Hawaii Five-O Recap & Review--The Season Finale

Yes, I know it's been ten days since the finale aired. I was under some deadlines and my son got engaged so things have been crazy at my house! But now that I'm coming up for air, let's review what happened to the team on the last episode.

We get a quick recap of the sex trafficking episode (you can read my recap/review of it here) and then we see a room full of girls sleeping on the floor, being forced to get up and get into a semi-truck with Pukelani Pineapple on the side, driven by a really cranky man. Viewers are given a little time stamp that it's 5:43 a.m.

But then we go back to fourteen hours earlier when Danny is bringing Charlie to work and showing him his office. He also shows him Steve's office which is in the corner, like a "time out." Charlie says Steve is a bad boy and Danny agrees that he's the worst. (Danny's negativity is really starting to grate. Sigh.) Charlie is given an "area" on the floor to play in (are there boundaries for this area? That was odd to me.) Steve comes in with a gift for Danny, but after finding out Charlie is there so Rachel can go to the divorce lawyer meeting, he gets down on the floor to play with the little boy. He announces he's hungry and Steve offers to take him to the vending machine, but Danny objects. There's nothing nutritious there! Steve says he eats there three times a week. (I sort of loved that he allows himself cheat days. Haha.) He also mentions that Snickers must be healthy because there are nuts in them. (I agree!) Charlie and Steve head for the vending machine with the conversation topic being why Danny is a poopy head. (I'm starting to think whoever wrote this scene was working out their small child/family issues onscreen. Oy!)

But then we cut to Chibby getting it on at Chin's house since Sara won't be back for hours. Abby says he could come back to HPD and he says she could come back to H50. Both of those are terrible ideas

Kono is at the store with Sara getting party supplies for Jerry's "Yay I got a badge" party. Kono lets Sara ride the cart to simulate surfing? I don't know, it was weird. (But then again, they're wasting screen time getting napkins and plates.) Kono leaves Sara unattended to grab a pregnancy test. (I mean, the girl's only been kidnapped by cartel members recently, but hey, whatever. With how many kidnappings Kono has worked, you'd think she'd be more aware than that.) Anyway, Sara put a bunch of candy in the cart that shouldn't be there. Yawn. (Cute kid, but this scene was too long when all we needed to know was Kono needed a pregnancy test.) Thankfully, Moani calls Kono and she heads over to meet her. (I guess that means she's ditching Sara. Somebody better tell Chin and Abby! haha)

Kono is walking with Moani, complimenting her dress, talking about her artwork, and Moani is asking whether Emilio has said anything. He hasn't. So Moani pulls out a picture of someone who worked with Emilio. It's the pineapple truck guy!

Danny is refusing to open McG's gift because he thinks it's a gag gift. *rolls eyes* McG asks why he tries to be nice and I agree. Why is he nice? Kono knocks on the door. They got info on PineappleGuy! His name is Deon Miller and he was popped for assault, also owns a private trucking company. They're going to go to his house, and McG says it's got to be surgical. (My thought at this point was, all right, we'll finally get some action!)

They break in, guns drawn, but all they find is a messy house, a lot of mattresses on the floor, and a doll. The coffeemaker goes off, since it's 6:29 a.m. (They were 45 minutes too late! Sad.) Kono stares at the doll. (Wouldn't the episode have taken a different turn if the doll's head had started spinning or something? Ha!) Grover wants to know how they knew Five-O was coming? (They never really tell us the answer to that either. Just spidey senses I guess.)

Kono is looking angry in the car, says she can feel the girls' pain, fear and trauma in the room. Grover tries to comfort her and talks about how his daughter was accepted to Northwestern, but the thought of sending her to the place where all the cops hate him and there are monsters out there is hard. Can't separate job from being a parent. (I didn't really find that comforting at all). He does say Kono is right where she needs to be. (I disagree. She's too emotionally invested and that clouds your judgment. With her job, you can't let that happen.)

