S09.E02: Ke kanaka i hāuʻle mai ka lewa mai (The Man Who Fell from the Sky)

[BW Manilowe]

When a vacationing dad on a flight to Honolulu is kidnapped and forced to parachute mid-flight, Danny, Tani and Junior track him through the jungle to discover that he may not be who he seems. Also, McGarrett is threatened with a secret from his past.

Original Airdate: October 5, 2018

SOURCE: https://cbspressexpress.com/cbs-entertainment/shows/hawaii-five-0/releases/view?id=51005

[preeya]

Looks as if Steve will be facing some serious allegations in the future.

[Passepartout]

Well really does Steve have to drive every car? As really he needs to be told no. Lou should had known that Steve would total his wife's car.

[buckboard]

Why was Steve driving Lou's wife's car and not his own?  Or, don't that has 5-O vehicles, so they don't have to drive their own?

[BW Manilowe]

6 hours ago, buckboard said:

Why was Steve driving Lou's wife's car and not his own?  Or, don't that has 5-O vehicles, so they don't have to drive their own?

Five-0 members drive their own cars/vehicles (as far as I know). The Camaro is Danny’s private & work car (he’s taken his kids, Charlie & Gracie, to school & other places in it); Steve has been known to drive his truck during cases; Chin would drive various vehicles—a motorcycle, an SUV &, in his last season (S7), I think he drove a Mustang. They don’t regularly drive cars marked as belonging to HPD (though they did have to borrow at least 1, in the pilot, to chase the criminals after something happened to the unmarked car they were driving in), or cars marked with the Five-0 badge or other task force-related insignia.

Edited October 6, 2018 by BW Manilowe
To correct a belatedly found spellcheck error.

[SoapDoc]

11 hours ago, preeya said:

Looks as if Steve will be facing some serious allegations in t

This actually is a good storyline for me. He probably did some pretty shady stuff which he has alluded to (under orders of course) as a Seal.  However, he has been protected by the fact that it was in the name of the government so they weren't talking or the fact that anyone who went against him died (like his seal buddy who tried to assassinate the dictator in Season 1).   Isn't this the first time that someone who switched sides and that worked with him survived?

 

This might end up like Burn Notice -- once the government stopped protecting the lead character {who used to be a spy}, all of the countries/people who he had "wronged' started looking for him. If Greer plants a bug in the right person's ear, they will start looking for Steve too. 

It could be interesting.

Why again did they bury the money in the backyard? Didn't Doris have a hiding place under the floorboards that they could have used?

[preeya]

Really stupid. These guys are cops and the only place they can think of for securing a bag full of money is to bury it. (rolling eyes)

Edited October 6, 2018 by preeya

[illdoc]

Re: bag of money. Why is it in a bag??? And apparently just a garbage bag, not a duffel! If the money had been in a duffel (or better, some sort of metallic box (foot locker/safe/lock box/etc.), even if Eddie (or some wandering animal) dug it up, the bills would not be flying out all over the place (a duffel being zippered shut, presumably). A duffel/box would also protect the money better from the elements. At the very least, if you are going to bury the money in the backyard, at least do it somewhere where you could put something over it (a birdbath, a planter, etc.) to better protect it from scavengers (and disguise the fact you've dug up the ground)! Yes, there are better solutions than burying the money. But if, for some reason you feel that's your only choice, at least do it sensibly!!!

[Roselle]

2 hours ago, SoapDoc said:

This actually is a good storyline for me. He probably did some pretty shady stuff which he has alluded to (under orders of course) as a Seal. 

This might end up like Burn Notice -- once the government stopped protecting the lead character {who used to be a spy}, all of the countries/people who he had "wronged' started looking for him. If Greer plants a bug in the right person's ear, they will start looking for Steve too. 

It could be interesting.

 

I'm with you there - this could have really good possibilities for an interesting arc.

It was very unusual to have no jungle-action Steve but I rather liked his reasoning, it showed good leadership and, as a BAMF Danny lover, I enjoyed all that stuff. It was a nice change to have the writers give Danny a chance to impart his knowledge and develop a bit of respect from the kids. 

[Passepartout]

Would not be surprised if Greer planted a bug. But Steve of course will play the immunity card thing. 

[Raja]

1 hour ago, Passepartout said:

Would not be surprised if Greer planted a bug. But Steve of course will play the immunity card thing. 

