As the season continues, Hawaii Five 0 delivered another good episode last night. It was different than their regular ones but was still enjoyable. If you watched, you know the majority of it took place around a car and completely revolved around Lou talking to a man that was about to commit suicide. He of course received an assist from the team, but the majority was all him as you will see from the recap below.
The episode starts out with Steve and Tani paddle boarding on their day off. Steve is telling the story of when Chin got caught in a towel on Valentine’s Day and how Duke is still mad at Chin. Tani asks when she will meet this guy and although Steve doesn’t answer her directly, he says that the island always draws you home.
Tani then asks whether Steve thinks that will happen with Danny too when he leaves the island after Grace graduates. Steve says that Danny won’t be going anywhere. A few more jokes arise and then the subject of Steve being so competitive comes up. Steve denies it and then Tani begins to pick up the pace and they begin to race. She actually seems a little more competitive here than he does.
The next scene is of Lou and Will driving with Lou giving Will relationship advice. He is teaching him that women do not want to actually have men solve their problems and that he should just listen. Although this does not make sense to Will, he says OK. As they drive, they come across the car that Will had received a cell phone alert on earlier and that HPD is looking for.
Lou gets out of the car, tells Will to call Uncle Steve, and makes Will promise he will not get out of their car no matter what. Lou then approaches the suspect’s car and screams to come out with your hands up, however, no one gets out. Lou comes in closer and sees there is a man in the car with a gun to his head.
Switching back to the beach after the credits roll, Steve and Tani are exiting the water. Steve says they should call it a draw and Tani clearly corrects him saying she had won. Steve concedes but is relieved to hear she won’t tell Danny. While drying off, Steve’s phone rings and it is Will telling him of the incident.
Steve soon shows up to the scene of the car along with Tani, Junior, and Danny who are all arriving in different cars on their day off. Duke is also there and he says he took Will home when Steve asks of his whereabouts. Duke then fills them in on the guy in the car. He is a fugitive that was supposed to turn himself in after he was accused of killing his wife a week or so earlier. Tani tells the story that this scumbag as she calls him, says his wife had jumped off the balcony but the cops did not believe it.
Lou is still standing outside the car and he is trying to get the man inside to roll his window down and reason with him. He says he wants to help him and he is not trying to trick him. The man rolls down the window and they begin to talk. Lou finds out that his name is Brad who says he is being accused for something he did not do. Lou tried to reason with him and says OK, then come out and we will discuss that.
Brad is not buying that and said no one was listening before, so why would they listen to him now. Lou promised that he will. While discussing this, Steve calls Lou and they discuss what is happening. Lou says that it would help the situation if they would look into the incident and find out what really happened. (similar to the season 1 episode on the Missouri with a twist). Steve agrees.
Danny tells Steve that this is a dangerous precedence. The negotiator, Detective Keegan then shows up. Keegan says he will take over and with some back and forth with Steve about how Grover was SWAT and can handle this; Keegan, backs down and tells Steve it is on him if the man kills himself or if the scene escalates.
The scene now flashes back momentarily to the woman falling on to the car. Tani is back in real time upstairs thinking about it and looking over the apartment with Junior. There was definitely a sign of a struggle along with some framed pictures of happier times of Brad and his wife.
Back at the car, Lou is continuing his connection with Brad. He says there has to be family that will miss him if he is gone. Lou even brings up that maybe there was someone else that he was seeing that would miss him. Brad says NO, gets upset, and says he loved Tracy, who was his wife.
Meanwhile, Tani and Junior are back and are talking to Steve. They tell him of what they found and that there is no evidence of how it went down but there was definitely an argument at the apartment and a struggle. Junior does say that Tracy had called and texted Brad numerous times right before her death though.
Next, sirens go off and freak out Brad who seems to get even more anxious. Lou says NO, that he will get the cops to do whatever he wanted and tells them to back off, which they do. Lou says it is just the two of them and no one else will get involved.
He suggests they talk about Tracy and makes it clear that suicide is not a rehearsal and death is final. That was truly probably the most important line of the night. Brad does not want to talk about Tracy and gets anxious again. To settle him, Lou shows Brad that he will put his gun away, which he does. Steve and Keegan are watching all of this and are very concerned. Keegan says that Lou probably just signed his own death warrant.
There is the first flashback to Chicago at this point back seven years ago. This is when Lou had tried to talk a man who was held up inside a house with his little boy, from suicide before. Steve is telling Tani and Junior this story and Tani asks what happened to the little boy so Steve shares he had been killed by the man that Lou was trying to talk down. Steve says Lou never forgave himself for that, so he has to let Lou do this and he has faith in him.
Continuing at the car, Lou wants to enter the car with Brad to which Brad does not respond. Lou says silence means yes and he begins to slowly walk over to the other side of the car to get in. Tani gets a call and tells Steve that Noelani says that Brad’s DNA was under Tracy’s fingernails and it doesn’t look good. Steve tries to call Lou but he ignores the call and gets in the car. This is of course concerning to all watching and listening.
There is another flashback of Lou standing off to the side observing the funeral of the man and the boy that were part of the suicide incident he misread. The wife is looking over at Lou but shows no favor in the situation. Back in the car, Brad is sharing that he went to the funeral to say good-bye to his wife and was met with animosity from Tracy’s family, so Lou again seems to have connected with Brad.
