S06.E19: Malama ka Poʻe (Care For One's People)

[BW Manilowe]

A case from 15 years ago forces Grover to take his family on the run when a dangerous mob boss tracks him down to seek revenge.

Original Airdate: April 8, 2016

SOURCE: http://cbspressexpress.com/cbs-entertainment/shows/hawaii-five-0/releases/view?id=44845

[BW Manilowe]

From TV Guide: Spoilers for this episode.

http://www.tvguide.com/news/hawaii-five-0-grover-clay-spoilers/

[Artsda]

I enjoyed it. Seems like everytime Danny's gone, we get a Grover back story episode. 

 

I would like to hear about Danny's trip to Vegas with a bunch of 13 year olds. lol

[Bobbin]

I know these are rude questions, but how can you run a car off the road into a tree leaving the occupants injured and semiconscious, but when their heads finally clear and they climb out of their car, you're still only 20 feet away? How can people walking and searching quickly catch up with people running for their lives? What part of hiding from gunmen involves standing in a clearing? Which personal standards make you reluctant to touch a handgun that you've trained to use while hired assassins are hunting down you and your children? Just curious. Apologies.

[Brian Cronin]

It was great to see a Human Target reunion of Mark Valley and Chi McBride, but it's a shame that Valley had to play a bad guy. 

[Brian Cronin]

Also, the Magnum P.I, homage with the helicopter was adorable. Surprised it took them this long to do something like that.

Edited April 9, 2016 by Brian Cronin

[dwmarch]

Here's the bad guy's plan:

 

Grover's ex-partner hates him and knows where he is. (As should anyone since 5-0 is not a secret!) He gives this information to the Philly Black Mob.

The PBM are able to bribe an FBI agent (easy to do in this universe apparently; corrupt cops are more common than honest ones) and hire a couple of jet charters. They also anticipate that while 5-0 will chase the first one they won't be able to chase the second one.

Dial-A-Mook offers mooks who will murder FBI agents and steal their identities. Were those guys supposed to be from Philly? They were caught by their lack of a tan... the same lack of a tan that I presume would preclude them from joining the Philly Black Mob.

Damn, Grover has figured it out! Time for plan B, forget the ruthless gangsters who hired us to deliver him and shoot the shit out of him and his family instead.

Damn again, Grover brought his pistol with the hundred-round clip! This is taking way too long. Those PBM guys are going to be pissed!

But as it turns out the PBM guys got impatient and got themselves killed before even knowing if Grover was on his way.

 

Grover's enemies weren't on the radar (literal or figurative) until they announced themselves. So why not just fly to Hawaii, wait by Grover's favorite pancake spot and pop him while he's yawning off some carbs? Make it look like a robbery or an accident. But instead we have to have exciting chase scenes so let's use this overly intricate setup instead. Walking up behind him and shooting him just wouldn't be as satisfying, you know?

[Raja]

Also, the Magnum P.I, homage with the helicopter was adorable. Surprised it took them this long to do something like that.

I am sure that is not the first appearance of that Island Hopper like paint scheme helicopter our host and historian can probably reference the episode(s)

[fishcakes]

I know these are rude questions, but how can you run a car off the road into a tree leaving the occupants injured and semiconscious, but when their heads finally clear and they climb out of their car, you're still only 20 feet away?

 

Heh. I was like, come on Grover, you can drive faster than that. Then it seemed like he was driving for a half hour, goes off road (why), crashes his car, and says, "don't worry, we have a quarter mile head start." A quarter mile! That's roughly three blocks.

 

Also, I'm pretty sure the only way to get to Utah from Molokai is by flying back to Oahu first, so the boat trip and jungle drive was mostly just for scenery, I guess.

[Mittengirl]

I liked this episode. It was fun. And no mopey, whiney Danny is always a plus for me.

I appreciated the fact that they didn't make Grover's family battle him at every turn. It looked like he told them they had to bug out and they did. Not that they were happy, but no stupid decisions like the daughter running off to her boyfriend or the son going to the baseball field or something. And his wife didn't freak out about shooting the guy that was trying to kill them. She didn't wait for her husband to rescue her or, worse yet, have her son save the "poor little women".

