S09.E11: Hala i ke ala oʻiʻole mai (Gone on the Road From Which There Is No Returning)

[BW Manilowe]

Still reeling from the murder of one of their ʻohana, Steve and Catherine, along with Danny, Junior, and some old friends, Harry Langford (Chris Vance) and Wade Gutches (David Keith), hunt down the killer. Also, Tani and Grover investigate when a bag of human bones, discovered inside an abandoned storage locker, goes missing.

Original Airdate: January 4, 2019

SOURCE: https://cbspressexpress.com/cbs-entertainment/shows/hawaii-five-0/releases/view?id=51550

[GustheCat]

With this lineup from above, I am expecting a record-setting body count this week!

[SuzieQ]

So enough with the Steve/Catherine dance.  Either put them back together or get rid of her.  This has dragged on for too many years!

[Chick2Chic]

17 minutes ago, SuzieQ said:

So enough with the Steve/Catherine dance.  Either put them back together or get rid of her.  This has dragged on for too many years!

They are friends. IMO they have deeper / lingering feelings for each other but they are not together, are free to date others,  and aren't stopping the other from dating. Steve was with Lynn for a while so as the show touched on in the ep, Steve has commitment issues that have nothing to do with his feelings for Catherine but he can sometimes settle down when he wants.  

Good ep. I feel like Grier went out too early but it is a minor peeve. 

[Passepartout]

Yeah as really Catherine is either in or out with Steve. Despite the fact of them being in a sense "friends with benefits" and both seem to have commitment issues in a sense. Catherine seems however more married to her job and Steve either does not want to be hurt or hurt others.

Grier did go out too early. But at least her story line is over. 9/10!

[dwmarch]

I know we aren't supposed to pay attention to details like this but I have ADD so sometimes these things stand out like a sore thumb. At the beginning of the episode, Steve is still in Butte Fuque, Montana and everyone has decided to rally there to meet him. This includes Frank Bama's daughter who has borrowed a Coast Guard plane from Hawaii (the plane is cleared marked as being from Barbers Point). So far so good. It makes sense that Bama's daughter would live in Hawaii and would borrow local assets. However, what didn't make any sense was how they were all in a hurry to leave but stopped to repaint the plane before taking off! There's a gigantic red stripe on the side of the plane when it's on the ground but once it's in the air the whole aircraft is now solid gunmetal grey. They paint it back to the original colors by the end of the episode.

[Just my 2 cents]

Did anyone else find this episode a little anticlimactic?  I guess I don't know what I was expecting.  Maybe I got hyped with the Expendables type episode I was promised since the beginning of the season.  I also think it's because there were a little too many people in the episode.  Although they were all great to see.  I have to agree with some of you about Catherine.  It would be nicer to see her if we didn't have endure the will they or won't they every single time she appears.  I agree that at this point either have them get together or make it clear that although they love each other they want to move on with their lives and not with each other.  They're in their 40's now and Steve is starting to come across as a gelding because he won't man up and tell Catherine he wants to be with her or that he doesn't see a future with her.

[Raja]

So they bring in Keith David  David Keith to be the Joe White replacement  just like that. Meanwhile a CIA agent and Hawaiian cop outside of his immunity jurisdiction and certainly going against God  are breaking all sorts of laws before the ex Navy and Danny go on another foreign termination mission.  I found myself watching for Captain Grover's whodunnit only to have most everything done off screen  and dropped on us in a basement data dump.

[notcreative enough]

Way back when I stopped watching CSI because all the characters became so smug and insufferable that I wanted the bad guy to get away with murder. Steve is taking the same route I wanted that win and Steve  to be super sad because Joe died. I'm so over them going to foreign countries and murdering people. You have no right to do that. I don't want dead people for the sake of a body count. 

Lol at them trying to show us how much time lasted by Steve's beard. Some men and grow that on like 3 days. 

I wonder if you go back and time the Hawaii case would probably be around 8 minutes total. 

[SuzieQ]

12 hours ago, Chick2Chic said:

They are friends. IMO they have deeper / lingering feelings for each other but they are not together, are free to date others,  and aren't stopping the other from dating. Steve was with Lynn for a while so as the show touched on in the ep, Steve has commitment issues that have nothing to do with his feelings for Catherine but he can sometimes settle down when he wants.  

