Hawaii Five-0 Episode 2.08

[azziria]

I loved this episode, absolutely loved it. It’s like the writer took my wishlist and gave me *almost* everything that was on it: bromance in spades, Steve and Danny *together* rather than Steve being paired with Lori, Danny mentioning Grace and Rachel, lots of Chin and Kono, Max with his new car, Kamekona, Kono calling Fong a geek god, a guest star with a decent amount of time onscreen, and no awkward ‘bonding’ scenes between Lori and Steve. Best episode since the S2 premiere, hands down.

And did anyone else notice Steve doing the old 'casually stretching the arm along the back of the sofa' thing when he sat down next to Danny in the first scene? Steve, you old Smooth Dog, you... you were totally about to go for it... ;)

Even Lori was more bearable this week, although it’s sad that she was better because of what she *didn’t* do rather than what she did: no awkward scenes with Steve, no being paired off with Steve in situations where Danny should have been, no overload of screen time, and no emotional/personal interaction stuff to deal woodenly with. I still don’t see any personality or particular skill set, but she was more ignorable this week.

By my reckoning this was the first episode shot completely after the feedback started coming in from 2.02/2.03, and it read to me like the showrunner taking on board what we’ve all been missing and throwing it all into one show in a desperate attempt to get the show back on track and the fans back on board. Here’s hoping that I’m right, that this is a turning point and that it’s all uphill from here, especially given the drop in viewing figures this week (a reflection on viewers' opinions of previous weeks, not of this week). We need the next few episodes to be consistently this good to turn the slide around.

Still waiting for another “Book ‘em Danno”, though…

Comments

[kitmerlot1213.livejournal.com]

I agree with your entire post :)

The bromance was back to being red hot and I loved Steve's arm stretch across the back of Danny's sofa--he really is smooth--except not :)

Lori was also tolerable but I wish the show would give her a personality. I'm just glad there was no awkward flirting or Lori's trying to interact with humans.

[verasteine.livejournal.com]

Nodding along here. Agreed.

[alamo-girl80.livejournal.com]

And did anyone else notice Steve doing the old 'casually stretching the arm along the back of the sofa' thing when he sat down next to Danny in the first scene?

And then when Danny chastises him for not watching the movie with the dignity it deserved, Steve just sucked his arm back to himself, kinda folded in on himself as though his hand had been slapped and said "Yup."

it was just... so so obvious and yet not enough an I wanted to tweak Steve's cheek for trying. And Danny is all, I am never watching a movie with you again.

And then Danny brings out the big guns with the "You're not a parent you can't possibly understand, lemme find you a cartoon" and Steve's all like, "okay...yep... here we go again, i am such a neanderthal blah blah blah"

Seriously, it was like Steve was trying to get cozy and Danny just berated him back to his side of the couch. Steve needs to try again and I need fic on that subject....

*sigh* I loved it. So hard.

[thegrrrl2002.livejournal.com]

Steve was SO going to make his move. :D And I'm sure Danny was going to respond by kissing him back, once he stopped laughing.

It was an awesome ep. I feel like my show was finally back!

[azziria.livejournal.com]

He absolutely was about to make his move! (And God bless Alex for throwing us that little moment, he HAS to be doing it on purpose *g*)

[thegrrrl2002.livejournal.com]

I think you're right, Alex is playing it up for us. And I adore him for it. :D

[imkalena.livejournal.com]

IT WAS WONDERFUL.

I hadn't realized how shafted I felt as a viewer -- what I took as merely uber-fannish aggravation (in myself) with the episodes this year was actually because of a real difference in what was going on. Yes, those people from last year's finale and and the earlier eps of this year really were from Mars in comparison. It became a bit more obvious after watching the first four episodes of S1, but I really got closure last night.

I'm going to pretend the last eight eps never happened.

[azziria.livejournal.com]

I've actually found it quite difficult to re-watch episodes from S1 in these last few weeks because it was so much better that it upset me to be reminded of it. But this week was back to standard :)

I'll keep S1.01-S1.23 plus 2.01, and then restart from 2.08...

[imkalena.livejournal.com]

I honestly needed to buy the dvds of S1 because we still weren't done with the Epic Hookerfic, and this season? Was completely and totally the *anti-inspiration.* I never wanted to write or even WATCH those people again. Target was having a half price sale, so I bought copies for me and my cowriter. The gag reel alone put me back on track, but the first four eps made me say OH, HELL, YEAH.

[azziria.livejournal.com]

I've struggled with inspiration this season, it's been hard for me to write when I've been struggling with the show. I really hope that Lenkov has taken all the feedback on board and that this season has finally turned a corner - and that this episode wasn't just a flash in the pan.

[vamysteryfan.livejournal.com]

Obviously Joe Halpin has to write ALL the things!

[azziria.livejournal.com]

I agree, he did a spectacularly good job here :)

[sans-souci2.livejournal.com]

YES!!!!
am nodding like crazy -everything you said and more-
such a turnaround!
I would love to think you're right and the feedback was listened to- it sure seemed that way.
*crosses fingers*

And oh yeah- nice move Smooth Dog!!!!!

[alba17.livejournal.com]

Oh god, you're right, Steve hasn't said Book em Danno! Loved this episode too. It would be nice to think they're responding to feedback.

[jazzybabe56.livejournal.com]

OMG your GIF is so funny - look at Danny's pained expression!! LOL!! like he knows whats going on but is too scared to mention the "arm thing"......hahahaha!!