I thought for sure that their "handler" had some kind of tracking device implanted in the knife he gave Will.

I hope Lou can find his car keys at the marina. And that Steve and Chin shut the door to their house when they left.

How is Clay Matthews in prison already? It was prison, correct, not the county jail? Prison would mean he has already gone to trial and been convicted. Quite the speedy judicial system they have in Cook County, if that is the case.

Edited April 9, 2016 by Mittengirl

[Trey]

 

Walking up behind him and shooting him just wouldn't be as satisfying, you know?

Plus, we would have been left with nothing but a few shots of surfers and the Grover/Steve banter at the beginning.

 

I liked the episode; it was OTT, per usual, but it was cohesive and fun.  I liked Kono and Steve working together.

 

I suspected their handler from the start.

[Traveller519]

Damn Grover Family. How much Drama are you people messed up with?

[ganesh]

I don't know why I thought this was going to be blowback from Grover's little vacation to Chicago. Of course not. 

 

It was great to see a Human Target reunion of Mark Valley and Chi McBride, but it's a shame that Valley had to play a bad guy.

 

I was hoping for a shout out. That was a really good show. 

 

I also liked that for teenagers, the kids weren't really that bad considering their lives were upended.

[fishcakes]

I don't know why I thought this was going to be blowback from Grover's little vacation to Chicago. Of course not.

 

It was, sort of. It was his former friend Clay who ratted him out to the Black Mafia as payback for sending him to prison. But officially, no, it doesn't seem like Grover's going to be in any trouble for what he did to Clay and his girlfriend.

[ganesh]

I liked how the wife totally blew that guy away. 

[BW Manilowe]

I liked this episode. It was fun. And no mopey, whiney Danny is always a plus for me.

I appreciated the fact that they didn't make Grover's family battle him at every turn. It looked like he told them they had to bug out and they did. Not that they were happy, but no stupid decisions like the daughter running off to her boyfriend or the son going to the baseball field or something. And his wife didn't freak out about shooting the guy that was trying to kill them. She didn't wait for her husband to rescue her or, worse yet, have her son save the "poor little women".

I thought for sure that their "handler" had some kind of tracking device implanted in the knife he gave Will.

I hope Lou can find his car keys at the marina. And that Steve and Chin shut the door to their house when they left.

How is Clay Matthews in prison already? It was prison, correct, not the county jail? Prison would mean he has already gone to trial and been convicted. Quite the speedy judicial system they have in Cook County, if that is the case.

It was definitely prison. The federal (I think) prison at Marion, Illinois--Marion at least was mentioned, by Kono & maybe Steve, if not also Chin, a number of times in the scene where they found out Clay was behind Grover & his family being found in Hawaii.

Clay didn't necessarily have to go to trial; he could've reached a plea deal before things got as far as a trial. At any rate, I handwave stuff like that because, as I said in a previous answer in another thread, unless they mention a holiday in an ep, or there are other kinds of clues about how far apart the eps are supposed to be, we don't actually know how much or little time has passed between them. So, theoretically speaking, Clay possibly could've gotten through "the system" & imprisoned by this point.

[Bobbin]

The actual plot wasn't to get the family to Utah, it was to turn Grover over to Barnes at the sugar mill. Grover is high profile with Five-0. I think the idea was to convince everyone that he was in something like witness protection so no one would come looking for him, investigate his and his family's deaths and find the connection to the FBI agent, Barnes, et al. Of course, chasing through the jungle is a good way to show off the scenery and kill half an hour.

[fishcakes]

The actual plot wasn't to get the family to Utah, it was to turn Grover over to Barnes at the sugar mill.

 

I get that, but Grover and his wife live in Hawaii and probably have a pretty good idea of how the flights work. They know that if their destination is Utah, it makes no sense to take a boat to Molokai first because you can't get a direct flight out from there. Maui, maybe, but definitely not Molokai. That should have tipped Grover off right away that something wasn't right.

