Aloha to Hawaii Five O and Wehe 'ana (Prelude) - TV Review

Friday night was a winner with Hawaii Five O - Wehe 'ana (Prelude):

Danny protects a coma patient showing signs of waking who was the key witness from his last HPD case before he met Steve and joined Five-0, on HAWAII FIVE-0, Friday, April 28 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Lori Petty guest stars as Nurse Jenny Kitson, and Michael Paul Chan guest stars as Danny's former HPD Captain Tanaka.

The action begins with Danny and Steve assembling a "race car" bed for Danny's son, Charlie. Naturally, the banter hits an all time high as they engage in carguments.  Retired Captain Tanaka interrupts the male bonding with an urgent situation - a witness from Danny's last case has reappeared after seven years. Tanaka directs Danny's attention to a news broadcast with a "human interest story" of an unknown coma patient in a North Shore nursing home.  Found at the foot of  Ka'ena Point in 2010, the unidentified man is now showing signs of waking up.  Little does the medical staff realize their efforts to identify the patient only makes him vulnerable to those who want to silence him again

Hawaii Five O returns to its roots when Danny takes a stroll down memory lane, reliving the days leading up to meeting Steve for the first time. Viewers are treated to "throwback" scenes where Danny is once again wearing a tie as the haole detective from New Jersey.  He is called to a murder scene and passes out his business cards to possible witnesses.  When one witness attempts to contact him at HPD, he fails to pick up the line in time and the witness goes missing.  Captain Tanaka then reassigns Danny to the John McGarrett murder case, leading him to confront Navy Lieutenant Steve McGarrett in his father's garage.  

The action in the present follows the standard H50 pattern - predictable, over the top, and full of plot holes.  But I'll take Hawaii's landscape anytime.  Still, the return to H50's roots - and that magic moment when Jersey meets SEAL - was worth the watch.

In fact, I pulled out the H50 Season One DVD and watched the pilot again.  Sigh.  Hawaii.  Then I realized that one scene from the pilot - Steve saves Kono by driving the surveillance truck through the warehouse door - is repeated in Wehe 'ana - Steve saves Danny by driving his Chevy truck into the front door of the house where he is fighting off the bad guys.

Steve always has the last word ... 

 

For the month of April, I am giving away a box of books from authors attending RT. To enter the giveaway,

1. What were you doing seven years ago?  My family was enjoying our second year in Hawaii.

2. Comments are open through Sunday, April 30, 10 pm in Baltimore.

3. I will be offline from Monday, May 1 - Sunday, May 7.

4. I'll post the winner on Sunday, May 8.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore
Aloha Spirit in Charm City

TV Review - The Good Wife's Bond (Season 7 premiere)

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The Good Wife returned on Sunday, 9 pm, on CBS.  I have a love/hate relationship with this legal drama set in Chicago, Illinois.  I don't always enjoy the story lines.  But I cannot deny the show offers stimulating story telling and award winning acting.  Julianna Margulies stars as the title character, the good wife emerging from the ashes of her bad husband's political corruption.

Season 6 ended with Alicia winning the election for Illinois State's Attorney (her husband's former job).  But a reporter revealed one of the polling station was rigged.  The Democratic Party asked Alicia to resign, aka "take one for the team", to protect another Democrat who would loose his seat if the rigging was investigated. Having sold her share in her own law firm to run for State's Attorney, Alicia found herself unemployed.  Yet she never gave up hope.  Alicia simply went home to create a website offering her legal services.

Season 7 opens with Alicia learning the ropes at bond court where "bottom feeding" lawyers are only paid if they are able to secure bond for clients they recruit in lock up.  She returns home to find a more reputable client responding to her website. The client requests Alicia to settle her mother's estate "fifty-fifty" with her brother.  Her brother's attorneys, of course, are Alicia's former partners.  The two sets of attorneys arrive at the mother's sealed apartment to find all the post it notes have fallen from items the mother identified for each sibling.  It remains unclear who inherits the mother's only valuable, an $8 million painting.  Here's where the fun begins - Alicia battles her former partners over their technical experts of adhesive stick, paint chips, and Roomba batteries.  SNL alumni Jane Curtain offers comedic relief as the presiding judge who is overwhelmed by the conflicting testimonies, "Are we going to hear from a scissors expert, today?"

