Trust in the team
So here it is, faithful readers — the season ending of “Hawaii Five-0.” I know this is what many of us have been waiting for, and with the last two new episodes adding to the anxiety of the wait, we are now faced with the interesting dichotomy of wanting our questions answered and with the fact that many of us do not want the season to end. But alas, we know that all good things come to an end — at least, we hope, only until September. We’ll find out on Wednesday, May 18th if our favorite show will be renewed for another season, but all signs are pointing toward the return of our Five-0 Team being a GO.
And after nine months of getting to know our team, their strengths and Achilles heels, who they love and what drives them to do the things they do — we are hooked — but we always seem to want more more MORE. For most of us, tonight will be a mix of euphoric sadness, a paradox that often can cause some of us to go a little crazy — and believe me, I’ve seen it happen. In all my years of being on stage and working on sets, after you close a show or wrap a movie, you’re often so happy it’s over, so you can move on with your life, do something different, see your family, move on to another project — but you are also incredibly sad that you won’t see these fantastic people everyday and spend time with them, talk to them, laugh and cry with them. Oh, sure you promise to keep in touch or you promise to call or do lunch—but it’s still not the same. Euphoric sadness. It’s the only thing I can think of to describe how we’re going to feel tonight. Excited and thrilled we’ll get our answers, but sad we’ll have to wait several months until we are reunited with our Five-0 heroes. We’ve been with them for so long — laughed and cried with them, made them part of our ‘ohana, so it’s going to be a tough three months.
But we have faith that when they do return, we’ll be pushed and pulled in many emotional directions and perhaps even face more anxiety than we did this season. I know I shouldn’t suggest this, I know you all are now saying — NO, no more twisting up my belly into knots “Hawaii Five-0” writers! But you know they will. We probably will have more Wo Fat and Jenna Kaye — I mean, that thread is just not going to end tonight. We may get the answers to our Champ Box questions, but Wo Fat is here to stay. And I’m pretty sure we’ll have more Taylor Wily as our shave ice funnyman Kamekona for the comedic storylines — and perhaps to add a bit of seriousness, as we will see in tonight’s finale. It also seems we’re going to have more Claire Van Der Boom to continue or conclude Rachel and Danno’s relationship. I know the jury is still out on whether fans like what is going on with our exes, but I’m sure she’ll be making a season two appearance — along with cutie Teilor Grubbs as Gracie.
I hope we see more local talent like Augie Tulba — perhaps Kekipi will get a chance to fly McG around for a change — and the commanding Duane Char as Chairman Akahoshi to wrap up what happens to Uncle Keako and the Chin Ho Kelly scandal story. I know Chin gets reinstated to the HPD tonight — or at least that is what they want us to think in the explosive trailer they teased — er, tormented — us with at the end of last week’s episode. But my hopes for next season may be premature, because I don’t get to see the episode any earlier than all of you do. And trust me—I’m on the edge of my seat just as much as you are.
So let me end this pre-finale blog with a little breakdown of the title of tonight’s season ender, “‘Oia‘i‘o,” which CBS has translated to mean, “trust.” It actually means “truth or fact,” but it also can mean “faithfulness” which if we think about this entire season, with the tenants of the Five-0 Team having been loyalty to family and being faithful to each other, this works as a season ending title. We have to have faith that the truth will come out—the truth of Wo Fat, the truth of McGarrett’s mother’s death, the truth of McGarrett’s guilt or innocence in whatever he’s being framed for, within this season ender, and we have to trust that the writer’s will reveal the truth to all of us.
It’s why we will continue to tune in next season, because we have faith in the team and trust that we’ll continue to enjoy the ride.
Redux Side Note:
The Pulse is hosting a “Hawaii Five-0 Finale Viewing Party” at Apartment3, Monday night from 7 to 11 p.m. Come down to 1750 Kalakaua Avenue, third floor of Century Center, and join me and other Pulse bloggers and Star-Advertiser writers, as we celebrate the end of the season and watch “‘Oia‘i‘o” at 9pm. More details on the Honolulu Pulse page: http://www.honolulupulse.com/bars-clubs/watch-the-five-0-season-finale-with-the-pulse. You’re all welcome to join us.
I’ll be posting a review of “‘Oia‘i‘o” and the party later this week. So as always, be there, aloha.
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Wendie Burbridge is a published writer, playwright and a teacher of literature and fiction writing at Kamehameha Schools-Kapālama. Reach her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Five0Redux and Twitter @WendieJoy.
24 responses to “Trust in the team”
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So well describing our angst!
so well written you actually made me cry!
I’ve read somewhere that 5-0 has been sold to a cable t.v. station. If true, we won’t be able to watch it on CBS, correct?
No, the rerun syndication rights have been sold to TNT. First-run broadcasts are still on CBS.
Ok. Thanks for clarifying!
Hope to see more exciting episodes next season.
So well written! Already getting a little blue over this. Can’t wait to see what happens to our family tonite! Thank you Wendie!
Well said Wendy. You took the words right outta my mouth!
I remember a comment Alex O’Loughlin made earlier in the season about it being difficult to find Steve’s humanity. I think my one hope at the close of the finale tonight is that collectively we still see a kindness and benevolence in the members of the Five-0 team toward each other, whatever difficulties they face.
In Steve we’ve always sort of seen this conflicted anti-hero, and probably the same for Chin Ho Kelly. But I hope the writers don’t fracture that ohana…that family they’ve become to one another to the point where it becomes unbelievable to see the team rebuilt in September.
Steve the anit-hero – somehow that always comes across as a character who is very much a boy at heart rather than a soldier serving God and country!! I think that when the time comes in season 2 we are going to see that he is far more human and more vulnerable and not immune to what Wofat has done to his life and the lives of others who stood in his path of power.
