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Hawaii Five-O: Ha'i'ole (Unbreakable)

Please excuse this interruption to our regularly scheduled science fiction and fantasy show coverage, but I feel compelled to report the geekfest that just happened on the second season premiere of Hawaii Five-O.

I'll admit that the reboot didn't thrill me at first. I kept watching longer than I usually would with a cop show or procedural because of the casting. (Much like Castle, which, by the way, I am still watching.) But Hawaii Five-O got steadily better as season one progressed, and I've been looking forward to season two.

(I'm definitely spoiling the episode below, so don't read any further if you haven't seen it yet!)

Last Monday's premiere definitely did not disappoint. The "McGarrett framed for murdering the governor" plot was undeniably far-fetched and in real life, an innocent man is never exonerated so quickly, but it was still done well enough that I actually exclaimed aloud three times: when Hesse stabbed McGarrett, when Hesse was found dead, and when we found out sweet little Jenna had been working for Wo Fat all along. It even seems possible that Wo Fat was aware that the murder had been filmed, because he was so careful to keep his own face out of the picture. Talk about devious supervillainy.

But the reason I wanted to post this brief review is the actors. We already had a heavier than usual geek level in the cast: Alex O'Loughlin (Moonlight), Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica), and Daniel Dae Kim (Angel and Lost). In this episode, Masi Oka (Heroes) joined the cast, James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville) returned as Hesse, Terry O'Quinn (Lost) guest starred as Steve's former commander and mentor, William Sadler (Wonderfalls) returned as Steve's father, and Richard T. Jones (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) guest starred as the lieutenant governor. Two vampires, an android, a Kryptonian supercomputer, a superhero and a god. And let's not forget the chairman of Iron Chef America.

We've comprehensively covered 43 shows on billiedoux.com, and by "comprehensively," I mean that we have either reviewed every episode, or we intend to review every episode. Actors from nine of "our" shows were represented in this single episode. That's what? 20%? What can we call that? There must be a term we can make up that applies to this situation. "Geekfest" doesn't seem quite descriptive enough. Dan had an obscene suggestion that started with the word "cluster," but I'm not sure that works. Suggestions?



For you Lost fans out there, yes, Terry O'Quinn and Daniel Dae Kim had a scene together where their characters met for the first time. I really wish it had started with "Haven't we met before?" but, sadly, no. I was also worried that Terry O'Quinn would (1) turn out evil, and/or (2) get killed, but fortunately, no and no. His character is quite cool, and Terry O'Quinn makes everything better just by his very presence. I was hoping they would bring him back, and according to IMDB, they will.
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

15 comments:

  1. I think Geekstorm would fit.

    Unfortunately, not even that cast has convinced me to watch it.

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  2. I had a field day with last week's geektastic premiere! Not only was it chock full of genre actors, but Max (Masi Oka's character) kept making awesome geek references! I got a little giddy at one point. Of course, maybe that was because I was laughing hysterically at McGarrett's ridiculous escape from the prison ambo. Or his ridiculous jump onto the moving boat with that abdominal wound (he even hit the wound site on the railing and carried on like he's invulnerable to pain!). Tee hee!

    I know this is relatively lightweight, predictable, procedural fare, but the hubby and I love the Hawaii visuals and we really love the characters and their team dynamic. Plus, we still get a kick out of playing Five-O Bingo while we watch.

    Although I have to admit, even though I don't take the show too seriously, I was pretty tweaked by the final reveal about Jenna. I suspected her of not being legit when we first met her, but then got over it and started to trust her as part of the team. So, of course, they pulled the rug out from under us. Erg! I'm hoping that Terry O'Quinn showed up because he's on to her somehow, and will be the key to her and Wo Fat's undoing.

    By the way: Mark Dacascos has some geek cred, too. He appeared in a couple episodes of Stargate: Atlantis back in the day (old buddy of Ronan's), and I'd bet he's got a few Sci Fi Saturday Originals under his belt. (Of course, we still like to joke about not frakking with Mr. Chairman!)

