We start out with previouslies of all of Adam's troubles since Tamiko's kidnapping and the recap of Mrs. Wo Fat's appearance.
Then we get the song Taking Care of Business playing while Steve and crew are rolling up to a hotel and moving in all tac'ed up. (Oh yeah. That's the way to open a show!) He tells an HPD officer to set a perimeter, that no one goes in or out, but we all know how that's going to go. (Poor HPD has no luck setting perimeters.) The team bursts into an empty room. What a letdown! But then they get a call that the guy they're looking for is in the adjoining room with a hostage. Steve heads into the next room, too, but the guy gets away, shooting a police officer in the hall, his partner holding off Five-0 with some gunfire that comes awful close to Steve's head! They run downstairs with Steve and Junior in hot pursuit. An HPD officer is shot in the lobby and his partner shoots the gunman, but the other gunman manages to get lost in the crowd outside. Magnum PI and Higgins approach Steve and point the guy out, who starts shooting again and disappears down the road. Magnum is all, you let him get away? And Steve looks annoyed and asks who are you. He was the guy on the phone! Dun, dun, dun. (How does Steve not know who Magnum is? That island is small.)
Cue music.
Steve looks over Magnum's ID and asks what he's investigating. Higgins wanted him to ask nicely, but Lou is all, we can take you in! We have a Blue Room of Doom! Higgins isn't fazed and wants a "please" so Steve gives in. They were investigating Hong, a guy whose wife thought he was cheating on her. They were watching his hotel room, but a gentleman showed up instead of a woman, and the two men exchanged an envelope is all. One of them was tipped off that H50 had arrived and they ran. Steve reciprocates with their investigation rundown that the man Hong was with was an associate of Mrs. Wo Fat, a name that Higgins knows from her days at MI6. So Five-0 was hoping to catch the guy Mrs. Fat sent, and flip him for her location. They don't actually know what the guy looks like, though, and Magnum's SD card was corrupted, but never fear! Magnum and Higgins know what he looks like, so Steve has them come along to help.
Back at the Chatting Table everyone is gathered around to report. Magnum and Higgins gave their description to the sketch artist, but the guy isn't in the system. Steve says they should go with their strongest lead, Hong's wife. She's at the MEs office to ID the body, so Tani and Higgins will go talk to her and Steve and Magnum will go to her house. The guys head off in the Ferrari and Magnum is annoyed that he's the passenger. Steve likes to drive, claims Danny is fine with it. But how does a PI afford a Ferrari? Magnum admits it belongs to author Robin Masters who writes White Knight books. Steve read a few of those, but doesn't believe someone that cocky would make it through BUDs. Magnum informs him that Robin was embedded with his team while he was researching and he can't say whether or not he was the inspiration for the main character. But he could be. (I know who the inspiration is for the Navy SEAL commander in my book! Just sayin') Tani and Higgins are with sad Mrs. Hong. Tani tells her that her husband was involved with dangerous people and shows her the sketch Magnum and Higgins had done, but she doesn't recognize the person. When she says her husband has been traveling to Portland, L.A., and Denver, she's told that actually he went to China nine times. Surprise! But at least he wasn't having an affair, so there's that.
Magnum and Steve pull up in front of the Hong House, but it's locked! Magnum picks it and they go inside to Hong's office. They search around, but the mini-fridge is rattling, so Magnum pulls off the bottom cover and finds a hidden folder of papers written in Chinese! Steve looks it over, but they take it with them since Mrs. Hong will be back soon. They let their guard down, though, and a gunman holds them up on the front porch. He orders Magnum to take Steve's gun and disassemble it and throw it. He wants the envelope, too, but Magnum mouths off to let them keep something since they gave up the gun. HoldUpGuy ain't playin' though, and tells Steve he's going to shoot his chatty friend. Steve doesn't mind and says, go ahead, I don't know this guy! Magnum is protesting that they're pals, so HoldUpGuy says he'll just shoot them both. Steve hands over the folder and HoldUpGuy shoots two tires out on the Ferrari (worth $800 each) so Magnum is very unhappy. Steve quickly puts his gun back together and shoots at the getaway car, but misses.
Higgins and Tani are bored sitting in an office at HQ going through hotel footage. Quinn and Junior are at the Chatting Table also looking bored. No sign of Hong or the fellow he met. Higgins notices there doesn't seem to be a lot of dysfunction in the team or any office romances, but Tani has no poker face game and gives it away that she's got a little sumthin' sumthin' with Junior. She throws back the playful banter and bickering Higgins has with Magnum, but Higgins claims that it's all strictly professional because she was heavily involved with someone she worked with at MI6 and it was great until it wasn't. Quinn knocks on the door and they all go look at a suspicious van that pulled up to the service entrance of the hotel. They manage to get an image of their shooter. (I sort of miss Adam being the Smart Table guy.)
