One of the best “Hawaii Five-O” additions to the “ohana” that bonds the crime-fighting force has been Eddie, the dog who joined as a regular last season, per the suggestion of Alex O'Loughlin, who masterfully embodies the strength, fears, and vulnerabilities simultaneously to McGarrett. Eddie and Steve bonded through loss, after the death of Eddie’s original owner, and the canine proved both his instincts and courage in sacrifice, for Steve and the team, through several storylines.
Still, a dog’s got to be a dog, even on “Hawaii Five-O,” and Eddie starts the storyline rolling in this week's October 5 second episode for Season 9, "Ke kanaka i ha'ule mai ka lewa mai" (The Man Who Fell from the Sky).
Eddie cannot resist putting his superlative sense of smell to use in digging up the newly buried dough that his doggie dad and Junior (Beulah Koale) worked so hard to hide in the season premiere. Now, Danny (Scott Caan) and Junior are in Steve's yard trying to snatch $100 bills blowing around like confetti and floating in the surf. Their monetary rescue mission provides the perfect excuse for the verbal back-and-forth, that was in short supply last season due to Scott Caan’s injury and recovery, between the two characters.
The mission has to be put on hold when a call comes in that a plane has made an emergency landing at the airport after a kidnapper with a gun forced a passenger to jump for his life.
Not baffled for long
At first, it seems to baffle the team that anyone would go to such great lengths to nab the passenger, Jack Teague (David Preston), from the plane. The seemingly unremarkable family man works for a tech firm in Plano, Texas, and he has his family on board, for their trip to Honolulu, when he is forced at gunpoint to parachute from the plane. Jerry (Jorge Garcia) and Junior do some diligent work to narrow down the probable landing area, and Lt. Commander McGarrett details Danny, Junior, and Tani (Meaghan Rath) to plow through the deep forest in search of the fallen subjects.
Danny suspects something when Steve doesn't want to be the one doing this daring kind of dirty work, but after repeatedly calling the boss “dumb” over the buried money, he does as he is told, playing the good detective.
The plot comes together when Lou (Chi McBride) spots Agent Miller (Jack Coleman) from surveillance at the airport. It's obvious that he is the one waiting for Teague, and it's not much of a leap to know that the two-timing traitor, Greer (Rochelle Aytes), who escaped capture when “Hawaii Five-O” staked out the spy ship, is still pulling the strings on this crooked operation. Records under a secret partition on his computer seem to uncover Teague as a spy for the Chinese, but Miller describes that he is on the American side after Lou and Steve force their way into his hotel room.
This information changes the tactics for Danny, Junior, and Tani to some degree, but they still have their hands full, because a Chinese extraction team is after Teague, too, and Miller is more than a marked man.
Dangerous dilemmas
Greer is the leader of the extraction team, frustrated that her targets are not where they are supposed to be. Teague and the “Hawaii Five-O” search members are now in the snares from all sides, but they find that the extractors are all shot dead, probably by Teague or Greer combined.
Danny gives Junior some of his experienced detective pointers on deciphering footprints, and they get on the trail of finding their man until Danny is unwilling to jump down a waterfall into a river (like Steve would do) in pursuit.
Danny does get the satisfaction of delivering Greer straight to Steve, who gives her his best grilling about selling out her country for money.
The team tries to save Miller, warning him that his phone is tracked by malware installed by Greer, but it is too late. Chinese attackers gun him down and kill him while taking Teague in a race to the Chinese Consulate. One of the best car scenes, of this episode, involves Steve driving Lou’s wife’s vehicle and praising it for having “good pickup.” Lou pleads with Steve not to damage the vehicle that his wife deems as a third child but, of course, it’s certain to be demolished in the intercept. A dramatic crash comes when Steve and Lou stop the vehicle holding Teague.
Even Steve can't talk his way out of this damage, and Lou pledges to be eating fruit loops “in my drawers” with Steve in the morning. Nonetheless, the team saves Teague, who reunites with his family, no longer running for his life.
Steve ensures that Greer is on board a helicopter taking her to her fate as the first person to be convicted under the espionage act. She warns him that she will turn on him. She cannot be anything but dangerous, even from federal prison.
Tani is dealing with her own deep dilemma and trying to handle it her own way. She visits Captain Keo (Eric Steinberg), the police academy instructor who kicked her out, to ask him if he will run the gun she found in Adam’s drawer for ballistics, and do it “off the books” to preserve her relationship with him and the team.
He declines her request, but later comes to her house and tells her that he has reconsidered. He will test the weapon, and the rest of the season could turn on the results. This is far too big a secret to store away from McGarrett, and the rest of “Hawaii Five-O.”
These 40+ minutes of Friday night went fast. Fans may need heavy-duty seatbelts to finish this season.