Hawaii Five 0 Episode 7.21 Ua malo’o ka wai Recap

 

 

It was time for another episode of Hawaii Five 0 last night, and right behind that comes the recap. Episode 21 marks the return of Five 0’s current worst enemy and our best “bad guy”, or woman in this case, Michelle Shioma. In this episode we find out where she has been since escaping through the floorboards of her home, so let’s jump into Susan’s recap so you can find out, too.

 

 

As the episode begins we are watching a young couple in a small sail boat who have run into a storm. They are taking on water so the woman calls May Day on the radio to no avail, as the man sees a large vessel which they think has come to rescue them. They board the boat and discover the crew has been massacred. Cue the music.

 

 

After the opening credits, Steve and Danny are in the doctor’s office where Steve is waiting for his doctor to give him his scheduled check-up for his liver transplant. While waiting, Danny is amusing himself with the doctor’s examination tools on Steve and says he has always wanted to do something. It turns out that something is to look in someone’s ears, not what Steve might have been thinking.  He first jokes around and says that there is nothing between Steve’s ears but he settles on there is something there but it is pea size.

 

 

The doctor walks in at that moment which leads Steve to apologize to the doctor for bringing Danny along. Steve jokingly says he could not find a sitter for his kid. (these two play-off of each other so well). The doctor soon gives Steve a clean bill of health.  He says Steve is healing a bit slow but doesn’t seem to be that concerned.  Danny finds the need to bring up their recent exposure to radiation, among other things and all to Steve’s objections. The doctor does tell Steve that it would be alright to start a light exercise routine which of course Danny and the rest of us find amusing. At that moment, as luck would have it, Steve’s phone rings and he and Danny are off to a case.

 

 

Next we are at Lou’s home where he and his son Will are preparing to go to Chicago. Lou is scheduled to testify against his former partner Clay Maxwell for stealing money. Will is a little sarcastic with Lou (wonder where he gets that) and Lou has to set him straight in a firm and comical manner. Will then seems to see the light.

 

 

Over at HQ Steve, Danny, and Jerry are at the table getting info on the vessel that the young couple boarded in the storm. It turns out it was a cutter ship out of Maui that lost contact thirty six hours earlier. The last official communication was with a Japanese commercial fishing troller entering US waters. When the troller didn’t respond to radio communications, the cutter engaged and must have been taken by surprise because everyone was killed. The guys feel this suggested they couldn’t afford any witnesses. Danny and Steve are thinking Yakuza and Jerry agrees as he pulls up slugs from the boat which ties them to the Yakuza family. Jerry then shows Steve and Danny they found proof it was related to Michelle Shioma. Jerry had tracked the troller to a beach off of Lana’i which is supposed to be abandoned. So now Steve and Danny believe that Michelle had been running her operation from there.

 

 

Next we see Steve and the team on their way to Lana’i by helicopter. Before landing, Steve sees the troller exactly where Jerry said it would be. Once on the ground, Steve notifies Jerry that he wants him to watch if the troller moves and to stay in contact. He also mentions that they could lose contact because the area is full of thick forestry that might hinder communications.

 

 

Meanwhile in Chicago, Lou and Will are settling into their hotel room and plan on going to the best pizza place in town. After a few moments a young officer, Officer Bennett, shows up telling Lou that he’s been sent to stay with Lou during his stay there for his safety. It turns out that the whole department is backing Clay Maxwell and very much against Lou. Lou talks to Bennett in the hallway and tells him no one will intimidate him and he will be just fine. He also tries to enlighten him what Clay really did and that the cop brotherhood should not surpass murder, theft, and putting a hit out on the Grovers. Bennett does not seem to buy it.

 

 

Back on the Island of Lana’i, Steve and the team come upon dead bodies hanging from the trees. Steve takes photos and sends them to Noelani. Just then an exploding canister is thrown at them ending the communication between Steve and Jerry. When the smoke clears, the team is surrounded by the Yakuza and overtaken. Their hands are tied and the bodies from the trees are cut down. The team is forced to drag the bodies behind them on their way to camp. One of the Yakuza men tells Steve that one of the bodies is that of Michelle Shioma. Danny mentions to Steve that the Yakuza are going to kill them.

 

 

Back at HQ, Jerry has gone to Noelani’s office where she’s tells him the bodies that Steve sent her pics of have been dead about six months and one does look to be female. Jerry then confides to Noelani that he believes that Five-0 is in serious trouble but worries he could be wrong. Noelani convinces Jerry that he should bring Duke into the loop because they may really be in trouble. Jerry is still unsure as Steve had told him that he believed that Michelle Shioma may still have moles within HPD but Noelani says Duke has always shown to be Ohana first and can be trusted.

 

 

Back on Lana’i the team arrives at the base camp where the new man in charge tells Steve he was warned that the Five-0 team may find them one day. He then orders the team into a make shift cage. Immediately, they realize they are in some serious trouble and discuss their way out. Danny defers to Steve as the Navy SEAL as he should know how to pick a lock, right? Steve says he was taught combat missions, not to become Houdini.

 

 

Back in Chicago, Lou and Will are at their favorite old pizza place for some male bonding when Lou notices an old friend on the force that used to be Will’s little league coach. When Lou goes over to say hello, he is met with total distain and is given the cold shoulder. The now promoted officer tells Lou he has no friends in Chicago any more. For the second time Lou has been shunned by former brothers in blue for doing the right thing and has come to the realization he is not welcome in his old hometown any longer. As he and Will leave the restaurant you can clearly see how hurt Lou is by all of this but he is also determined to follow the right path and not the corrupt one.