The episode is a tossed salad of many ingredients which interact well with each other:

- Alicia's teenage daughter, Grace, serves as her research assistant for the inheritance case, googling issues as they arise in the courtroom.

- Alicia's former partner, Cary, finds himself as an "old fogey" in his own law firm.

- Alicia's husband, Peter, fires longtime public relations guru Eli Gold.  He then hires a national level political adviser to steer him as a Vice President candidate.  Outraged by his disloyalty, Alicia hires Eli to serve as her chief of staff.   Eli commits to protecting Alicia from any efforts by Peter's staff to "rehabilitate" her after the election scandal (oh, the irony).

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The icing on the cake is Louis Canning, a sleazy lawyer who exploits his obvious disability.  He is played flawlessly by the beloved Michael J. Fox.  The Back To The Future Star uses his own disability, Parkinson's Disease, to demonstrate that he is still a bankable actor.  Louis follows Alicia from bond court to a local bar, interrupting her well deserved glass of wine.  He invites her to join his law firm.  Alicia replies by calling him the devil.  At the end of the episode, Louis follows Alicia again to the bar.  Alicia suspects, and Louis confirms, that he sent the inheritance case to her.  She considers his second job offer, noting he is still the devil.

If you are a fan of The Good Wife, you will enjoy its return.  If you are not watching The Good Wife, find time in your schedule to do so.

Have you discovered a new show this season?   Or have you welcomed back a returning favorite?  One randomly selected commenter wins a book choice from my convention stash. Comments are open through Saturday, October 10.  I'll post the winner on Sunday, October 12.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore
Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Julianne Margulies was an original cast member of ER -
also set in Chicago.

Aloha to Battle Creek - TV Review

I discovered a new show (mid season replacement) on Sunday night - BATTLE CREEK.  From CBS.com (link),

BATTLE CREEK stars Josh Duhamel and Dean Winters in a drama about two mismatched law enforcement officers whose polar opposite views of the world and crime-solving breed frustration, disdain, humor and possibly a grudging respect as they clean up the hardscrabble streets of Battle Creek, Mich. Det. Russ Agnew, a good but gruff, hard-boiled detective, has his world upended when strikingly handsome, charismatic Special Agent Milton Chamberlain opens an FBI field office at the police station and chooses Russ to be his partner. Milt’s polished sophistication and access to unlimited state-of-the-art equipment is impressive to his new co-workers in the absurdly underfunded department. As Russ and Milt work long hours together in the economically distressed city of Battle Creek, the question is: will it be Milt’s charm and endless supply of high-end resources or Russ’s old-fashioned cynicism, guile and deception that prove to be the keys to catching the bad guys in his beloved hometown? Janet McTeer, Kal Penn, Edward Fordham, Jr. and Aubrey Dollar also star.

Dean Winters (above, left) debuted in HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET, ventured over to LAW & ORDER: SUV, and popped up in other "cop" shows.    He is also "Mayhem" in the Allstate commercials.  Winters is perfectly cast as the scruffy cop who internalizes his emotions.  He is the ying to Josh Duhamel's yang as the almost-too-perfect FBI agent.   It would be easy to characterize them as the Odd Couple of crime fighting ... but BATTLE CREEK is much more.   It offers humor as they try to outwit the other; warmth as they try to find friendship; and quirkiness of a colorful cast living the American dream.

Watch BATTLE CREEK on Sunday nights, 10 pm EST, or on demand.   I am giving away a book choice from my convention stash.  To enter the giveaway,

1.  Do you have a favorite cop show?  Mine, of course, is Hawaii Five O.

2.  Comments are open through Saturday, April 11, 10 pm in Baltimore.

3.  I'll post the winner on Sunday, April 12.  

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore

Aloha Spirit in Charm City