the latest victim, that was the victims we had already seen. He had made himself a Frakenstein body out of the parts of the other four women. 

[snarkylady]

Thank You, buckboard, I agree with you completely.  There is gratuitous violence and gore in many of their episodes.  I could almost forgive them on Halloween but they went out of their way increase the amount for no reason that I could perceive.   I turned off the Kona/husband torture episode almost as soon as it started.  Maybe I'm too squeamish but this is not what I want to see.  

[BW Manilowe]

I was really expecting more of a fuss from Grace.

I was thinking that her lying and sneaking out actually made sense in the bigger picture. Not only is she hitting those "I know everything" teenage years but finding out her mother lied about Charlie had to have been a tremendous blow. And there is no way Grace doesn't know about it. Not if Danny is routinely visiting the hospital and Charlie is calling him Danno. I'd absolutely believe that Grace would be acting out in response to that information, plus what is very likely a divorce in progress between Rachel and Stan.

When Danny started up about being her father and protecting her (which incidentally seems the wrong tact, I've have gone with 'how dare you lie and sneak out'), I was really expecting Grace to respond by asking if he was sure that he was her father. After all, if Rachel lied about Charlie who's to say she didn't lie about Grace.

While the yearly appearance of a Halloween slasher killer squicked me out (whoever said they've been talking to the Criminal Minds writers is probably on to something), I really liked that Steve immediately recognized that Max was upset and why, as well as comforting him at the end. While Doris is alive now, Steve lived for 15+ years thinking she was dead and not knowing why. I don't think Steve gets enough credit his empathy or emotional sensitivity sometimes.

That being said, I hope that brief discussion at the end does not foreshadow Doris returning. I just can't see that going well at all, especially since Steve killed Wo Fat, whom Doris considered a son.

I agree with you about Gracie. Not only is the character now 13 in the show (Teilor Grubbs just turned 14 in real life earlier this week), but I think she's also being written as starting to "test her boundaries" now that the show's been on long enough for the character & actress to both become (early) teenagers. Not that I think Gracie would ever be written as doing anything truly bad--especially given that the Five-0 team is such a big part of her ohana. You know? I mean, in last year's--or the year before that's--Halloween episode, Gracie was dared to TP someone's house/yard; she did it to *her own* house, the 1 where she lives with Danno, so the only person she ended up making mad was Danno, when he found out (& then, when he found out she TP'd their house on a dare & made her clean it up, mostly the only thing he said about it was she should've done it to/next time do it to her Uncle Steve's [McG's] house instead).

I also agree there's no way Grace doesn't know about Charlie, may be acting out in response to it, & she has to have known from way far back, perhaps. I mean, there were all those scenes towards the end of S1--like in the ep where Danny was exposed to the Sarin--where Danny & Rachel were being openly affectionate with each other in front of then-younger Grace, instead of the constant arguing since the divorce, in similar ways to what Grace should've seen then between Rachel & Stan. I mean, Rachel & Grace both slept in Danny's hospital room the night he was there for post-Sarin exposure observation (though, to be fair, he was supposed to have custody of Gracie then because Rachel & Stan were on a trip to Maui). I remember there were a lot of people who talked about Danny & Rachel behaving like a couple in front of then-younger Grace, before the reconciliation/return to Jersey as a family that never happened because of the events involving McG & the rest of Five-0 in the S1 finale, on TWOP. Like, how could Gracie not interpret, from that (before Rachel found out she was pregnant & made plans to take Gracie & leave Stan) her parents could be getting back together, however it happened.

And by this point Gracie's probably had at least some early biology/life sciences study in that fancy private school of hers. If she hasn't, she's intelligent, maybe curious, enough to perhaps have done individual research especially after Charlie got sick & realized why Danny--of all people--ended up being the bone marrow match who appears to have saved Charlie.

I don't think the Charlie calling Danny "Danno"--her pet name for her Dad--thing is that big an indicator of Danno being Charlie's real Dad. In the park scene where Rachel told Danny Charlie's sick & he could be a parental "half-match" for a bone marrow transplant, in the S5 Finale, Rachel starts to remind Charlie who Danny is (Grace's father); Charlie starts to call him "Danno", like Gracie does, & Rachel starts to tell Charlie Danny doesn't like the nickname--then Danny says no, it's OK, & asks if Charlie learned the name from his sister (Gracie). Charlie says yeah; he learned it from Gracie. So, presumably, Charlie was at least calling Danny "Danno" around Gracie long before it ended up Charlie & Gracie were both his biological kids.