Steve and Magnum were picked up by Rick and TC, two of Magnum's guys that are also former SEALs. Magnum is whining about Steve almost letting him get shot and "so much for no man left behind." Steve says he was just eliminating any leverage the guy thought he had which makes sense. TC is watching Steve in the rearview mirror and asks if he's the same McG they always used to hear about who fought in Operation Avalanche, and a battle somewhere that I couldn't pronounce, who led a team to rescue hostages in Karachi, and killed Victor and Anton Hess. Steve says he is and Magnum is supposedly not impressed, but TC calls Steve a legit legend. Rick says it's such an honor and gets a shoulder pat of solidarity from Steve. Magnum is playing it off with hey, we all served here, but TC and Rick remind him that they all have swung a bat, but we aren't all Ty Cobb or Jackie Robinson. Steve is really smiling at this and they go on to say they are in the presence of greatness. (It was a really cute scene.)
Magnum and Steve make it back to HQ and Lou asks how it was driving the Ferrari. Steve is playfully offended that they were just held up at gunpoint and that's what he gets asked, but Lou gives him the eye and says this isn't the first time Steve's had a gun in his face. The best part though was when Steve leans in and whispers, it was amazing and Lou says to tell him later. (Loved that!) Back to the Chatting Table report: Magnum sees the shooter's pic on the screen and IDs the van driver as the HoldUpGuy who stole the folder and shot out two of the Ferrari's tires. Higgins also reminds him he's responsible to pay for the tires. They recap what's happened so far and Steve says he only had a minute to scan the secrets docs they found, but they were diplomatic communiques, classified memos, and military docs. Soooo, Hong must have been a Chinese spy! Tani and Lou run down that the last time they had a Chinese spy case, Steve volunteered to get himself captured, they tried to erase his memory by throwing him into a sensory deprivation tank, but Steve looked fierce in the Britney Spear jumpsuit. (And he did!) Higgins checks with her contact in counterintelligence and is speaking Chinese to him, which Quinn translates for everyone. Magnum feels like he's the only one who does't speak Chinese. Poor Magnum.
Higgins and Tani are sitting in a beach parking lot waiting for her contact, and Tani is all starry-eyed wanting to know what it was like being a spy. Higgins tells her it wasn't all that glamorous, a lot of waiting around and being alone. The contact finally shows up and he isn't happy. He wants his debt cleared now, but Higgins says no way. He gives her Hong's MSS file and says that Beijing isn't pleased their asset has been taken out of play, since Hong was as high-level as you can get. (Dun, dun, dun.) Tani calls in to HQ to say that Hong's focus was penetrating intelligence and defense sectors and he'd infiltrated private military contractors and was funneling info and trade secrets back to Beijing. Which means he was probably passing off intel at the hotel. Junior reports that the car the HoldUpGuy was driving was found. Quinn and Lou bust in and the HoldUpGuy points a gun at them, so they shoot. He's wounded in the gut and they'll call medical if he talks. (They are using that tactic more and more.)
Tani calls Adam and is concerned for him, but he says there is no need to worry, he's just working some stuff out. She asks him to meet her for coffee and he says yes, but after they hang up he takes his luggage and heads out the door. His ticket says he's going to Japan. (No coffee for you, Tani!)
Quinn reports that JustintheHoldUp guy gave up the name Brandon Powell, but it's an alias. Apparently Hong reached out to say that he had a NOC list of agents that Beijing thinks are on their side, but are really working on behalf of the CIA. Hong wanted a payday, but couldn't cash in without being branded a traitor. (I didn't get that. Why would he be a traitor? Because he wanted money?) Mrs. Wo Fat wanted that list to sell to the Chinese herself. So the deal is, since the names are on an ecrypted SD card, Mrs. Wo Fat would get the password once she wires the fifty million dollars into Hong's account, but that went out the window when Hong was killed. So Brandon is supposed to do everything he can to crack the encryption. They get a hit on the name because Brandon has a rental agreement on a property, so they head over there. Lou and crew pull up, but a CIA team cuts them off. They've been watching Powell for weeks and he's theirs. Lou offers to back them up but the CIA guys decline and head inside. (Those CIA guys looked old. Like the geriatric unit or somethng!) Lou and crew watch the breach, but right after the CIA guys go in, the house blows up. Surprise!
Steve heard what happened, glad everyone is okay, but they wouldn't have been if the CIA hadn't gone in first. Mrs. Wo Fat must have directed JustintheHoldUpGuy to send them and she expected them to die in that blast. But wait, six CIA guys went in and there were seven bodies! The seventh body was Bruce who had his hands bound and a GSW to the head. Poor Bruce was a prison guard at Halawa and guess who is at the prison? Aaron Wright, hacker extraordinaire. Steve says he'll meet them there and puts the prison on lockdown, but Magnum sees Brandon dressed as a guard. He runs, they chase him and he takes a guard's gun, then shoots at Steve. He shoots back and Brandon is dead, but luckily he had the NOC list in his pocket. It's over. (Seems a little too easy if you ask me, but okay.)
