“Hawaii Five-O” Commander, Steve McGarrett (Alex O'Loughlin) summons the team to the interrogation room for survival training this week of March 9 on the 17th episode of Season 8. In “Holapu ke ahi koe iho ka lehu (The Fire Blazed Up, then Only Ashes Were Left),” no one in the fearless force of “Five-O” thinks surviving a nuclear missile attack is a desirable outcome, apart from McGarrett and Jerry (Jorge Garcia). Danny (Scott Caan) gets scolded for not taking the survival training seriously, and even Eddie the dog gives a whimper of dismissal on the issue.

Soon, “Hawaii Five-O” has its hands, and every hazmat suit it can wrangle, full with a case of stolen liquid chlorine.

It doesn't take long to discover that a few very inept bandits may have their hearts in the right place, but they are going about things all wrong. On a darker front, Adam (Ian Anthony Dale) fears that his trust in Jessie (Christine Ko) is misplaced.

Adam is upfront

Adam comes to Steve, even before he has unfolded the morning paper, to confess that he and Jessie were the ones that stole the chlorine canisters. Jessie was tasked, by her Yakuza boss Hideki Tashiro, to intercept the chemical needed for his methamphetamine operations, and Adam came along to assure her safety.

The problem with the new situation is that one of Tashiro’s soldiers sold two canisters to outside buyers.

The toxin is still strong enough to be fatal to many. “Hawaii Five-O” arrives, on another gruesome scene, to find one of the nonprofessionals clinging to life in a locked van, with severe burns inside and out from the leaking substance. His partners, saving their own lives, had left him to die. However, he survives long enough to plea for help from“Hawaii Five-O,” and is hospitalized.

His name is discovered to be Kevin Randall (Sven Lindstrom), but his condition is so severe that doctors will not allow him to be interviewed.

Lou (Chi McBride) and Tani (Meaghan Rath) try their best tactics to get the Tashiro intermediary, Kayuza Nemoto (Desmond Chiam) to give up the buyers, but he has no names since the sale is not the typical kind for a crime boss.

Once Junior (Beulah Koale) calls with Randall’s identity, “Five-O” rushes to speak with his wife, who is in her own crisis.

Cancer of corporate making

Denise Randall (Ashley Platz) has no idea the extremes her husband was going to for justice, but she does know the toll that cancer has taken on her and her husband. She has no knowledge of the chlorine canisters, but she does lead Tani and Lou to the message board where her husband connects with other spouses of those battling cancer.

Jerry tracks names from that message board to talk about a plan to make a chlorine buy. The purpose was not just revenge or anger over the tragic illness, but to bring the corporation, Agrocore, to justice and force them to account for the chemical dumps into the water supply which became a source for cancer clusters.

As fate would have it, old friend, barber and part-time barrister, Odell Martin, portrayed by Michael Imperioli, has fashioned himself as an attorney for the people, helping those wronged by big business to at least take their stand in court. He tells his “Five-O” friends that the lead legal counsel for Agrocore is pure evil and that they should be prepared for a fight.

They trace possible locations for the chlorine attack to five and think they have the place where the targeted wicked attorney is sealed when they are told that he is at another location. They arrive there, and as Steve is sweeping the building for suspects, he intercepts another husband, Doug (Rob Duval), in grief, who pulls a gun on the commander.

Steve convinces him to surrender and wage this war another way.

As the team closes this matter of a chemical attack orchestrated by “good guys” with a bad plan, the fallout means that the case against the corporation cannot go public in the courts and, subsequently, yield assistance for any victims.

Adam pays a late-night visit to Jessie at home, suspicious that she is compromised as an informant. She has not responded to any of Adam’s calls, and there's an eight-minute gap in his own surveillance of her conversations.

Without a great deal of pressure, Adam surmises that she is involved with Nemoto herself. Despite her protestations that she can handle it and stressing that she's "doing her job," Adam feels his life is on the brink.

He charges off racing through the night and reflecting on his recent life-threatening situations. He lets out a tormented scream before credits roll.

“Hawaii Five-O” will not return with new episodes until March 30 due to NCAA basketball’s March Madness. The absence of the force only makes their return to Friday nights fonder for loyal fans.
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