Last night’s episode was a nice tribute to Max and brought about many memories and emotions. It is time for the recap to see it all over again through the eyes of our recapper, Susan Schoppe.
I knew tonight’s episode would be hard to watch, however it was harder than I thought. This is the first full time character that has been with us for all seven seasons to leave the show. Hopefully it is the last for a while.
As our episode begins its actually quite funny as Steve gets a lesson on how to dunk a malasada into his coffee from Lou as the two are on their way into an officer’s briefing. The briefing was being led by Duke and was for an upcoming Police expo in Honolulu. Five thousand police officers from all over the country are expected to show up. With a literal flash back to last year’s event, they discuss the preparations which include Five 0 if needed.
Next we see Danny at his home with Charlie playing a game of pie in the face for four year olds which to our delight, Danny is losing at. As they are playing there is a loud explosion and Danny goes outside to see what has happened. When he gets outside Danny sees a building burning off in the distance.
Soon in the first emotional glimpse of the episode, we are taken to Max’s office where he and Jerry are cleaning and packing away Max’s office. Max is pushing the piano (where we first met Max) off to the side. As Jerry begins to help pack things up he comes across Max’s journals which engross him for the rest of the episode. It also allows for some flashbacks with each of the team members. It fits with Jerry’s way of packing in the past- have others do it while he does something else. That’s our Jerry.
Next we see Steve and Danny drive up to what’s left of the building that had blown up the night before. Chin is already there and fills Danny and Steve in on a few of the facts that are known so far. They know that it wasn’t connected to the missing uranium that was stolen in last week’s episode. They know there was a body that was found at the bottom of one of the floors and it appears that the person was not killed as a result of the explosion. The body is that of Sergeant Miles Barton from Milwaukee who was in town for the convention. According to HPD there were a dozen police officers at the site of the blast that were from out of town to help in the search for survivors including Barton. It seems Barton was stabbed and then thrown into the hole below. Steve and Danny go down below where the new medical examiner, Noelani, is there examining the body of Barton. As Steve and Danny go further down the hallway they find an open safe at the end of the room.
Now back up top, Steve and Danny are questioning one of the attorneys whose office of Hadley and Becker, the safe was in. It seems Steve and Danny think there may have been something in the safe that someone wanted bad enough to blow up a building. The lawyer offers his best but has no idea what it could have been and leaves.
Chin then shares information on the cause of the explosion which was a gas leak. However since there was drilling equipment found they believe it wasn’t an accidental gas leak. There was a heist crew tunneling their way to the safe when they hit the gas main and caused the explosion. So the theory is when the rescue crews showed up looking for survivors the heist crew came back to the safe, took what they wanted and Sergeant Barton saw them and was killed. Steve thinks that TV crews were there right after the explosion and that maybe one of them got something on video, so Chin goes to check out the news crews.
Back at HQ while going over leads, Lou is surprised to see Frank Bama (the hippie pilot who occasionally gets Five-0 out of trouble with rides in his beaten up helicopter) walk in the office. He is in town for a short time and wants to leave his board there to go catch a bite. He also happens to ask if the explosion had anything to do with the missing uranium to which Lou asks how he knew about that. Bama says he overheard McGarrett mention it as he has been listening in. Lou tells him to keep quiet about that. Sounds like the uranium will be coming back sooner than we think. Guess it was time for a Jimmy Buffet cameo again as he had no real purpose to the story this time around.
Heading back to Max’s office we see that, as expected, Max is doing all his packing by himself as Jerry is still reading Max’s journals. As Jerry reads we see the first Max flashback of when he was there for Steve when he Steve was running from the police at the start of season two. Max validates what we all saw through that episode that Steve truly saw a friend he could trust when in trouble and Max was a real member of the Ohana that was developing over time.
Meanwhile over at the Neil Blaisdell Center, we find our oddly lovable Hirsch there at the convention trying to sell his crime scene clean up “franchises” when Steve and Kono show up just in time to save the out of town officers from him. Steve and Kono want to know if Hirsch has ever heard of a guy by the name of G.Stealth. This guy might have stolen footage of the explosion from some news crews for potential profit. Hirsch says yes in his own long drawn out way and might remember where the guy lives so everyone is off to find Stealth’s house.
In the truck after an hour of Hirsch trying to remember where Stealth’s house is, Steve tells Hirsch there’s going to be a crime scene clean up in the truck if he doesn’t remember soon where this house is. (I love annoyed Steve) It seems as if that is enough to help Hirsch find the house and as Steve and Kono get out of the truck he informs them Stealth might not be happy to see Five-0 since he has a few warrants out for him. Good timing, Hirsch.
When no one answers the door, Steve and Kono kick it in and go inside. We hear the all clear phrase just as Stealth is climbing out of a side window. Hirsch sees him and blows the horn to alert Steve. Stealth sees Hirsch in the truck, jumps in with a gun, and tells Hirsch to take off. Just as Steve and Kono begin a foot pursuit, Hirsch crashes Steve’s truck into a parked car, the airbags go off and now they have Stealth. (so much for the new truck but at least it isn’t torched)
Soon back at HQ, Steve and Kono are looking over Stealth’s footage when Lou comes in with a new lead on the drilling equipment used. It was stolen weeks ago. Kono then notices on the footage a van leaving the scene, gets a plate number, and finds it’s registered to a Jimmy Rorke. His record shows grand theft and breaking and entering so the team gets an address and breaks in with guns a blazing.
Lou finds a body in the van they saw on the footage. They now know Rorke had an accomplice and he had apparently died as a result of the explosion.
