Hawaii Five-0 Olelo Pa’a took McGarrett and Catherine to North and South Korea to bring home the body of McGarrett’s best friend from the Navy Seals.
The Breakdown
The episode started off with McGarrett and Catherine in North Korea to bring home the body of McGarrett’s Navy Seals friend Freddie Hart. McGarrett soon realized that the body they were given was not that of his friend – a tattoo that he recalled was not on Hart’s arm. McGarrett did not want to leave until they could find Hart and bring him home too.
A lot of flashbacks to times between McGarrett and Hart were shown. They first became close in boot camp in the year 2000. When Hart was about to ring the bell signifying he was quitting the Navy Seals, McGarrett tackled him just as the bell began to ring.
In September of 2010 McGarrett was ordered to complete a mission involving the Dark Sun military operatives and the Hesse brothers who were arms dealers. McGarrett chose Hart to join him on the mission. On the way there, Hart first showed his tattoo to McGarrett and explained that he had just married his high-school sweetheart and they were expecting a baby girl.
Swing to the present day, McGarrett and Catherine were connected to Frank Bama by Joe White who provided them with guns and a way to cross the border from South Korea to North Korea to find Hart. McGarrett immediately saw a man he remembered that wounded Hart in 2010. He and Catherine grabbed him and forced him to drive them to Hart. The man escaped; however, McGarrett and Catherine were able to track him down and force him to take them where they needed to go. McGarrett saw that his friend’s body had been desecrated and wanted to know who gave the order. The man finally told him it was Ji-woon.
Back to 2010, McGarrett and Hart were attacked and outnumbered during their mission. Hart was badly wounded and made McGarrett promise to tell his daughter that he loved her. Hart continued to fight and cover McGarrett as long as he could. McGarrett drove away as Hart was killed.
Present day; McGarrett and Catherine were attacked and outnumbered as well as they search for Ji-woon. After surrendering they were taken to the camp; McGarrett found Ji-woon and asked him why his friend’s body was desecrated. After a distraction and gun fight ensued, Catherine continued to fight as McGarrett took down Ji-woon.
Back in the U.S., Hart’s casket was unloaded from the plane. Later at his funeral, his parents thanked McGarrett for bringing Hart home. McGarrett then gave Hart’s dog tags to his daughter and told her that her daddy “loved her very much”. McGarrett looked up and the rest of Five-0 was standing there.
The Analysis
Although this was a good episode, I am always a little disappointed when only certain parts of the cast are in an episode. But, in this case I think there was a good reason. McGarrett and Catherine knew each other back when the flashbacks took place and with their military training, as well as their current relationship, I suppose it made sense that they were the only ones to go to North Korea.
Even though there were a lot of flashbacks, it was not distracting. I thought they blended well to tell the story of McGarrett and his friend Hart. There was action and a few sad parts as well. The shootouts were decent and of course main members of the team were never wounded. The emotional parts like when Hart died, when McGarrett found his body and the funeral at the end were all done well.
Olelo Pa’a was classic, modern day Hawaii Five-0.
