If there is a phrase to describe season four of "Hawaii Five-0," it would be "to change is to mature."
A more grown-up version of the CBS series debuted on a new night and time — Fridays at 8 p.m. — bringing in two new characters while saying aloha to another. And while the show kept its action-filled story line moving along at a smart and stronger pace, changes helped "Five-0" ramp up the quality without losing its focus.
» Change is good. Many fans thought the move to Friday would kill the show, but "Five-0 Friday" seemed to be what the series needed to regain its season one audience numbers. The earlier time slot as well as being the lead-in for Tom Selleck’s cop family drama "Blue Bloods" also seemed to help propel the Hawaii-based series onto the list of the top 20 shows of the TV season.
» Change can be difficult. The season started with "Aloha ke Kahi i ke Kahi" ("Love One Another"), where McGarrett (series star Alex O’Loughlin) broke every law to save his kidnapped girlfriend, Catherine Rollins (Michelle Borth), who had been taken by drug lords. Over the course of season four, we got to know more about McG and Cath’s love for each other and how their careers have intersected.
Yet even their sweet on-screen relationship did not help to save Rollins from being written off the show in episode 21, "Makani ʻOlu a Holo Malie" ("Fair Winds and Following Seas"). It went down like this: Catherine and McGarrett take off to Afghanistan to find the son of a Pashtun man who once saved her life. During their search, McG is kidnapped by the Taliban and is forced to leave Catherine behind in Kabul. She is last seen on a black motorcycle, riding off into the Afghan sunset, determined to continue looking for the lost little boy. Fans hope to see Cath come back to McG, but Borth is not returning for season five.
» Change can be encouraging. Chi McBride guest-starred in the season opener and joined the cast as a series regular by November. McBride’s character, SWAT Capt. Lou Grover, moved his family to Hawaii to start a new life, away from a tragic mistake he made as a cop in Chicago.
It was Grover’s episode in the season finale, "ʻO ka Pili ʻOhana ka ʻOi" ("Family Comes First") as Grover pulls a McG — breaking all the rules — to rescue his daughter Samantha (Paige Hurd) after she is kidnapped by evil computer hacker Ian Wright (returning guest star Nick Jonas). McGarrett offers Grover a spot on the Five-0 task force after he is forced to retire. Next season should be interesting, with the captain (Grover) and the commander (McGarrett) trying to work together without killing each other.
Jorge Garcia also joined the cast this season after he guest-starred as conspiracy theorist Jerry Ortega, Chin Ho Kelly’s (Daniel Dae Kim) old pal from Kukui High, in "Ka ʻOiaʻiʻo Maloko" ("The Truth Within"). His character quickly became a fan favorite, and Ortega’s love of secret government plots seems to have helped McGarrett solve more of the Shelburne mystery surrounding his mother, Doris (Christine Lahti), and her connection to Wo Fat (Mark Dacascos). Ortega found a cypher on the bottom of the Champ box left behind by McGarrett’s father, leading the Five-0 leader to a grave in Cambodia that once held villain Wo Fat’s mother.
Perhaps next season Ortega will help McGarrett finally solve the mystery surrounding his mother and her connection to Wo Fat. If nothing else, he will add a bit of quirky comic relief.
» Change happens. There were many changes for the core four this season. Whether they were good or bad, we know what the team is facing in season five.
Kono Kalakaua (Grace Park) spent half the season "on the run" from the Yakuza with her lover, Adam Noshimuri (Ian Anthony Dale). This was in part because Park was on maternity leave. While we saw Kono and Adam in several episodes, those scenes were filmed in Vancouver where Park gave birth to a baby boy. It was a happy day when Kono and Adam returned to Hawaii in "O Kela Me Keia Manawa" ("Now and Then"). In the season closer, Kono mentions that Adam has brought up the "M" word — perhaps there’s a wedding on the season five horizon?
Chin seems to have made peace with the loss of his wife, Malia (Reiko Aylesworth), who was killed at the end of season two by bad cop Frank Delano (William Baldwin). In the intense episode "Hana Lokomaikaʻi" ("Favor"), he said a final aloha to her at the beach where they first met. Chin’s new girlfriend, Leilani (Lindsay Price), seemed to have a presence this season, but with the news that Price is expecting her second child, Chin may be in for more heartbreak.
Danno Williams (Scott Caan) dealt with his parents’ divorce (Melanie Griffith and Tom Berenger played Mom and Pops Williams) as well as the obvious growing pains of having a near-teenage daughter (Teilor Grubbs). His new love interest, Amber (Lili Simmons), seems to be making him a bit happier, but with Danno we never really know. Caan was sporadically present during the season — in one episode and hardly in the next — but with the news of his impending fatherhood in real life, fans can only hope we see Danno in season five.
McGarrett’s ohana has grown, as his sister, Mary Ann (Taryn Manning), returned home after adopting a little girl. Unfortunately, he seems to have lost not only his girlfriend, but his Aunt Deb (played to perfection by Carol Burnett), who came for Thanksgiving to tell him she was dying of cancer.
McGarrett spent a lot of season four trying to find out why his mother seems to have such a soft spot for Wo Fat. At one point he thought Wo Fat was his half-brother, even having Max (Masi Oka) test the bad man’s blood to see if they were a DNA match.
So when Wo Fat returned in Friday’s season finale, we did get a bit of a cliffhanger. Not a huge hang-onto-the-edge-of-your-seat ending, but one that gave us something to think about for season five.
In the season finale, Wo Fat breaks out of a Colorado supermax prison after it seems Doris aided his escape. He shows up in Hawaii, only to kill Ian Wright and free Samantha Grover. While he’s still in the wind, the message he has Samantha deliver to McG is that they need to talk. That’s a meeting fans can’t wait to see in season five.
So perhaps one of the biggest "Five-0" changes will come next season: Wo Fat turns out to be a good guy?
What fun would that be?
Read Wendie Burbridge’s "Five-0 Redux" blog with episode recaps, interviews and cultural insight into the popular CBS series at honolulupulse.com.
