H50 Ep: Hoa Pili

[the_other_sandy]

I realize that picking out WTF moments in this show is kind of like shooting fish in a barrel. I'm frequently capable of ignoring them, but when there's very little in the way of plot or character moments, there's really not much left to distract me from them.

• Boys? When you're using clock positions, three o'clock is ninety degrees to your right. It is not directly in front of you. Please to be looking to your right when someone tells you sharks are circling at your three o'clock.

• Why did Kono drop a shipping container on the drug smuggler? She was armed, she's a sniper, and she admittedly didn't know how to use a crane. She could have easily killed her teammates by accident. Plus, those cranes do not move containers either quickly or quietly. Everybody should have seen and heard it coming, and even if they didn't, she could have shot everybody a dozen times over in the time it took her to play with the crane. (Although I may have to forgive this one because it ended in surprise Danny badassery and that makes up for a lot.)

• You don't get a helicopter pilot's license by playing flight sims, even if it is top of the line and even if you're playing it on Steve McGarrett's couch. And there's no way Kamekona managed to get a commercial pilot's license, which is what he would need to run tours, if he can't even look out his side window without nearly plowing into the ocean. Yes, I know, it's meant to be comic relief, but even as a joke this went so far past plausible it's outside of helicopter range.

I did like the surprise Danny badassery, Danny being the one on the team with experience on drug cases, and all the scenes between Steve and Danny in the car, but generally this episode was just way too choppy, and a lot of things seemed to happen for no real reason other than the script said so.

Comments

[and-ed.livejournal.com]

There was so much WTF in this one I didn't even catch it all...like the clock thing! There was a lot I loved, but this one isn't going to be one of my faves. Although I will be watching them singing in the helicopter more than once!

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

The singing in the helicopter thing triggered my embarrassment squick. I had to mute both the teaser video and the episode after a bit.

helicopter theory

[wendybnyc.livejournal.com]

I think Kamekona has passed the written test and started his lessons, Steve is letting him second-seat. (Steve has license and instructor certification). Anything they say to the contrary is just fucking with Danny.

Re: helicopter theory

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

I hope you're right, but I'm terrified you're not. Future episodes will tell.

[mangacat201.livejournal.com]

My biggest WTF moments lately are the fricking non-related expositions. If they have time for five minutes of soap-opera-drama, why not put in something like... Steve and Cath being at odds over trust issues for more than ten minutes??
Not even touching the helicopter thing with a ten-foot-pole.

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

I was definitely expecting a bigger reaction from Steve over Cath keeping secrets from him.

[mangacat201.livejournal.com]

And it would such a good set up for some internal team drama and tension, no? They tank it again. Just like they tank anything on that show that even has a whiff of deeply thought out character continuity. I just don't get why they sabotage themselves so reliably.

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

Trying to appeal to too many demographics at once, I suspect. They want enough character stuff to attract a female audience, but not so much that it drives off the male audience. Because men apparently only like car chases and explosions. Or something.

[mangacat201.livejournal.com]

Well, I have absolutely no problem with car chases and explosions and I find the procedural ineptness of the cases more endearing than annoying most of the time. It's that refusal to give credit to their own good ideas and follow through with them. Or maybe just the inability to *recognize* their own good ideas. I don't know. But I agree about the demographics, they're way too worried about being an advertisement/representative sometimes to be worried about narrative. Ah well, fix-it-fic it is.

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

I think you're right about their inability to recognize their own good ideas. I can't think of any other reason why they had Steve and Danny spend so much time apart last season. Screen chemistry like that doesn't come along every day. Why waste it?

[mangacat201.livejournal.com]

Indeed, though we can't discount executive meddling which I'm about 95% sure happened in a big way. But still, they just drop too many balls that really don't need dropping. Maybe it's that they don't take time to stand back to look at the big picture once in a while. I think that's a problem for a lot of procedurals because the format is so tuned to single-case-episodes. But that doesn't justify dragging and dropping character and season arcs at leisure.

[bookwurm.livejournal.com]

My big "Huh?" moment was the set of scenes at the end where they reveal that everything that happened was pointless because the drugs were no good, then the 5-0 team did community service. Um, what? I can kindof understand them wanting to keep good relations with the Kapu, but why would Steve and Kono show up to help out the shark tour guy?

At least the scene with Chin and Leilani was sweet.

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

I was wondering about that, too. I can see Danny volunteering to help Kawika rebuild as a peace offering after their previous encounters, but the rest of it? And Five-0 attending the victim's funeral last episode? Not so much.