I think there is going to be a side to Steve that will not be the same as season 1. Wofat is going to be his number one most wanted man – he will never rest until he brings that man to justice and what scares me is that he’d be quite willing to die for it as he has often hinted to Danny that he doesn’t have a wife or kid to worry about…that is not the kind of thinking that I want Steve to have. I hope the writers do not allow Steve to go down that path of self destruction thirsting for revenge and leading us to a dark side of his character!! I hope the Ohana within the team will steer him into a different direction that is built on strength, loyalty, trust and friendship with a great deal of team and honor to bring Wofat down..
Great blog Wendie. For the past few days we have been inundated with spoilers and promos enough to make the butterflies in my stomach bunch up together in tight little knots at the pit of my stomach. I know most of us are prepared to see the team dismantled which will be utterly devestating to watch. Destroyed is not a word that I can bear to envision.
I have embraced all four characters since it all began and they have become part of my world. So saying goodbye saddens me and seeing Steve in the back of that police car is almost unbearable. Questions about Danny and Rachel’s reunion flitter wildly across the blogs but I have embraced this union and delight in seeing the happiness of our youngest little cast member (Teilor Grubbs) who has done a wonderful job by staying true to her little character this season. She is growing up just as naturally as the show is progressing. Please I silently beg, let her have her mommy and daddy for season 2.
Mark Dacoscos will make his fifth appearance on the show for this season and we will feel his presence enormously on this final episode as we anticipate to see in just a few hours to spare – I’m filled with dread and fear for what’s lurking in this evil genius’s heart.
So Chin will don his HPD uniform again fully reinstated as a Lietenant at HPD, finally exonerated but with such a heavy heart as he knows that the only way he can help Steve and team is to play along and use the badge to investigate under the careful scrutiny of the new Chief of Police and find out who is behind Steve’s frame up. Will we get to the truth on time or will Steve have to go it alone without the team’s backing? I would like to think in all the confusion and utter dispair we too will be getting all the answers to all those questions. Do we really care, cos all I can feel is worry, anxiety for Steve.
Meanwhile Kono will have her own little troubles to deal with and hopefully the little “trouble” that comes her way will be a minor oversight so that she can get out from under the unbearable scrutiny. Everyone is compromised and we will all feel defeated by the devestating blow that Wofat will heap upon our Five-0 family who will be no more. So we the supporters will stay and comismerate and ponder how all of this will be played for season 2 in the weeks ahead!!
Can we all survive the ashes before us? Will Five-0 find their strength in one another to rebuild the team and fight for each other? After all they have relied on each other for months and have weathered the storm. Will the trust be strong enough to bring them back and do we have enough trust in the writers to bring them back to us more loyal, more stronger. braver and more determined than they have ever been on season 1 to take away Wofat’s victory dance.
Wow gf. That was really well written! Great job.
Too bad there’s not a “love” tab – I’d give it to this post. While watching the finale last night, the most frequent words out of my mouth were “oh, S#!t!” (Thank God the kids were in bed, no?)
Wow! Val! THAT was your best effort yet! And I’ve been through them all with you! You really put your heart out there – beautiful!
Enjoy tonight’s episode. It will be filled with many twists and turns. You will also see Kelly Hu returning as Laura Hills and Jean Smart returning as Governor Jameson. Tonight’s show will leave you wanting more next week. However, you will have to patiently wait until the fall.
We all hope you enjoy watching this last episode as much as we enjoyed creating it for you. We are very lucky to have this level of Television Production in Hawaii and CBS is equally as lucky to have this fine caliber of production crew to work with. Here’s to hoping we will be back producing more episodes starting in July. Keep your fingers crossed for us.
Is it OK to comment now that the season finale has now aired? Reading the pre-show comments in light of what we actually saw either there are some very clairvoyant posters here or there was more inside info than most of us had access to outside of Hawaii. The best part of the show was the caption at the end that read…”To be continued.” I’m assuming that means we don’t have to wait for Wednesday to get confirmation that Hawaii 5-0 lives on and that we will see our team reunited. I’m guessing that the new itineration will be this time within the HPD much as was the case with the original show since there obviously can no more be a governor’s task force.
KGMB confirmed that its been picked up for season 2.
PS Grrr….
OK – since we have a full summer to contemplate what is in store for next season, anyone for suggesting episodes they would like to see? I would love to see our favorite Navy Seal being dangled down from a Blackhawk helicoptor by a rope to get entry into WoFat’s compound where the vilian is taken out after being located in an upper floor bedroom. Art imitating life.
Wendie Wendie, i am sitting here in uni (break ;)) reading that & you almost made me cry with the first to paragraphs!! thanks for that! 😉 Amazingly written as always and i love how you always explain the titles.
Faithfulness is exactly what they will need in Season 2. And it was an amazing finale for an amazing first season of an even more amazing Show!
I already watched the Finale and let me just say WOW!!!
can’t wait to watch it again tonight and i am looking forward to you After-Finale-Blog 😉
Thanks Wendie – another superb blog. It’s been a tough day sifting through all the different emotions I’ve been feeling, not the least of which is sadness that the season has come to an end! It was an angst-filled night, and I was feeling totally overwhelmed by all the different directions the finale took. But I do have FAITH that the writers and producers and actors will take us on another great adventure in S2,and I TRUST that we, the devoted fan base of H5-0, will be back here in the fall ready to plunge head on into new predicaments!
I don’t know, love the show but I am at a loss. Am I the only one who sees this as a direct slam to previous Governor Lingle? Puleese the Governor is corrupt, not likely. Yeah we’ve had crooked politicians but how cheesy. I hope it gets better.
Not too sure how you make the connection…?
First flaw in the show. there are no direct Hawaiian Airline flights to Newark, NJ
yeya we get stuck in la or san fran to go there from hawaii