 

 

Back on Lana’i the Yakuza men are almost finished packing up camp to move now that they’ve been discovered. Steve and the team decide it’s time to make a move if they want to get out of this alive. Steve calls one of the men over to the cage and tells him that the lead Yakuza soldier is going to want to know what Steve has to tell him and asks to be taken to him. The man complies and Steve tells the lead soldier that he can get his hands on at least twenty million dollars of Michelle Shioma’s money that she left behind. They don’t believe Steve, especially since right at that point Michelle Shioma steps out of the shadows and says he’s lying.

 

 

Steve is shocked to see that he was lied to and that Michelle is very much alive. Shioma tells Steve he looks as if he’s seen a ghost. With a nod of her head, the men knock Steve to the ground. There he makes his move and begins to take out at least six men, as Michelle watches along with some others. Steve has no chance to overpower this many at once on his own and after being beaten, he is taken back to the rest of the team and thrown in the cage. He is now worse for the wear but not without a large bullet, which to Danny’s surprise, he plans on using it’s powder within to blow the lock. He also informs the team that Michelle Shioma is alive and that she just wanted them to believe she was dead.

 

 

Back with Lou and Will, Lou is dressing for court and tells Will he won’t be long and that he will be ok. Will knows Lou is worried because he didn’t sleep at all the night before. Lou explains to Will that doing the right thing isn’t always easy and that no matter what, you have to follow that or you won’t be able to live with yourself. This is why he is testifying against Clay even though it is the harder path. When Lou leaves the room he tells the officer to stay at the door of the room and that nothing had better happen to Will while he’s gone.

 

 

Back at HQ, Jerry’s at the computer table with Duke who is being brought up to date on Steve and the team. Jerry tells Duke that he’s sure they’re in trouble but that Steve believes there is still someone on Shioma’s payroll in HPD. Duke says maybe, but not the guys he’s going to get to help as they are his friends and Ohana.

 

 

Meanwhile Steve is about to blow the lock on the door because as expected, our hero is right and his plan works and they are free. Quickly they get the drop on the few Yakuza still packing up and they get their weapons. A gunfight ensues and the shots can be heard by Michelle and her crew on the troller they are on. Michelle orders them to pull up anchor and leave which is met by opposition until she shoots and kills one of them making her point.

 

 

The team runs out of ammunition and are about to be taken over when they hear helicopters overhead. HPD Helicopters rush in and begin firing at the men on the beach killing them and saving Steve and the team. Duke informs Jerry that they made it and all of Five-0 are safe. Jerry has really never looked so relieved. Steve radios Duke and thanks him but Duke informs Steve it was Jerry who deserves the thanks. Steve asks Jerry if he’s on the line. The look on Jerry’s face is priceless when Steve informs him he disobeyed a direct order. Jerry says he’s willing to accept the consequences but they still need to stop the troller. Duke breaks in saying they already have that under control.

 

 

We are then taken to the HQ where the team is back safe and sound. Steve and Danny enter the rendition room where Michelle Shioma is handcuffed to the infamous chair.  Steve tells Michelle he thinks she’s actually smarter than her father in that she operated for a year under their noses. Danny agrees. Steve tells her that he knows she plans to make a deal with the district attorney’s office and that he will do anything it takes to make sure she goes to prison for life instead, because she came after him and his team, and no one messes with his Ohana.

 

 

Michelle’s response is smug and cold. She tells Steve that she just might not go to prison as he thinks. I love Steve’s reply to her. He tells her that most of the people he threatens in this room back down at least a little bit but not her. Steve tells her that they found her daughters and the family she hid them with and they are willing to cooperate if they leave the girls out of it. This gets Michelle’s attention. Steve tells her that if she goes for a deal her daughters will grow up in a government institution. Her fate is sealed if she cares at all for her daughters.

 

 

Next we get to see Jerry walking into his office where there is a Five-0 badge on his desk. Looking a little confused, Chin walks in behind him and tells him to pick it up. Jerry asks if it’s his and asks if McGarrett knows? Chin looks back at the door where Steve, Danny, and Kono come in. Steve tells Jerry that he saved their lives and it has been a long time coming and he deserved it. Jerry is overwhelmed with emotion as the rest of them watch him put on his new badge. Of course when Jerry tries putting it on he sticks himself with the pin so Chin steps in and helps to put it on. Jerry and Chin hug as the others congratulate Jerry. At long last Jerry has a badge.

 

 

Before leaving Chicago, Lou is back at the pizza place looking at the pictures on the wall of all his former friends and himself remembering all the good times and relationships that are to never be again. This was a truly moving moment as this is often the way life can be when doing the right thing.

 

 

He heads back to his room where Will is waiting. Lou goes into the bathroom and breaks down over his loss of his old friendships in another emotional scene. He pulls himself together and heads out where Will has ordered some room service including all the goodies that Rene has told Will to keep Lou from eating while away. What happens in Chicago stays in Chicago, right? As they sit down to eat, Will tells his Dad he is proud of him and Lou knows it is all worth it.

 

 

 

 

This was another good episode. Although the “A” story seemed to turn into the “B” story when it comes to airtime, the “B” story was well written and enacted. Chi’s acting was also right on point and Chosen Jacobs, as Will also provided a strong performance. There was also some action with the Yakuza and the team, emotion with Jerry’s badge and Lou’s story, and McDanno comedy at the doctor’s office. I think they missed the mark with wrapping up the Shioma story so quickly and easily as that had potential written all over it. Also they seemed to jam too much in one episode. Therefore, for these reasons and more, I give this one an 8.5 on the rating.