Back in Max’s office Jerry Is still reading, where we get to see the next flashback. It is the one that shows how Max and Sabrina met at the bank. Max tells Jerry it was Kono who gave him the advice and courage to ask her out and Jerry points out how Max truly owes Kono for changing his life.
Back at Rorke’s house, CSU discovers two pairs of overalls in the trash so now they know Rorke had two accomplices and the dead guy in the van is Leo Stein. He has no priors but he is a clerk for a Federal Judge. Chin also says that until recently he worked at the Law offices of Hadley and Becker which is probably not a coincidence.
Just then Lou comes over to tell the team that Rorke’s phone records show he made a forty second call to Brian Hadley. So Rorke and his partners steal something out of Hadley’s safe and then they call Hadley. So now it’s clearly a blackmail attempt.
We next see Steve and Danny at the home of Brian Hadley who is denying everything. When Steve explains they have the phone records Hadley admits he can’t talk due to client attorney privilege. He is reminded that because a cop was killed he is obstructing justice but still refuses to cooperate. Thus, we get to hear that familiar phrase we love and have not heard for a long time; “Book em Danno”
Back in Max’s office, now almost all packed up by Max, we see another flashback and this one is how Max came to buy his yellow Camaro. Surprisingly, Max admits that he has always looked up to Danny as a role model.
Jerry tells Max he should share all of his feelings with the team; after all they are his Ohana. No matter how uncomfortable he may be with sharing his feelings, he will be working with live people when in Africa and needs to get used to sharing feelings and emotions. That was clearly something Max took to heart by the look on his face. (Good job Jerry)
Back at HQ, Lou tells the team they just identified the blackmail target as Edward Gabler. He drew two million from four different banks that afternoon and has been talking to his lawyer Brian Hadley all day. Gabler a former weather man was accused of stabbing his girlfriend Heather Mayfield to death eight years ago. Hadley represented him. The jury was dead locked and the judge declared a mistrial so the prosecution decided not to re- file. Steve now thinks that maybe the stab wounds on the Sergeant were from the same knife used to kill Heather and that the murder weapon was what was stolen from the law firm’s safe.
Back down in the rendition room, Steve and Danny go to talk with Hadley. Steve tells Hadley everything they believe has happened and why. Hadley totally confesses they are correct and by law he couldn’t destroy evidence or turn it over either so he put it in the safe. Stein showed up claiming he knew Hadley had the evidence and threatened to go public. It was never about the money but about justice for Heather. He told Steve that Gabler was on his way to pay the blackmailer.
Before Steve and Danny leave Lou comes in with emails from Stein. It seems Stein has been in touch with Heather’s brother Allen. So that reveals the third player as Heather’s brother Allen who wants revenge for Heather’s death.
At the drop point, Gabler gets the cash gives it to Stein and Stein throws the knife in the ground at Gabler. When Gabler goes to get the knife Allen walks out with a gun asking Gabler if he remembers him. Stein gets in his truck and leaves annoyed that Allen didn’t wait until he had left.
As Steve and Danny approach the drop off area they see Stein pass them and tell Chin to stop him. Chin blocks the road and Stein stops but goes for a gun so Chin shoots and kills him.
As Steve and Danny get to Allen and Gabler, Allen is about to shoot Gabler. Steve and Danny both work hard at convincing Allen not to kill Gabler and that he is not worth ruining his life since they can now successfully try and convict him with the murder weapon they now have. Looking like this could go either way, Allen drops the gun and knife and Steve arrests Gabler for Heather’s murder. Danny cuffs Allen as well.
That night everyone is on the beach at Kamekona’s and Max’s farewell party is underway with Flippa singing. The first one up to say good-bye is surprisingly Hirsch who appears to be quite inebriated but quite funny and wishes Max good luck.
After everyone shouts “speech,” Max takes front and center and thanks all for coming. He first thanks Kamekona for hosting. He then tells everyone he is leaving the ME’s office in very capable hands, but he leaves us all a little hope that we may see him again by saying if they ever need to consult with him on past or future case’s he will be available through email or text.
As Max looks out upon everyone there, his demeanor begins to change. You can see the things on his face that he wants to say but doesn’t until he looks at Jerry for reassurance and then there it is. It is time to share his feelings for his Ohana.
He begins with what he will miss the most will be his adopted family which is all of them. He looks at Steve and tells him he always wanted a big brother and when Five-0 began he finally got one in Steve.
He next tells Danny that although he may be surprised to know that he always considered him a role model, to which Danny replies that it does surprise him. Steve chimes in too that it surprises all of them.
He tells Chin that he going to make an amazing father to Sara as he is the truest meaning of the word Ohana that Max has ever known.
Next he thanks Kono because without her, he would never have married Sabrina and that her loving relationship with Adam is what he and Sabrina hope to always strive for.
Max tells Lou that he will miss his smile, and although he may be a cop from Chicago, the islands have claimed him as one of their sons for which they are all better for it.
He next tells Jerry for being a friend and for all his counsel which has changed him in so many ways.
He ends with saying that they all will always be Ohana to him forever and says I love you, as he tears up. At that point all the hugs and crazy dance moves (Steve) come from everyone with the many flashbacks of Max moments that we all remember fondly. It is clear as to how much Masi who plays Max means to the group there and that they have all become friends. An interview released after the showing, Masi even said it all came from his heart and he even made some of it up to speak actor to actor instead of character to character. It did have that feel.
And as I watched, this doesn’t seem like the show anymore. It seems to me like I’m watching real friends, real family at a real farewell party saying goodbye to someone we really love and hold in our hearts.
So I am choosing not to rate this episode as it is hard to rate the overall when the end was truly a 10. It just doesn’t get any better than experiencing real family- Ohana. We will all miss you too Max ?? Aloha!
