“Ka la’au kumu ‘ole o Kahilikolo” was a quintessential Thanksgiving episode. Family, thankfulness, togetherness. It’s all included in one beautifully wrapped package.
As always, Thanksgiving is sunny in Hawaii, but that doesn’t mean things are cheery for the characters. Steve is clearly – and understandably – still grieving the loss of his mother. Junior is sympathetic to this, and assures Steve he’s got his back should Steve need to take a moment.
Danny being Danny makes an excuse of having mold in his home so he can stay with Steve and keep an eye on him over the holiday. Steve’s had a rough year between losing his mentor Joe and his mother, so naturally Danny wants to be nearby in case Steve needs him, even if it drives the McGarrett household crazy.
It’s just their way. They are like brothers, and they have their own rapport that’s separate from everyone else, which makes their bromance that much more meaningful. As always, their performances are in-tune and well-timed, providing audiences with amusement for their viewing pleasure. The one downside is that the two could’ve done so much more had they been given more screen time.
The intention of taking various shots of the Thanksgiving gathering at Steve’s house was a good one. From different angles, we see various members of Five-0 and their families gathering in Steve’s backyard, the sunshine upon them as if granting them a peaceful day. In their line of work, peaceful isn’t a recurring daily theme. Though separated by shots, the Five-0 family are all together, united by their sense of “Ohana” (family).
Junior deals with his own family drama this episode, with Tani along for the ride. Childhood friends are often treasured in one’s life, but this episode twists that around and makes Owen a new antagonist for Junior. When his parents are robbed, it’s Owen that is clearly the culprit. This was an interesting take, given that not all friends grow up to be the person they once were.
The hardest thing about addicts is that you can’t help them until they’re ready to take responsibility for their own actions, as Tani puts it. Tani’s had her fair share of experience with addicts thanks to her brother. Sharing this common ground with Junior seems to ease him, but his performance regarding the whole thing wasn’t entirely convincing.
The episode needed more screen time to focus on Junior’s coming to terms regarding Owen, instead of the quick acceptance he had towards his old friend. The way things went down was a little too fast-paced, making Junior’s reaction and by extension his performance a tad unrealistic. It’s nice to forgive and forget, but it still takes time.
Though, Owen’s betrayal led to one of Junior mending his relationship with his father. Given Junior’s previously unrealistic performance, his heartfelt, emotional performance with his father was quite jarring. His performance was all over the place. Was it to emphasize that his emotions were out of control, or was Junior undergoing some serious mood swings? In any case, it left his performance uneven.
Still, it was a nice touch to see Junior and his father getting along. They’ve long struggled with one another, and the strong embrace followed by stray tears was enough to make me cry-not out of sadness, but happiness that they could now move on to better pastures. Their mended relationship is certainly one of the best things to be thankful for.
His performance with Tani was also meaningful, but not quite on the same level. They seem to simply acknowledge one another’s feelings, implying it could be something more down the line. Hopefully sooner rather than later, as that storyline has been drawn out long enough. This plot has become a run-on sentence, never-ending and basically repeating itself. It’s a nuisance, and it’s close to pushing things to the point where audiences don’t really care if they ever end up together.
The family involved in the case Five-0 was working were an interesting trio, and not in a good way. Their father is killed by robbers intent on taking a rare koa tree from the property, but the mystery, misfortune and murder runs far deeper than what’s on the surface.
Families have their problems, but this family makes even the most dysfunctional group seem normal. Preservation of their inheritance was far more important than a human life. A brother and sister killed a backpacker hanging out with their other brother to avoid a scandal after she hit her head in the pool. For years, her skull was hidden in the rare tree on the property, which gets the tree thieves killed.
The thing about secrets is that they are poisonous, especially in a family. It’s better to deal with the fallout than to lie. It clearly took a toll on the family, and now they’ve lost everything. What was it worth, considering all the anguish it provided, and will provide in the future? Like Duke said, they don’t have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
Surprisingly, Danny is interrogated by Quinn regarding his relationship status with Rachel, his ex-wife. It’s been strongly hinted that their on-again, off-again relationship may be picking up once more, but Danny seems to deny this, as Rachel isn’t present and neither are his children. Quinn seems to pry into the lives of Five-0 a little too soon after recently joining the team, but that’s just the way the team works. Nothing’s a secret and nothing is off-limits.
With blood families, it’s often assumed that they’ll always be there for one another. It’s basically written that whether or not they like their family, they’re stuck with them and have to do their best by them. With families like Five-0’s, it’s special in a different way because the members involved have chosen to be a part of the family. They happily spend time with the other members and choose to be there for them, to make time for them and to be there for them.
Five-0’s chosen family has gotten each member at one time or another out of sticky situations, accepted them for who they are, been there for them in difficult times (including when it involves said member’s blood family) and have supported them when they needed it most. In some cases, chosen families do more for individuals than their blood families. For Five-0, this is the case for many of their members.
That can be a dangerous factor, placing so much trust in people that are not blood family, but it also means the team completely trusts each other not just professionally, but personally as well. Not many teams can say the same thing.
Many Five-0 Thanksgivings operate in this manner, and I found it odd that with the recent loss of Doris, that Mary and her daughter weren’t present at the gathering. However, it was heartwarming to see Junior mend things with his father and Owen, as well as finally move forward towards a relationship with Tani.
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