 

I get that, but i don't see either of them getting seriously involved because they are still hung up on each other.  Steve's "relationship" with Lynn came across as an extended booty call to me.  Didn't Catherine take off right before Steve was going to propose?  Her commitment issues seem to run a lot deeper than his.  If they keep bringing her back for these little teases, I think the plan is for them to be together at series end.  As long as the show doesn't get canceled suddenly, there will be a beach wedding in the finale.

[illdoc]

5 hours ago, Raja said:

I found myself watching for Captain Grover's whodunnit only to have most everything done off screen  and dropped on us in a basement data dump.

I dozed off and on during the episode and when I was awake I only ever saw the "raid" in Laos. I saw the "let's call Ohio bowling alley" part of the Grover story and missed the rest of the case (read it in a recap)! BTW, what did they do with the "nearly beaten to death" lawyer from the beginning? Did they leave him in that cabin in Montana to die? Did they release him? Did they have him arrested for something? Does anyone know/care? Or are we just not supposed to think about him.

[ganesh]

12 hours ago, dwmarch said:

t the beginning of the episode, Steve is still in Butte Fuque, Montana and everyone has decided to rally there to meet him.

I've been to Butte. It's actually a nice place. It's a regular city and not just the sticks like their making out to be. They have a legitimate college there. 

Wow I was bored. As capable as Catherine is, she and Steve are both teenagers who have to talk about their 'relationship' all the time.  Does the show want us to think they're the OTP? I honestly think she has issues and can do better. 

Of course, international law, due process, human rights, and legal justice all must take a back seat. Steve McGarrett is out for revenge! Judge, jury, and he'll bring his own executioner. 

I would have liked if Danny had just said, "Nah, I'm out. I'm not flying into Laos and getting myself killed."

Always good to see Harry though. 

As much as I could have done away with the B plot, it was worth it for Grover griping about eggplants and peaches. 

Did they say "plus one" in 2002?

Edited January 5, 2019 by ganesh

[preeya]

10 hours ago, Raja said:

So they bring in Keith David  David Keith

 

The Okie from Muskogee

[Moxie Cat]

Did anyone else think that Greer's "other factors" for her betrayal went suspiciously unanswered? Is there a teenage Greer/McGarrett spawn out there somewhere - maybe held prisoner as blackmail for Greer? 

Or have I just watched too many soaps in my life? (I have also thought that Papa McGarrett wasn't really dead, and only recently, finally gave that up.)

[ganesh]

Obviously, they wrote that line for a reason, so your suspicions are warranted. I think it's more a line TPTBs left in there in case they want to pick this up at a later time, but I don't think they meant anything specific right now. 

I don't really find True American Patriot Steve SEAL going on rogue missions to be particularly entertaining and largely disingenuous in terms of the context of the show, so I hope this isn't revisited for a while. 

[Magnumfangirl]

2 hours ago, Moxie Cat said:

Did anyone else think that Greer's "other factors" for her betrayal went suspiciously unanswered?

I thought it implied jealousy of Catherine.

[UncleChuck]

Quote

I found myself watching for Captain Grover's whodunnit only to have most everything done off screen  and dropped on us in a basement data dump.

What a waste of time and a COW when they do that.

 

I always get a little confused by naval rank insignia (why do they have to be so different from Army/Marines/Air Force???) but why was the CIA bad girl calling Catherine "Lieutenant" in that office flashback when Catherine was clearly sporting Ensign insignia?

[Jaded]

I think I'm going to delete this one without watching it. I'd rather pass on the stuff described so far. I hate when all the Android Steve stuff takes over the show instead of the team staying local and working together to solve one case or a couple separate ones. Using extended action scenes as filler is more then a PITA at this point.

[MissLucas]

I was all thrilled at the beginning thinking we'd get an episode with Noelani being prominently involved in one of the main plots - what a let-down. The so-called A-plot with super Seal Steve and his merry men and women trying to bring Bond/Ocean's whatever to the show was just boring. At this point the pairing I enjoy most is Grover and Tani, add Noelani and Jerry (Junior can stay too) and send Adam, Steve and Danny to their own sitcom and I'm happy. 
 

[sigmaforce86]

Never seen the movie but know the basic plot and Scott was in it so.......was the casino thing a little homage to the Ocean's 11 remake?  

What did they do with the guy that Steve had in the torture room in Montana?  Killed?  Turned over to authorities?  Did they ever say?

I'll agree with others I only half paid attention to the "revenge for Joe" scenes (which is probably why I don't know what they did with that guy) and the B plot storage locker murders was a better story and would have made a good episode on its own.

