Rather than focusing on a case, “Ka ‘i’o” is all about family. Family dysfunction, the strength of a family, the loss of family are all tied into one explosive episode-in more ways than one. Written and directed by Alex O’Loughlin, the actor who plays Five-0 leader Steve McGarrett, this episode did not disappoint.
I always felt that the ongoing storyline (extending as far back as Season 2) regarding Doris (Christine Lahti), Steve’s mother, was left unfinished. There was more to her story, especially since Steve spent so long tracking down the mysterious “Shelburne”, only to find in Season 2’s conclusion that “Shelburne” was his own mother, whom he thought had been deceased for years.
Obviously, O’Loughlin felt the same way, as he provided a final storyline for Doris in a way that wraps up everything. It’s not the happy ending that Steve deserves-the poor guy has been through Hell and back over the years and has lost multiple friends and family members in that time. Losing Doris is a severe toll that will hang heavily over Steve’s head for quite some time.
While losing Doris was devastating, it was equally, if not more, devastating the way she treated Steve most of the episode. She kept insisting that he needed to leave and back off, and when he refused, she reacted violently. What kind of mother hits her own son in the face? She certainly didn’t hold back, and it had to hurt, physically and emotionally.
I can’t imagine what Steve must have been thinking or feeling in that moment. Betrayed? Probably to a certain degree. Unsure of what to think of his mother? Absolutely. Then, she ups her game later in the episode to pointing a gun at him threateningly. Doris is certainly on a roll, and it’s clear that she’s losing it on some level.
Despite these things, it’s amazing the depth of faith McGarrett still maintains for his mother. He still believes in her, he still believes that she’s not capable of going rogue and even when she’s pointing a gun in his face, he still insists that he knows her. Better than anyone. He still believes that she would never hurt him or turn her back on her country, though the facts in that moment say otherwise.
Doris was being cruel. She was alluding to shady things. Steve watched her hand her gun to a criminal to murder someone else with it. Doris insists she has her reasons, but those reasons aren’t revealed until the episode’s conclusion by Danny.
For all the trouble Doris went to, she had a good motivation for all of it. She wanted to set up her son, her daughter and her granddaughter for life. She had opened accounts in each of their names. Sadly, she only managed to gather money for her granddaughter before her untimely demise. Doris is a difficult character to like, let alone understand. Doris’s last attempt to help her family sums up who she really was, deep down: a mother and a grandmother who wanted to help her family because she loved them so much.
It took Steve weeks to find and approach his mother. Of course for Steve, nothing goes as planned and he goes it alone. Steve’s a lone wolf that has a tendency to forget he’s got his Five-0 team to back him up. Junior taking the initiative to track down Steve against Steve’s wishes turns out to be the right call, as he and a few other guys manage to help Steve pull off an otherwise impossible mission. As Junior comments, it was the right move even if Steve can’t say it.
Steve does things his own way, much like his mother, and he’s resourceful. Even with things going wrong, he still manages to get the job done. Taking out an army with a decoy car filled with explosives is totally his thing-besides, what’s an episode of Hawaii Five-0 without something blowing up or being shot at?
Because the episode’s set in Colombia and Mexico, it seems to grant Steve the opportunity to engage in more combat than usual, especially since he’s going against a cartel. The added firepower can be a bit distracting at times but it’s necessary given the circumstances. A few guys against a massive army calls for serious firepower, especially when all you’ve got is some elbow grease and a prayer.
His team back in Hawaii (minus Quinn, whose absence is not explained) does what they can to help Steve, as they always do. The sense of Ohana (family) is strong in “Ka ‘i’o.” It’s about the kind of family you’re born into, but also the family that you choose. It’s clear that the family Steve has chosen is his true Ohana, as they have never let him down or let him go on alone.
Danny is Steve’s closest friend, and he flies all the way to DC to be there for Steve. They even share a brief moment of familiar banter after Danny informs Steve of his mother’s finances and offers his support. Danny simply says he’s there to ensure Steve makes it back to Hawaii, but as any dedicated fan knows, it’s much more than that.
Steve and Junior share a special moment in which Steve tells Junior about a recurring dream he’s been having that’s hard for him. He’s been dreaming of childhood memories of his mother reading to him, except that when he speaks to her, she can’t hear him, and vice versa. They can’t hear each other, which is a good analogy as to how they operate outside of the dream world. Steve and his mother have always struggled with communication. It’s sad that they left it to the last moment to have any clear conversations.
Steve still holds resentment against Doris for the things she did. He outright disagrees with her when she tries outlining why she faked her death and why she went back to the CIA. She’s shattering right before him about how the CIA has destroyed her life and how she can no longer live the life she has. Still, Steve declares it was never for her family, only for Doris to snap and tell him to stop being so selfish and think about her.
Truly, she’s the one that’s always been selfish. She may have been trying to do the right thing, or a good thing, but she never exactly made the best choices. Steve’s wiser than her in that regard.
At the very least, they get to share a tear-jerking goodbye as she dies in Steve’s arms. He shouts “MOM!” the moment she’s stabbed, in the same way he shouts “NO!” in the pilot episode as he hears the gunshot that kills his father. Poor Steve has been present for both of his parents’ murders, albeit in different ways. That has to be beyond traumatizing, and with Doris’s death, it’s just another scar that will haunt Steve for the rest of his life, and most definitely in the episodes to come. She may have sacrificed her life for her country, but it’s not exactly the comfort Steve needs.
With Doris’s death, it could mean a reappearance from Steve’s sister Mary (Taryn Manning) in the near future. The McGarrett family has suffered many losses, and with their shrinking clan, they need to rely on the people that are left more than ever. It may be what Steve needs the most to help him recover. While Steve and Mary lost Doris once before, this is a different kind of loss, a loss with absolute finality – and they will have to relive her death all over again. Hawaii Five-0 has a penchant for circling back to storylines from seasons past, so you never know who or what might return. As Steve points out, we don’t get to choose how life is going to look, only what we do with the information when we get it.
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