Hawaii Five-0 – La O Na Makuahine Review

I am catching up on my reviews…bare with me.

This review is for La O Na Makuahine, the first episode of season three. Just like the season two finale, it was action packed and so far I personally find season three very intriguing.

It begins with McGarrett being reunited with mom (aka Shelburne). Chin Ho finds that his choice to save either his wife or his cousin was really no choice at all. Kono was dumped in the ocean to drown and his wife was so badly wounded that she dies of her injuries. Luckily Kono survives thanks to her gangster boyfriend (after a call from Chin Ho).

Steve and Mom (Doris) have a long heart to heart about how she came to be Shelburne and why she left her family all those years ago. She was a spy and Shelburne was her cover before she started a family. Wo Fat’s father (whom she she killed) was a an assignment. Later she gave up her spy lifestyle and started a family but had to abandon her family by faking her own death when her past put them all in danger. Steve has a very hard time trusting her or letting her in so he instead focuses on protecting her from the threat of Wo Fat, who escapes police custody thanks to ex-cop Frank Delano. He has big plans to steal confiscated drugs from police lockup and the explosion earlier was a diversion that will allow them to sneak inside the station as cleanup crew.  They need Wo Fat to help them get the drugs out of Hawaii and he agrees to help when Delano dangles the location of Shelburne in trade.

Steve decides to hide his mom and put Catherine in charge of babysitting her. He and Catherine seem much cozier and flirtier (is that a word??). There was some real relationship innuendo going on.

After getting that settled he tries to locate Wo Fat. The team finds the place where they initially hid and regrouped after the prison break and they find several bodies belonging to construction workers. From there they uncover the plot to get inside the police station and steal drugs but unfortunately they are too late by the time they get there. Some quick police work though enables them to find the van moving the drugs and Delano and his men. Chin Ho gets revenge for his wife when he gets to shoot Delano in a shootout. One of Delano’s men manages to tell Steve that Wo Fat has gone after Shelburne, before he too dies.

Steve calls Catherine to give her the heads up and she sends Doris upstairs while she takes a look around the property. She finds a downed cop outside and an intruder whom she fights. Wo Fat manages to get upstairs and into the room where Doris is, both are armed. Gun shots are heard but when Catherine gets upstairs Doris says that Wo Fat got away through a window.

The next day Steve says goodbye to his mom. She gets on a plane and he insists that she not tell anyone, including himself, where she is going. After she is gone Danno arrives to tell him that there is something suspicious about Doris’ story about what happened with Wo Fat earlier. It appears that they did not in fact exchange gun fire. He never fired a shot and she put three shots in the floor. Steve is left wondering why his mother let Wo Fat get away deliberately.

My best guess? I think that her assignment back in her Shelburne days meant posing as the elder Fat’s girlfriend or even wife in order to get intel. Later on she killed him. I think Wo Fat is her son and Steve’s brother and he did not know until he saw her that his own mother killed his father. It would make for good TV at least.

What do you think?

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27 Comments - Write a Comment

  1. finally, kono got some air time. so is catherine getting her own side story? all I can say about her is I’m sure! get real! is there nothing the great cath cant do?

  2. haven’t seen any updates on any sites. has he just fallen off the radar. so miss the young Alex trying to get his career started, finally got recognition and now going into hideing with partner? his whole life style has changed. wondering if H5O goes off the air if he will become a has been? don’t think this relationship will last and hope his career will not end also. I have been getting most of my updates from relatives in Hawaii, I am in La and he’s made it so well known how he fells about LA. hopefully I wil get some info during Christmas break when I visit dad in Hawaii ” oh were or were has our little lex gone”

    1. Agree about the relationship. Have your relatives sen anything of Alex and her out together with family?

      1. my brother seen him at a motorcylce shop but says he hasn’t seen anyone else.

  3. no mention of H5O or Alex in TV guide, seems like fans are losing interest. so few post on this site, guess I right

  4. I wasn’ aware Alex was in LA this weekend. bet she left the baby with a sitter already and enjoyed her walk in the limelight with him.

    1. What’s going on in LA? I hadn’t heard anything that he was in LA.

      I’ve been refraining from commenting because I’m just bewildered as to his recent choices. I don’t understand him at all. Guess we all got the characters he portrays confused with the actor. But I wish him the best of course.

