Hawaii Five-0 Recap and Review: Where Things Get Good!

Last week we had the staycation and the case of the missing sunglasses. This week we get an episode which showcases all the reasons why I love Hawaii Five-O. Action, drama, and on-the-edge-of-your-seat tension!

We start out with Dr. Madison Gray (who as you might recall kidnapped and stabbed Steve and Alicia Brown and had her henchmen try to finish them off by throwing a Navy SEAL in the ocean. Haha! Points for creativity I guess) but she's walked into HPD with bloody hands, asking for help. The officers hopefully recognize who she is because they all immediately pull their weapons and say to call Five-O. (If they didn't recognize her, that would be a super awkward scene. Like, hey, we can't help crying women with bloody hands. Somebody get McG over here!)

We head to Flippa's grand opening of his new shrimp truck where they have Max Weinberg as the big draw (a drummer from the E street band? Sorry, I had no clue who he was.) McG gets to hug Nahele, (yay!) and sees that he's doing well. Danny cuts in line and fangurls all over Weinberg and mentions that he snuck into a show of his. He rambles on and on about his ex-wife before Steve steps in to save poor Weinberg from any more embarrassing stories from Danny and takes their pic. Finally, Flippa unveils his new "Shrimp Wagon" truck with his own face on it. (I liked his logo better than Kamekona's.) Of course, Kamekona does not like that one bit. Steve thankfully gets a call so we can move on to all the good stuff!

Steve ditches Danny and meets Chin at HPD where he's given the rundown that Dr. Gray now says she is Lauren Parker from Eagle, Wisconsin. (Uh huh. Suuuure she is.) Steve goes in to question her, dressed in a blue shirt with scruff on his jaw (I love you wardrobe people). Gray is crying and upset and really doing a good job of making the case that she isn't Gray and her name is Lauren Parker. Steve isn't buying it, though, and tells her he's going to figure out what she's really up to. He tries to call Alicia, but no dice and leaves her a message. (Uh oh. Bloody serial killer and no Alicia? That's not good.) Steve isn't too concerned yet and they bring in a shrink who looks like he's bored out of his mind. BoredShrink tells Chin and McG that Gray has DID (multiple personalities). They look at him like he's just said to bring him a pizza with extra pineapple and tell the guy, yeah, there's no way, she's totally faking. So, even though they pretty much discount everything he says, BoredShrink doesn't take offense and just sort of ambles off. Maybe he can find someone else to shrink while he's at HPD.  Gray continues to slowly build her case that she really does have multiple personalities when she passes a polygraph that she is Parker, which throws the team a bit.

Grover, McG, Chin, and Danny walk into the office spitballing why Dr. Gray would be doing this. (It was actually a really nice scene and they were asking all the questions we were.) Danny comes up with maybe Gray missed McG. She likes to play games and respects a challenge and since he survived last time, maybe she wants a rematch. (That was my thought, too.) Kono comes in with the news that the prelim DNA results from the blood on Gray's hands came in and they have a partial match. It's Alicia Brown. See? She wasn't answering for a reason!

Steve hotfoots it over to Alicia's with Grover and they go in when she doesn't answer. They're going through the house calling for her and Steve finally finds her on the balcony with earbuds in, puttering around with some plants. Big relief! They sit her down and bring her up to speed with Gray being back in town and having Alicia's blood on her hands. Alicia wants to go see her. (Not a good idea.) Steve agrees to it, though, but seems worried. She reassures him she'll be fine. Even with that, as they're walking toward the interrogation room, he says he's going in with her (awww, I love protective Steve) and they confront Gray together.

Gray freaks out the minute they walk in and she sees Alicia, claiming that Alicia tried to kill her. It's all coming back to her! To prove it, she says that Alicia has a cut on her forearm, which she does. (This woman is good!) Alicia tells Steve that Gray is lying, she was out hiking and fell, cutting herself on a rock, there was no confrontation. Pua wants to detain Alicia, but Steve puts the kibosh on that and personally vouches for her cooperation. Pua is no match for Steve and lets them leave. (I think my fave part of that whole scene, is when they are talking and just before they leave, Steve is touching Alicia's arm in reassurance and putting his hand at the small of her back to guide her out of the room. I love it when guys are touchy and gentlemanly like that *le sigh*) Alicia looks back, though, and Dr. Gray gives her a little telling, evil smile. Alicia flips. She's ranting to Steve in the hall about why she hasn't just killed her yet, and he says Gray is messing with her head and he needs her on her game. He says he's coming over tonight so they can discuss their next move and she tells him, no, she's fine. But Steve says he'll worry (and he has his worried crease on his forehead) so, you know, he's just going to come over anyway.

Steve cooks her dinner and she's telling him that if she'd known he could cook, she would have invited him over sooner. (Who doesn't love a man who cooks? Seriously.) They're having a cozy, quiet dinner, talking about how time doesn't heal all ills, and they both like their alone time. She says she shouldn't be social or out with people since she brings the mood down, but Steve reassures her that his standards of companionship are low. (Ooh, ouch!) He goes on to tell her how he's had to listen to Danny complain about a Reuben sandwich for eight hours on a stakeout before, so she's more tolerable than that and they drink to "tolerable." Steve is still feeling protective, however, and offers to stay on her couch. (So sweet!) And he does. He sleeping in her nice front room when he hears at noise at 4 a.m. When he checks her bed, Alicia is gone!