[kili]

You've just crashed the bad guys car and they are on foot - injured and on foot. You are in an SUV. Why do you have to drive like a mad-person so that you wreck the SUV? Driving 30 km an hour will still leave them far, far behind in seconds. 

 

Little of this plot made any sense. If one is in witness protection, one shouldn't be in the news all the time. If the Mob Dude picked up a paper once in a while, he wouldn't have to buy off FBI agents. 

 

I thought for sure the HPD agent was going to get shot and the smell of cordite was what was going to clue Grover into the fact that the FBI agent had discharged his weapon for suspicious reasons. 

 

I loved how Glover's son twice had to warn him about hitting a tree. And then they hit a fallen tree....the son was asleep at the wheel for that one.

 

I also love how they say that Glover won't be able to outrun the FBI agents with his whole family with him. His family consists of a very fit looking wife, a teenager on the high school baseball team and a teenage girl who looks perfectly capable of running. It seems like the rest of the family is more likely to be dragged down by the guy who has to eat pancakes on the sly from his wife. Just sayin'.

[Mittengirl]

Hee, good point about the running. The Grover family could have definitely out run dear old dad.

I noticed that neither woman fell into the trope of wearing high heels while fleeing the bad guys. I will give the writers credit for that. And for not having Lou give the gun to Will while giving the "You are the man of the family now, so you, a child, are responsible for protecting your helpless older, perfectly capable, female family members" speech.

Lou telling his wife to aim for center mass was cool. And very Five-0.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Mittengirl

[betsyboo]

I liked how the wife totally blew that guy away. 

agreed. But really hurt my arm hand-waving the delay of "MOM!" <turn around> <pull it from back of pants> <aim and shoot> all while the bad guy had her in his sights. I'm thinking he had the better shot.

 

Chi *does* have the best delivery of lines. I always believe him!

[kili]

Lou telling his wife to aim for center mass was cool.

She's got some mad skills. A guy, whose job description is "Professional Killer", comes up behind her with gun drawn and she still manages to spin around, get the gun out of her pants and shoot first to kill. 

 

Meanwhile, her husband who is a trained police officer comes after two guys with gun blazing and uses up all his bullets without hitting either one of them. Was there a reason he didn't hide behind a bush to ambush them? What happened to the element of surprise he wanted. "Oh, look, the guy we are looking for is shooting at us from too far away to hit us with a handgun. Let's shoot back and not hit him either." 

 

Bad guys should probably think about sending their minions to the shooting range for lessons. All those bullets flying around and nobody got shot but bad guys.

[blackwing]

Well after weeks of listening to me kvetch about this show, it was like the 5-0 gods heard me.  I loved this episode.  Everything about it recently that has irritated me was absent.  Whiny annoying Danny?  Gone.  San Francisco Police Lady?  Buh-bye.  Jerry Garcia?  Stay in the dungeon.  We were left with Steve. Kono and Chin and a Grover-centric story.

 

I thought the storyline was tight and cohesive, and above all, simple.  Clay Matthews ratted out Grover to that Barnes guy, and Barnes sends people to kill him.  Simple and easy plot.  I enjoyed the trek through the jungle, even if I thought Grover should have had a larger lead and that he was taking way too long to say goodbye to his wife and didn't put them in the bushes immediately.

 

It was nice to see Mark Valley.  Too bad he played a bad guy. If he hadn't been a bad guy, I would have said trade him for Scott Caan any day.  This episode really highlighted for me how much I hate Danny.  It's like any episode he is in is instantly dragged down by his whining and complaining and pessimism.  I wish Scott Caan would quit this show... clearly he doesn't want to be part of it and the fact that they have to keep explaining away his absence is getting ridiculous.  No one ever explains where Max is or what he does when he doesn't appear on the show.   He could have shown up at the landfill with the dead real FBI guys.  I miss Max.

I get that, but Grover and his wife live in Hawaii and probably have a pretty good idea of how the flights work. They know that if their destination is Utah, it makes no sense to take a boat to Molokai first because you can't get a direct flight out from there. Maui, maybe, but definitely not Molokai. That should have tipped Grover off right away that something wasn't right.

