Hawaii Five-0 Season 8

DVD Wholesale Quick Overview:

McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin), Danno (Scott Caan) and the Five-0 task force continue to wipe out the crime that washes up on the islands’ sun-drenched beaches, and this year are joined by new and old friends to help in their mission.

Maybe, probably, my opinion will be unpopular. See, I saw the first season of this revamped Hawaii Five-O but then fell off. I don’t even know why. Too many other shows on, I guess. What actually brought me back was hearing the news of the show getting a shake-up. You can’t – musn’t, really – marginalize the concern that Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim had brought up, about how they felt they weren’t being compensated as well as the white actors. I think it’s a legit issue, and their decision to leave – right on!

I heard about Park and Kim’s departure and got curious about how CBS and the show would handle Season 8. Also, I felt this was sort of a fresh start, a new jumping-on point for me. And, just like that, my DVR got even more crammed. So, perspective from a guy what’s only seen the first season. It’s nice to see that McGarrett and Danny had become this tight, although I saw that coming even back then. I did enjoy their bickering buddy cop chemistry. Their potentially disastrous partnering-up for a restaurant venture would be a running plotline thru Season 8.

There are repeated mentions of Kono and Chin Ho, gratifyingly. Chin Ho Kelly is in San Francisco running his own task force. Kono Kalakaua is also in the mainland assigned to a federal task force dedicated to shutting down a sex trafficking network.

It’s not like Hawaii Five-O is an innovative, game-changing show. It presents typical lawman action fare. McGarrett keeps on being this indomitable cop and there’s Danny making snide remarks at him. There’s the typical fancy tech support system. And the typical collar of the week.

Oh, but you also have Hawaii as a backdrop and the laid-back lifestyle that goes with inhabiting the Aloha State. There’s something very neat about watching 5-0 conducting their business in flip-flops. If I were to become a badge, let me be one in Hawaii, please. The luscious scenery. The food! The warmth of the inhabitants. The colors pop!

I had an insta-crush on Tani Rey soon as I eyeballed her. A Honolulu lifeguard who once was a police candidate until she broke her training officer’s nose, she’s recruited by McGarrett because he needed a “a cop who doesn’t think like a cop.” Sure enough, the more we see of Tani as Season 8 rolled out, the more she comes off like a female version of McGarrett. I mean, who else would ask McGarrett if he could drive any faster? She’s a rule breaker and a risk taker and can handle herself in a fight. Season 8’s first episode (“A’ole e ‘olelo mai ana ke ahi ua ana ia”) introduces Tani AND also features Randy Couture as a guest star. There’s a neat bone-crunching scrap between Tani and Couture’s firebug and, much later, one more encounter in which Tani messes him up while in the middle of a forest fire and then barks at McGarrett: “I’m done with this wienie roast. Can we get out of here?” Anyway, Meaghan Rath plays Tani Rey, and she should call me.

The other new cast member of HPD is Beulah Koale. He plays Junior Reigns, a young ex-Navy SEAL who becomes a police candidate and a semi-permanent house guest of Steve’s. It took longer for me to warm up to him, maybe because, to me, his insertion into the team feels more forced and contrived. But Junior’s a cool cat.

Old fan favorites pop up (British agent Harry Langford in “Kau pahi, ko’u kua. Kau pu, ko’u po’o” and “Ahuwale Ka Nane Huna”; Catherine Rollins in “He Lokomaika’I Ka Manu O Kaiona”). Some of the side characters get spotlight episodes (Grover in “O Ka Mea Ua Hala, Ua Hala Ia”; Duke and Jerry in “Kopi Wale No I Ka I’a A ‘Eu No Ka Ilo”). If there’s a running thread thru Season 8 – besides McGarrett and Danno’s chaotic business venture – it’s to do either with the mystery of who’s targeting Danny or HPD’s creeping suspicion that there’s a new criminal kingpin in play. Which is where Adam Noshimuri, formerly a Yakuza prince, comes in as McGarrett asks him for a really big favor. Yes, Kono may be gone, but her hubbie’s still around and, now, Ian Anthony Dale, who plays Adam, has been bumped up as a regular cast member. Which may be tricky since Dale is also in another show, Salvation.

I wish there were more of a connective tissue among the episodes. The show is too episodic, too much “case of the week.” However, I did like “I Ka Wa Ma Mua, I Ka Wa Ma Hope,” which is actually a follow-up episode and gives us a peek into an alternate future, and “Oni Kalalea Ke Ku A Ka La’au Loa,” which is a Christmas episode.

I’m glad I came back onboard. Season 8 has a whopping 25 episodes and, sure, most of them are formulaic stuff, and Adam’s organized crime arc doesn’t really pay off and then has the balls to end in a cliffhanger. But I kept in mind that Season 8 was essentially the showrunners doing on-the-fly, improvisational work due to Park and Kim’s sudden departure. But I found myself sort of addicted because of the locale and the culture and the humor that sometimes doesn’t work (I’m looking at you, Uncle Vito) and the likability of the cast. I like the two new additions, especially Tani Rey (call me). I’m not saying that those hating on Season 8 are mostly folks who are butt-hurt that Kono and Chin Ho are gone… no, wait, I am saying that.

– H. Bala

From what I have seen of season 8, of the first 2 episodes, there is a underlying sadness that seems to prevail on the show this season. The absence of Grace Park,(excellent actress and just gorgeous.) and DDK,( who gave the show heart and soul.) is really obvious. Alex and Scott’s characters lovingly mentions their two friend’s absence and how they miss them…(They seem to give the fans a message that they really miss them in real life too.) The reason the two left the show was over contract issues, but that being said,following the news during Grace and Daniel’s departure, there seems to be a continuing real friendship with the cast, producers and crew of the show in spite of the contract disagreements. Both sides seem to leave open the possibility of a cameo return at some later date, which is rare in this business. Of course this opened more time to explore the other characters on the show as well introduce new ones. So far the two new additions to Five-0, Meaghan Rath and Buelah Koale, do their best to fill the void left by Grace and Daniel. Both rookies are both looking pretty sharp, and quickly earn their places on the show IMO. Hawaii’s native population is a main feature of this great franchise and are well represented by local actresses and actors of all ethnic stripes, which makes this show so different from most shows today. Like Magnum PI, I expect Five 0 to continue to be a classic franchise…and a icon in American pop culture for many years to come.
Aloha!

– LD

DVD Wholesale Main Features :   

Actors: Daniel Kim, Scott Caan Alex O Loughlin
Directors: Bryan Spicer
Format: PAL
Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Region: Region 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number of discs: 6
Rated:  NR – Not Rated
Studio: Universal Sony Pictures Entertainment
Run Time: 1029.00 minutes