After a short break and before a long one, a new episode of Hawaii Five 0 popped back in last night. It continued strong and it was good to see Jessie back working with Adam and to also be entertained with Uncle Vito. Overall, it was a fun episode. Thanks to those helping with the recap as it is appreciated it. There were a lot of scenes so that means lots of pics. Check it out and see if you missed any of the tidbits.
The episode begins with some beautiful scenery and a young man cliff diving by the falls. He opens his eyes and sees a dead man that is all tied up with chicken wire. The wave rolls and so does the credits in one of the shortest openers in a while.
After that we see an older man that is sunning himself on the beach using a mirrored type of foil to intensify the rays. A lifeguard comes up and tells him this is not a good idea to which the older man tell the guy to take a hike or else.
He is soon interrupted again and this time it is Danny and Steve. It is revealed that the older man is Danny’s uncle who is there to help the guys with the failing restaurant. With some jabs and some “Jersey humor” going on between them, Steve seems concerned, but they all leave the beach and head to the restaurant.
At the restaurant, Vito is checking out the place and turns to the guys and says it will be an easy job. He seems to think that they have brought him there to torch the place so they can get the insurance money. To say the least, Steve is not thrilled with this reaction. After finding out that the guys really want to make a run for it and make it successful, he spouts off the stats on restaurant failures.
The scene goes back and forth for a while in usual comical sense but eventually lands with Danny giving Vito five thousand dollars and a list of things they need for the restaurant. Steve is very weary of this and takes Danny aside and shares his concern. Danny asks for Steve’s trust and Steve gives it to him reluctantly when he receives the usual crime scene call away.
They are called back to HQ to which the rest of the team is discussing the newest case. Junior fills them in on the dead body the cliff diver found in the opening scene. The murder was done by blunt trauma to the skull and they do not know much except the lab was able to identify the dead body as a private eye named Pruitt.
Switching to the third story of the night, a hooded person gets into a very expensive hot looking car as Hideki Tashiro and his men look on. It is Hideki’s car and it is being stolen. After jetting through the streets of Honolulu, the car pulls into a warehouse and the doors close. The thief gets out of the car and it is Adam who Jessie (the CI Adam hired from last episode) comes up to. They discuss that the first part of their plan worked and how that was the easy part.
Adam and Jessie continue to discuss their plan after Adam reveals to Jessie he had been into hot fast cars since he was fourteen when he stole his dad’s car for a joyride. They also discuss what the next step is as Jessie is concerned that her life will be on the line but Adam tells her to trust him. There is a mechanic wiring the car with a bug and a GPS tracker in the background.
Next we see Danny calling his Uncle Vito and Vito says do not worry as he has everything under control. He alludes to having to go because he needs to talk to someone about some copper plumbing. Meanwhile what Vito is really doing is chumming up to a woman named Nicole at the Hilton bar trying to impress her with his Frank Sinatra “in the old days” stories. She seems impressed as she mentions going up to his room at the hotel.
Back at HQ, Junior is sharing what they know about Pruitt. He had 11 active cases at the time of his death and five that he actually had addressed within 48 hours prior. There is also a photo that seems to lead nowhere found on his phone. Steve says they need to go with what makes sense and chase down the recent cases with each of them taking one.
However, the only one that we see being followed on screen is the one that Junior is on. He is talking to Micah Kalani’s wife who hired Pruitt to track down what happened to her husband after he has been missing for two years. She does not believe the story that she is being told from the police. She shows Junior a photo of the family and Micah has a bracelet on that Junior hones in on as being out of the ordinary. She also says that Pruitt was following a lead he found by Waimea.
He leaves the house and calls Steve sharing his findings. Steve says it makes sense since the body was found only half a mile away from Waimea. Steve asks why now if Micah has been missing for two years and Junior says he spoke to HPD and Micah is no longer a missing person anymore. Steve asks why is that.