I assumed that they were going to take a private charter plane arranged by the FBI.  There was a private plane coming all the way from Pennsylvania to Molokai, so I think one could easily go from Molokai to Utah.

[ganesh]

Mark Valley is way too much of a good guy to be part of Five-0. He'd be like, "Hey, let's not literally torture people?" Then Steve would say, "You're not a good fit here."

[dwmarch]

Forgot to mention earlier that the Grover family would stick out like a sore thumb in Provo. They definitely aren't Mormons and the African-American population of that city is less than a percent.

 

 

Mark Valley is way too much of a good guy to be part of Five-0. He'd be like, "Hey, let's not literally torture people?" Then Steve would say, "You're not a good fit here."

 

Boston Legal had a great episode in the first season in which Mark Valley's character cuts off a priest's fingers to help find a missing child. He'd do alright I expect.

[blackwing]

Oh also, maybe I don't pay enough attention, but am I the only one who didn't realise that Grover even had a son? I vaguely remember the daughter from some online predator storyline or something like that, but the son was a complete blank to me, and when they showed him, I didn't remember him at all. Has he appeared before?

[SoapDoc]

 

Oh also, maybe I don't pay enough attention, but am I the only one who didn't realise that Grover even had a son? I vaguely remember the daughter from some online predator storyline or something like that, but the son was a complete blank to me, and when they showed him, I didn't remember him at all. Has he appeared before?

 

They have mentioned him before but I think this is the first time he has appeared on screen. I actually mentioned that to my husband while we were watching.

[HurricaneVal]

Yes, I do believe that was the first time we have actually seen Grover's son.  That entire family is quite beautiful!  The actresses playing the mom and daughter are gorgeous, and the actor playing the son is quite handsome.

 

And we had the return of Steve-the-Science-Guy when he was correcting Grover in the cafe that a coconut was not a fruit, that technically it was a drupe.  I loved that.  Steve just couldn't help himself from blurting that little fun fact out...

 

Chi and Alex seemed to be quite enthusiastic and "on point" during their Danny-bashing session over pancakes, which is another data point to me in perhaps how the other actors may be a wee bit tired of Scott Caan's internalizing the Danny character's hatred for all things Hawaiian.  I'm probably just reading more into that than is warranted.  Unlike a lot of you, I do like the Danny character when he's not being so morose and bitter about the pineapple-infested hellhole.

 

I liked the shout-out to Magnum P.I. with the helicopter, but what happened to Kamekona's helicopter?  And...I thought Danny was banned from attending any of Grace's cheerleading competitions?  Or was that from a fanfic I read?

 

One bit of actor-y business I really liked on this episode was the look of utter heartfelt relief Chi McBride had on Grover's face when he saw Steve and Kono.  He really, really sold that moment.

[fishcakes]

I assumed that they were going to take a private charter plane arranged by the FBI.  There was a private plane coming all the way from Pennsylvania to Molokai, so I think one could easily go from Molokai to Utah.

 

Oh good point. That never even occurred to me. I think I might be too used to things being overcomplicated to the point of not making any sense on this show.

[betsyboo]

 

One bit of actor-y business I really liked on this episode was the look of utter heartfelt relief Chi McBride had on Grover's face when he saw Steve and Kono.  He really, really sold that moment.

YES.

[Mittengirl]

Well, Grace is her father's daughter, so her being joyless and morose seems quite logical.

Some here have speculated that Scott may not like his costars, but I wonder if it is the other way around. I wouldn't be happy if one of my coworkers was doing 20% less work, leaving me to pick up the slack, and still getting paid as much, if not more than me.

In a slightly different vein, it doesn't seem wise to me to let my bosses see that the show can go on without me; literally in this case. It seems like it is better to be seen as indispensable than easily replaceable.

[BW Manilowe]

Yes, I do believe that was the first time we have actually seen Grover's son. That entire family is quite beautiful! The actresses playing the mom and daughter are gorgeous, and the actor playing the son is quite handsome.

