H50 6.10 “Ka Makau Kaa Kaua” (The Sweet Science)

Aloha everybody, finally, after a couple of Five-0-less weekends we have a new episode, and what a treat 6.10 was. I loved it, it made me cry, smile, jump and feel good at the same time. It reminded me of how much I love the show and why.

Of course one of the main storylines in the episode was the continuation of Adam’s odyssey to cut his ties with the Yakuza, finally live his past behind and start a new life with Kono. But boy how much they have to pay for their freedom, and I’m not referring to money. I’ll get back to it later.

One thing I loved in the episode is that it started and finished with two wonderful Ohana scenes. Very different from each other but both very meaningful and full of emotions.

The first was at Steve’s house, with Danno, Jerry, Kamekona and Flippa, Lou, Chin and Abby (can we call them Chibby yet 🙂 ? ) and of course one of my favourite characters Max. I just find him adorable in his boyishness and his calm demeanour, always full of interesting bits of information about traditions and costumes and always ready to give a smile to the gang and to us as viewers. Kono was missing, for obvious reasons passing a last couple of evenings with her husband, but she wasn’t forgotten, as McGarrett enquired with Chin on how she was coping. The Big Kahuna has every member of his Ohana in mind, all the time. It was nice to see Abby already being at ease with the rest of the team, I think she fitted in perfectly, even the fact that she didn’t know about Max being adopted and that she wasn’t going to receive a kippah (forgive me if the name is incorrect or misspelled in any way), the typical jewish cap made more credible the fact that she is the newbie in the room.

The crime of the week was once again interesting, with an unexpected twist and cleverly connected with the forever present threat which answers to the name of Gabriel, in the background of everyone’s life.

Loved that the storyline brought back Larry Manetti as Nicky, family friend of Luke Nakano, the young promising boxer challenging the current World champion Haynes.  Both characters, the nice guy and the “villain” were very well written and played in my opinion. It was impossible not to like Luke, his determination, his faith and his courage. When he found out about his brother dying it nearly brought me to tears. It might have been because I’ve recently suddenly lost a person close to me as well, but all the emotions that Luke was feeling seemed very near to home for me too.

Haynes was one of those characters that one can’t help but dislike, until we found out that the smugness and the arrogance were all just an act in the name of a lucrative business. Doesn’t make it likeable but it makes the character a bit less hateable. Plus, he seemed much more human at the end, when he lost to Luke and he even congratulated him for winning.

Of course “The sweet science” also gave us one of the funniest moments of the episode, and we really needed it. The argument between Steve and Danno about boxing being better than M.M.A. or viceversa. Loved their childish challenge faces to each other during the conversation and Lou’s joke about them getting their money back from the therapist. I also like the fact that Steve was the one in the M.M.A. corner since two of Alex’s best friends, Egan and Enson Inoue are M.M.A. champions.

I also truly loved seeing McGarrett back at using his unorthodox information extraction techniques, this time dragging a guy behind a water bike. I missed his out of the box thinking and getting results. And of course Danny didn’t loose the opportunity to tease Steve about it with Abby, reminiscing one of my favourite scenes from Season 1. Was it just me or was Danno flirting a little with Abby in that scene?

All the scenes at the boxing ring were exciting and action packed, loved how every member of the team had a part to play in taking down the hit men and saving the day, even if unfortunately just temporarily since Gabriel managed eventually to murder no less than one of his new partners. The boy is not to be trusted, that’s for sure. It would have saved Adam a lot of trouble had Gabriel decided to get rid of the guy before paying him off for Adam’s debt. One particular fight got my attention, the one between McGarrett and the bodyguard. Brilliant how easy it looked for our Commander to get the best of him.

In all the commotion at the boxing ring we also saw a further development in the Chibby relationship. Abby seemed to be genuinely concerned about Chin’s well being. I was actually expecting the “bed peekaboo scene” that Daniel put on his Instagram to happen in 6.10 but I guess it’s a bit too early, hopefully we’ll see something happening between them soon. We need a bit of love life happiness in our show don’t we?

Which of course brings me to the numerous, and every single one of them appreciated, Kodam scenes (allow me to call them that please, I just like it :)) which were pretty far from happy, but very much full of love and emotion.

Starting with the first one at the courthouse, where I was happy to see Chin and Abby supporting them, to the very touching one at the Boydo Temple. That got to me personally as when I was in Hawaii I chose a specific excursion just to see that place. Beautiful sentiments from the spiritual side of Adam and his hopeful words when he made a parallel about the fact the his grandparents were separated for three long years during the war and then were happily married for 60 years. With more luck than what they have had so far also Kono and Adam’s love story will have a happy ending, eventually.

The final scene of the episode was just pure Ohana. ” I love you” “Forever”. Those two don’t need many words to express the full depth of their feelings for each other. And even at the saddest moment of her life Kono is not alone. Her Ohana is there. No one is left behind in this case means no one is left to suffer alone. The heartfelt hugs from Steve and Chin to Kono made me feel safe and comforted too. And a thought went to Steve, when he glanced at Halawa, remembering that he was as well in there unjustly at the beginning of Season 2. He knows how it feels.

So, a brilliant episode in so many ways. A great winter finale.

And now, already looking forward to 6.11 and to Steve and Danno’s little trip to couple therapy, that should definitely be fun.

Until then, have a wonderful Christmas holiday everybody!