Hawaii Five-0 1.11 “Palekaiko” Review

In my last review of Hawaii Five-0, I made a point to say that I think the show works best when it fully takes advantage of Hawaii as a location. Last night’s episode (‘˜Palekaiko’) did actually go some way towards doing that, but it was ultimately one of the most successful episodes so far because of the manner in which it provided real action and fast-paced drama. This offering gave us such a compelling story that I highly doubt any Five-0 fans could possibly have been disappointed.

For starters, the opening scene (complete with the hunting of a wild boar and a mysterious amnesiac woman appearing from the jungle) just massively appealed to my inner Lost fan. From there onwards, I was fully engaged in this episode’s story. It may have started out with a possible abduction case, but from there we get theories of a gold-digging wife and an untrustworthy PI before we reach the eventual realization that a serial killer is targeting honeymooning couples. I can’t say I was too surprised by this reveal but it was still executed very well. Not only was the killer, Bradford Matinsky, incredibly creepy, he was also convincing enough to be seen as a realistic threat (plus, as someone who loves Dexter, I really do find serial killers to be interesting characters on TV). On a standalone plot level, this was one of Five-0’s best yet.

What really worked was how, amongst everything else, elements of the long-running story arc that revolves around Steve’s father re-emerged in the show’s narrative. It was uncovered that Steve’s dad was looking into the death of his son’s mother, which he was treating as a homicide, not an accident. (Once again, not a huge surprise, but still very intriguing.) Moreover, I really liked how this week, Kono was actually instrumental in the solving of the investigation. Grace Park is a fantastic actress (yes, I’m a BSG fan) and I’ve often wondered if she gets enough screen-time on Five-0 – however, this week her character had the initiative to spot the serial killer amongst the photos from the stalker-ish PI. Without this, the team would have had no chance of catching their killer. (It’s also worth mentioning that Masi Oka is perfectly cast for the role of Max and I hope we get to see more of his character in future episodes, it was simply too awesome to watch him, Park and Daniel Dae Kim in the same scene.)

The episode did have its flaws, though. As I’ve already mentioned, the reveals weren’t exactly shocking and there was definitely some dialogue that felt a little awkward. I also felt that the scene where they finally saved the abducted woman (after an enjoyable car chase) was kind of ruined by Steve and Danno bickering. I suppose I can forgive that though, because the two of them had a truly brilliant scene earlier in the episode which saw them discussing how being the bringer of bad news never gets easier.

All-in-all though, this was a great episode of Hawaii Five-0. It’s certainly one of the show’s best so far and its well-paced and exciting story kept me engaged for the whole duration. This series has definitely grown from something that I liked simply for its unique location (I must say, Hawaii looks stunning – if you can watch in HD, it’s worth it) to something that is a seriously entertaining hour of television. I’m highly anticipating next week’s episode, where (without spoiling much) an important/exciting character from the pilot will be returning. It promises to shed even more light on the overall story arc for this season.