The end of February sweeps has arrived with last night’s episode and Hawaii Five 0 knew how to go out with a bang. The ratings have been great and there is no doubt they will continue through the rest of this stellar season. With that being said it is time for Susan’s recap of 7.18.
Well for the fourth week in a row we are really excited to see this week’s episode and this time if is for our back to the basics Steve and Danny time.
As we begin we see the team driving up to what looks like an empty warehouse of sorts. As they enter the building with guns drawn they systematically do an area by area search. Finding nothing, Steve surmises they got bad intel and decides they are leaving. At that moment a large explosion occurs and in slow motion we see each of our heroes thrown backwards and up into the air with debris flying all around them. We view each one of them and the expressions on their faces as well as the position they are set in.
The very next scene is of Steve and Danny in front of a class of HPD officers with Steve explaining to the class on how to conduct a successful raid. He says that it’s very important that above all you must have total confidence and trust in your team and partners. It’s at this time that Danny can no longer keep silent and expresses his dismay at Steve’s reference to trust. Steve asks Danny if there’s anything he would like to add to which Danny agrees trust is the bedrock of any situation. He goes on to add that’s it’s important in the personal part of working relationships as well. That’s when the seminar to the class goes off course with Steve and Danny having their first class-gument where Danny accuses Steve of snooping in Danny’s office while looking for a pen. As we all know the only way to put a swift end to this is to have an intermediator and this time it is our very much beloved Duke who comes to the rescue.
Next we are in the car with Steve and Danny and the discussion continues there. Guess they should have brought Duke along…Apparently Danny has a “things to do in life” list and Steve read it. This time it is a classic cargument with Steve and Danny but Danny wants to drop it and Steve wants to continue to explain it.
Shortly we are shown the McGarrett home and Steve entering while on the phone with Chin. He seems to be discussing how right he was in the disagreement that he was just having with Danny. Chin is trying not to take sides. This is different as Steve is not typically the one that doesn’t want to let it go! While still on the phone with Chin and walking towards the back door of the house, Steve sees the door open and there is blood on the wall. He tells Chin he’ll call him back and draws his weapon. As he searches the rooms, he follows the blood on the wall to the kitchen where he’s surprised to see Sang Min sitting on the floor covered in blood from a gunshot wound.
After the wave we come back to see Sang Min being patched up by our new medical examiner, Noelani. She says the wound was clean through and through and no arteries were hit. Sang Min is simultaneously complaining about waiting so long for McGarrett to come home while he was bleeding out in the kitchen.
Not being used to Sang Min’s lovable ways and listening to him and Steve’s banter, Noelani is understandably a little freaked out at tending to the living in Steve’s home. Sang Min explains that he got a call from an old friend, Xander, wanting to get a refugee family on to the island and although he has been out of the business for some time how could he not help the mother and her keikis so he agreed to help. He went to the docks where the containers were and no family was there just one man. He realizes he was played. When Xander had opened the container the man inside shot him. Sang Min ran when seeing this but was shot doing so. Sang Min tells Steve he doesn’t know who the man inside was but he does tell him his friend Xander was into document forging.
We next see Chin and Lou at the docks with the containers and they have found Xander’s body inside of one. Kono comes up with an ID from the prints they lifted off the container and the shooters name is Desmond Abati, a Nigerian national and one of Interpol’s most wanted. He’s been connected to IED attacks throughout the Middle East and is a bomb maker, but not just any bomb maker as he trained with Isis and is a wanted terrorist.
Now back at HQ, the team assembled at the table, are running background on Xander as HPD found a laptop with e-mails and payments to Xander from a guy named Nadim Taham, a resident of Kaleialoha. The FBI has had Taham on their watch list for a long time. Taham hired Xander to bring Abati to Hawaii. Kono also pulls up a remote piece of land where talk has been of starting up a terrorist training camp on US soil. Chin believes this is where Abati is building bombs. Steve instructs Chin and Kono to go check out Taham’s place and that he and Danny are going to check out the remote jungle location for Abati. No need to say Danny is not thrilled about this as it is in the middle of nowhere with no roads in and no roads out.
Next scene, Steve and Danny are in a plane in a tandem parachute ready to jump out with Danny expressing how dumb the whole thing is and that he’s changed his mind. However he has no choice and they jump. Steve’s loving it but Danny is not even willing to open his eyes.
Soon on the ground, its back to the discussion of Danny’s “things in life to do” list, while walking through the jungle. It seems that Danny is thinking about his retirement and wanting to open an Italian restaurant. Steve just can’t believe this and makes a clearly you got to be kidding face. The banter has been taken up a few notches in this episode.
Kono and Chin have finished clearing Taham’s place and inform Steve by phone. After the phone call, Steve turns around to see Danny and himself surrounded by armed terrorists. While being taken to a camp, Steve is surveilling the situation and he notices the uranium and Abati. They also pass a truck with a ready to go bomb in the back.
At the right moment Steve and Danny get the drop on the gunmen and end up taking out the whole camp except, of course, Abati, who escapes on a quad. However, the real problem is the dying terrorist who pushes the button on a remote control that starts a timer on the bomb in the bed of the truck.
When Steve and Danny look at the timer it reads one hour. Steve says he can’t defuse this one as it has too many fail safes on it. He needs help from an expert and they have no cell service to call for help. Steve decides to drive the truck to a clear area to get cell service. Steve thinks if the rest of the team can find Abati they can get him to help defuse it. Danny thinks driving the truck with a uranium bomb through the jungle is the worst idea he’s ever heard. (No surprise there) Before starting up the truck which could jar the bomb enough to go off, Steve tells Danny he loves him and starts the truck. They make it through that and start a slow drive.