Brad says he is not sure why they cannot see he was the one that had been trying to save her from herself, She suffered depression and it was a hard road and she would not even get help. Lou asks him to explain.
The camera pans over to Steve who is listening and Keegan who continues to jab him about how Grover gave up all the power when he got in the car. Steve says he has the snipers on it and will act on his word.
Meanwhile Junior and Tani are at the couple’s apartment complex interviewing neighbors. They are getting nowhere when Junior spots an ATM across the way and hopes they found a witness via the camera included.
Back at the scene a strange guy shows up and heads towards the car. He pulls a gun and is about to shoot when Steve tackles him and restrains him. It turns out to be John, Tracy’s father. He does not understand while the cops are trying to save the monster that killed his daughter. Danny chimes in and says he understands how John feels as he too has a daughter. Steve understands his side too and allows John to stay under Duke’s supervision.
Back in the car, Brad is explaining how the mood swings were horrible and that no matter how hard he tried, Tracy was not getting better and would not get help. Lou tries again to say ok let’s walk out together and share your story with the police. Brad says it is too late and gets agitated again.
Danny tells Steve it looks like Lou is losing ground and Steve tells the snipers to get ready. Right at that point, Lou calls and asks for a pizza. Steve tells him about the evidence against Brad and that he needs to get out of the car, but Lou cleverly shares a message with Steve that he is ok and that he just wants that pizza.
Brad asks Lou why he wants to help him. Lou says he has been there before and knows what it is like to have someone in your corner. At this time there is a flashback to Lou at a bar in Chicago. He is ignoring a text message from Renee. Lou tells Brad in real time that feeling this way affects the people that love you, and then another flashback.
This one is quite dramatic as Lou is in his office behind locked doors screaming about the combination change on his safe. Renee is trying to get in and both are in tears. Renee says Lou is scaring her and she is in hysteria.
Brad continues and starts to tell the story of what happened that night. Steve is listening in and Lou is assuring Brad he believes him.
It seems as if things are calming down when the pizza arrives. Before Steve walks it over Tani and Junior call him and tell him they have proof that Brad did not do commit the crime. They say they know this based on the timestamp of the ATM across the way as to when it caught Brad leaving the apartment before the incident.
Steve begins to walk the pizza over and all hell breaks loose as Brad does not want Steve to come any closer and John was also able to grab an officer’s gun and shoots. The bullets whiz by Steve and Duke has to stop John by shooting him. With panicked eyes he turns back to the car and sees that Lou is OK, but that Brad has been shot in the shoulder.
Steve says they know that Brad did not do it and Brad says no it is his fault. He says he was done dealing with her and told Tracy to just go ahead and do it and then he left. Brad picks up the gun again and this time it looks like it is it when Lou says he has one more thing to say and to please listen.
At this time another flashback takes us back again and Lou is sitting in the chair pretty despondent, as Renee gets ready to leave. He tells her he loves her and to be safe. He then goes into his office, takes out a suicide note he had written, turns over the framed pictures of his family, and puts the gun to his chest. Just as he is about to pull the trigger, he hears a loud crash in the house. This stops him and he comes to find little Will had broken something and was on the floor in the kitchen. He had come home from school and this startled Lou enough to move on.
Back in the car, Lou is telling Brad he understands the pain and the desire to end it all. Steve is listening to this whole thing a few feet away. Lou tells Brad that it will not go way but he will learn to live with it. He says if he puts the gun down he promises to help him through it. In an emotional scene, Brad releases the gun enough to have Lou take it away, and Steve calls for EMS.
Later that night, Lou comes to Will’s room and they discuss the day. He thanks Will for helping him. He is talking about present time to Will but clearly also refers to what Will does not know; the time Will saved his life seven years ago.
The final scene is another flashback, where Lou is in a church attending a support group. As he leaves the church, one of the fellow attendees comes out and asks him how he is. He says that will be the last time they see him there as although it has been helpful, he does not think he can get over what happened if he stays in Chicago. She asks him where he is going and although he does not know yet, he says it will be somewhere warm. He walks away on a snowy night heading to his unknown destination of what is now known to all as Hawaii.
We would give this one an 8.5 and here’s why. It was enjoyable and Chi McBride delivered a great performance along with the actor that played Brad (Devon Sawa) who did an excellent job. However, to us these type of episodes highlighting Lou and his Chicago backstory have been overdone. This might not be a popular opinion but we think it is time to let these type of Lou stories go. If the writers want to give Chi something to work with than find a different basis for a story and give Chi the opportunity to show his range in a different manner.
This is not related to screen time for Alex, as we believe that Alex gets plenty of screen time. It just seems that what they do with that screen time he gets in not providing any real story lately either. Certainly nothing that he can sink his teeth into and this seems true for the others, too. They are doing the best they can with what has been written but it is time to give the others their “Chicago” stories, especially Alex as he is the lead. Also, the episode itself lacked any action and even a real crime of the week this week, and we tend to like those, so for those reasons and the absence of Eddie, we have rated it as we have. Hope everyone enjoyed it.