I liked that Steve recognized Max was, perhaps, thinking about his biological mother being killed by the Trashman, too. He--& the team, for the most part, seem to be very sensitive to Max as a person (he's a genius now adult who's maintained some rather boyish/childlike qualities, tendencies, whatever--who's sensitive when it comes to relationships). I remember in the ep where Max's "crush", the bank teller Sabrina (played by Rumer Willis), was shot, once Steve & the team found out about Max's feelings for her they tended to tell him to "hang in there", etc., when they spoke to him & Sabrina still wasn't doing well. And then there was the S1 ep with Sean "Puffy" Combs in it. When Steve brought his character's son out of the house after his mother was murdered, he had the kid close his eyes, up to a certain point, so he wouldn't have to see the dead bodies, including his Mother's, from the shooting which happened at the beach house where the family was staying. And I agree, Steve doesn't get enough credit for his empathy & emotional sensitivity when he shows it. At least to victims/their families. I think people see it, though, when it comes to Steve & his extended Five-0 ohana.

Hopefully this makes some sense. I've been sick for a couple of weeks & this is the longest thing I've written since. My brain's still a bit scrambled from everything that's happened to me.

[ByaNose]

I must be getting old and way out of touch but why didn't i know 13 year olds are going to drinking parties? I could 15 or 16 but 13!? Yikes! That said, I also expected Grace to be more confrontational with Danny. I don't think it was written that way and also think it's out of the actress range. I don't think she's a trained actress and was found locally on the island for more of a bit part as his daughter. As the, show went on she's gotten older she hasn't really shown her range as a young actress like the girl who played Sally on Mad Men.

[betsyboo]

i thought the phlebotomist (sp?) was a bit of a bitch.

 

Yes, Jerry should have been a *tad more excited when calling Kono. 

 

Where is Danny's girlfriend, I ask again?????

[ganesh]

I must be getting old and way out of touch but why didn't i know 13 year olds are going to drinking parties?

 

This should have been a mini arc. Grace acting like a brat but slowly, throughout the show, connecting with Danny and in the end, showing a big level of contriteness to the point where we really see the pain she's been through.

 

As cray as this show is, this actually bugged me because Danno/Grace has been written fairly well. While a 13 y/o wanting to push boundaries isn't unreasonable, the setting that they put her in seemed way advanced to me. 

A teen lying to do somewhere else is fair. It should have been a step below a big house drinking party, but still have Danny think it was a big drinking party, and then having them both talk about it later. That was just off for me.

[Jobiska]

So, there was so much about the usual MO's of serial killers and how they never stop...but wasn't this guy done?  He had finally found all the body parts to make the perfect replica and discarded the rest all at once?  I mean yeah, he was creepy and needed to be caught, but it seemed an odd one to stick all the talk of how serial killers usually operate into.

Does Max have contacts he only breaks out if his costume requires it?  Or if he's in costume, does he do his autopsies half blind?

I think my favorite part of the Danny storyline was his monologue in the car before he got to the party.

[ganesh]

I did like that Danny leaned in and whispered to Grace "don't make me ask you again," rather than just yelling at her. 

[JessDVD]

If anyone needs me, I'll be over here trying to scrub the memory of that sewn up dead woman that the camera focused on for at least 20 seconds too long, out of my brain.

If thirteen year olds are now going to drinking parties, I'm going to be praying the world ends before my kids hour middle school.

I think they were going for all the feels for the Danno's kid traipsing through the hospital scene but the fact that I can't even remember his name for sure (Charlie?) shows how little I have invested in that storyline.

[Mittengirl]

What was the movie Danny was referencing with the talk about Steve always watching the same movie on Halloween?

[anna0852]

Steve likes to watch Child's Play, ever since he used to successfully put the moves on a girl when he was in high school.

[BW Manilowe]

If anyone needs me, I'll be over here trying to scrub the memory of that sewn up dead woman that the camera focused on for at least 20 seconds too long, out of my brain.

If thirteen year olds are now going to drinking parties, I'm going to be praying the world ends before my kids hour middle school.

I think they were going for all the feels for the Danno's kid traipsing through the hospital scene but the fact that I can't even remember his name for sure (Charlie?) shows how little I have invested in that storyline.

Danno's son, to whom he just donated the bone marrow, is Charlie. From Ep 214, in which the character was born, with Danno's help since Stan Edwards was in Beijing on business, Charles William Edwards is his formal name (until/unless they change the last name to reflect Danno's his real Dad).

[Bishop]

That being said, I hope that brief discussion at the end does not foreshadow Doris returning. I just can't see that going well at all, especially since Steve killed Wo Fat, whom Doris considered a son.

For me, Steve MUST have a final confrontation with Doris before this show can properly end.  She has done too much to her son for him to not be able to confront her.  Heck, that's the thing I'm dying to see - a mention of Doris returning.

[HurricaneVal]

Oh yeah.  Just like I wanted to see Danny really let Grace have it, or have Grace really lose her shit at Danny and acting out all the family stress and strife she must be going through, I really want to see Steve really let Doris have it.  She's treated him abominably ever since she's come back into his life, used him horribly, and left him so conflicted and hurt.  Yeah, she pulled strings and kept him out of Colombian prison, but she happily sent his best friend there to die--when she likely could have prevented that too.

