There was action, torture, another female guest star killed off and singer Jimmy Buffett appearing as a boozy helicopter pilot, but "Hawaii Five-0" lagged in the ratings war, according to Nielsen numbers released Tuesday by CBS.

But here’s the silver lining: So did the show’s top rival, "Castle."

"Five-0" drew 10.59 million viewers to finish a close second to the 10.85 million that "Castle" attracted Monday night, CBS said. The NBC news magazine "Rock Center With Brian Williams" drew 3.64 million viewers.

Last week, "Five-0" drew 11.71 million viewers, which was its second-largest audience since the second-season premiere.

The numbers also were close Monday night among adults 18-49, a key audience for the cop drama. "Five-0" drew 2.8 percent of the total viewing audience and 8 percent of those watching TV at the time. Meanwhile, "Castle" drew 2.3 percent of the total viewing audience and 8 percent of those watching TV.

Buffett was his usual wise-cracking self but minus a margarita as he played a pilot named Frank Bama, which is the same name he gave to a character in his novel "Where is Joe Merchant?"

The singer’s character flies the "Five-0" team to rescue Steve McGarrett, who endured a memorable beating at the hands of Wo Fat. But while Buffett is a pilot in real life, he wasn’t allowed to fly during the episode, CBS said.

The show — actually, Wo Fat — continued to kill off its female guest stars. Last season "Five-0" blew up Kelly Hu with a claymore mine and shot to death Jean Smart. Last night, Larisa Oleynik received the long goodbye with two slugs to the chest.