[Raja]

7 hours ago, UncleChuck said:

I always get a little confused by naval rank insignia (why do they have to be so different from Army/Marines/Air Force???) but why was the CIA bad girl calling Catherine "Lieutenant" in that office flashback when Catherine was clearly sporting Ensign insignia?

I caught that one too. Given the extensive Naval history of the characters it is worse than the shows which call Lieutenant Commanders  and Lieutenant Colonels "Lieutenant". 

 

As to the rank insignia differences, you had Naval and Military(Army) forces thus the Naval and Military Academies of the US. And the first Marines internationally were army units assigned to a ship before navies raised their own Marine units. Some nations keep naval infantry with naval rank structures and insignia which is in effect what SEALs are when they morphed out of the underwater demolition/scout teams.

Edited January 6, 2019 by Raja
edit to add Marine history

[Raja]

16 hours ago, ganesh said:

 

Of course, international law, due process, human rights, and legal justice all must take a back seat. Steve McGarrett is out for revenge! Judge, jury, and he'll bring his own executioner. 

 

International. A CIA agent working on American soil and an immune only in Hawaii cop torturing a man in Wyoming  is just as illegal there

[BW Manilowe]

19 hours ago, preeya said:

The Okie from Muskogee

David Keith has been recurring since at least S2. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen  the character (I thought maybe some posters thought he was a new character).

Among other things, Gutches helped Joe & Steve/Five-0 when the members of that other SEAL team were being assassinated by various methods (& Steve had to skydive from an airplane to save 1 SEAL); he & some other SEALs/maybe the members of his team went along with Joe & Five-0 to help rescue Steve when Jenna Kaye lured him to North Korea, where he was captured & tortured by Wo Fat, because Gutches felt he owed Steve & Five-0 for stopping the SEAL team killings; he also helped Doris & Steve, & Steve’s PI friend/Doris’ partner, Mick, & maybe others, plan & execute the break-in of the office of Tyler Cain, a guy who Doris worked with at the CIA who, it turned out, was rather shady, up for a government position maybe somewhat akin to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (as I remember) & had stolen a microfilm/microfiche record of all of Doris’ CIA ops, apparently because it had proof of his being shady or something, & Doris desperately wanted it back because she said it would (supposedly) keep the enemies she’d made through her work from harming Steve, Mary & John (when he was alive).

[jhlipton]

Don't you wish David Keith and Keith David would do a show together ("Twins 2", maybe?)

[fishcakes]

On 1/5/2019 at 6:02 PM, Moxie Cat said:

Did anyone else think that Greer's "other factors" for her betrayal went suspiciously unanswered? Is there a teenage Greer/McGarrett spawn out there somewhere - maybe held prisoner as blackmail for Greer?

I think it was just supposed to mean that Greer never got over Steve, which is stupid. It was like Buzzfeed clickbait: "Her boyfriend wouldn't propose, and you won't believe what she did next!"

On 1/5/2019 at 12:39 AM, dwmarch said:

I know we aren't supposed to pay attention to details like this but I have ADD so sometimes these things stand out like a sore thumb.

The one that bothered me was that Steve and Greer were eating takeout chow mein in Morocco. I know they have Chinese restaurants in Morocco, but I found it distracting because I kept wondering about the food.

On 1/6/2019 at 3:06 AM, MissLucas said:

At this point the pairing I enjoy most is Grover and Tani, add Noelani and Jerry (Junior can stay too) and send Adam, Steve and Danny to their own sitcom and I'm happy. 

Same, although I wouldn't miss Jerry if he left. If AOC and Caan do call it quits after this season, I'm more than happy to see the show go on with the rest of the cast.

21 hours ago, BW Manilowe said:

On 1/5/2019 at 3:26 PM, preeya said:

The Okie from Muskogee

David Keith has been recurring since at least S2. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen  the character (I thought maybe some posters thought he was a new character).

@preeya was referencing David Keith's role in An Officer and a Gentleman; I think that's the one that put him on the map. At any rate, I can never see the guy without hearing Lisa Blount say, "I don't want no Okie from Muskogee. I can get that right here."

[Just my 2 cents]

15 minutes ago, fishcakes said:

was referencing David Keith's role in An Officer and a Gentleman; I think that's the one that put him on the map. At any rate, I can never see the guy without hearing Lisa Blount say, "I don't want no Okie from Muskogee. I can get that right here."

