Hawaii Five-0: “Ho’apono (Accept)” 

Alex O’ Loughlin and Adam Beach go mano a mano this week. Sadly, only O’Loughlin is shirtless (foiled!) The episode centers on McGarrett getting onto the USS Missouri to talk down Graham Wilson (Beach), a former Navy SEAL accused of murdering his wife, who has taken tourists on the ship hostage.  McGarrett has to hold off SWAT while the rest of 5-0 works the murder.

The episode begins with a classy still of the original Danno and In Memoriam tag for the late James MacArthur, who died last week. Then we start with Wilson running up the street, dressed in civvies and clutching a bloody knife, interspersed with images of a woman being thrown around her living room and then killed. He ends up at the USS Missouri and pockets the knife but when the police arrive, he grabs a hostage and heads up to the bridge, where a retired Marine, Ed McKay (played by none other than Robert Loggia!) is giving a tour.

When 5-0 arrives, they’re debriefed by guest star Kelly Hu, the new public safety liaison to the (unseen) governor, and as soon as she says “former Navy SEAL,” McGarrett flips into “no man left behind” mode, takes his training to heart, strips down to his cargos (whee!), bags the rest of his clothes and then Aqua Man’s (TM Danno) it over to the ship to sneak on board. There, he handily unpacks the dry clothes and tries to blend in with the hostages (we don’t get to see him change out of his wet clothes; sigh). Once civilian-ized, McGarrett gets an assist from McKay, who we of course later learn, knew McGarrett Sr. Sr. from the USS Arizona but was not onboard the vessel the morning of Pearl Harbor when grandpa McGarrett was killed.

Danny and Kelly work the Wilson house and find out that Wilson has raging untreated PTSD and the wife had a past—she and her daughter were Russian and she changed her name after she was widowed (glaring red herring, anyone?). She met Wilson at base bar in Germany, they quickly dated and married and he’s been raising her daughter, Lily, as his own. Back on the Missouri, McGarrett gets himself thrown in with the hostages, headshrinks Wilson, and they commiserate on SEAL things. McGarrett even takes the time to super glue a hostage’s head wound after Wilson smashes him into the wall.  Then Wilson gets tired of him and locks him up in the bathroom, where McKay sets him loose.

Kono takes Lily for a shaved ice and eases her into revealing that her mom fought with a man in a language she didn’t understand and behold, Russian papa is alive and well and in Hawaii to fetch his daughter (and kill his wife). While Kono is processing the reveal, he strolls up, Lily panics, and then a crew kidnaps her right out from under Kono. The team scrambles to figure out who he is and how he came into Hawaii, and once they do, they track him to an airstrip, drive right up under the nose of the private plane, and rescue the girl. On the ship, McGarrett, with an assist from McKay (who takes a bullet in the shoulder for his trouble), gets the hostages, and Wilson out alive, and Wilson is reunited with Lily.

No Mary this week, so we’re family drama-free except for the sweet scene between McGarrett and McKay about Pearl Harbor. Hu had little to do here but I’m guessing that will change. Scott Caan is off the cane and back to his normal swagger. This week, Danny and McGarrett have to argue over the phone, and in earshot of McKay, who asks if McGarrett is talking to his wife. (Hee. And, yes.)  Beach’s role involved a lot of yelling and threatening and gun waving and I always find him more compelling when he gets to be soft spoken, but I was happy to see him working.

I’m not sure if there was a no-AC clause in shooting on the actual USS Missouri, but everybody, from O’Loughlin to Beach to Loggia to the hostages, looked like they were screwed from the heat—ruddy-faced and sopping wet—which worked for the story but made me worry for the actors. Sidebar: I’m glad O’Loughlin doesn’t have to cover up his tats here, but it makes me wonder why they did cover them on Moonlight, when a post WWII-era guy would have likely had them (pre-vamping).

Next week, Jason Scott Lee guest stars as a detective and Will Yun Lee is back again. Coming up later this season, we’re going to revisit the original H50 rivalry between McGarrett and Wo Fat, who will be played by Mark Dacascos (sweet!). I am so digging the casting on this show.