Hawaii Five-O Premiere--Not What I Expected

I was anxious to see the Hawaii Five-O premiere last night because I've been a loyal fan of this show since it started and was anticipating the new season.  My husband and I both watched, but at the end of the show, all I could say was, "hmmm...I feel disappointed."

That's a tough thing to swallow for me because there is so much potential on this show and it feels off somehow.

Maybe let's start with what I liked about the episode.

• I thought the premise was good, having drones attacking the island, and a guy selling national secrets trying to get off the island.  (But the execution of said premise was just . . .not good. Sigh.  Muddled and rushed are the words that come to mind.)

• I also liked all the scenery shots.  Hawaii, I am going to visit you someday.  So incredibly beautiful.

• I also liked Steve in his blue shirt. He looks really good in blue.

• I also liked the introduction of the new M.E.  She looks competent and if she truly is to be Danny's new love interest, I can see them together more than the gas station girl they tried to shove him with last year. Gas Station Girl and Danny had absolutely no chemistry at all.  At least M.E. girl looks like she has potential.

• The drone was cool, especially the chase scene with it on the streets.

• Kono punching the bad guy was good.

• I liked the flashback of how Steve and Danny met. 

Now for the things that disappointed me.

• Ian Anthony Dale being reduced to Kono's arm candy, begging for her to marry him. He's had some pretty awesome storylines in the past, trying to reconcile family loyalties with who he's trying to become.  Last night just seemed . . . sad somehow.

• Chin having ANOTHER storyline of IA being after him for money he didn't take. All I could think of when I saw that was really? Did the writers need to recycle old scripts for Chin Ho or something? Chin is one of the most underused characters on the show. When he was "helping" Grover (who probably had more lines than Chin Ho) all I could do was shake my head.  

• The other underused character is Kono.  She's been the team info dumper for quite some time, but last night, even her info-dumping sounded stilted and wooden.  No one talks like that. Let Grace Park use some of her talent and give the woman something else to do besides info dump. Especially since she's the ONLY woman left on this show that we know.  (Thankfully she was out in the field for a bit last night and got in a good punch.) I really want the writers to write something decent for a woman on this show that doesn't show them as flakes or liars or bumblers. (Or info dumpers!)  They started to write some great stuff for Catherine and Kono at the beginning of last season, but that quickly died and other than that? Yeah, I've been waiting for some good consistent female writing for so long. 

• The cast is bloated with unneeded characters.  Seriously, why do we need Jerry? Are they replacing Kamekona with him? Sure seems like it.  And Kamekona has been reduced to cameo status from the looks of things.  Ugh. (And why is Danny so mean to Jerry all the time by openly mocking the guy? Ouch.) They also added Grover to the team, which is okay, but again, they barely use Chin, why add someone else? I say use who you already have and give Chin something to do.  (And give us a well-written woman, please, whether it's Kono, or the new M.E., or bringing Catherine back. Or all three, but then you'd have to cut down on some of the men. But a strong well-written female character (or characters) is worth it in my book.)

• The "counseling" session with Danny and Steve wasn't believable. I know they were trying to be funny, but it fell flat for me.  First of all, that's not how psych evals work in law enforcement that I've ever seen or heard. It's always one on one. (Frankly, I would have liked to have seen Steve in therapy for all the crap he was put through last year.  He probably needs to be talking to someone.  But I digress.)  The thing of it was, there was no continuity with the things brought up in their session. Steve says that he gets carsick if he doesn't drive, yet when he's in the passenger seat after being shot, there's no carsickness shown.  Nothing is even mentioned about it.  It was like they just inserted that counseling scene for no reason at all except to try and get some laughs.  (And Danny just seemed to mock everyone last night, including Steve, which came across as unprofessional and hard to like.) But, on the bright side, we got Steve in a nice blue shirt, so there's that.

• The airplane landing on the road didn't look real, (why not land on a freeway with no buildings around?) and Jerry making a homemade remote that can hack military grade drones? Um, yeah. Not to mention the people just leaving their stuff in lobbies and on the beach, even leaving their cars with the doors open on the road seemed unrealistic. This show has always required a suspension of disbelief, but last night was a bit too much.

So, as I said in the beginning, the premise was good, the execution just seemed rushed and muddled. Too many characters trying to be shoe-horned in, extra scenes that didn't further the storyline and put in just for laughs, cast regulars with barely anything to do and lines that were stilted.

I still love the show and will watch next week, but this was my show that I never missed, that I made sure I was home for, and last night was underwhelming.  I hope this season will get better as time goes on.

Did you watch? What did you think?