That immunity of means  is only from the Government of Hawaii.   Presumably these SEAL and CIA  crimes will fall under the US Attorney who only backed off of 5 -0 the first time because of a personal conflict interest 

[ganesh]

5 hours ago, preeya said:

Really stupid. These guys are cops and the only place they can think of for securing a bag full of money is to bury it. (rolling eyes)

As much as the bickering is a waste of time, I did like Danny calling them out on burying the money. 

I feel like Grover has said - I'm the po-lice, when people ask him how they found them, I think it's a funny line. 

As much as I rip on the show because it is so ridiculous, this continuing Chinese spy network plot is well done. 

When they don't write Danny as a whiny bitch an remember that he's an actual competent detective, it's much more interesting. 

Edited October 6, 2018 by ganesh

[BW Manilowe]

5 hours ago, SoapDoc said:

This actually is a good storyline for me. He probably did some pretty shady stuff which he has alluded to (under orders of course) as a Seal.  However, he has been protected by the fact that it was in the name of the government so they weren't talking or the fact that anyone who went against him died (like his seal buddy who tried to assassinate the dictator in Season 1).   Isn't this the first time that someone who switched sides and that worked with him survived?

 

This might end up like Burn Notice -- once the government stopped protecting the lead character {who used to be a spy}, all of the countries/people who he had "wronged' started looking for him. If Greer plants a bug in the right person's ear, they will start looking for Steve too. 

It could be interesting.

Why again did they bury the money in the backyard? Didn't Doris have a hiding place under the floorboards that they could have used?

Steve (& Freddie, his military BFF who died during the mission Steve selected Freddie as his partner on; Sam Hanna on NCIS: Los Angeles; Magnum on the Magnum P.I. reboot; the characters in SEAL Team; recent Five-0 team member Junior Reigns, & others I’m probably forgetting) wasn’t a “Seal” or a Seal. Those are a sea animal & other things.

Naval Special Ops team members are SEALs. It’s an acronym for Sea, Air & Land, the areas in which they operate (the E, borrowed from “sea”, is capitalized, as is the full acronym).

Yes, Doris had a hiding place under at least 1 floorboard in Steve’s house. She hid, like, a diary or some sort of papers (I think) that would help Steve get to understand her better; she also might’ve hidden that microfilm about her secret missions/CIA work that was supposed to keep the family from danger, which Tyler Kane, somebody who knew her in the years she was believed to be dead (but was living in hiding so her CIA-related enemies couldn’t catch or kill her or her family), & was a current nominee for some big US government/Cabinet-related job, was also looking for—apparently because (or so it seemed) there was information about his own CIA-related actions on it, & whatever’s on the microfilm about him is apparently bad enough to tank his big government job promotion if it was discovered. And Tyler Cane wants that job badly enough he’s apparently willing to do pretty much anything to keep people from finding out that information about him.

Edited October 6, 2018 by BW Manilowe
To fix multiple issues with the post.

[ganesh]

I guessed they were headed to the embassy as soon as Lou said 'downtown.' I figured they were just going to storm it because they've done that before. Ramming the car was cool. I didn't expect that. 

[SoapDoc]

21 minutes ago, BW Manilowe said:

Steve (& Freddie, his military BFF who died during the mission Steve selected Freddie as his partner on; Sam Hanna on NCIS: Los Angeles; Magnum on the Magnum P.I. reboot; the characters in SEAL Team; recent Five-0 team member Junior Reigns, & others I’m probably forgetting) wasn’t a “Seal” or a Seal. Those are a sea animal & other things.

OK SEAL.

Anyway, I was talking about Nick Taylor who was another SEAL that Steve worked with who was originally supposed to be guarding the dictator and his family (as he was coming to turn himself in and testify to stop the war in his country) but Nick was planning to kill him for a bounty. 

[ganesh]

17 hours ago, preeya said:

Looks as if Steve will be facing some serious allegations in the future.

I'm doubtful. The show bends over backwards to make Steve look like a hero. 

[BW Manilowe]

2 minutes ago, SoapDoc said:

OK SEAL.

Anyway, I was talking about Nick Taylor who was another SEAL that Steve worked with who was originally supposed to be guarding the dictator and his family (as he was coming to turn himself in and testify to stop the war in his country) but Nick was planning to kill him for a bounty.

I knew that you were talking about Nick. And yeah, he’s a SEAL I forgot on my list. Probably because he went bad after getting outta the Navy.