I kept hearing, David Keith tell Lisa Blount in their roles, "And I can get my old job back at JcPenney and in 2 years I can make manager", after he DOR'ed.

On 1/5/2019 at 6:40 AM, Raja said:

So they bring in Keith David  David Keith to be the Joe White replacement  just like that.

I cannot be the only one that watches stuff and when one of those names appears in the title has to think about which one's name is first trying to remember the actor's face by the first name.

[ganesh]

1 hour ago, fishcakes said:

I'm more than happy to see the show go on with the rest of the cast.

Chi McBride is more than capable of being the lead and commanding Five-0. I'd even say he's probably a better actor than AOC and at least on par with Caan. 

I know this isn't that kind of show, but it would be interesting if AOS was forced into retirement due to trampling all over civil rights on the regs, and Danny retires to move the kids closer to their mother. Grover gets appointed head of Five-0 because he's a legit law enforcement officer. Of course, he's got his own issues going to Chicago, but I could see it as a soft reboot.

[jhlipton]

4 hours ago, fishcakes said:

The one that bothered me was that Steve and Greer were eating takeout chow mein in Morocco. I know they have Chinese restaurants in Morocco, but I found it distracting because I kept wondering about the food.

One of the best Chinese restaurants I went to was in Copenhagen -- where there was also an Indonesian restaurant that served a real rijstaffel (sp?), as well as one that served chicken in Bernaise sauce (yum!!!)

[Mittengirl]

I would say that Scott Caan is the weakest actor of the three “older” guys.  I can always “see” him acting.

[Brian Cronin]

Regarding Steve/Catherine, I honestly believe that the showrunners never expected the show to last this long (and no end really in sight, as O'Loughlin seems a lot more willing to keep going than he did in the past) and so they always planned for those two to be the OTP, but as the show went on and on, it became more and more strained. I think they'll still end up together in the end, but we'll get a lot more of these flyby episodes first.

Edited January 8, 2019 by Brian Cronin

[ganesh]

That may be because Danny has been made fairly 1 dimensional and Caan isn't particularly into the gig. He's been fine when I've seen him in other stuff. 

[GustheCat]

A minor point, but, in the storage locker discovery scene, the guy holds up the "Speed 2" DVD and asks what they might get for it? At first, I thought it was an homage to Keanu Reeves since they didn't have one of 5-0 dressed up like one of Reeves' character roles from a movie, but then I remembered that Reeves wasn't in "Speed 2", just Speed. So, either they screwed that up if it was supposed to be a salute, or, one of the writers/producers must like the "Speed 2" movie? Very disappointing subplot this time in that it was all solved off-screen, but at least Tani is doing a better job in the interrogation room. I also don't know why Noelani wouldn't tell the two clowns at the storage locker to call 911 or at least close the door and leave. She should feel partial responsibility for their deaths, but they didn't get into that. Maybe she has a breakdown in a future episode due to that, all they said was "she's taking it hard" when they walked by her and she was talking to HPD. Also, why wouldn't the killer take the "Speed 2" DVD with him, unless he had already watched it or had it on Netflix?

I think they should just have the Montana imprisoned lawyer as a recurring character for the rest of the season, tied to the chair in Joe White's cabin and continually being beaten/tortured. Every time they need information, they just go to Montana to continue the abuse. Very easy to not tie up that loose end, I'm not sure kidnapping lawyers and eventually setting them free is good for public relations, let alone your own safety.

 

I was a bit confused on the invasion to get to Omar, though. Did he own/control the entire building? Why were his people then in charge at the front desk? I would think he would have had more security as well, especially since he would not have heard back from the Montana operation that it was a success? Didn't Omar know his lawyer, who probably served in other capacities, had gone missing for a month? Consequently, why leave the job as incomplete at that point? It seems with McGarrett on 5-0, it isn't that hard to establish if he is in Hawaii or not? If not, he could be coming after you. If Greer/Grier had more information to give him, why would he not have her under "house control" instead of relocating her to China? If she didn't have more information, seems odd he would let her go, in which case why China? I would think we are going to see some baddies with roots to China coming up in the future. That's always a deep well for story ideas.

[ganesh]

It's just a bag of bones in a seemingly unopened storage shed for a long enough time that it was being auctioned. Who is going to think that within minutes of finding them that someone rolls in and kills them? If the killer knew they were there then why not just break in and take them? 