Back at HQ Magnum meets up with Steve at his office right before Steve leaves to return the NOC list to the CIA. There's thanks all around then when Magnum is leaving, he notices a pic of Joe White on Steve's wall. Says Joe was a legend and wonders if Steve was close to him. Steve admits they were and Magnum gives him condolences and says that if Steve ever wants to grab a beer, to give him a call. Team guys have to stick together! Steve agrees and asks Magnum to bring those boys along, they were good for the ego. (Haha! I loved that.) Steve also assures Magnum that his White Knight secret is safe with him. Awww.
Higgins says goodbye to Tani near the elevators and leaves her with one last piece of advice: if you find someone at work who brings light in your life and makes you happy you should pursue it, that even knowing how badly it ended for her, she would still do it all over again. Tani takes her advice and calls Junior who is walking to his car. She awkwardly asks him out for drinks and he agrees. She's doing her happy dance in her office, but when he gets into his car, a masked man grabs him around the neck. (Uh oh. Another task force member kidnapped!)
to be continued on Magnum!
When we come back, two guys in suits are at HQ and Tani is hiding from them. She manages to get away and drives to an alley to pick up Quinn. (She also throws Quinn's phone out the window! Poor Quinn. Hopefully she backed up to the cloud) So, apparently it's just them because the CIA picked up Danny, Steve, and Grover. (A Danny mention, surprise!) They go to Magnum for help and tell him Junior has been kidnapped and the kidnappers want to trade him for the NOC list, Steve, Danny, and Lou were rounded up so they wouldn't even consider doing a trade and we flash to poor Junior being beaten. Magnum thinks it's Mrs. Fat, but since he said that, we know it isn't. Tani and Quinn escaped because Steve texted a warning before the CIA moved in. The kidnappers set a deadline of noon today and if they don't get the list Junior dies, so they only have four hours. McG probably still had the list on him, so they need to find out where he hid it. But hey, if they give up the NOC list, it's a death sentence for the agents on it. If they don't, Junior will die. (Tough choices!) What if they decode the list themselves and warn the agents! Good idea. They first head to McG's house and easily pick the lock. (Which is why he needs better security!) His house is trashed because the CIA searched it and Eddie comes in growling at Higgins. He loves Magnum, though. They find a laptop in a desk drawer and ping McG's cell phone to find the last place he was and since it's somewhere remote, that's probably where he hid the list. But when they go there, it's a huge area they could never cover.
They manage to get satellite images of McG when he was sending the warning text and find out that he met Kamekona there. McG's fan club boys (Rick and TC) go visit Kame to get the SD card McG gave him. Kame denies having it, but gives it up when Tani threatens to burn down his truck. (Also, where did Tani get a burner phone from? That was fast work! I hope she replaces Quinn's) Higgins tries to decrypt the NOC list, but it's not working, so they decide to go to Mrs. Hong's and see if they can find out who encrypted it in the first place and get him to decrypt it quicky. Mrs. Hong lets them in and shows them the computer the CIA already looked at. (Some agents were outside the house when Magnum and crew arrived, so they went in the back way). She tells them an IT guy came to the house two days before Hong was killed. Higgins finds the IT guy's name (it's Eli) and they bring him to a wine cellar to talk. He says he won't help, but Tani attacks him, threatening to cut his fingers off. He caves and decrypts it, but before anyone can pop the champagne cork, he erases it. Tani goes ballistic and attacks him, punching him and yelling that he killed him. Quinn pulls her off.
Junior gets a drink of water through his hood (which is super awkward) and tells his captor to kill him now because Five-0 will never trade the list and sacrifice dozens for him. The captor only says I guess we'll see in an hour. Back at the wine cellar, the kidnappers call Magnum and say they know he's helping Five-0 and they want the NOC list. Magnum asks for proof of life which they get with some obscure question about where Junior and Tani ate the night they met. The kidnappers will text the location for the drop. (Uh oh.) They don't have a card anymore, but they make Eli encrypt the blank one so they get 30 seconds to save Junior before anyone realizes it's a bluff. Higgins figures out that the only person who knows they're helping Five-0 is Mrs. Hong, so she must be in on it. (Nice twist!) Quinn, Higgins, and Magnum go to the meet in a large field and Mrs. Hong tells him Junior is in a white van on a service road, but when Tani, Rick, and TC get there, the van is empty. Mrs. Hong's men are holding Magnum, Higgins, and Quinn at gunpoint while they decrypt the SD card, and with no Junior, Magnum decides to approach Mrs. Hong and tell her there's nothing on it, they know Junior isn't in the van, and they obviously have trust issues. When he's close enough, he takes out the guards, they find out where Junior really is and head there. Tani quickly finds Junior and hugs him close. There is a really nice ending scene at Rick's bar of Tunior dancing and Magnum chatting with Higgins about possibly crossing paths with Five-0 again since it's a small island. Also, Quinn is playing darts with Rick and the flirting was cute. A very sweet ending.
Can't wait for next week! What did you think? Did you watch?
Did you miss my review from the last episode? You can see it
HERE
