Hawaii Five-0 Watch: Ohana

Hawaii Five-0 proved tonight that it isn’t a typical cop show. Sure, it has many of the same old cliches we’ve been seeing in cop shows; but unlike many of those shows, Hawaii Five-0 is never boring. For those of you that thought this show would lay off on the action after that explosive pilot - well, you’re wrong. Not all action is expensive (sorry, Michael Bay), and Hawaii Five-0, with some help from Grace Park, proved that some hand to hand combat can go a long way in spicing up what could have been a ho-hum episode.

Taking the episodic route was a good move by the writers of this show; keep an underlying season long story (in this case the death of Steve’s father) while making every episode an individual story to help move the big picture along. This makes the show move quicker, easier, and it makes developing the relationships between these characters all the simpler.

Last week I said that the second episode of this show would define its path for the rest of the season, and I’m pleased to say I was right. Last week, Steve (Alex O’Loughlin) and Danny’s (Scott Caan) verbal jousting matches felt staged and frosty. Tonight’s episode dramatically improved their repertoire, which goes to show that cast chemistry often improves as time goes on (I know, can you imagine you’re getting this kind of analysis for free?) Also, for those of you wondering, O'Loughlin now seems to be doing a sort of Nicolas Cage and Robert Downey Jr. hybrid impersonation, which I think is much more effective.

While Danny and Steve try to grow accustomed to one another’s styles, their relationship becomes more interesting. The stage their relationship is at now is tedious, but necessary. Waiting on their friendship to move to the next level is something that I look forward to, as I’ve seen enough of this pattern to last a lifetime.

The great part about television is that it never rests on one subplot for long; enter Kono Kalakaua, played by the beautiful and talented Grace Park. She officially became a member of Honolulu P.D. which brought forth some negative feelings from Chin Ho Kelly (Daniel Dae Kim), who was kicked out of the police force because he was incorrectly deemed corrupt. I wouldn’t say any of this is groundbreaking, but with great performances by all the leads, the proceedings are truly a lot more interesting than you would think by reading a plot outline.

This is accomplished by making the plot of each episode its’ own thrilling adventure. Tonight’s episode, which featured a hostage situation and some high tech terrorism, did not tone down any of the explosive violence that we saw in last week’s episode. Hawaii Five-0 is not afraid to pull the trigger, and it isn’t afraid to get its’ hands dirty, either. Steve’s foray into Jack Bauer terrorism torture territory was handled fairly well, all things considered. It made for some entertaining friction between Steve and Danny, but what really got me is the fact that Hawaii is traditionally one of the “blue-est” states in the nation; and yet it’s the guy from New Jersey who stops Steve from throwing a murderer off of a building. I guess that should teach me something about stereotyping.

Not much progress was made towards Steve’s goal of finding his father’s killer, who we presume survived being shot in the first episode. A few mentions in the beginning of the episode mainly served as reminders and teases for episodes to come. I have to say that I am very impressed with the bounce-back of Hawaii Five-0; I’m even excited to see next week’s episode. With two weeks in the book, the best is yet to come on CBS’ newest cop drama.