[cmariad.livejournal.com]

Steve actually did say "Book 'em Danno" in the 2nd Season Premiere. I heard 1 anyway.

[jazzybabe56.livejournal.com]

it really felt like they were back on track and so lets keep fingers crossed and thoughts on "positive" and trust the rest of the season will match up....

loved this eppy full on! <3

[d_odyssey.livejournal.com]

OMG, ahhhhh! That was what I've been missing since 2-01. Agree with everything you said. That was the team from season 1 - heart, soul - ohana! I loved the character moments with Steve/Danny, Chin/Kono. The guest star was in more than one scene plus Max, Kamekona and Fong! I loved Steve, Danny and dog! Lori was still wooden and void of emotion, but thank goodness there was much less of her. Joe Halpin should write every episode. This is the show I want to watch.

[portraitofafool.livejournal.com]

Idk if you could see it, but I kind of noticed it in the episode and in that .gif up there... When Steve does the arm thing, I swear Danny almost smiles. There's this this little bitty, blink-and-miss-it twitch at the corner of his mouth that I think is too cute. lol

I really enjoyed this episode a LOT and breathed a sigh of relief for all of the right interactions and main cast being the focus. I did have a couple of my, "But why is she here?!" moments with Bitchy Faced Girl, but not nearly as many as I've been having. Including the up-the-tree scene. That really shit me. :| Why? Because I cannot for a second buy it as plausible.

However, I am dreading next week's episode. Seriously, I cringed when I saw the previews and at this point it's incredibly hard for me to reserve judgement (harder than usual even). WHY? That is all I want to know: WHY?

[azziria.livejournal.com]

You know how much the Loribot grates on me...

I've just seen the spoiler photos put out for 2.10, and yes, they're of a scene that Lori features heavily in. Given that Lenkov and TPTB must *know* how high feelings are running amongst fans/viewers with regards to this character, it seems downright inflammatory to put out material that is *still* showcasing her. Haven't they got the message by now that shoving her at us isn't working? Even if they're keeping her and not writing her out (God forbid...) common sense would suggest that it would be better to back off and let things die down a little, rather than continuing to put her centre stage. It's so stupid that it makes me either want to turn to drink or throw sharp pointy objects around...

[portraitofafool.livejournal.com]

Gah, in the previews Chin tells her, "You look hot." I seriously had a D: moment that quickly morphed into, "Oh, no, you fucking didn't" because it was so OOC to me. In the previews I, personally, have seen there is NO Steve and Danny. I mean that, like, they're not even hanging out in the background. It's just Lori-Lori-Lori. This, to me, looks like more of Lenkov pretty much dropping trou and saying to the fans, "Kiss it, I'll do what I want, kthnxbye." Ass. It is yet another way to cram her down our throats and--yes--objectify her to the Nth degree and so shamelessly it kind of makes me ill. Also, she is not hot, not to me anyway and I don't like looking at some chick dressed up like the pseudo goth biker bitch hooker from bubblegum hell. Ugh.

The only upside I've seen so far is that Kono looks like a BAMF in a couple of scenes. That... it not enough to make me watch that episode though. If I don't see/hear something better about it by next week then I will be skipping that episode because I just... I can't take her. :(

[portraitofafool.livejournal.com]

I think Kono is made of awesome and win and Jenna was really cute and I liked her personality a lot. That and she, yanno, had personality. I waited pretty happily to see the previews after how amazing this last episode was because I was thinking, "Maybe they're getting the hint at last" then I saw them and I my stomach kind of did this unpleasant flip-flop. That flip-flop melted into disgusted, disappointed anger and that is where I am left. Next week's previews were nothing but a HUGE buzzkill for me after such a great episode. Fuuuuuck. :(

[gyri.livejournal.com]

I really hope you are right!!!

God, I loved this episode!

[stellarmeadow.livejournal.com]

Everything you said. :) And omg, I was totally going, "That's such a date move!" when he put his hand on the back of the couch like that. So totally not even smooth. I also love that he was apparently willing to drive to the terrible, horrible apartment that he apparently hates and sit there and watch whatever movie Danny had on. I can just picture him telling Danny to come over and hang out, and Danny telling him no, I'm on the couch, I have my shoes off, I'm watching a movie, I'm not going out.

Ten minutes later, Steve calls from the car. "Hey, I happen to be in the neighborhood...what's your apartment number again?"

Because it would look bad if he admitted he got the number from Naval Intelligence or something. *g*

[clau-mol.livejournal.com]

couldn't agree with you more, as I was watching I realized that this was the first episode that they filmed once the fans had reacted to Lori's introduction. I'm seriously hoping that they will take all our feedback into account and that the show will stay like this episode. It had everything that made us love the show.

I can't really comment about Lori's scenes because I fast-forwarded all of her scenes.

the first five minutes are priceless, everything was perfect, I've watched that like 100 times already LOL

Steve might not like the dog that much, he was so jealous but he knows how much Danny cared so when they came back and Lori was complaining of not being able to work with a barking dog. He just dismissed her and said, "yeah well he's quiet now, so"
thankfully there was no awkwardness like in previews episodes.

I was so happy to see the cousins working together again, I missed that so much, I hate how much screen time they have taken out of Kono in favor of the robot.

All in all, I loved this episode so much, it reminded me so much of last season <3