The reason is revealed as next Steve and Junior are in Steve’s office talking with Micah’s parents. They have a VM from Micah proving he is alive. Steve asks some questions including why Susan would have hired Pruitt if he was not a missing person anymore. Micah’s parents tell them that she has her own agenda and is after the insurance money. Micah’s dad said he thought his son was in trouble as he had been asking for a lot of money the last time they saw him.
Switching away from this story, Jessie is driving up to the shipyard where Hideki and his men are. She exits the car and confidently and sarcastically tells Hideki she made him a second key. Hideki says he could kill her for what she has done but in the long run decides it took courage to have returned it knowing exactly that. He lets her walk away.
Back at HQ, the team is discussing the Kalani situation around the table. Tani and Junior reveal that Kalani was indeed in financial strain when he went missing. When someone is in those dire circumstances they could turn to loan sharks or bookies and something could have gone bad with one of the deals. Based on that Steve says Kalani could easily be the murderer.
There is a short reminder of the Adam and Jessie story as we see them listening to Hideki in the car she returned to him which they bugged.
Back at HQ Steve and Junior are discussing where Kalani could be hiding and Steve says lets head out to the falls as that would be a logical place to hide out. He is stopped short in his tracks by Tani who shares she has new evidence.
Next in Steve’s office, Steve and Tani confront Micah’s father about setting up the earlier tape to make it look like Micah was still alive. He admits he did it for his wife and that he also feels guilty as Micah had come to him right before he went missing and asked for money. His father thought that tough love would be the better way to go and did not give him anything. He is now second guessing his decision.
Next we are taken to the Taka Barber shop where Hideki is getting his hair cut. In walks Jessie who takes the seat next to him. She plays it off like a coincidence but Hideki does not believe in coincidences. He puts a blade up to her face and starts to question her real reason she is showing up in his life. She confesses that she wants a job with him as he is the only one left on the island that fits for her skills since the big bust went down taking down everyone else.
Adam is outside listening to the whole thing when he hears Hideki say he would be taking Jessie for a ride to get to know her better. His goons and him walk out together but leave separately. Adam takes off following one of them.
If you forgot that Uncle Vito was in town, the show jerks you back there with the next scene at the Sea and Salt Hotel that has a maid walking in on him tied up to a bed. He says it is not what she thinks it is and that he has been robbed. Guess that woman at the bar had her way with him in a whole different way than what he was expecting.
Returning to HQ, there is new evidence in the Pruitt case as it seems as if they found his car and in it were some receipts from a mental hospital nearby. The receipts lead to a Greg Isaacs who Pruitt went to visit there. Greg has been at the hospital since he was found coming out of the Kalihi jungle area and he had clearly snapped due to a traumatic event. He too, was wearing a bracelet similar to the one that was in the picture that Micah’s wife showed Junior.
Off go Steve and Danny to the hospital to talk to Greg. Greg is non-respondent until they show him a picture of Kalani to which he loses his mind all over again and needs to be restrained by the nurses.
While Danny is shown getting Uncle Vito’s VM again when calling him from the hospital Steve is questioning Greg who mumbles something about a bridge. Steve keeps asking what he means but a nurse will not let him go any further and he gets nothing else.
Vito is now at Kamekona’s truck talking to Kame. Vito tells him the story about being robbed and asks for Kame’s help as the woman stole his Rolex and the money Steve and Danny gave him. Kame asks whether the watch was real or not and since it was fake, Kame thinks he can help.
He obviously was successful as they show up at the woman’s house. They had tracked her down from a pawn shop who told Kame she was trying to sell a fake Rolex. However, she does not have the money as she has gone shopping. Vito tells her to pick it all up as they were going on a returning spree. Kame also picks up a statue that she spent some good coin on that also will need to be returned.
Steve and Danny return to HQ discussing that Vito is not picking up Danny’s calls. Grover says he has a headache as they cannot figure out what Greg’s bridge comment means as there is no bridge anywhere near where Greg was found. Steve says he knows it is connected so keep digging.
