Thoughts on S07E08 (another kidnapping show)


by Mr. Mike » Sat Nov 12, 2016 9:16 am
(Errors and omissions excepted)

• I never thought I would see an episode of Five-O or Five-Zero where one of the characters gave his son instruction in the facts of life, especially using the expression "no glove, no love."

• They are getting desperate for story lines (understatement of the year). In S01E05, the daughters of the Philippine ambassador are kidnapped to make him co-operate with rebels. (Don't get me going on how many story lines overall have been about kidnapping since the show began. In my review of S01E19, I pointed out that of the shows up to that point in the first season, 9 of them had been about kidnapping.) At least they got points for last night's show with the Philippine president refusing to co-operate and release some Al-Qaeda imam in exchange for the consul-general's son, a course of action which the current hardline president of the Philippines would certainly follow.

• Danno disarms one of the terrorists in the hotel, and takes away his weapon, which he then uses to shoot other bad guys. The sound of the shooting is very noisy. Why can't the terrorists in the ballroom hear this? Also, at the end of the show, a bunch of the baddies decide to go to a particular exit in the ballroom or in the hotel for no specified reason. Five-O and the cops meet them in this area and shoot them dead. Surely the people still in the ballroom could hear this? If so, why didn't they react by killing people as they were threatening to do?

• Grover's son Will changes the message on the sign outside the hotel from "Leeward Academy Winter Formal" to "Hostages Inside - Call 911". All he does is erase one message on the screen controlling this sign and replace it with another. But the font for this message changes from a relatively inconspicuous one to one in large red letters which can be seen from much further away.

• The terrorists' lookout at the front of the hotel works for the Philippine consulate; he is their security guy. He pulls out a gun and shoots at Grover, who is standing only a few feet away, but misses. This security guy is black, by the way, which struck me as odd. Wouldn't the consulate hire their own countrymen (i.e., Filipinos) for this job? Or is there some Hawaiian government rule regarding employment in a situation like this? I would expect diplomatic protocol would overrule local regulations, though. Considering this guy is "a degenerate gambler," according to Grover, who almost immediately finds this information out -- information which is presumably available to the consulate as well -- someone obviously screwed up by not vetting this guy before hiring him.

• The cops and Five-O get to the hotel almost immediately after Grover finally manages to tip off McGarrett that there is big trouble there.

• I am sure in previous episodes of the show, Chin's niece Sara seemed to be missing some teeth on the top of her mouth, but in this show, she had a full mouth of chompers.

• There was far too much baloney at the beginning of the show with the card game, though it did produce one big smile from O'Loughlin's McGarrett. There was also far too much hyperventilating by Danno over discovering that Grover's kid and his daughter were "a number," and reacting to the hostage situation in light of the fact that he had left his gun at home.

• The kinky woman at the dance registration desk asking Danno if he brought his handcuffs with him was nice ... maybe she can become Danno's new girl friend? This reminded me of the business with Danno and Lori getting handcuffed to each other in S02E12.

• The ring tone that Will has for his father on his cell phone is Moussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain (a scary classical piece famously heard in Disney's Fantasia).

• I kept thinking that Will is going to kiss Danno's daughter. Then there will be a huge stink, sort of like when Captain Kirk kissed Uhura in 1968. The show will cause an uproar in the southern USA, some stations will refuse to carry the show, etc., etc. Don't laugh that this couldn't happen these days, just go and read some of the news stories about racist incidents which have occurred in the last few days.


by honu59 » Sat Nov 12, 2016 9:33 am

(Tongue in cheek) Maybe they can do a spin-off from last night's episode, staring the teen children of Five-0. They can call it "Will and Grace."


Greatly expanded review of S07E08

by Mr. Mike » Sun Nov 13, 2016 4:57 pm

http://fiveohomepage.com/2010-log7.htm#8