S09.E14: Ikiiki i ka lā o Keawalua (Depressed with the Heat of Keawalua)

[BW Manilowe]

Quote

While investigating Flippa’s friend’s murder, McGarrett and Grover uncover a deadly plan by an extremist group on the island. Also, Grover has an emotional reaction to the case.

Original Airdate: February 1, 2019

SOURCE: https://www.cbspressexpress.com/cbs-entertainment/releases/view?id=51811&shared

Edited January 19, 2019 by BW Manilowe
To correct the episode number.

[Roselle]

While it's certainly sad/terrible that the issues are genuine, current and so destructive, I do feel somewhat bludgeoned with the morality stick after this episode. Not just one but two important discrimination story lines - I'm not sure both were needed. With more effort the writers could have used the LGBTQ story better and developed it more thoroughly for an episode of its own. And surely, neo-nazis carrying out a mass bombing campaign is enough of a threat, without Lou's own experience of injustice and bigotry so oddly stitched onto the end - it really added nothing IMO.

I did like the team feel of the episode however, and the mixing up of the pairings, although I simply cannot find Jerry credible in the field at all.

[threebluestars]

The story Grover told at the end did seem oddly stitched on and it made me wonder if it was Chi McBride's story rather than Grover's.

[MissLucas]

1 hour ago, Roselle said:

With more effort the writers could have used the LGBTQ story better and developed it more thoroughly for an episode of its own. 

That would require a level of subtlety and nuance in writing that is not in this show's DNA. Which is why I prefer the show sticking to murderous Elvis impersonators and crazy heists.

[ganesh]

The citizens of Idaho do not support so called "conversion therapy". 

I suppose I'm kind of a hypocrite since I am critical of Five-0 trampling on civil rights because in this case, the parents can go pound sand. 

Though nice of Jerry to show that Five-0 is largely incompetent to get blown up. 

Are prisoners allowed to be left alone with cops?

I do have to say when the kid raised his hand with the detonator and Steve grabbed him was exciting. I don't think they needed to make it 5 cities. The show always goes too big. Just this plot was fine. 

Grover cool as ice taking that shot. 

Edited February 3, 2019 by ganesh

[dwmarch]

12 hours ago, Roselle said:

I simply cannot find Jerry credible in the field at all.

As this show seems to not wish to bore us by showing training montages, I am left to assume that Jerry and Adam (and Junior and Tani to a lesser degree) have all received some "Okay, I'm a cop, now what?" training.

I found the young bomber to be a little incredulous. Now of course on TV, the "dark web" can teach you any nefarious thing you want but they made some very specific comparisons here to Timothy McVeigh. Before McVeigh went off the deep end he was a soldier and was on track to be a Green Beret but couldn't pass the qualification due to fatigue after being deployed in Desert Storm IIRC. In other words, he knew how to make powerful bombs because he had a military background. I don't believe bomb making is something you can (safely) pick up from Youtube videos in four months at most of study.

10 hours ago, MissLucas said:

That would require a level of subtlety and nuance in writing that is not in this show's DNA. Which is why I prefer the show sticking to murderous Elvis impersonators and crazy heists.

I forgot about that until you reminded me! That was the pinnacle of this show embracing its cheesy goodness.

55 minutes ago, ganesh said:

I suppose I'm kind of a hypocrite since I am critical of Five-0 trampling on civil rights because in this case, the parents can go pound sand. 

Are prisoners allowed to be left alone with cops?

Although I was happy to see the girl back at the end of the episode they did skip lightly over exactly why her parents decided to just give their daughter up. The last word we heard on it before getting into the other case was "Don't let them leave until they agree to sign those papers!" So 5-0 was basically holding them hostage?

Regarding the other prisoner, I picture Steve explaining himself to the warden beforehand:

Steve: That prisoner is a Natzee and he lied to us so we're going to go in there and beat the shit out of him while you guys toss his cell looking for contraband!

Warden: (shrugs)

[ganesh]

4 minutes ago, dwmarch said:

So 5-0 was basically holding them hostage?

Which shouldn't be a surprise to anyone here. 

4 minutes ago, dwmarch said:

I am left to assume that Jerry and Adam (and Junior and Tani to a lesser degree) have all received some "Okay, I'm a cop, now what?" training.

Let's face it. Steve is a crime lord backed by the governor. If he says you're Five-0, then you're in. There's no way any of them had any training except Jun, who Steve specifically said, 'finish your training'. 

13 hours ago, Roselle said:

I did like the team feel of the episode however, and the mixing up of the pairings, although I simply cannot find Jerry credible in the field at all.

