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Five-0 Redux: A midseason unraveling

BY WENDIE BURBRIDGE / Special to the Star-Advertiser

A few weeks before “Hawaii Five-0” began its new season in September, I waxed on about our hopes and fears about what was to come during the show’s third year of sun-drenched police procedurals and bromantic banter.

Season two left us with Wo Fat behind bars, Danno fighting for custody of young Gracie, Chin having to make a dramatic choice between saving his wife, Malia, or his cousin, Kono, and of course, the shocking return of Mama McG. We wondered who would die, who would be saved, and what other bad tidings awaited our team.

Yet little did we know that after 17 episodes, we are still waiting to get over the season three hurdles set up during the ambitious premiere. I suppose even a huge claw cannot hold onto the slippery Wo Fat, the mystery that is Doris McGarrett, or the ambiguity surrounding Adam Noshimuri — and that’s just a start to the questions still to be unraveled this season.

We have seven episodes left to bring us to the exciting conclusion of yet another roller coaster season. What can we expect from our fab four and the other characters that have been added to the team? I may not have a magic table to organize it all for you — but I’m sure you can follow along and add your own thoughts to the plot lines that still need to be wrapped up or will perhaps bleed over into season four.

Where in the world is Wo Fat?

» Character: Wo Fat (Mark Dacascos), international criminal mastermind
» Status: In the wind

After Wo Fat’s James Bond escape in the season premiere and his dabble into politics was thwarted by McG and Danno, Wo Fat is still lose and still seems to want to destroy McG.

But for some reason, he seems to have lost his taste for finding “Shelburne,” who we now know is the alias created by Joe White for Doris McGarrett. In season two, Wo Fat was hell bent on finding Shelburne, and taking his revenge out on the person he believed killed his father. Yet when he finally found Doris, the only shots exchanged were between Doris’s gun and the floorboards. Wo Fat has yet to return to kill Doris, and seems to have moved onto finding other ways to infiltrate McG’s life.

So far, his political aspirations failed, but who knows what else our silent but still seemingly deadly foe has planned for the McGarretts. I’m sure I am not alone when I say that we haven’t seen anything yet this season when it comes to Wo Fat. In season two he broke into Halawa Prison and killed one of his own henchmen, Victor Hesse; he corrupted and killed CIA agent, Jenna Kaye; he tortured and almost killed McGarrett in North Korea; and he found and dismembered his former Yakuza ally, Hiro Noshimuri.

If nothing else, Wo Fat is a bad bad guy. So the new question is — why did he let Doris McGarrett live?

The Mystery of Mama McG

» Character: Doris McGarrett (Christine Lahti), mother to Steven and Mary Ann, former CIA operative, a.k.a “Shelburne”
» Status: Playing Mom in the McGarrett home

We still have no idea what Mama McG has up her sleeve. If the question about Wo Fat is why did he let her live, then why did Doris let Wo Fat escape?

It’s obvious that she let the man who on several occasions has attempted to kill her son, who most likely tried to blow her up 20 years ago, and who probably ordered the death of her husband, Jack, hightail it out an open window. She may have found an oddly comfortable spot back home with her worrisome son, and a semi-soul mate in private eye, Mick Logan, but Doris still has a few too many bags of mystery to unpack before anyone can begin to trust her.

Steve may want to keep tabs on her, find out what she is up to, and where she is going, but wily Mama seems to be one step ahead of her son. And to her credit, while I am as suspicious as Steve of everything she does, I am still very intrigued about what she really has hiding behind her Mama exterior.

I only hope Catherine doesn’t fall into any of her traps, and that Steve and Mary Ann won’t face any more heartache when it comes to Mama McG.

Figuring out the Brothers Noshimuri

» Characters: Adam (Ian Anthony Dale) and Michael (Daniel Henney) Noshimuri
» Status: Adam is currently working to change his Yakuza based business into legitimate ventures; Michael, recently released from prison, seems to be joining his brother in legitimizing their family business

In the season three opener, Adam was our hero, diving into the drink to save Kono from drowning. I’m sure we could have bought a scenario where Kono gets out of her bonds and saved herself, but it was nice to see the “bad” guy turn out to be pretty decent. And while Adam and Kono seem to be developing into more than just a sexy fling, I am not sure Kono quite trusts her former Yakuza boyfriend.

As for Adam’s brother, Michael, we all saw him switch out Kono’s gun, and we’re still waiting to see how that plays out for her. In the last two season finales, Kono has ended up in two really sticky situations — could a third time on the proverbial chopping block be in Kono’s future?

She had her badge taken away in season one, and she faced death in season two; the girl cannot catch a break. I guess we can only hope that whatever happens, the right brother gets to keep the girl and continue on his path to redemption.

Love is in the Air

» Characters: Danny (Scott Caan) and Gracie (Teilor Grubbs) Williams; and Steve McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) and Catherine Rollins (Michelle Borth)
» Status: Unknown

I know most of us were relieved when Danno got custody of Gracie and learned that she would not be moving to the mainland with Rachel and Stan. And while we haven’t seen much of Gracie since the Victoria Secret episode, I am not so sure that Danno’s troubles over Gracie are over.

For two seasons we have dealt with Danno’s custody troubles, as well as his love for his ex-wife Rachel, but are they really at rest? After the great backstory on Grace’s namesake, and Danno’s heartfelt plea to the family court judge to keep his daughter in HawaiʻI, I would like to say that Danno would have a normal, uneventful future with his daughter.

Don’t laugh. It could happen.

But “Hawaii Five-0” tends to want to provoke drama more than end it, so the likelihood of Danno’s future being uneventful, seems like a slim possibility. Much like the future between Steve and Cath — while I adore the cuteness that seems to surround them, I do think that the sins of the mother may get in between “McRoll” (the moniker fans have given the relationship between McG and Rollins; think Brangelina or the former TomKat).

If anything is going to break these two apart — and I don’t wish that for a second, but I know how my favorite show tends to operate — it will be the deal with the devil Cath made with Doris in “Wahine ʻIno Loa.” If we have to choose between Mama and Cath, I’m rolling my dice for more Rollins.

So, my hungry “Five-0″ fans, I could go on for a few more thousand words to detail even more about season three, but I’m sure there will be more discussion in the next few months as we wait impatiently for new episodes.

Perhaps by May, some of the above mysteries will be solved, or at least unraveled enough for us to make it to season four.

Redux Side Note:

If you missed last night’s repeat, just read my review. And don’t miss next week Monday’s rebroadcast of “Pōpilikia.”

A new “Five-0″ episode will air March 18, with Catherine strapping on some skates to go undercover at the roller derby. I wonder what her cool derby girl nickname will be?
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Wendie Burbridge is a published author, playwright and teacher who lives and works in Honolulu. Reach her via Facebook and follow her on Twitter.