Here is the recap from Susan for last night’s episode. Again it is detailed so if you have not seen it and do not want to have a spoiler than read at your own risk. Enjoy!
Well tonight is a new Five 0 and it feels like we’ve waited a long time so it was good to see the Ohana back again.
Our episode begins with Grover in the kitchen making breakfast for Will and Grace who both will not get off their cell phones. At the same time Grover is taunting Chin with a video of his perfect breakfast. Love that Guy! Before breakfast is served, Grace and Will both get a picture of a dead body strung up like an animal kill. The picture would be enough to suppress anyone’s appetite.
Grover and Kono arrive at the dock where the man was found hanging. The harbor master called it in and Duck who worked at the harbor was there to fill them in on the details. The man’s name was Sam Harrison and was from Pennsylvania. Grover concludes that the killer was most likely trying to making a statement.
We next see Steve and Danny arriving at Kamekona’s truck where there is a protest and picket line in progress for better working conditions. Kamekona wants Danny and Steve to arrest them. Steve has to once again explain to Kamekona what is considered an emergency since he does not seem to be getting the concept very well since the last call out for the flat tire. Once again, this definitely isn’t one.
While there, Steve gets a call notifying him that a second homicide that morning has just been brought in to the medical examiner office. The Coast Guard just fished a body out of the water and he has to go. Steve asks Danny to stay with Kamekona to make sure things stay calm.
Arriving at the examiner’s office, Steve and Chin are filled in on the cause of death by Noelani. She explains that the cause of death was multiple blunt forces to the back of the head. The woman who was around thirty, had been dead and in the water for about three days. At this point there is no source of identification, however there is a number tattooed on her arm resembling those in Nazi concentration camps during the war. Chin believes that an organization called Choi may be able to help them with the tattoo on her arm.
Bach at HQ and the other case, Grover, Kono and Danny are investigating Harrison and find out he has a lot of enemies. It turns out he was an exotic animal hunter and there are a lot of animal rights activist that are aware of him and not pleased with his hunts. Grover believes Harrison’s next exotic hunt was for a Great White shark. He had traveled to Australia, Africa, and New Zealand trying to get one.
Hunting sharks in Hawaii is illegal. Kono points out that sharks are considered a god there and if locals found out they may be involved in his murder. Grover informs them that a lady by the name of Lily O’Neill, who is portrayed by real life conservationist, Ocean Ramsey, had been talking to Harrison on line and after finding out he was coming to Hawaii made threats about how he should think twice about showing up. In the threats she alluded something might happen to him if he came so Grover believes she may have killed Harrison.
Next we see some amazing undersea photography of Lily (Ocean) swimming with a Great White shark. As she returns to the dock, Kono and Danny are there to meet her. They question Lilly about the murder and she convinces them that what she said was just words and Harrison didn’t deserve to die like that. She also mentions that if she did it would not help her cause. So now Danny and Kono are thinking maybe an activist didn’t kill him and that someone just wants them to think so.
Back at HQ and the other body case, Jerry has information for Steve. He tells Steve that Chin was right and that he spoke to the Choi Foundation and the tattoo on the Jane Doe’s arm matches that of a man by the name of Itzhak Rozen, a Nazi war survivor. Rozen died last year at the age of 83 and his only relative was his granddaughter who they notice is the Jane Doe now identified as Leia Rozen. The tattoo on her arm was a way of honoring her grandfather.
Jerry informs Steve that he finds her last known address was on the island of Kalaupapa, where a leprosy colony resided. Although it hasn’t been under quarantine since the late sixties travel there is still heavenly restricted and you must be invited on grounds. They believe someone must have invited her to come there. They also believe she was killed there. Steve instructs Jerry to contact the local sheriff for the town and tell her that he and Chin are on their way. Jerry tells Steve once they arrive it will be a ninety minute hike by mule to which Steve replies not going happen.