You're proven correct because he literally blew himself up. 

13 hours ago, Roselle said:

And surely, neo-nazis carrying out a mass bombing campaign is enough of a threat, without Lou's own experience of injustice and bigotry so oddly stitched onto the end - it really added nothing IMO.

It's really a shame because McBride delivered an exceptional monologue. The show is what it is, and unfortunately, is largely one dimensional. 

[dwmarch]

3 hours ago, ganesh said:

Grover cool as ice taking that shot. 

That reminds me... the bit where McGarrett told Junior to take the shot and Junior couldn't do it was silly. There's a movie called Triple 9, a cops vs. gangster shoot-em-up. At one point a cop is tussling with a suspect and they seem to be evenly matched. That is until a second cop finds them, presses his gun right up to the suspect's cheek and fires because there's no way you can miss from immediate range. Standoff distance is for chumps.

[Raja]

4 hours ago, dwmarch said:

As this show seems to not wish to bore us by showing training montages, I am left to assume that Jerry and Adam (and Junior and Tani to a lesser degree) have all received some "Okay, I'm a cop, now what?" training.

I found the young bomber to be a little incredulous. Now of course on TV, the "dark web" can teach you any nefarious thing you want but they made some very specific comparisons here to Timothy McVeigh. Before McVeigh went off the deep end he was a soldier and was on track to be a Green Beret but couldn't pass the qualification due to fatigue after being deployed in Desert Storm IIRC. In other words, he knew how to make powerful bombs because he had a military background. I don't believe bomb making is something you can (safely) pick up from Youtube videos in four months at most of study.

 

Tani like Kono before her didn't actually finish the police academy training. I guess she was almost finished when she was washed out and went to work as a lifeguard. Junior was different being like Jerry actually going to volunteer for 5-0 rather then being someone recruited by Commander McGarrett

 

McVeigh enlisted and joined my division just as I changed station's that being said the knowledge for building the big bomb has been out in the wild since the 1960's at least. The manuals that armies produced to try to replicate what the untrained partisans did against the Nazi's had pages reprinted and various terrorist have used that knowledge.  It is not that difficult and basic chemistry to make sure the formula goes boom when you want it to. What was strange was the terrorist still soldering circuit boards after murdering and stealing a van

3 hours ago, dwmarch said:

That reminds me... the bit where McGarrett told Junior to take the shot and Junior couldn't do it was silly. There's a movie called Triple 9, a cops vs. gangster shoot-em-up. At one point a cop is tussling with a suspect and they seem to be evenly matched. That is until a second cop finds them, presses his gun right up to the suspect's cheek and fires because there's no way you can miss from immediate range. Standoff distance is for chumps.

Junior not taking the shot reminded me of a Criminal Intent episode where Detective Eames was in the exact position as Detective Goren wrestled with the terrorist holding a dead man's switch. In that case a police sniper, who had no personal story attached, made the shot from a roof top. Being a SWAT commander Grover should be just as proficient as the SEAL Junior in such a situation. However the back story plays as if the shot was taken because Grover wanted to kill not that it was just something that needed to be done. 5-0 is strange is that they seem to brake out the long guns for very routine things at times, but then only have pistols where a more accurate carbine would have seemed to be the weapon needed.

[roamyn]

@Raja, that’s incorrect abt Kono.  She DID graduate.  She missed her ceremony due to a case, and the three guys held a mini one in the 5-0 offices.  So she, Junior,Danny, Steve, Lou are all qualified, and Tani is mostly qualified.  Jerry has no business being in the field (tho he’s well qualified in the offices), and Adam has no business being in 5-0 period.

Edited February 3, 2019 by roamyn

[ganesh]

Adam has no business existing. 

[illdoc]

Did he even contribute anything useful to this case????

[Passepartout]

Jerry belongs in the computer field. Not the outside IMHO

But really Five 0 means and method are way over the top. And that Lou nearly pulled a Steve like method over in that convict in the prison.

Wonder if Chi did have a motivated as he did bring good acting.

Junior as a SEAL should had taken the shot. Despite making split second decisions. As he was qualified.

5/10 Saved by Chi's great acting.

[ganesh]

23 minutes ago, Passepartout said:

And that Lou nearly pulled a Steve like method over in that convict in the prison.

While ridiculous, the whole scene was a con on Five-0 while the jail cell was searched. I felt Lou was coming from a place of his own past, but he was going over the top deliberately. 

1 hour ago, illdoc said:

Did he even contribute anything useful to this case????

He didn't screw it up, so I guess that's a plus. 

