Hawaii Five-O Pearl Harbor Episode Review

Hawaii Five-O did an episode this past week where they recreated the day that Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941. It was so incredibly well-done, it really felt like I was there. So many lives were changed that morning and it still gives me chills to think about what happened there.

Flash forward to present day where Steve is attending a memorial ceremony with the Pearl Harbor survivors. He notices that there's a lone man watching, and as the ceremony ends he sees the lone man pulling a gun on one of the survivors.  He tackles the guy and asks him what he's doing and the man answers that he's avenging his father's murder.

This episode had everything---action, backstory, mystery, and an education on what happened to Japanese Americans on American soil.  I loved that it wasn't heavy-handed, but truly depicted the bewilderment of those who were sent to the internment camps.  The gunman, David Toriyama, says that his father's murder was covered up because he was Japanese and Steve says he'll look into it.

They go to see the man that David believes killed his father and at first, the man seems racist, but then his daughter comes in and she's obviously Japanese, so that theory doesn't fly.  They try to sift through records to find an incident report and come across some rat eaten ones. They take it to Fong to see if they can glean anything (and I'm so glad they didn't kill Fong off). As they are going through David's pictures, Steve sees one of his grandfather and wonders why that picture would be in the Toriyama family photos. David can't really remember.

They all go back to the internment site and David relives the day of the murder.  When he hears the gunshot he goes to the tent to see his father dead and their family katana gone. Steve gets some information from Fong that leads them to a detective and his old records, and with a few more twists it is finally revealed that the real killer was the brother to the head guard at the camp. Steve goes to the killer's grandson's home and the katana is there. He retrieves it and takes it back to David.

The final scene is back at the memorial site and David meets Steve there. He remembered why Steve's grandfather's picture was in his family album. He was coming to their home to be tutored because he was going to try to be an officer and was studying for the exam.  The last night David saw him was Dec. 6th, when he gave David a baseball glove, which he now gives to Steve. A great emotional touch to end the episode.

I love TV that educates without banging us over the head with it. This one was so beautifully directed and acted, it was a standout for the season. So, so good.