Jerry got a hit on PineappleDeon's truck. It's on the H1, so they call Duke to get a helicopter in the air who can give them thermal confirmation. There's one person in the cab, eleven in the bed. And they also monitor PineappleDeon's communications to see who he's talking to. The HPD get a roadblock together, but with the way it's set up against a semi-trailer? I can already see it won't work. Abby poses in her tight pants and high heels, holding her badge out to PineappleDeon, but he just smashes through it all. Abby jumps to the side and doesn't appear hurt, but appearances are deceiving! Chin rushes over, worried about her and she has a scrape on her arm! (Even though she was wearing long sleeves that didn't appear to be ripped, but oh well. Chin was cute to be worried.) He wants her to go to the hospital for it, but she declines and they go after PineappleDeon.

Danny and Steve are behind PineappleDeon's truck, (with the two or three other police cars that weren't smashed in the roadblock),and Danny is being negative and sarcastic, wondering where PineappleDeon is going to go since he's on an island. Steve finally has had enough and tells him that he knows he's stressed out about Rachel, but maybe tone it down. That gets Danny, who protests that he's just helping Rachel with the kids and comes over to put Charlie to bed sometimes and they talk. (Sounds cozy to me!) Steve laughs about "talking" with the ex-wife and says Danny is like a ten year old with a crush who's happy about the divorce because then he'll have a shot to make things right with Rachel. Steve wants him to admit it and says, "by the way, I get it." (What does he get exactly? Wanting a shot to make things right with an ex? Hmmm)

Jerry gets PineappleDeon's number and Steve calls to threaten him that if he doesn't pull over Steve is personally going to throw him in prison, etc. PineappleDeon is not impressed and just growls into the phone that he'll just go over the cliff. (I mean, PineappleDeon has been up since 5:30 a.m. and didn't get his coffee, it's no wonder he's grumpy.) I know you will be shocked, but Danny criticizes Steve for being too aggressive, that people don't like to be threatened, and Steve asks if he's the perp-whisperer now. He also tells Danny that he doesn't know the one about catching more flies with honey, but he does know the one if you don't have anything nice and positive to say, keep your hole shut. Can his next gift for Danny be to have this framed and put on Danny's office wall? Please? (And is this the show's way of addressing Danny's issue?)

Jerry is our info-dumper this ep and interrupts with the details that PineappleDeon has 300 gallons of fuel and gets five miles to the gallon so he could drive around for days. (Unless he has to pee. Or, sleep.) Can't do spike strips in case the semi goes out of control, so Steve orders everyone back to the palace for his new plan. (And almost takes out an HPD car while turning around.)

Steve's plan is so complicated for the team to understand, that he has to get Charlie's toys to explain it to them. (Talk in small words and very slowly, Steve.) The team will force the semi into some tunnel. Steve will jump onto the truck from the overpass, the driver won't know anything is going on, and the girls will be rescued. That's the plan. No one is thrilled with his plan, (obviously it's dangerous) but of course no one has any other ideas. Danny is quiet and I think maybe he'll offer some support this time, but no, he just waits until Steve is getting ready in his office to come in and spread more negativity around. Ugh. He asks if Steve is whacked out of his head? But again, Steve asks for a better idea. Nope. Danny is distracted for a moment and asks why Steve is still taking pills, and Steve dodges the question asking if Danny has something better to do. (Please have something better to do.) Danny gets in one more dig and says he was trying to put off watching Steve commit suicide. (Honestly, Danny is so off-putting and negative now. I really enjoyed the McDanno banter in early seasons, but this is just painful to watch. It's not banter. It's just bad.)

Per plan, the team forces the truck to the tunnel, Steve is getting to the ledge, making sure the cell phone signal is jammed so PineappleDeon can't see what's going on. Danny gets on comms to tell Steve if he dies today he's okay with it. (Seriously? Not cool.) Steve asks if he could tell him good luck and Danny says there isn't any luck, that luck would be Steve is paralyzed instead of dead. (I have no words at this point). Steve tells him the gift he bought him is a chef's hat with his name on it, so he can use it for Steve's. (Awww. He's a good friend.) Danny says his restaurant won't be named Steve's and Steve will be there to see that because he's not dying today. He says he's only negative because he wanted to talk Steve out of it. (Okay, really? Not an excuse. At all.) PineappleDeon is in the tunnel now, so Danny wishes him good luck. Finally.

