Thursday, February 8, 2018

Hawaii Five-O Recap & Review: The Episode of Visha and Vito and Very Weird Stuff

This episode is sort of a mishmash of a bunch of stuff and not enough Steve, frankly.

We start off with teens cliff diving and one of them sees a body in the water, weighted down with cinder blocks. Ew.

Cut to the beach where an older heavyset man is tanning with his reflector.  A lifeguard is concerned he's getting too much sun, but the man hates people that are concerned about him and threatens to beat the young lifeguard so hard he'll cough up his swim trunks. (Yikes. Moral of the scene, don't bother caring about the health and wellbeing of old men with reflectors on a beach) Danny and Steve come along and Danny introduces the cranky guy as his Uncle Vito. (Why am I not surprised?) He's full of some "Jersey" humor that was odd. (If I had to guess, the Jersey stereotype they were going for was that everyone is a mobster?) They take Uncle Vito back to the RidiculousRestaurant (he flew in to "help" them) and says he can help them make it look like the rats ate the wiring. He'll even talk to the arson inspector for them! (Awww. Family love)  Steve points out that they don't want to burn it down, (Why? Please end this silly restaurant storyline) Vito reminds them that ninety percent of restaurants fail in first year. (How many times have we heard that dialogue now? I've lost count. EVERYONE says it. It's becoming a chorus for the show. Ninety-percent failure rate, ninety-percent failure rate. Now say it fast three hundred more times and you're all caught up with the show dialogue about the restaurant for this season!) Steve isn't sure about Vito, but Danny assures him Vito will get this done. He hands over $5000 to his Jersey relative with arson tendencies and a hatred for lifeguards, along with a list of the stuff they need. Steve gets the normal phone call that puts us all out of our RidiculousRestaurant misery.

The team is now at the Chatting Table talking about the dead body that was found wrapped in chicken wire and weighted with cinder block. (Died of blunt force trauma) (And the chicken wire thing was a great detail, but really gross to look at.) They were able to get a print from the corpse that had been underwater for around 48 hours, and he was a PI named Pruitt. They go over his last five clients and they find a photo of a bracelet in an evidence bag. Not much to go on. Junior goes to talk to one of his clients, Susan, who had PIPruitt looking into her husband's disappearance two years ago. He last called her to approve an overnight expense, and he said he was following a lead. Susan is sure her husband Micah wouldn't abandon the kids and shows Junior the last photo they have of him. He's wearing a bracelet like the one in PIPruitts' evidence bag! Dun, dun, dun.

Adam is still looking for his Al Capone and today is disguised in a hoodie while he steals Hidecki's very expensive car. He drives it to a garage where it's outfitted with GPS, audio and video. JessietheWonderCon is there trying to look less like a goody-two-shoes, so she dressed in black. (She always seems so surprised about everything Adam does. You're offering me a ride? You're Michael's brother? You stole a car?) Well, Adam jokes around about how he's still grounded from wrapping his dad's Ferrari around a tree when he was a teen and she gazes up at him adoringly for all his criminal tendencies. When the awe wears off a bit she gives Adam her daily reminder of how if this thing goes sideways she's on the line. (She says it every time they talk. Maybe she thinks he has a short-term memory issue. Or she just likes to hear him say trust me. Again.)

Danny calls Vito who assures him everything is under control. When he hangs up, we see he's at a bar chatting up a young lady and buying her drinks. Surprisingly, she wants to go back to his hotel room. (Did they just need filler scenes? I'm confused as to the point of Vito being there.)

Back to the secondary case. Junior tells Steve that HPD doesn't consider Micah a missing person because the parents have a voicemail from him and say that he's left hangups and they've had missed calls as well. Mom and Dad confide that his wife just wants him declared dead so she can get insurance money! (That greedy, no good wife!) Micah had gone by his parents' house asking for money that last day and it seemed like he was in trouble. Hmmm...

JessietheWonderCon pulls up to the dock in the stolen car where Hidecki is hanging out with his goons. (Can anyone just approach this guy? He doesn't seem to question how JessietheWonderCon knew he was there. Newbie to the crime boss game, I guess.) She gets out and tells Hidecki that she stole it and then realized who it belongs to and wanted to return it with apologies. (How? Did she pull out the car registration or something? I guess we'll never know. She truly is a Wonder Con!)  Hidecki is surprised to find a thief with honor, since he doesn't see that every day. He should kill her, but he doesn't and lets her walk away. (I guess she's hoofing it home in those heels. Her feet are going to kill later!)

