‘Hawaii Five-0’ couples help keep love alive

Love between friends is a theme that everyone can relate to, and in the case of “Hawaii Five-0,” it is one of the major themes that has blossomed from the start of the action drama.

While the show doesn’t fall into the entertainment category of “romantic comedy,” there have been many episodes that have met all of the perceived elements of the rom/com genre. Romance and love, mixed with deep affection, sprinkled with bits of humor and sarcastic banter, have always been in the forefront of what viewers have loved about the show.

These elements are very quite evident in this week’s season six repeat of“Kuleana” (“One’s personal sense of responsibility”). The secondary storyline — where McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) and Danno (Scott Caan) attend a couples retreat to work on their “partnership” — reminded me about all of the couples that have made “Hawaii Five-0” more than just a police procedural.

The couples I love — and fans have also adored — mostly include the main characters and their partners of late. This last season there has been new love, married love, and lost love — but there has never been a lack of love, which has made for excellent drama amidst all the action and police work.

NEW LOVE

Two of our main characters seemed to have found new love in season six — McGarrett with Lynn Downey (Sarah Carter) and Chin (Daniel Dae Kim) with Abby Dunn (Julie Benz)

McGarrett and Lynn started off on a crazy, if not adventurous, first date in“Nā Kama Hele” (“Day Trippers”). The couple found themselves on a deserted island running from a fugitive who had been hiding from the FBI and the entire world. Poor McG and Lynn — they really just wanted to spend the day snorkeling and getting to know each other. Of course, they stop the fugitive from escaping to another hideout and take him into custody. And even though Lynn basically had to fight for her life in a island jungle, she does agree to see McGarrett again.  I suppose after being saved by Super SEAL McGarrett, I would sign up for a second date. By the time Valentine’s Day rolls around, they are quite close.

But the jury is still out on if they are in love. They spentan interesting Valentine’s Day together, with McGarrett gaining a black eye after Lynn’s sassy striptease goes awry — not because Lynn found the engagement ring meant for Catherine (Michelle Borth). This brings up McGarrett’s lost love — and that story, as well as the fate of Lynn and McG, is yet to be resolved.

Chin has had a long road with love. When the series started he was a wounded man who had not only lost the career he loved, but he had also let go of the woman he loved. All for a noble cause, of course — to protect Malia Waincroft (Reiko Aylesworth) from being marred by his fall from grace. Yet the two reconciled and got married after Chin joined McGarrett and the Five-0 Task force. Sadly, Malia was murdered shortly after their marriage and Chin grieved for a long time. Chin does try to move on, and dates Leilani (Lindsay Price), but that didn’t seem to last.  Perhaps he didn’t want to date someone like Malia — as Malia was a doctor and Leilani a nurse. So when a cop walks in the door — I suppose it was what Chin has needed. Abby Dunn, an inspector from the San Francisco Police Department,arrives in Hawaii to ride along with Five-0, and sparks fly when she meets Chin.

And these are good sparks — attraction sparks — finally Chin seems to have meet someone who matches him. Malia was his match as well, but sadly, she was taken from him. Now he and Abby seem to have something real. We weren’t sure about Abby at first, as she was sent to spy on Five-0 by FBI Agent (and vengeful brother) Robert Coughlin (Ingo Rademacher), but then she came clean to Chin, quit her job, and is now moving in with Chin on a more permanent basis. After several turbulent months — they seem to really be making a true love connection.

MARRIED LOVE

There are only two married couples on the team — Lou (Chi McBride) and Renee Grover (Michelle Hurd) and Kono (Grace Park) and Adam Noshimuri (Ian Anthony Dale). Renee and Lou have a very solid marriage. Renee is equally matched with Lou and they make for a great couple. I think if you’ve been married to a Chicago cop as strong-willed and intense as Lou, you can stand on your own two feet with your man. Their relationship, and the foundation it sits upon, was obvious when the Grovers had to make a run for it in“Mālama Ka Poʻe” (“Care For One’s People”).