And we had the return of Steve-the-Science-Guy when he was correcting Grover in the cafe that a coconut was not a fruit, that technically it was a drupe. I loved that. Steve just couldn't help himself from blurting that little fun fact out...

Chi and Alex seemed to be quite enthusiastic and "on point" during their Danny-bashing session over pancakes, which is another data point to me in perhaps how the other actors may be a wee bit tired of Scott Caan's internalizing the Danny character's hatred for all things Hawaiian. I'm probably just reading more into that than is warranted. Unlike a lot of you, I do like the Danny character when he's not being so morose and bitter about the pineapple-infested hellhole.

I liked the shout-out to Magnum P.I. with the helicopter, but what happened to Kamekona's helicopter? And...I thought Danny was banned from attending any of Grace's cheerleading competitions? Or was that from a fanfic I read?

One bit of actor-y business I really liked on this episode was the look of utter heartfelt relief Chi McBride had on Grover's face when he saw Steve and Kono. He really, really sold that moment.

Yes, it was the first time we've actually seen the Grovers' son Will as a character in an ep. Grover was described as "happily married with a son and a daughter" when Peter Lenkov initially Tweeted about him before his first ep. It just took a long time to introduce him into the storyline. I don't think we even knew the son's first name until Lou was supposed to be talking to him on his cellphone, I think earlier this season, maybe during the ep where Grover went to Chicago to try to get Clay to confess to murdering his wife.

And a couple of interesting facts about the actresses playing the Grover women: Both actresses share the same last name, Hurd, but they're not related in real life, just on the show. Michelle Hurd plays Grover's wife, Renee; Pam Hurd plays the Grovers' daughter, Samantha (who was kidnapped by Nick Jonas' character in the S4 Finale). And, apparently, Michelle Hurd (Grover's wife) is among the women accusing Bill Cosby of drugging them & taking indecent liberties with them while they were incapacitated. I read that in something online about the Cosby case (though about the accusers in general; not about her being 1 specifically) that was published around the time 1 of the eps with Renee Grover aired on CBS.

[BW Manilowe]

Chi McBride is a treasure, and the woman who plays his wife is great. Nothing against them. I happen to like all of the actors on the show. I just think that sometimes the show forgets who the show is. And who the characters are.

And Scott wanting to make only occasional appearances when he's a costar, is annoying.

I also like Danny when he's not just bitching for no reason. I think Daddy Danny is great, but I feel they've upped the Grace annoying quotient to eleven, and thus can't enjoy her at all. They have taken every ounce of joy out of the character and made her a walking/talking teenage rolling-eye cliche.

With all due respect, to me that sounds like Scott only wants to be in 5 eps, or less, per season. To the contrary, he's apparently negotiated, & gotten the OK of those connected to the show who make those decisions, to miss 5 eps per season (mostly for family-related reasons, like now having an almost 2 year-old daughter living in LA--though I think he negotiated this before she was conceived, let alone born). He's still in approximately 80% of the eps each season, based on the most recent 25 ep seasons (last season & this season).

While I'm not necessarily thrilled that Grace is acting onscreen now like a "typical (aka "snotty", etc.) teenager", as opposed to how she was portrayed in earlier seasons, I honestly don't disagree with them writing her as the teenager she (& Teilor Grubbs, the actress who plays her) is in both the show & in real life. Gracie is 13 in the show; Teilor is 14 in real life (& will be 15 near the end of September--her birthday is actually 2 days after that of Alex & Malia O'Loughlin's son, Lion), even though it's stereotypically, but I'm reasonably sure Teilor is really better behaved in real life than Gracie was during that day with Danny & Charlie. I know other fans who are actually happy Gracie's being written as the teenager she's supposed to be, instead of a perpetual small child.

