Episode Title: "Ho'opa'i"
Writer: Shane Salerno
Director: Duane Clark
Story:
While working undercover for the FBI, inside crimeboss, Jimmy Cannon's organization, Detective Reggie Cole (Sean Combs) joins Cannon on a trip to Hawaii, where the gangleader intends to visit with his son. Reggie secretly uses the opportunity to reunite with his own family, while under protection from an FBI security detail. However, when two hitmen break into the Cole's house and kill Reggie's wife, he's convinced Cannon is behind it. When Five-0 arrives on the scene, they find one agent dead and another barely alive, and Reggie's son Kevin (Kwesi Boakye), hiding in the closet.
McGarrett (Alex O'Loughlin) and Danno (Scott Caan) attempt to pay Cannon (Keith David) a visit but his security won't let them in, so McGarrett slams on the gas and drives through the gate. Inside, he accuses Cannon of putting a hit on Cole and his family, which Cannon denies.
Meanwhile, Cole, bent on taking out his wife's killers himself, flees the hospital, putting Danno and McGarrett to the task of tracking him down. With some quick thinking, the pair uses the police radio to lure Cole to one of the hitmen's hideouts. With one of the shooters already dead, McGarrett is convinced Cole shot him, but he vehemently denies it and also claims Cannon is not behind his wife's murder, after all.
After ballistics evidence clears him, Cole works with Five-0 and the team soon piece together that one of the FBI agents working Cole's security detail is responsible for the leak. After taking out the second shooter, Cole gets the dying man to confess that it was Cannon's son who ordered the hit.
When the team arrives at Cannon's compound to make the arrest, McGarrett confronts him with the truth; his son wanted to take out Cole and pin the blame on his father, in hopes of taking over the family business. The younger Cannon (Hurshae Summons) is taken into custody while Cole promises the crime boss that he will take him down, as well.
Back at HQ, Cole bids farewell to the 5-0 team, as he prepares to head to Washington to take a desk job with the FBI so he can take care of his son and still keep the heat on Cannon.
Breakdown:
Diddy's appearance on "Hawaii Five-0" was a fine bit of stunt casting, putting the rapper/actor/music mogul's acting chops to good use, as an undercover cop focused on avenging his wife's murder. Say what you will about Diddy's acting in other roles, but this episode of CBS's action-packed police procedural suited him just fine.
"Ho'opa'i," which means "close to heart," hit all the marks for a great episode of "H50." There were a few laugh-out-loud moments, in particular, Danno's reaction to Richard Cannon's "deep" response to the accusations against his father, ("Don't try and tell me who my father is, he's my father!") and a number of great action sequences, like McGarrett and Danno's big entrance at Cannon's gated home. We even got to see Kono in action, climbing up a tree to take down a security camera. And here I thought McGarrett was the only one with ninja skills.
There were also a few quiet moments that worked well in this hour. McGarrett, a bit of a loner, was reminded a couple of times about what it's like to have children. I'm not sure if the writers are hinting at something here but it's an interesting side of his character that I'd like to see more of. We also had Kono, comforting Reggie's son, Kevin, which was kind of sweet. McGarrett had a similar moment with Kevin at the top of the hour.
"Hawaii Five-0" really seems to have found its rhythm and as we head into May sweeps, I can't wait to see what's in store. Hopefully, we'll get some real fireworks with Wo Fat, putting McGarrett on tilt and taking Danno along for the ride.
Crave Online Rating: 8 out of 10.