      1. Alex was at a foreign press conference. He was there on his own A fellow passenger got a treat and was seated next to Alex on way back. Malia seems to have disappeared into thin air since sotb

  5. this weeks epi was good, bout time they let Scott act after all he is the seasoned actor here. I just wish they would include Kono more into the show, God she lives in Canada, can’t they at least make her trip to the islands worth while? Steve doesn’t always have to be the hero, does he?

  6. Billie – I’ve heard both Sculthorpe and Rau as surnames for Alex. Didn’t know that O’lauchlan was his grandfather’s name, but it stands to reason that he would take grandpa’s name, since Alex says he adored the man. Whatever, Lion doesn’t sound any better, no matter which last name he uses.

    1. I haven’t heard Rau yet but your right, Lion doesn’t go with any of them. He talked about the middle name being Hawaiian, oh my, what did this kid get stuck with? LOL

  7. hear the crazy lady named his baby Lion? whats wrong with her,and him?

    1. The poor kid is going to go through life as “LOL” – what a couple of idiots to to this to their child. Hollyweird!!!

      1. no, I heard he took his grandfathers name, o’lauchlan and later changed the spelling. He has a really odd last name but can’t remember. Maybe “she” gave the baby her name, who knows. He has become so whipped. what a dickhead

      2. Christy, You are so right so darn funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!

  8. Interesting theory, Tiffany! Can’t wait to find out. Steve’s mom is a pistol, isn’t she?? I also had a theory earlier about Shelburn being Steve’s dad–could still see that resurrection too! 😉 I like Catherine–liked her from the beginning. And I like Max–extra laughs!! By the way–congrats to Alex and Malia on their new baby boy! 😀

  9. I seen a picture of Alex with “her” mom and brother, were is his mum and sister? “her” family is really taking advantage of his popularity

    1. Carrie, where did you see a picture of Alex with Malias mom and Malias brother? Malias mom passed away in March of last year, so I guess “her” mom must have been another lady in Malias family that you saw.

      Where can I see that picture?

  10. Great review Tiffany, as always. Love Mama McGarrett. Interesting theory about Wo Fat being Steve’s half-brother..it would certainly explain why he and Doris didn’t shoot each other when given a chance. Can’t wait to find out what Peter and the writers have in store for us this season. Thanks for a great website. :p

  11. Thx Tiffany….Love Steve & Catherine & of course the show….

  12. i like your thinking tiff! it would be good viewing but i do think its better viewing with steve and wo fat as enemies, it gives me a bit of a rush watching and knowing he is still waiting to be caught. there is deep history between them and steve wants revenge…. so do i!! thanks for the updates, i cant wait until it is aired in the u.k. any ideas? all the best to you tiff and all who read this page.

  13. I dont like the theoryof Steve and Wo fat being half siblings. For me that will kill part of the show.

    Steve and Catherine, even though they make a good couple up until this moment Im not liking how she has been on the show

    1. cinithia I agree about Catherine, she doesn’t add much to the show and I don’t care for her. Max either, I think he gets to much air time, Kono is a main character and she gets very little air time.

      1. If I were a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, now I’d say “Kgobaunwa, dude!”

  14. I think you may be right about the brother bit. And yes, Chin is getting the good story lines, after Ll he was the one to lose the most, his wife.

    Not sure what future they have in store for Kono and Adam. He is trying to sort out some of his father’s, shall we say indiscressions.

    Danny and Steve will always have that bromance going on between them. Let’s face it we all love the carguments, and at seauments. Catherine and Steve at the present time theirs is a different kind of romance. I think he will call on her a lot to help, with mum. . After all Steve’s spent a lot of time thinking he had no mum, he is suspicious of her, and probably rightly so.
    Just wish the ratings were better. And vote for him and H50 for People’s choice for 2013.

  15. Ooh I love your theory on Wo Fat being Steve’s half brother. That never even crossed my mind.

    I’m loving Steve and Catherine together. She brings a different lightness to him and getting to see Steve smile is a bonus. Plus, it means the writers can make the carguments even snarkier.

    Also, I think it should be mentioned that Daniel Dae Kim is absolutely killing it this season.

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