We continue our story from here
Wow, I can’t believe how much I ‘struggled’ with this episode and against better judgement I will go a bit personal in this. Actually I should have written this without looking at and “hearing”what anybody else had to say about it. I should have just stayed on the surface of it and kept with my feeling that this was just too much sentimental stuff thrown into a procedural like this. I might have saved myself some ‘nightmares’ – and by that I mean real memories haunting my thoughts, as I tried to sleep last night…..
Even more so than with other episodes, there are so many different views on every part of this episode. Last night I realised once again, how we all see it from and through our own experiences. Alex fans, think Steve is right to obsess about his stolen car, Scott Caan fans (who also mostly seem to be McDanno shippers as well), think Danny was right to obsess about his daughter’s security. Some neutral fans, who mostly struggle to find anything wrong with the show, try to justify them both. 😀
Maybe what actually happened, like the loss of the car is more real to Steve, than what could have happened, because he left Gracie alone for a few minutes? Is it really that bad for a 12-year-old to be alone for a few minutes in a regular suburban street in Honolulu? And maybe for myself, also because I watch for Alex and Steve and it makes me biased, but more so because I have also been a victim of grand theft auto, I fully understand Steve’s feelings.
For some reason one feels personally violated when somebody else takes your stuff. But even with that, each one of us live through it differently. Mine was not my dad’s vintage car but my own which I adored (and thankfully got back). For most of us who drive a lot, your car is an extension of yourself, part of you so to speak. Granted, Steve’s car was also not taken from him at gun point, like mine was, because I was carjacked. But trust me the anger and frustration about it is real, surely for him as well.
But let’s get back to Steve’s overall story…..
Despite all the Steve sentiment, Alex Steve running in shorts, and Alex Steve just being his gorgeous self, nothing in this episode told me anything new about any progress in Steve’s story. All I know is that one of the best forms of therapy for your own trauma, is helping others. And in my eyes that is one of the golden rules in life, and Steve is doing it very well. Steve is dealing with his own problems and bad experiences and pain, by helping others heal from theirs.
Steve forcing the thief to help him repair the car, might also be some good therapy for them both. The young boy learning that building something is much more satisfying than breaking it apart. And that the value of something is much more that the individual parts of it. Steve on the other hand is creating himself the chance to heal the trauma of losing parts of the car and with it the memories (For my own therapy, I washed and cleaned every inch of my car myself, after I got it back and with that clearing away the memories that somebody took it from me – it helped).
While you are watching the beautiful pictures of Steve, that Paula once again captured for us, I’ll just throw around some general thoughts………
The feeling I got while watching this episode, was that the writers went to watch some old Season 1 & 2 episodes and decided they needed to use some of that old stuff again……… Science guy Steve, Max the savant playing his piano, Danny nagging in Steve’s ears because he is so sentimental over anything related to his father, Danny still calling Steve’s passion project, memory of his dad’s car, a piece of junk like he did in Epi 122, Steve preventing others from stepping on booby traps, etc.
Is it good? Is it bad? Or is it maybe just a little bit if that familiar stuff a little too late to try and get back to the roots and the feelings that brought the regular fans to the show in the first place? Should a show like this, move forward or rehash the old stuff?
Paul Delano – why bother with him at all? Are they setting something up for an episode in future? Or did they just showcase him again to highlight the suffering and nightmare he and his family caused Chin? Not only did Frank kill Malia, but Chin also killed him (more or less in cold blood) and then Paul planted Chin in jail in a real life nightmare. Was it all just for the connection with Samantha’s nightmares?
Hawaii is an interesting place. Do people really have time to go fishing before they go to work? Just wondering about that – trivial I know, but just wondering. 😀
Where has all the humour gone? Lines that are supposed to be funny are just plain nasty for me in this episode (even maybe for a while now – or maybe it’s always been that way?) It is not even black humour (which I like and can appreciate), but just nasty.
- Chin and Kono throwing around nasty death comments (revenge talk) directed at Paul Delano, in front of Grace.
- Danny being snarky towards Max, after he said he also received the Presidential Medal. Danny’s words, “Let’s call Ripley’s.” That was pure nastiness. To me that was like bullying the nerd kid on the playground!
Santa might bring new gifts (toys) every year, but Steve McGarrett repairs the broken “forgotten” ones, continuously? 😀
– Hawaii Five-0: Episode 512 –
Poina ʻOle (Not Forgotten)
To be continued here
Alex O´Loughlin ~ An Intense Study 