 

I think Steve has been clinging to some pretty rosy-tinted memories of his childhood from before his mom "died" and they were all (in his mind) one big happy family.  They probably actually weren't, but he's built them up in his head to be.  Even so, he talks to Danny about how awful his mom is with her deceptions and machinations, then in person he's all forgiving and tries hard to fall into those old roles--because the poor man wants those fantasies.  Like a regular, normal person would.

 

Then Wo Fat's big reveal when he was torturing Steve down in that basement really shook Steve's foundations.   Now he knows his entire fantasy childhood is for sure not real, and that his mother's deceptions and manipulations go far deeper than he'd ever feared.  I want him to confront Doris, I want him to be angry, and I want him to say something like "Hey mom, get this, I killed your favorite son.  Chew on that, you bitch."

[anna0852]

Oh yeah.  Just like I wanted to see Danny really let Grace have it, or have Grace really lose her shit at Danny and acting out all the family stress and strife she must be going through, I really want to see Steve really let Doris have it.  She's treated him abominably ever since she's come back into his life, used him horribly, and left him so conflicted and hurt.  Yeah, she pulled strings and kept him out of Colombian prison, but she happily sent his best friend there to die--when she likely could have prevented that too.

 

I think Steve has been clinging to some pretty rosy-tinted memories of his childhood from before his mom "died" and they were all (in his mind) one big happy family.  They probably actually weren't, but he's built them up in his head to be.  

I was really hoping for that too. I'd love to see Grace really lose it about the all the upheaval in her life and I'd like to see her and Danny ultimately bond over it as well. Because while Danny was not innocent in his affair with Rachel, he had nothing to do with her lie regarding Charlie's parentage.

 

Heck I'd like to see a little jealousy from Grace having to share her dad with Charlie. Until now, *Danno* has just been hers.

 

As for Steve, I agree. I think he's clung to what he thought was a happy and pretty ordinary childhood and that in his head he needs to Doris to stay that good mom. Because if she doesn't, then he has to face and deal with her betrayals. Like leaving her husband to grieve and believe that her death was his fault. McGarrett Senior thought he wife had been murdered to send him a message, and as a result sent his kids away and rarely saw them since. It must have torn his heart out to do that and it turns out there was no reason to do so. That thought has to have thundered through Steve's head a few million times by now.

[Clanstarling]

So, there was so much about the usual MO's of serial killers and how they never stop...but wasn't this guy done?  He had finally found all the body parts to make the perfect replica and discarded the rest all at once?  I mean yeah, he was creepy and needed to be caught, but it seemed an odd one to stick all the talk of how serial killers usually operate into.

I think he's done until the replica starts to rot. Then he'd need to make a new one - a better one - and so on, and so on...

[spinner33]

So agree that it would be very satisfying to see Steve tell Doris off. What an awful person she is! Peter should cross Cath's lame-ass super secret CIA cliché with Doris' s equally delusional CIA fantasy. Maybe they can kill each other in the crossfire if we're super lucky!

[crowswork]

So agree that it would be very satisfying to see Steve tell Doris off. What an awful person she is! Peter should cross Cath's lame-ass super secret CIA cliché with Doris' s equally delusional CIA fantasy. Maybe they can kill each other in the crossfire if we're super lucky!

Steve Sure does live up to the cliché, that men always fall in love with their mothers

 

[Jobiska]

I think he's done until the replica starts to rot. Then he'd need to make a new one - a better one - and so on, and so on...

Aha, good point, though with all the talk of freezing and formaldehyde, I assumed when he wasn't...admiring...her he would stick her back on ice.

[jhlipton]

This episode was far too fragmented for my tastes.  3 separate story-lnes that had absolutely nothing in common. 
 

The only part I liked was the part with Danny and his son at the end.  Otherwise, there was just way too much going on. The creepy serial killer thing would have been  more than enough.

 
Ugh.  That felt so contrived and schmaltzy -- I hated it.
 

You'd be surprised how long it takes to get anywhere in Oahu. My dad lives 20 miles outside of Honolulu and it can take us 30-45 mins depending on the time of day. The H1 and H2 are often jam packed with cars.

 
Yeah, but it took Danny all freakin' day to make that drive.  I can go from Anaheim to Burbank in rush hour in less time!

Edited November 5, 2015 by jhlipton

[DaveA]

Maybe it's just me but whenever Danny talks all I hear is Charlie Brown's teacher.

Edited November 5, 2015 by DaveA

[Mittengirl]

Maybe it's just me but whenever Danny talks all I hear is Charlie Brown's teacher.

I could never quite put my finger on it, but that is exactly what he sounds like. And why he adds nothing to the show, for me. He is such an Eeyore, and I simply don't see the super dad that I think the show wants me to see. He can leave and take his family with him, posthaste.

Edited November 5, 2015 by Mittengirl