[MissLucas]

Okay - this is driving me nuts. After Jerry located the drop-site Danny rushes off to team up with Junior and Tani. McGarrett and Groover remain at HQ to dig deeper. At this point they have no idea about Teague being a spy/asset nor to they know anything about his kidnapper and who had hired him. Cut to the jungle, the team finds the parachute and the body of the kindapper. Back at HQ Groover and McGarrett start to wonder why the Chinese wanted Teague so badly - when did they figure out it was the Chinese? 

 

Not a fan of this spy-arc. But I did like Danny schooling Junior and Tani and her former mentor.

[fishcakes]

40 minutes ago, MissLucas said:

Back at HQ Groover and McGarrett start to wonder why the Chinese wanted Teague so badly - when did they figure out it was the Chinese? 

Jerry found an encrypted partition on Teague's laptop that had a bunch of documents in Chinese and from that they deducted that he was working for Chinese intelligence but didn't yet know he was working with the CIA. I think that's how it went.

How did no other passengers get sucked out of the plane when the emergency door was opened? I know the announcement had just gone out to fasten seat belts and prepare for landing, but there are always a bunch of people who don't do that until the Flight Attendant walks through to check and makes them.

[MissLucas]

Thanks, but Groover talked about ' why the Chinese would go through all that trouble to snatch a guy off a plane in mid-flight' before Jerry arrived with the news that he had found a hidden partition. 

Edited October 6, 2018 by MissLucas

[illdoc]

16 hours ago, fishcakes said:

How did no other passengers get sucked out of the plane when the emergency door was opened

Maybe the plane was below 11,000 feet? I believe no "compression" (added oxygen) is needed below that level, so there would be no "decompression"---so no one blown out.

[BW Manilowe]

6 minutes ago, illdoc said:

Maybe the plane was below 11,000 feet? I believe no "compression" (added oxygen) is needed below that level, so there would be no "decompression"---so no one blown out.

A plane still decompresses, & people who aren’t belted in their seats & loose objects in the plane are still liable to get sucked out (at least anyone near the hole made by the decompression; anyone farther away from it, not so much—but I think loose personal items anywhere in the plane are liable to get sucked out), regardless of the plane’s altitude. You just don’t need to use the plane’s emergency oxygen system to breathe without going into hypoxia once you’re anywhere below anywhere from 10,000-12,000 feet (I think the altitude depends on the airline). Added oxygen isn’t “compression”, by the way.

[HurricaneVal]

I totally loved Detective Danny "I've learned some things" Williams taking the kidz to skool.  That was awesome. 

But I"m really confused about why Steve--the superSEAL who lives to run through the jungle tracking things--was contentedly back at HQ driving the computer table?  Did his wings get clipped and I missed it, or is this one of the episodes they've written to give Alex O'Loughlin a bit of a break from always being the center of the intense action?

[kassygreene]

On 10/6/2018 at 6:29 PM, fishcakes said:

Jerry found an encrypted partition on Teague's laptop that had a bunch of documents in Chinese and from that they deducted that he was working for Chinese intelligence but didn't yet know he was working with the CIA. I think that's how it went.

How did no other passengers get sucked out of the plane when the emergency door was opened? I know the announcement had just gone out to fasten seat belts and prepare for landing, but there are always a bunch of people who don't do that until the Flight Attendant walks through to check and makes them.

The plane was on final approach, therefore a low altitude.  If you hit pause at the right time, you could see it was on final approach and flying off the coast of Honolulu/Waikiki.  Of course, for show purposes, they had to jump over a jungle, which wasn't the flight path....  This show doesn't get flight paths right.

[GustheCat]

Agree with other comments about the potential story arc of Steve involved in some shady dealings as a SEAL. But, his excuse, "everyone knows we were doing it under orders" does not fly. The only historical event during my lifetime that I have studied deals with the Vietnam war and the My Lai massacre. While they did prosecute and convict Lt. Calley, who was in charge, they also prosecuted many of the squadron as well as the squadron leader. Calley was the only one convicted but I believe many of the soldiers were court-martialed/thrown out of the Service, which would lead to losing benefits, etc. Interesting note is that also happened in 1968, the premiere year of the original series. So, Steve is not off the hook, even if he was just taking orders. Students of history will know that was the excuse of many Nazi soldiers who were being prosecuted for war crimes. Now, I don't think Steve would be punished at the end of it all on the TV Series, as they do hold him up as a hero with flaws. Lots of flaws, not just of the silly kind like the driving fetish.