Micah's financials revealed maxed out credit cards and drained bank accounts. The team is throwing out theories like maybe he owed a bookie. Or maybe he's still alive and got upset when PIPruitt got too close and is the killer. Who knows. They do figure out that the voicemail from Micah was actually his dad calling and playing an old recording. Awww. Dad wanted to give his wife some hope until they have proof that he's dead. SadDad feels bad he went the tough love route and wouldn't give his son money so their last interaction was yelling. (Moral of the scene: tough love is tough and makes everyone sad.)

Adam and JessietheWonderCon are listening in on the convo in Hidecki's car and they're talking about picking up some dead drops. Hey, that's enough to make a bust, Jessie points out, but Adam wants the bogeyman. (Or Al Capone as they called him last week.) Silly Jessie, you don't want to show your hand. Instead, they send JessietheWonderCon into a barber shop for a trim while Hidecki sits in the next chair over. Awkward. He dismisses the barber and holds a razor to her neck, running it up her cheek creepily. Adam is still listening in the car outside while CreeperHidecki is droning on about JessietheWonderCon's real reason for being there and to stop playing games. She says he's the only employer around and she wants to impress him with her skillz. And she has references! (Haha. I'd love to see Hidecki calling up her references. I mean, how would a past partner or victim say whether she had good skills or not, especially when she was CAUGHT! Oh well.) CreeperHidecki sends his guard to take care of business while he gets to know JessietheWonderCon better. Adam follows them like a good head of the organized crime branch boss. (I wish he was still in the Yakuza business. Or pretending he wanted back in or something. I liked him more when he had some gray areas.)

A hotel maid finds Vito tied to bedframe in hotel. He was robbed. (I just have no words for this storyline.) Danny keeps checking up on him, but he's not answering his phone now.

The team finds a parking receipt for PIPruitt from the day before his murder. He was at a mental health facility, visiting Gregory Isaacs. Apparently, a few days after Micah went missing, Gregory stumbled out of the jungle a complete mess, then became catatonic and unable to communicate with a complete mental break, induced by a traumatic event. Probably had drugs involved. They know that Isaacs had the same bracelet as Micah and they both went into same jungle, but only Isaacs ever returned so they need to know what happened in there. They show Isaacs a pic of PIPruitt and get nothing. But when they show him a pic of Micah, he freaks and the nurses have to run in and give him an injection. Steve and Danny keep questioning him and he mumbles something about a bridge and how they never should have gone there. But then the nurse is annoyed and says he's been through enough. She doesn't shake her finger in Steve's face, but the message is clear: no more questions you big meanies! But, nurse, there's no bridge in the jungle and they both had the bracelets! We need to keep badgering your poor mentally-broken-but-not-catatonic-anymore patient to find out what he meant! Instead, they end up obeying the nurse and leaving with all their questions unanswered.

Back to BoringVito. Kamekona tries to help him get his stolen watch back since it was a fake Rolex. They find the girl since pawn shops apparently give up names and addresses to anyone these days. She spent all the money, though, except for $27 and she still has the fake Rolex. BoringVito says they're going to return everything, even the statue of Adonis. Danny calls again, but BoringVito doesn't take it.

Hidecki is at his place, pouring drinks for JessietheWonderCon. Adam is still listening from the car. (I wonder if Hidecki checked her for a wire or a weapon. He doesn't seem to be a very thorough crime boss.) He's rambling on about wanting to trust her, while his car is being driven to an auto body shop. Adam ditches JessietheWonderCon (I hope he remembered that her life is on the line! She probably hasn't reminded him of that yet today) and quickly heads over there to stop that from happening. He's not quick enough and they open the panel and find the bugs and GPS. Hidecki's guard calls to tell Hidecki all about it while he's still boozing it up with JessietheWonderCon, but Adam holds a gun to his head so he can't tell. Whew.