I'm wondering, though, if we'll eventually find out this sudden attack of "typical teenage attitude/angst" in Gracie's storyline has something to do with her feelings about finding out she & Charlie have the same mother & father, & not just the same mother like Rachel originally told everybody (well, except Danny, who she told she was pregnant & the baby was his before Rachel started backtracking & declaring Stan as his father)? I mean, she was pretty young in canon when Rachel & Danny had the affair but, even if she didn't "get" it at the time, (there were scenes where) she saw her parents acting lovingly towards each other again, & kissing, when Gracie knew Rachel was married to Stan & also being that way with him. (shrugs)

[blackwing]

While I'm not necessarily thrilled that Grace is acting onscreen now like a "typical (aka "snotty", etc.) teenager", as opposed to how she was portrayed in earlier seasons, I honestly don't disagree with them writing her as the teenager she (& Teilor Grubbs, the actress who plays her) is in both the show & in real life. Gracie is 13 in the show; Teilor is 14 in real life (& will be 15 near the end of September--her birthday is actually 2 days after that of Alex & Malia O'Loughlin's son, Lion), even though it's stereotypically, but I'm reasonably sure Teilor is really better behaved in real life than Gracie was during that day with Danny & Charlie. I know other fans who are actually happy Gracie's being written as the teenager she's supposed to be, instead of a perpetual small child.

I'm wondering, though, if we'll eventually find out this sudden attack of "typical teenage attitude/angst" in Gracie's storyline has something to do with her feelings about finding out she & Charlie have the same mother & father, & not just the same mother like Rachel originally told everybody (well, except Danny, who she told she was pregnant & the baby was his before Rachel started backtracking & declaring Stan as his father)? I mean, she was pretty young in canon when Rachel & Danny had the affair but, even if she didn't "get" it at the time, (there were scenes where) she saw her parents acting lovingly towards each other again, & kissing, when Gracie knew Rachel was married to Stan & also being that way with him. (shrugs)

Sorry, but I think you are WAY overthinking this.  I know I don't put as much thought as you do into everything that happens on and off this show.... but to me the explanation is far simpler.  I think the actress sucks.  I think she has always sucked, and she is continuing to suck.  When she was a little girl, perhaps her sucking was given a pass because she was cute, but she's no longer a cute little girl, and she just doesn't cut it.

 

Since Scott Caan doesn't seem to want to be part of the show anymore, I think they should just write off Danny's kids.  Send them back to Rachel permanently.  They add very little to the show.  They are always an inconvenience or in the way or in danger.  When Melanie Griffith was in town, did they even see her?  She flew all the way from New Jersey and didn't even see her grandkids?  She could have timed her visit to coincide when they would be there.  I guess she really wanted to win that trip from the timeshare, and didn't care about anything else!

[ByaNose]

I like Mark Valley but all I kept thinking was I never knew he looked like Scott Cann. Who knew? LOL!!! I will say that was one hell of a violent episode in the final 10 minutes. Everyone was just shooting everyone. Once again, no Danno. I hate it when Cann is MIA. He's such a part of the team and sorely missed when he isn't in an episode.

[Jobiska]

I don't know who Mark Valley is from elsewhere, so I kept thinking it was Danny in the long shot jungly scenes!

Was sure the pocket knife would come back to haunt the Valley character--he gives it to Will, Will gives it to Lou, and Lou stabs him with his own dad's knife.  But it was just for a touching moment between son and father and then some banter by Lou about how the toothpick will be useful, because he needed to fill another five minutes or so of combination banter- and terror-based conversation with his family before he set out to find the people who were a quarter mile behind them.  (I was screaming Go already!  Just Go! at the TV by the time he was two sentences in).

I liked those sticky up rocks in the water around Molokai and now want to go there.

Husband and I enjoyed filling in the backstory of the poor couple whose private helicopter tour was commandeered by Kono and Steve.  It was their last day on the island before their flight out, they'd saved for five years for this once in a lifetime helicopter ride....

[ChelseaNH]

he needed to fill another five minutes or so of combination banter- and terror-based conversation with his family before he set out to find the people who were a quarter mile behind them

 

I'm sure their pursuers paused to catch their breath for a bit...  It's like how the countdown clock of doom always leaves time for the heartfelt goodbye speech.