Steve jumps (amazing stunt work!), makes it, and starts cutting a hole in the ceiling. But there's a shooter inside! Thankfully he's a terrible shot, (as are all terrorists/cartel members on this show), but now Steve is hanging off the side of the truck! He climbs back on (no problem for this guy, since his spidey-climbing abilities were revealed last week) and jumps down into the truck.He fights with the shooter and takes a few shots before he throws the shooter out the back. (Where the police nearly run him over.)

Chin is coming up fast behind PineappleDeon on a horizontal fireladder type contraption. Danny is driving close enough that Steve can open the semi-door and offload some of the girls. Sadly, the truck moves into protected airspace and the cell signal is back so the news is streaming. And they're showing the rescue. (Anyone reminded of the movie Speed at this point? I loved Keanu in that role.) PineappleDeon sees the rescue and speeds up. Steve closes the door with the other five girls still unrescued.

Danny asks him if he has any more bad ideas (not that Danny has any ideas at all, but whatever) and Steve tells him he's going to uncouple the trailer. I was not shocked when Danny says that's a stupid idea, but Steve has to do something. (Danny does thank him for the hat. So there's that, I guess.) Steve tells the girls he's going to get them out and to huddle close together. He miraculously jumps up to the hole in the ceiling (I have no idea how, it looked pretty high) and drops down to uncouple the trailer. He stays with the cab while the trailer careens right into a convenient hill without tipping over. PineappleDeon jumps out and is confronted by Steve, who promptly shoots him when PineappleDeon rashly raises his gun in Steve's direction. Steve runs to the girls, everyone is okay, Danny and the team arrive in time for cleanup duty as always. Danny calls him insane and Steve says that hurts his feelings, he feels labeled. Danny insists he's not trying to hurt his feelings, the last thing on earth he wants is to hurt Steve's feelings. (Uh huh. Sure.) Steve says it's his tone and how he says it, but they agree to a reset. (Can we all get a reset to a few seasons ago when Danny had a balance of negative/positive, so we didn't cringe so badly at what comes out of his mouth? Please.)

Back to the Chatting Table where they all talk about how they got PineappleDeon's burner phone and they traced his destination through a text to a chartered plane headed to Carson City. They don't know who sent the text, but PineappleDeon's contacts are all over the country. Steve will pass on their intel to law enforcement in those areas and hope they follow up. Kono is all angry/mopey/anxious, wondering if it will make a dent since the girls are constantly moved and departments don't have resources. Steve points out ten girls went back to their parents today. (Focus on the win, Kono!) She still looks upset, though, as everyone sort of just walks away.

Cut to the party for Jerry at Steve's. They even have a large poster with him holding his badge. (What do they do with that after the party? Hang it in his office?) Charlie needs to use the bathroom and Steve comes out looking sick. He confides to Danny that he actually has radiation poisoning from that dirty bomb a couple of months back and he's taking pills for that. There will be side effects down the road, but he's fine today. Danny stands there in his chef hat, looking concerned. (Flashback to last season when Steve needed a new liver. I'm disappointed they couldn't have thought of something more original than making the lead sick again, you know?)

Anyway, Chin calls Kono, but she doesn't answer. She's on a plane headed to Carson City. To do what, we're not sure, and she obviously hasn't told anyone. Oh, and she might be pregnant, so it seems unwise to go rogue right now, but whatever. She's got a very eye of the tiger look on her face and that's how the season ends!

For me, I wish this episode would have followed up with the government conspiracy teased from the last episode. This felt a bit out of sequence. There was a great stunt, though, jumping down onto the semi-trailer, that will make this episode memorable.

This season went by so quickly. Did you watch the finale? What did you think? Any predictions for next season?