This week’s episode, directed by the show’s very own Daniel Dae Kim, goes to the very top of the funniest episodes in Hawaii Five-0 history. All it took was putting Danny and Steve in a confined space for a long period of time, plus a chaos-inducing cat, and a touch of Cloris Leachman.
A diamond robbery leaves a retired cop, now security guard, dead. The team then finds a blood trail leading them to the identity of the robber, Jacob Anders, who was shot by his own partner. The partner turns out to be Emma, his girlfriend. Five-0 decides that a cop-killer takes priority over stolen diamonds, so they choose not to arrest Emma until her boyfriend comes out of hiding to come after her. This leaves Danny and Steve to stakeout her apartment across the way, and hilarity ensues.
Parallel to the investigation, Danny and Steve are in the middle of strict orders from their therapist to work through their issues via a “Partner’s Handbook.” They both still have the same arguments against each other. Steve has control issues according to Danny, and according to Steve, Danny is too sensitive. We get some interesting information about the duo during their time in the apartment/shrine to cats. It turns out Steve loves cats because they never forget the animal killer instinct of their distant relatives; go figure. Danny watches late-night infomercials due to his insomnia, though this actually works in their favor as one of the infomercial spokespersons ends up being involved as a fence in their case. He has nothing but bad news for them, which is that they aren’t dealing with just any vengeful boyfriend, but rather a former Soviet Special Forces soldier.
Emma not only put a bullet in a Special Forces soldier, who takes the time to gather his ammunition to come for her, she replaced him as her partner and lover with the woman who worked the counter at the jewelry store. Ivanovich ends up killing Emma for her betrayal, then decked out like an armory-infused super-villain, he goes after the jewelry store clerk. The case wraps up when Kono manages to put a bullet in the back of his head before she arrests the clerk.
In the meantime, more hilarity ensues due to two unexpected visitors at the stakeout. Enter Cloris Leachman, playing a lonely little old lady, who upon finding out she has cops as her new neighbors, requests that they find her stolen fern. Jerry is put on the case of the stolen fern, but he realizes that this case isn’t about a plant so much as a little old lady. When Jerry sees this woman’s life and how nice she is to strangers who deliver food and mail to her, he realizes there may not have been a plant at all. This woman just wanted someone to talk to, so Jerry takes her out to join the team at Kamekona’s shrimp truck after the case is wrapped up.
The other hilarious visitor is a stoner surfer/marijuana dealer who house-sits for the owner of the apartment Danny and Steve are using as a stakeout. They humor him because they can’t blow their cover, and even ask for his help when the apartment cat goes missing. They still arrest him, but at least do the courtesy of cutting him a deal if he gives up his suppliers. It’s for the best since he’s not the kind of guy who would last five minutes in a county jail, plus he’s kind of fun to keep around.
Danny and Steve actually do work through some of their issues. Steve tells Danny the story of how fear of vulnerability kept him from playing guitar since he was 16 years old. Steve and Danny are the best of partners, but they had completely different upbringings that shaped who they turned out to be. Danny ends up buying Steve a new guitar so he can get his mojo back, and Steve finally lets Danny drive. I’ll admit, I never thought I’d get to see Danny drive his own car with Steve in it.
How hilarious did you think this week’s episode was? Do you agree that Daniel Dae Kim did a great job in his directorial debut?
[Photo via CBS]
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