Meanwhile Abati, now to a main road, stops an HPD officer, claims he had an accident, and shoots and kills him escaping in the police car.
Back to the jungle, Steve and Danny are still making their way to a clear area. They are starting to have a deep conversation as to why Danny has the list when there’s a new problem. It appears that the gas is being used at record speed and there is a leak in the gas line. Steve says he will repair it by melting a rubber floor mat with a flare to seal the hole. Again Danny thinks it’s a bad idea to mix flares, gasoline and uranium bombs together. You got to admit he has a point and so did Steve, so he gets Danny to hold a wet stick in between the flair and the line to insulate it. To no one’s surprise, this works too and the heroes are still alive.
Back at HQ, Lou gets information on the HPD officer killed and the cruiser that was hijacked. He informs Kono and Chin by phone who are on the way back. Everyone is also concerned that they can’t reach Steve and Danny on the phones.
Back on the move again, Steve and Danny are once again facing a new problem; a large creek. It is too deep to drive through so Steve decides to use the wood from the rails and part of the bed of the truck as a bridge to cross. Danny asks Steve whether all the decisions are always going to be his or does he also get to weigh in. Steve says Danny had made a very important decision without him and he is one to talk. It now comes out, while building the bridge crossing, that Steve’s feelings are hurt that Danny didn’t tell him he was thinking of retiring. Danny tells Steve he hurt his feelings by laughing at his restaurant idea. Steve refers their relationship to Danny’s and his ex-wife’s which Danny finds amusing but answers the question posed.
Meanwhile, back in town we see Chin and Kono racing up to the stolen police cruiser that Abati had stolen and left. When they check out the cruiser, they see Abati has run a name in the system; Sang Min.
Now stashed at a hotel, Sang Min who is enjoying his recovery concerned over the wildlife on TV, gets up to answer the pounding on his door. When he opens it, it’s Abati demanding that Sang Min get him off the island.
We are taken back to Steve and Danny who have now built the bridge. Steve guides Danny over it very carefully. Danny clearly nervous, almost freezes when the boards begin to bend but Steve gets him through it even though he too feels the danger in the situation.
Next to Sang Min and Abati who are on the docks where he is set to get away. Abati sensing things are too quiet, pulls a gun and threatens to kill Sang Min if police don’t show themselves. The rest of the team and HPD come out with weapons drawn. Abati threatens Sang Min again and Lou says go ahead kill him as they are not letting Abati go for a known felon. That did it… Sang Min is shocked and concerned but it is just a time killer as Kono is set up out of site with her rifle and scope. (Do we need to say any more on that subject?)
Back with Steve and Danny, and 10 minutes to detonation, they finally are in the clearing and have a signal. They get Chin on the line and explain what’s going on and that they need Abati. Chin tells them they have Abati but you guessed it, he’s dead.
We next see Steve on video phone showing the bomb to a Navy bomb expert. She tells Steve there’s no way to defuse this one but if they can remove the uranium inside and get as far away from the blast radius they may make it. They decide that only one of them has to risk this and Steve being the control freak that he is, decides it will be him even though Danny was also willing to do it.
To shield himself from the radiation, Steve comes up with the idea to strap the truck battery to his chest to protect what organs he could. With the expert’s help Steve removes the uranium rods from the bomb and puts the rods back in the canister safe from the radiation. Now they have to get the bomb off the truck and as they say “Haul Ass”.
While doing so Danny apologizes to Steve for not telling him about wanting to retire and opening a restaurant. Steve says he’s sorry too, Danny says for what and Steve says for what he’s about to do as he flips the truck over on its side. He kicks out the windshield and they both get in front of the engine block for protection, all while hearing Danny telling Steve he’s crazy.
Sitting in front of the engine, Steve tells Danny if he opens that restaurant he wants him to name it “Steve’s” because if he does that no matter what happens they will be together still. Danny tells Steve he’s very sentimental. Seconds tick away and right before the blast Steve says “so we good on the name? ” the explosion is so loud that they can’t hear anything but they turn out to be alright. Danny yells out he’s not retiring but if he does he can’t name the restaurant “Steve’s”. Steve is so deaf from the explosion he thinks Danny said he’s naming it Steve’s and he’s ecstatic. That part was hilarious.
The next scene is at Steve’s house. Everyone is having dinner with Danny being the chef for the Italian meal which to everyone’s surprise is very good. He has come a long way since those burnt frittata days.
Sang Min however is still angry with Lou for the kill him remark so he squashes a dinner roll that Lou asks him to pass. Lou explains it was a diversion. Everyone is enjoying this. Lou’s phone rings and he takes it outside on Steve’s patio. Steve notices that Lou is upset through the window and goes out to see what’s wrong. Lou tells Steve that it was HPD and that the company that owned the truck, (K & L) that the bomb was on was contracted to do work on buildings across the street from HPD and the Palace at the same time the Governor was scheduled to be there. So Steve looking back at everyone inside at the table eating (his Ohana) concludes now that the Governor, Five-0, and HPD were the targets of the bomb all along. So the opening scene…a precursor or just what could have been? Stay tuned.
Wow, this was great. For me, each week has been better than the one before. I loved Steve and Danny time and was reminded of the beginning episodes in season one. The show is hard to beat when Steve and Danny are doing their thing and the way they care for one another is heartwarming. The chemistry between Alex and Scott is unbeatable and once again they brilliantly acted many different emotions throughout this one. The story was great and kept me on the edge of my seat right from the opener all the way to the end. The special effects were also killer (pun intended) For me, this was a 9.5. If they keep it up, maybe we will see another 10 like the 100th episode before the end of the season, afterall.
There is no new episode next week so the recap will be back after the March 10th episode. If it has been anything like the season so far, it will be worth the wait.
It was K&L Constitution. Great show I loved this episode.