They called her, and she went right down there to investigate. 

[Whimsy]

On 1/5/2019 at 3:39 AM, dwmarch said:

I know we aren't supposed to pay attention to details like this but I have ADD so sometimes these things stand out like a sore thumb. At the beginning of the episode, Steve is still in Butte Fuque, Montana and everyone has decided to rally there to meet him. This includes Frank Bama's daughter who has borrowed a Coast Guard plane from Hawaii (the plane is cleared marked as being from Barbers Point). So far so good. It makes sense that Bama's daughter would live in Hawaii and would borrow local assets. However, what didn't make any sense was how they were all in a hurry to leave but stopped to repaint the plane before taking off! There's a gigantic red stripe on the side of the plane when it's on the ground but once it's in the air the whole aircraft is now solid gunmetal grey. They paint it back to the original colors by the end of the episode.

As a CG vet, I also noticed this. 

[jhlipton]

7 hours ago, GustheCat said:

A minor point, but, in the storage locker discovery scene, the guy holds up the "Speed 2" DVD and asks what they might get for it?

It's like someone told one of the writers about Storage Wars, but he never watched it.  The participants get a view of the locker; they're just not allowed to go inside.  And the auctioneer was the slowest I've ever seen!

[Moxie Cat]

On January 7, 2019 at 12:17 PM, fishcakes said:

I think it was just supposed to mean that Greer never got over Steve, which is stupid

Stupid for multiple reasons, but also because the writing/acting never gave me that impression. I could buy that Greer had some kind of competitive feeling about Cath, maybe some resentment, but I never thought that she wanted more with Steve and he just wasn't into her. 

On January 7, 2019 at 1:30 PM, ganesh said:

Chi McBride is more than capable of being the lead and commanding Five-0. I'd even say he's probably a better actor than AOC and at least on par with Caan

I'd go so far as to say that Chi is the most accomplished actor on the show. I love AOL, but no. Never seen Caan in any role that's much different from this (though I can believe he's a good actor). But they have written great scenes for Chi on this show that he has delivered on, and I remember thinking how good he was many years ago when he starred on Boston Public.

That said, I'm not sure the show should continue without AOL/McGarrett. The character just feels like the heart of the show to me. Just my opinion, of course. 

[Just my 2 cents]

2 hours ago, Moxie Cat said:

But they have written great scenes for Chi on this show that he has delivered on, and I remember thinking how good he was many years ago when he starred on Boston Public.

Every time I think about him in Boston Public I think his talents are wasted on this show.  Yes he could carry it, but the writing wouldn't do justice to his skills.

[ganesh]

Human Target was his best role. 

[roamyn]

IMO Chi is the best actor with Scott not too far behind, Alex has definitely gotten better (he was very wooden the first few years).  Beulah has a long way to go, but Meghan’s a better actress than Grace IMHO.

Did anyone not notice that Dimitry was the same actor from an earlier ep that was killing the kids of the people who put his son in prison (where he subsequently died).  

Edited January 12, 2019 by roamyn

[BW Manilowe]

1 hour ago, roamyn said:

IMO Chi is the best actor with Scott not too far behind, Alex has definitely gotten better (he was very wooden the first few years).  Beulah has a long way to go, but Meghan’s a better actress than Grace IMHO.

Did anyone not notice that Dimitry was the same actor from an earlier ep that was killing the kids of the people who put his son in prison (where he subsequently died).  

I remember some people saying during, & especially after, S1 that Alex’s performance was the way it was in S1–“wooden”, if you will—to show how emotionally restrained, & sort of uptight, Steve’s growing up & long years of service in the Navy had made him, & to give Alex somewhere to go with the character if the show lasted past S1.

Remember, Steve was all nitpicky about Danny wearing a tie to work; & he was uptight in general—so much so he didn’t seem to be very human; & he made Danny eat malasadas with a napkin & wouldn’t eat any himself without probably needing bypass surgery after, he said; & we used to see him be diligent about exercising—either running or swimming, & having & using a home security system, & a whole bunch of other stuff? Now he’s more “normal” as a person; he eats pretty much everything; doesn’t exercise, at least not onscreen; & doesn’t seem to be as diligent about using his security system, & there are probably other ways the character has loosened up & become less “wooden” over the years.

[Moxie Cat]

I never minded AOL's acting. My residual goodwill from Moonlight went a long way when this show began!

[ganesh]

I don't have a problem with him acting. I just think Chi is better.