That transitions us to the helicopter in which Steve and Chin have commissioned for the trip allowing us to take in some breath taking scenery of the island. When Steve and Chin arrive on Kalaupapa Sheriff Alana is there to meet them. She informs Steve and Chin that Leia Rozen had been a volunteer there and Alana takes them to the volunteer coordinator Bill Walker.
When they all arrive at Bill’s home, Steve notices Bill’s hands are slightly deformed. Its obvious Steve is very aware of the pain and suffering Bill must have gone through which highlights the softer side of our hero. When Steve tells Bill they found the body of Leia Rozen he’s visibly upset as he said she was a very nice girl that was helping out around there.
We then see Bill take Steve and Chin to the bungalow where Leia stayed while she was there. When Steve and Chin checked her bedroom Steve finds a glock 26 in her back pack. Chin asks a very good question if she came there to help people, why would she need a gun.
Our next scene is one of the funnier ones of the night. Eric is arriving on a mule. It’s obvious he’s never been on any animal like that ever. Steve, Chin and Bill are there watching him and are pretty amused at the sight. Eric comments how nice it must be to take a chopper there and that his ass is broken. Steve looks at the mule and quips his ass looks fine! That’s our Steve.
After introducing Bill and Eric, Bill offers to take Eric’s bag and of course Eric as usual puts his foot in his mouth when he’s startled by Bill’s hands. We are all thinking what Steve actually says, smooth Eric!
Sheriff Alana arrives to tell Steve and Chin that none of the other volunteers know anything about Leia having a gun. Steve now thinks maybe she had it for protection and was running from someone.
Back at the medical examiner’s office, Grover and Kono get an update on Harrison. It seems he was bitten badly in his torso by a shark. The other knife wounds were there to hide that fact so no one would know he had been taken out to hunt sharks illegally. Grover now wonders how to find the guy who took him out for the illegal hunt. Kono is sure how to find out.
We next see Grover and Kono at Kamekonas where the strike is still going strong. After asking Kamekona for help he first refuses because Five 0 wouldn’t help him with the protesters. Kono is the one who gets him to understand and help. He says he is doing it for the sharks not Five 0. He also tells them that there is one man who serves shark fin soup and he will give them some names to check out. He tells Grover that he must provide an apology first for his protest problems as he had been the one to mention the term union at Chin’s birthday party. Grover apologizes and also encourages Kame to work it out with Flippa.
Back on the island of Kalaupapa, Eric is dusting for fingerprints in Leia ‘s bungalow. Bill is watching from the doorway and seems very interested. Eric invites him in and shows him how it’s done. Bill loves it. I think we see Eric soften a bit and learn a few things about people in different walks of life. Eric runs the print he found and turns up a photo and name; Tony. Bill tells Eric he knows the guy but he goes by the name of Mikey who runs a bar downtown.
We next see Steve and Chin bust into Mikey’s place and of course he runs and the chase is on. Steve is in full action again. Before you know it Tony is handcuffed and Steve is listing all the crimes and warrants he has against him. Steve shows Tony a picture of Leia and accuses him of Leia ‘s murder.
Tony explains he didn’t do it and he was on the other side of the island with his girlfriend at the time and his fingerprints were in Leia ‘s room because he sold her a gun. She said she needed to make things right and that’s all he knew.
So now Steve and Chin think Leia wanted to settle a score with someone. They get Jerry on line and Jerry believes that Leia may have been chasing someone. He found out that she had been globe hopping for a year. Chin recognizes that all the places Leia had been to were Nazi Rad lands. Those are where the Nazis would go to get new ID’s and find safe haven to escape. So now it seems Leia was there looking for a Nazi war criminal.
Next we see Steve and Chin who are watching a video of Itzhak Rozen. He was explaining how when he was in the concentration camp a Nazi soldier of about nineteen came over and put a gun to his head and forced him to pick between his brother and sister as to which one would die and which one would live. If he didn’t choose they all would die so painfully he explains he had to choose. Based on this Steve and Chin deduct that Leia was after the guard that had forced her grandfather to choose. They estimate that the guard would be about 91 today. They do not believe that Leia was killed by a 91 year old man but continue to investigate the possibility surrounding him.