    Thanks for the post, Billie! It's a bit of a guilty pleasure, but still fun to discuss once in awhile.

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  3. Dan won't watch it either, Gus. :) Definitely a guilty pleasure, Jess. You'd think Steve would have at least grunted in pain or staggered a little. Sometimes it's like he's still Mick St. John.

    If we can count the Stargate franchise, that brings our count up to ten shows and it's a higher percentage. Although maybe that's cheating just a bit.

    Geek-actor-gasm?

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  4. This sounds like a fun thing to watch while doing something else, like playing with the cats or folding laundry. What an exciting group of actors.

    (In the statistical analysis, did you count Spike twice, once for Buffy and once for Angel?)

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  5. Actually, we could count James Marsters three times. He was a cast member on Smallville for a season. That's why I ended up reviewing it.

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  6. Or four, for Torchwood.

    This is starting to feel like the Six Degrees of Billie Doux.

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  7. I was going to mention Mark Dacascos on Stargate, but was beaten to the punch. Grace Park also guested on SG1. Daniel Dae Kim was in the ill fated Babylon 5 sequel Crusade, and Terry O'Quinn was on both Next Generation and Alias. Geektastic baby!
    My favorite quote (and I don't remember who said/wrote it or where I ran across it) was in reference to Terry O'Quinn joining the show. It was simply "the island isn't through with you yet John."
    Fade to black while humming the Five-0 theme music.

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  8. There's also Caprica, so that's five for Marsters.

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  9. IMDB is useful.
    Did not know that Marsters was also on Northern Exposure, Millennium, Dragonball, and Supernatural. (I did remember him on Andromeda, although I try to forget everything else about that show.)

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  10. My apologies on the last post. I was thinking "geek" shows, and forgot they had to be reviewed on this site.

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  11. James Marsters hasn't been on Supernatural yet. He and Charisma Carpenter are going to be in an episode a few weeks from now, and I'm really looking forward to it. The Supernatural producers have made a point of bringing in Buffy guest stars.

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  12. I've heard Terry will be there for at least 9 episodes, so YAY!!!

    I started watching for the same reasons, the geek-fest cast, and it has become my guilty pleasure as well!

    I guess I couldn't give up on the Hawaiian scenery once Lost was over... The music doesn't hurt either. ;o)

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  13. Hi, everyone!
    In addition to Locke and Jin, also starred Penny's boat. Wo Fat's boat is also named "The searcher".

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  14. Just watched it. What fun!

    More geektasticness is soon to come: Greg Grunberg is going to be in an upcoming episode.

    http://cbstelevisionstudios.tumblr.com/post/10853961526

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  15. Sorry but wrong title! Hawaii Five-O is the old series with the funny looking dude. This one is Hawaii Five-0 (a zero, the other is the letter O!)
    And my gawk, this show s simply AWFUL! Is this why you only have 2 reviews up? LOL! Sorry to hate, i wont be nasty about it, strong words used not in an insulting way but a propos, sorry again but it needs to be said! It had promise but AOL simply cannot act!

    The scripts are awful, too much graphic gore couldn't save it (that got me to quit watching years ago!), the writers think the viewers are stupid (unintelligent, insulting scripts and disappearing characters are just too much!) I don't mind the over the top stuff (high speed chase, armored truck lifted by helicopter crane and dropped in sea, implausible rescue, this is FUN, it's a show!!) but the bad acting, awful scripts, nauseating chopped corpses and VERY UNATTRACTIVE actors is too much!

    Ian a. Dale is handsome but his pedo-style whispering makes my skin crawl. mark Dacascos was the fun highlight, they offed him, why? The short cop was amusing at first, then they bring out the team of hideous giants (2 fat bald natives, the Black Chicago cop and the furry obese guy) and he's overpowered!

    A terrible show that ought to have been cancelled s1 like all series ruined by Alex O'Lachlan/loughlin.

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