Meanwhile Hideki and Jessie are chatting in a high rise condo drinking sake as Hideki says he needs to trust his people. How can he be sure she is legit and she won’t roll on him if she gets caught? Adam is listening when he notices Hideki’s car they had wired heading to a location to check for the wiring. He takes off like a bat out of hell to go head them off.
Tani is next seen in her office looking at pictures of Kalani. She zooms in on a book she sees in one of the picture backgrounds and turns the title around showing “Crossing the Bridge”. She takes it to the team out around the table and shows them she thinks she has found the bridge Greg was talking about.
She explains that this book was written by a success guru, Visha Kundaha. He runs something like a cult that also gives out color bracelets to his followers when they get to the each step. Both Kalani and Greg have the same colored bracelets showing they made it to the final step. Grover has also pulled up that Kundaha’s real name is Devin Walsh.
Meanwhile Adam is rushing to the mechanic’s area who just revealed to Hideki’s man, Ikko, that the car was wired by the police. Ikko calls Hideki and as he is about to get on the phone Adam has arrived and has a gun to Ikko’s head. Ikko hands over the phone and Adam tells Ikko to get on his knees as he hangs up on Hideki.
Next, Steve and the team have arrived at the jungle area in Kalihi Valley where Walsh had bought some land. They come upon the compound and step out with their big guns pointing at the residents. They ask for Walsh but the residents have also pointed rifles at the team.
Walsh walks out to find out what is happening. Steve tells them to drop their weapons if they do not want to get hurt. Walsh says they have their own mind and will do what they feel is right. One of them steps forward and aims when he is swiftly taken out. Needless to say the rest put down their weapons allowing the team to arrest Walsh.
They bring him to the blue room and Steve and Grover lay out the case against him. They had found Hawaiian WoodRose plants at the compound whose seeds make up a hallucinogenic. It seems he was using it as the final part of the bridge sequence and Micah and Pruitt had figured it out. Walsh denies everything but after finding out his people have confessed and turned on him he realizes he is doomed. Grover and Steve walk out each saying their peace.
Shortly, upstairs, Steve and Junior are sharing the news of Micah’s death with his wife and Tani has brought in the parents after she has done the same. The family members embrace over the loss as the team looks on.
Wrapping up the Vito story comes next, as he is at the restaurant with Steve and Danny. Danny is going over all of the great stuff Vito has purchased for them and Steve says thanks with an implication he could have been wrong. They see the statue that the girl bought that now has a Hawaiian skirt on. Vito and Kame are passing it off as something they bought them for the restaurant. Danny tells him to return it and come to find out it is not returnable (you don’t say). A few more jokes occur including the usual one around a restaurant’s chance of profitability.
The final scenes revolve around Adam and Jessie. They are on the phone discussing how they got away with things and how their plan is working. Adam says Ikko and the guys at the mechanic shop will not be heard from again as he has them tucked away good. Jessie is concerned for her life if Hideki finds out anything and Adam assures her once again. As he gets off the phone a masked man intensely stuns him and leaves him unconscious.
He is next shown waking up with his arms and feet tied and shackled in a large crate in the middle of nowhere. Oh uh – and the screen goes black until March 2nd.
This one was good so we will give it a 9. Once again there were three stories at once and although it is better than four from the previous weeks, it still is a lot of back and forth. With that being said, the show does a good job of keeping things fast paced getting a lot done in 42 minutes. To us it would be better if they cut it down to two stories at a time but they must have their reasons.
Uncle Vito played by Vincent Pastore was a perfect addition to represent some more of Jersey. He was funny and added some light moments to break up the intensity of the other two stories. The COTW was OK but after eight seasons, that is not what most tune in for.
We feel the best story of the night was Adam and Jessie. They were fun to watch and they have good chemistry together. It will be interesting to see how they get themselves out of the mess they have got themselves into. Unfortunately that will not be for some time as the next showing will be on March 2nd. Until then…