Back at HQ, Kono and Danny have the shark finning operations guy named Reynolds in the interrogation room. They tell him not only do they have the evidence of his illegal shark finning operations but they also found human blood on his boat. The blood belonged to Sam Harrison. It was Reynolds who took Harrison to hunt a Great White. Reynolds says that Harrison was attacked by the shark and that he was begging for a hospital when he got back to shore but he killed him instead and tried to cover it up by making it look like a shark lover did it. Reynolds confessed that Harrison offered him ten thousand to take him out to hunt and he thought no one would care if he was dead as he was a hated man.
Back on Kalaupapa, Eric has the information about the guard who Leia had been tracking. His name is Thomas Sower. Eric ages him by seventy years and has a photo which Steve tells him to send to Sheriff Alana.
Shortly Eric gets a reply from the Sheriff that she doesn’t recognize the picture but she’s going to ask around. Steve and Chin decide to go to Billy and ask if he recognizes the photo since he had been there for a long time. When Billy see the photo he tells them that he knows him, that he has done a lot of good work there, and what they are accusing him of can’t be right. Billy tells them his name he knows him as is Allen Smith. Steve and Chin ask Billy where they can find him. Billy say he moved about fifteen years ago but they can ask his daughter as she should know how to find him. Steve asks for her name and Billy says it’s Sheriff Alana.
Steve and Chin rush into Thomas’s place guns drawn but he isn’t there. Steve and Chin conclude that sending the photo to Alana basically told them to get out of town. Next they go to Sheriff Alana’s house and Eric says he’s got something they need to see. Eric found what looked like a bleach stain on the floor but when he ran a black light over it, it showed blood. So now the team thinks that Leia came there looking for Thomas, found him, and before she could kill him Sheriff Alana killed her instead dumping her body and putting the gun back in her backpack to defer the investigation.
Chin is now concerned that Thomas will get away again and Steve says things are different in today’s world. With cameras and phones everywhere as well as social media, they will put out the word and find them. He won’t get away and will have to face his crimes.
As Steve and Chin walk back to the chopper to leave, Billy tells Steve that he hoped they find them but he is saddened too as they were his friends. Steve could see the pain in Billy’s eyes and tells Billy that he knows they were and that he was sorry. Steve’s compassion for Billy was touching once again. Before getting on the chopper Eric tells Billy he was all weird when he arrived and he was sorry. Billy jokingly says he hadn’t noticed and Eric offered his hand which Billy shook. He offered Eric an invite to come back and visit anytime.
Back at Kamekona’s he and Flippa have a sit down and Kamekona offers Flippa a management position with a second truck on the North Shore. It seems as if he wants to expand the business and they can have a small pay increase as well. They shake hands and call a truce.
Our final scene is beautiful. Flying over the Grand Canyon we are brought to the town of Ash Fork, Arizona. At a hotel there, we see local police along with Steve and Chin outside the room of where Sheriff Alana and her father Thomas ahve been hiding out. Chin arrests Alana for the murder of Leia Rozen and Steve arrests Thomas for torture, murder, forced imprisonment, and war crimes under the laws of the Geneva Convention. As they are taken away Steve and Chin look on with a special satisfaction knowing that Thomas will have to answer for what he had done.
This for me was a reminder that things like this exists and although it may take decades, wrongs can still be made right. There were touching moments, beautiful scenery of the island which we have not seen before, some comedic inserts, and a couple of other strong points but other than that it was a little underwhelming. The double main stories just do not work as well as when they are all in unison on one case. Obviously, real crime probably happens in part where a splitting of the team would happen, but this is TV. For these reasons I rate this one an 8.
Who is the actor who played Billy? He looked so familiar from other shows, maybe 10-15 years ago.
Thank you
He was played by Max Gail. He is most known for being on Barney Miller and here is more info on him. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0301178/