Back to Steve's storyline. (Sort of. We don't see him enough, but he is the head of the task force, so we'll say it's his storyline.) Tani finds a pic of Isaacs with books in the background from a self-help guru named Visha. Apparently, when you get to the highest level of Visha's road to a better life course, you can cross the bridge to future success. Micah was taking these courses for thousands of dollars, along with Isaacs, and both graduated to that high level and were trying to cross the bridge. Uh oh. That bridge sounds bad. Unfortunately, they can't ask anyone about it, because Visha's gone to ground, right around the time Micah disappeared. They figure out Visha's real name is Devin Walsh and he has a plot of land in middle of jungle near where PIPruitt's body was found. (Rookie mistake, I guess, to have criminal activity right around the area where you're setting up your compound and all.)

The team finally breaks away from the Chatting Table and goes to the jungle with guns ready. (Thank goodness ActionSteve is in front. Best scene of the whole show!) Tani has shortened Junior's name to "Junes" as they talk about being tasty for all the jungle insects. (Yikes. Junes as a nickname is not cute.) They find the compound and watch people unloading a truck full of food. The team walks out calmly and says put your hands up, but a bunch of other compound people come out with their guns and it's a standoff! VishaDevin comes out and won't tell the compound people to put their weapons down because his students will do what they feel is right and it's out of his hands. Well, until one approaches the team and gets shot. Then all the compound people put their guns down and the team takes VishaDevin into custody and straight to the Blue room of Doom. Do not pass Go.

The team was busy on the compound and found baby woodrose plant, which is used for the LSA chemical extracted from the seeds to make a controlled substance. VishaDevin gives it to his students for the Crossing the Bridge ceremony, until they were tripping so hard they thought they were achieving enlightenment. It's all a scam. VishaDevin says his lawyer can clear it all up and they don't have solid evidence against him. Well, Lou and Steve say, except for the three students who confessed to VishaDevin killing PIPruitt and they dumped the body. Right close to where they dumped Micah's body, too. Steve says VishaDevin will have the rest of his life to meditate on it all in his cell. Poor VishaDevin has such a sad face when they leave him to ponder on that.

They do a very weird slo mo of Steve telling Susan about her husband, and then the parents walk into the office. Oddly, the mom and wife hug and smile at each other now they know Micah is dead. (It's such a strange scene. I thought they said she was a greedy insurance gold-digger? All is forgiven I guess.)

BoringVito got all the supplies on time and on budget. Steve thanks him and then BoringVito shows them the statue of Adonis wearing a grass skirt. It's a conversation piece! Nobody wants it, but they can't take it back. Well, it'll just come out of Danny's profits, but Uncle Vito laughs and says, "he thinks there will be profits." Ha. Poor delusional restauranteurs. (I'm shocked he didn't say one more time that it was doomed to fail. Ninety percent do, you know. In case you didn't get it the first three hundred times.)

But it's not over! Adam is talking to JessietheWonderCon while he's walking around his house. She's in! She didn't get her required Adam reminder in for the day, so she tells him again that if Hidecki finds out, her life is over. And Adam tells her AGAIN that she should trust him. He changes it up a little, though, and ends with get some rest, he'll be in touch in the morning. But he really won't because he gets tasered and kidnapped AGAIN. (How many times has this man been kidnapped now? Yikes. Has he ever heard of a security system? Or maybe getting a chip so Steve can keep tabs on him at all times and come and save him from all his kidnappings?) Poor Adam wakes up chained in a container in the middle of jungle. Uh oh. That can't be good.

So, did you watch? What did you think of Visha and Vito and all the very weird stuff?

2 comments:

Deb said...

Great Review Julie! Hate the restaurant story line.. Tani is annoying, and who didn't see it coming that Creepy Uncle Vito would get robbed by the hot blonde. I mean really.. it's every cliche in the book

Julie Coulter Bellon said...

Thanks, Deb! The restaurant storyline is a head-shaker for me, that's for sure. How many pineapples do I have to sacrifice before it goes away? And the Jersey stereotypes were definitely out in force with Vito! Oy!

As for Tani, well, she's the token woman on the task force and has taken over Kono's job as the Chatting Table info-dumper. Of all the new characters this season, though, I wish we had more Eddie scenes! :)