As for our second married couple — Kono and Adam, to say they had a rocky start, is an understatement. But being married has been no honeymoon. This is a couple that needs a huge mega break. I have loved their “Romeo and Juliet” love story from the start. So when they werebeautifully married at the start of the season, I was so happy. But then Gabriel (Christopher Sean) breaks in and cuts their honeymoon very short. He holds them hostage, tortures them, and steals all of their money. And then the Yakuza come calling. And then Adam, who is almost too noble for his own good, confesses to killing two men who were sent to kill him. Adam goes to jail, and Kono is left to watch her wedding video alone on Valentine’s Day.

Sometimes, being married is about being bored on the couch watching DIY shows with your hubby. Not running from hitmen and wondering if your husband is going to go back to his Yakuza ways. I think for their first anniversary present, Five-0 needs to send them on a cruise and throw in some couples therapy. They need it after the last few years together. I don’t doubt their love, but I worry that when they finally settle in — all of the issues that surround them could finally separate them. And that would make many of us very sad.

Adam gets out of jail in a few months, so let’s hope he sits back and lets Kono take on the bad guys — with her Five-0 family, of course.

LOST LOVE

I can’t end without mentioning Danno — and for him, it seems that love is elusive. He loved Rachel (Claire van der Boom), but after being told that Charlie was actually his son, and that Rachel had been lying to him for three years, I’m sure that door has closed. His relationship with current girlfriend Melissa (Lili Simmons) is a little rocky — they fought on Valentine’s Day because Danny could not say he loved her.

I can’t really blame the guy. He just might be a bit tender after the last couple of years he’s had. He has a son he did not know about, he went to Colombian prison for killing the man who murdered his brother, his daughter is now a teenager and no longer wants to spend a lot of time with her Danno.

Danno might have a hard time saying he loves someone — but I think his actions speak louder than words. Maybe Melissa needs to focus on what he does more than what he says.

And for the biggest lost love of the year — McGarrett and Catherine. Cath left at the start of the season, supposedly to work in Nepal. McGarrett never got to give her the ring he had bought to ask her to marry him. But Catherine is on a secret mission, as revealed in“Waiwai” (“Assets”), and this may mean that she could come back into McG’s life. He has deleted her from her phone and seems to be happy with the way his relationship is headed with Lynn — but Cath has been with him for years, and sometimes that kind of relationship is hard to really end.

Yet, what I said before is true — amongst all the different kinds of love — the Five-0 team never lacks for love. And that perhaps is what sets the show apart from other television dramas and police procedurals. The amount of love shared by the team is sincere and always filled with aloha.  

REDUX SIDE NOTE

It’s been a good year for “Hawaii Five-0” and their good fortune didn’t stop with the conclusion of season six. Last Saturday, June 25, Peter Lenkov and his entire executive team was honored by the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii at their “Sharing the Spirit of Aloha” gala event. Every year the JCCH recognizes groups and individuals who have contributed to the JCCH and to the community.

Lenkov and his team were honored specifically for helping to educate the world about how Japanese-Americans were sent to Internment camps in Hawaii and across the continental United States during World War II. Their episode“Hoʻonani Makua Kāne” (“Honor thy Father”)really helped to tell this story to a global audience and created a conversation about a subject that is rarely taught in classrooms in America, let alone across the world.

Accepting the award at the gala was co-executive producer Jeffrey Downer, actor Dennis Chun, and first assistant director Michael ‘Jocco’ Phillips.

Chun, who plays Sgt. Duke Lukela on the show, posted a note on his Facebook page about Lenkov and his team receiving the award. “This is a very special and meaningful award as it recognizes Five-0 for educating so many about the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II and for sharing the aloha and ʻohana of Hawaii with the world. Peter and his team truly deserve this award.”

Chun and his partner Hawaii artist Laura Mellow, who has also been seen as Lukela’s wife on the show, attended the gala, to congratulate all of the “Spirit of Aloha” recipients.

Other honorees include: Arnold Hiura, Executive Director of the Hawaii Japanese Center in Hilo; surgeon and Chief Medical Officer for the Hawai‘i Medical Services Association (HMSA), Dr. Mark Mugiishi; Wallace Teramoto, President of Nisei Building Maintenance Co.; and all of the members of the Committee to Save the (JCCH) Center.

Wendie Burbridge is a published author, playwright and teacher. Reach her via Facebook and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.