Since there's so many episodes in a season, I'd really like to see one with Lou as lead and Steve either not there or in the background.

[illdoc]

21 minutes ago, ganesh said:

like to see one with Lou as lead

Meaning "leading 5-0"? Because he was all by himself when he went to Chicago to torture that guy a few seasons back.

[ganesh]

Leading Five-0 on an actual case. 

[Raja]

With the Joe White episodes they teased Captain Grover in charge and then jump cutted to case solved 

[MissLucas]

I honestly don't get why they couldn't figure out a better way to integrate Adam. Make him a PI who often consults with the Hawaii 5-0 and who still has shady connections to Hawaii's underworld. Still not realistic but somewhat better than his current status. 

[ganesh]

The problem really is they had to elevate him to the opening credits because the others left, and they don't know what to do with him. 

26 minutes ago, SweetTooth said:

b) utilized his skills as someone well-connected with current/former bad guys, he would be a thriving member of the team.

This seems like an obvious direction, but again, that wouldn't be needed week in and week out, so he'd still only be recurring. 

[Moxie Cat]

21 hours ago, ganesh said:

Are prisoners allowed to be left alone with cops?

The funniest part was, after Steve and Lou left the Nazi Guy the second time, the camera focused clearly on a sign in the prison hallway that read "Video Surveillance is in Effect." It seemed so obvious that it was shown for a reason - like Steve and Lou's behavior will be caught this time! (But, nah.)

[Raja]

24 minutes ago, Moxie Cat said:

The funniest part was, after Steve and Lou left the Nazi Guy the second time, the camera focused clearly on a sign in the prison hallway that read "Video Surveillance is in Effect." It seemed so obvious that it was shown for a reason - like Steve and Lou's behavior will be caught this time! (But, nah.)

Even if they are caught unless another US Attorney makes a run of them Hawaii has made them immune.  Although how does that apply to the prison guards who did not guard and protect their prisoners

[ganesh]

I'd really like the show to shine a light on Five-0 and do a deconstruction plot, but I don't think they will. 

[Mittengirl]

I zoned out a bit a few times - did they connect the girl’s parents to the bad guy beyond the initial speculation?

 

Was anything said about how the newly emancipated child is going to support herself or any living arrangements?

[jhlipton]

After a few hours in the Blue Room, the parents were ecstatic to emancipate their daughter.  (They were, at very least, kidnapped, so what's wrong with adding harassment and threats of assault???)

[HurricaneVal]

You know I love this show.  But that said, this last episode was a little heavy handed for me.  I lurves me some quietly and tragically outraged Chi McBride, but that whole episode--between the LGBTQ issues and the white nationalist plotlines--was a little too screechy-preachy for me.  The message is good, it was just all crammed into this one episode.  I think they should have split up the storylines.

The LGBTQ teen struggling with her sexual identification and her parent's issues with that would have been better if it had come out of the Grace-zone.  She could have been talking with a teacher, then had the teacher get mugged or whatever and introduce the storyline that way.  Then we could have had Danny (and Steve) modelling sensitive and nuanced parenting while simultaneously being bad-ass.

That would have left the white nationalist plot to stand alone a bit more powerfully, and Chi could have had some more great scenes.  Maybe scenes with Junior and Tani where they compare experiences with Lou.  Maybe Junior has a story where other SEALS were shitty to him during his Navy days just because of the color of his skin, and Steve listens in and has his own struggle with how the perspective changes when the view changes.  Those were some unexplored avenues I'd like to have gone down.

[ganesh]

Nuance is not a strength of this show.

[jhlipton]

41 minutes ago, ganesh said:

Nuance is not a strength of this show.

It's not????  LOL

28 minutes ago, SweetTooth said:

I can't imagine being held against their will made the parents any more sensitive to their daughter.

Being kidnapped (and almost assuredly threatened with torture, since that's what 5-0 does) always makes people more sympathetic to your cause.  Right???

[jhlipton]

35 minutes ago, SweetTooth said:

Yep! What do you get by trying to talk to people on their level and argue a point based on their own beliefs, so that you bridge the gap? Do everything by force, and you don't have to worry about all the messy stuff.

NOW you tell me! But the Blue room hoses down pretty easily!!!

[Mittengirl]

Not that it matters on this show, but everything I read says that in order for a child to be emancipated, they must be able to support themself, without relying on welfare.  I don’t think living at home, supported by parents, would meet that standard.  They should have made a quick mention of a group home/safe house where she would be living.  

Wasn’t she flying to another island when she was taken in to custody at the beginning?  Did they say where she was going?