She snuck out and went to the police station to question Gray, dressed all in black. (I guess she wanted a rematch, too. Games with serial killers are hard to say no to!) Alicia smuggled a razor blade in her boot and threatens Gray with it, but in the end, she can't kill her. Gray says okay fine, uncuff me because I have a secret and it's going to change your life. (Yeah, those kinds of serial killer secrets are never good!)

Back at the Chatting Table, the team is watching the video of Alicia taking down the officer and helping Gray to escape. (She's stronger than she looks!) McG is vigorously defending her actions to the team, that Gray must have done or said something or manipulated Alicia in some way. Danny asks to talk to him privately in an office and says that he knows McG has history with Alicia since they almost died together, but maybe she snapped. McG reassures him he can be objective, that he had dinner with Alicia last night and they talked a lot and she hasn't snapped. Danny continues on that maybe Gray's story happened like she said it did and Alicia attacked her and has now taken her somewhere to kill her. Before they can argue further, Grover says they got a hit on the BOLO and Gray and Alicia got on a plane to Wisconsin. That sets off some alarm bells for McG and they quickly figure out that Ed Sears, the guy connected to Sienna's murder (Alicia's daughter) is in prison there. Now the spec is that maybe Gray promised Alicia she could confront her daughter's murderer and that would turn her into a killer. If it is, well, McG isn't going to let that happen.

McG and Chin head to Wisconsin to confront Sears in his prison cell. (And looking mighty fine in jackets, I might add.) Sears is behind plexiglass, telling them how persuasive Dr. Gray is (she visited him every week for months) and that he'll tell them the name of Sienna's killer if they give him pen and paper. (His proof that he cooperated) Don't do it! It's a bad idea! But no one listens to me and they do it. Sears scribbles something on the paper and sends it through the slot, but keeps the pen. McG opens the paper and reads "that was a big mistake" before they watch the guy stab himself in the carotid artery with the pen. Ew. He dies before they can do anything, but McG does try to save him. (For being so close to a carotid artery injury, McG isn't very bloody, though. Thank goodness, I guess, since that was a nice jacket!)  McG doesn't give up and searches Sears' cell where he finds a bunch of letters from Benton Jones dating back to the time when Sienna disappeared. The missing link! (And he looks like it, too, when we see him later on. *shudder*)

Alicia and Gray are in a car traveling up an isolated road. They pull up to a cabin and Gray gives Alicia a gun. She's still dressed like a ninja, all in black, but she certainly has no ninja skills. Crunch, crunch, crunch in the snow leading to the front door. (Who goes in the front door?) Gray drives off and Alicia heads into the cabin, trying to be quiet, but not succeeding as she checks room to room. (The tension is so high here!) She doesn't find any sign of life until she gets to the room in the back. There's a light on and she puts her ear against it.

Steve and Chin are racing to the cabin, but are still fifteen minutes out. They don't have fifteen minutes! Kono calls and says the blood isn't Alicia's. You'll never believe whose it is . . .

Alicia goes into the locked room and her daughter is inside. Alive! They hug and try to leave, but the creepy Jack-Nicholson-Shining-looking guy Benton attacks them. They run back to barricade themselves in a room, but this guy's coming in face-first. Thankfully, Steve arrives in time and kills him. Whew! Then we get a sweet exit scene of Steve escorting Alicia and Sienna out, keeping them close as they go down the steps. Awww. (And if that weren't reward enough, we get a nice close up of Steve looking heroic, dressed in blue with tac gear on.)

Three days later Steve is checking on Alicia and Sienna. Poor Sienna is sleeping, so she can't thank him properly, but Alicia suggests the three of them go out to dinner. Steve teases her that going out sounds social, and she laughs. It's a really cute scene. He hugs her and she breathes him in for a moment before she says thank you. They're going to keep in touch. (I hope they do. They both can relate to having a family member come back from the dead and I like their easy dynamic. Friends, with shared history, you know?)

Alicia is feeling good and goes into her kitchen to putter around with the kettle, when Gray appears behind her with a gun. She says getting other people to kill for her wasn't a challenge, but turning Alicia into a killer was the game. She's there to finish it. She gives the gun to Alicia, who immediately turns it on her and calls 911, instructing them to call Steve and send officers over. Gray is taunting her about keeping her daughter safe, that even prison wouldn't totally be safe, and Alicia needs to finish it. Alicia tells the 911 officer that she needs to report a murder and we fade to black just as the audience hears a gunshot.

Wow.

I really hope Alicia didn't kill Gray and let her win the sick game she was playing. Shoot her in the knee or something. Have Steve come back. I don't know. But that ending was definitely one that got people talking! So tense. A great ep all around with protective Steve (in blue), danger, action, and a case that made you think! Loved it.

No preview again for next week.

Did you watch? What did you think?