Five-0 was called in this week to investigate the death of a 17-year old girl which led to finding and saving another little girl who had been kidnapped.
The Breakdown
As this week’s Hawaii Five-0 episode Ho’opio started off, a young girl about 17 was held captive and shackled in a locked room. She soon had company as a little girl was thrown into the room with her.
Five-0 was later called in to investigate the murder of the 17-year old girl, found in the woods. She had been shot and buried in a shallow grave. The team discovered that her name was Amanda Morris and she had been kidnapped ten years earlier. There was no ransom, no signs of abuse, and the kidnapping was not trafficking-related.
Upon investigation, a hair was discovered on the Amanda’s body. Although it did not belong to her kidnapper; the source of the hair was a 6-year old girl. The girl’s name was Ella Bishop and she had been kidnapped the day before.
After reviewing surveillance from a nearby bank in Ella’s neighborhood, a vehicle making several rounds was noticed. The owner was Helen Cantera. The team raced to her house to search for Ella. But upon entering the home and finding evidence of Ella in the trunk, the team was too late. Cantera shot herself before the team could question her. They did find different vocational uniforms and $40,000 in cash. It was evident that Cantera was the abductor; although not the one holding who held the girls.
The team soon found out that false identities had been created belonging to Ray and Terry Beckett with a daughter Jessica (Amanda). This led to the discovery that the couple was collecting monthly benefits in the girl’s name. Benefits were to expire when Jessica (Amanda) turned 18. This explained Amanda’s death and the need to kidnap another young girl to replace her. Ray and Terry did not want to go without the monthly benefit payouts.
When the team arrived at the couple’s home, Ella was gone. Danny beat on Ray long enough to get Ella’s location. The team raced to a desolate area and found a shallow grave in some brush. Ella was in a box with a pipe for air, but still alive and unharmed.
Ella was reunited with her parents and Amanda’s parents received the diary she kept while she was held captive.
Kono struggled with why Adam’s behavior had changed recently and enlisted Catherine’s help. She soon found out that Adam may be involved in something really serious.
The Analysis
This week’s Hawaii Five-0 had Danno pretty upset, with good reason of course. He kept thinking about his own daughter as the case unraveled revealing the kidnappers and their reasoning for holding Amanda for ten years and replacing her with Ella. I was surprised but not unhappy when McGarrett took Danny’s badge and walked away so that Danny could beat the pulp out of one kidnapper, Ray.
Finding the girl at the end was of course one of the best parts. But honestly, when the episode ended with Amanda’s parents reading her diary – the diary she had kept for the ten years she was held captive – that was the best part to me. It sure brought a tear (or couple) to my eye.
Then on the sidelines we had the whole story with Kono and her suspicions of her boyfriend Adam. I am guessing this will turn into a big deal later on as they continue to find out more and more about him and his family. I found this part mildly interesting, but I was frankly more interested in the case the team was working on.
Ho’opio was a tear jerker.