[illdoc]

12 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

Wasn’t she flying to another island when she was taken in to custody at the beginning?  Did they say where she was going

I think I want to say...Maui.

[GustheCat]

According to Hawaii statute 577-25, one way a minor in the state of Hawaii can become emancipated is to become married. Jerry is single.

 

Or, going through court may be a better option for her.

[jhlipton]

3 hours ago, illdoc said:

I think I want to say...Maui.

Yes -- she had actually landed in Maui and HPD brought her back to Oahu (because 5-0 may have power in the whole state but can't leave their island for some reason).

57 minutes ago, GustheCat said:

According to Hawaii statute 577-25, one way a minor in the state of Hawaii can become emancipated is to become married. Jerry is single.

Ugh... Bring on the conversion therapy!

[illdoc]

4 minutes ago, jhlipton said:

1 hour ago, GustheCat said:

According to Hawaii statute 577-25, one way a minor in the state of Hawaii can become emancipated is to become married. Jerry is single.

Ugh... Bring on the conversion therapy!

Actually, except for Grover, the whole 5-0 team (including Adam, Flippa & shrimp truck guy (whose name I've forgotten)) is single.

[jhlipton]

1 hour ago, illdoc said:

Actually, except for Grover, the whole 5-0 team (including Adam, Flippa & shrimp truck guy (whose name I've forgotten)) is single.

Tami and Junior are the best catches in the group, with Danny next.  Steve is married to the job and Adam will get you killed.  Flippa and Kamekona (the "shrimp truck guy") are just "no" for me.  Gerald Hirsch is not an evil man, just a little sleezy...

[BW Manilowe]

On 2/5/2019 at 6:27 PM, jhlipton said:

Yes -- she had actually landed in Maui and HPD brought her back to Oahu (because 5-0 may have power in the whole state but can't leave their island for some reason).

Ugh... Bring on the conversion therapy!

Not true. Five-0 can leave Oahu. They’ve had storylines that have taken place, at least in part, in Lanai & at the old leper colony, which is on Molokai, I think (it’s not on Oahu anyway), and on Ni’ihau, as well as most/all of the other main islands in the state (Remember the Hawaiian cruise Steve & Danny had to take to catch that honeymoon killer?) However, they may have filmed those scenes on Oahu to save on the budget.

[BW Manilowe]

On 2/5/2019 at 7:55 PM, jhlipton said:

Tami and Junior are the best catches in the group, with Danny next.  Steve is married to the job and Adam will get you killed.  Flippa and Kamekona (the "shrimp truck guy") are just "no" for me.  Gerald Hirsch is not an evil man, just a little sleezy...

Two small things: Tami is actually named Tani, with an N not an M, & Hirsch’s first name is actually Gerard, not Gerald. We may get to see what the characters think of each other soon (which I was hoping for); I’m pretty sure Willie Garson posted something on social media fairly recently that sounded like he may have been filming or about to film another guest appearance.

I really wanna see what Sang Min thinks of Tani (since he called Kono “Spicy” & Lori Weston “Sweet”) but since it seems Will Yun Lee followed DDK to the show DDK is Exec Producer of now, that may take awhile.

[Dancingjaneway]

Going by the comments on twitter after this episode you would have thought they burned Trump & a cross in effigy. If anyone was still holding out hope for McDanno to happen it's not going to. I haven't watched the show in ages but happened upon a bit of this one and it is still as horrible as when I left it. The shows writing is horrible and not even horrible in a guilty pleasure way. The conversion therapy story was handled horribly & I wish that they hadn't even done it. If you are going to do a story line about something that sensitive then you need to give it your full attention & get the advice of LGBTQ writers.  All this was was an episode written by a bunch of dudebros who wanted to look woke. 

[Morlock]

On 2/3/2019 at 5:08 AM, Roselle said:

While it's certainly sad/terrible that the issues are genuine, current and so destructive, I do feel somewhat bludgeoned with the morality stick after this episode. Not just one but two important discrimination story lines - I'm not sure both were needed. With more effort the writers could have used the LGBTQ story better and developed it more thoroughly for an episode of its own. And surely, neo-nazis carrying out a mass bombing campaign is enough of a threat, without Lou's own experience of injustice and bigotry so oddly stitched onto the end - it really added nothing IMO.

I did like the team feel of the episode however, and the mixing up of the pairings, although I simply cannot find Jerry credible in the field at all.

I have noticed this theme (Militant Nazi's/ White racists) come up a number of times in different shows now and it has become so boring. Actually it always was but they aren't even trying anymore with the political propaganda. Characters now just make speeches and as with Grover's story it is really weak too.