However, as I am remembering this episode, I try to maintain a body count each week. It's not always possible but I don't believe Steve actually killed anyone this week? You had the guy who blew the hole in the plane, the 6 CIA agents Danny finds, the 4-5 Chinese agents, the ex-CIA guy who was trying to protect Teague...am I missing any?  I still wonder, if this were real, what that would do the psyche of the 5-0 squad? I would think that once you kill a lot of people, under any circumstances, it would affect you in some not so good ways? I'm sure the McGarrett count for the series is well over 100...

[GustheCat]

On ‎10‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 3:27 AM, SweetTooth said:

Oh, my gosh, that freaking g*n in the freaking drawer is getting  better story line than Adam ever did. 

 

However, I do like the old teacher, and it was a nice bit of continuity.

 

But with them dragging this out week after week after WEEK, that it's totally the weap0n, right?

 

 

 

That first sentence is hilarious because it is so true!

I think an interesting twist would be that it is NOT the murder weapon with the half-sister, but, instead, it is the murder weapon of some other unsolved shooting/murder crime they have not resolved on the series. I am wracking my brain trying to remember if such a storyline was introduced but not resolved...can anyone else think of one? Although I guess it could be something with any one of the HPD officers who have been shot over the years, especially anything that would have happened before Adam went "legit".

[HurricaneVal]

Oh man, wouldn't that be awesome?  Especially considering the world Adam grew up in, and anyone around him could have said "Here, kid.  Protect yourself, take this gun..." and have it be a gun used in a Yakuza crime.  Or...even better yet....have it be a gun Kono used while committing a crime during her dark period.

[ganesh]

That's actually a good plot idea. 

[Passepartout]

I wonder why everybody that has their car driven by Steve tell him no. As that sometimes him being so aggressive and so arrogant makes him out to be pretty selfish at times. And really he does wreck people's cars. Felt for Lou over Renee's car. Writers make Steve out to be a jerk for little to no reason. And he gets away Scott free! 

[Raja]

24 minutes ago, Passepartout said:

I wonder why everybody that has their car driven by Steve tell him no. As that sometimes him being so aggressive and so arrogant makes him out to be pretty selfish at times. And really he does wreck people's cars. Felt for Lou over Renee's car. Writers make Steve out to be a jerk for little to no reason. And he gets away Scott free! 

He is their commander and the Governor has given him immunity of means. He can take any car or helicopter in Hawaii if he deems it necessary for the mission.  And I am only half joking.

[Passepartout]

True but he just needs to be not written as a jerk no matter what.

[Moxie Cat]

On October 6, 2018 at 7:36 PM, MissLucas said:

Thanks, but Groover talked about ' why the Chinese would go through all that trouble to snatch a guy off a plane in mid-flight' before Jerry arrived with the news that he had found a hidden partition. 

You are absolutely 100% right. I went back and watched those scenes. In the scene at the airport in the beginning, Steve/Danny/Grover are just talking about what a good guy he seems to be and why someone would think snatching him off the plane would be the best move. In the next applicable scene, Grover gets Steve out of his office and says "I've been thinking about why the Chinese would want to take him..." And shows Steve the video of the agent at the airport. But there is absolutely no reason given up to that point as to why any of them would suspect the Chinese, or any evidence that Steve and Lou had even been discussing that!

THEN Jerry runs in with the Chinese documents, and Lou says "what would father of the year be doing with a bunch of Chinese documents?" Well Idk, Lou - 2 minutes ago you wondered why the Chinese would want to abduct him for no apparent reason!

Bad writing, or more likely bad editing.

On a related note, I can't believe they killed off Jack Coleman! When I saw him, I thought he would be a recurring character.

Also, Greer looks SO familiar to me, but I didn't recognize her name in the credits. Does she look like another actress? Who am I thinking of?

[dwmarch]

There was a great moment in this episode, one that is long overdue! Danny questions Steve about why he was chosen for the jungle mission. It is simple. It is because 5-0 spends a lot of time chasing their own tail and Danny knows this. He knows it well enough to see the obvious boot-print is obvious and point out to Junior (who was ready to follow the false lead) that it is too good to be true. Finally, after nine seasons of jumping to conclusions (which they still did a bit of in this episode - ermagerd, the guy has Chinese documents on his laptop, he must be a Chinese spy!) they have hung a lampshade on "we always go for the obvious and we always get screwed." It was indeed a teachable moment.

[jhlipton]

A thrown-together group of Chinese agents takes out 6 CIA agents (who knew they were there)???  But our 3 wipe 'em out with no fuss.  Sometimes the suspension of disbelief on this show is enormous!