The Steve McGarrett Story – No # 110 (Epi 5:17 )

We continue our story from here

This is the kind of episode that I dread to write about here in my Steve’s story. It is a fun episode with lots to enjoy, but it hardly gives us anything really thoroughly thought through about  Steve – yes I said it, even with the therapy and the sharing of feelings included.

What I am trying to say is, don’t take my judgement of what we see and of  how I see Steve’s story portrayed in this episode, as a review of it or its entertainment value at all. It was  good.

What I do want to say about this episode is that the show has perfected the skill of throwing lots of clichés and stereotypes together, and to make a great fan favourite episode out of it.

cliché – a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought

stereotype – a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing

(Lots if pretty here …. sigh… I might just stay here all day. 😛 )

The episode gave me some good laughs. Real laughs I mean, not the ones like when I see stupid things happening – although there were a few of those things that did happen, and I might share some ….. All in all this was definitely one of the better episodes of this season.

And here I want to add that Daniel Dae Kim did a good job directing this episode. He paid attention to detail like we seldom see with some of the more seasoned directors. He used interesting shot angels. He made sure of some very nice close-ups of the main character (especially with the object of our desire – Steve). In the end it was a nicely packaged  episode with excellent guest actors, being their characters perfectly. Including the gorgeous Lili aka Mr Pickles. 😀

Have you ever in your life suggested something and then when you see that suggestion come to life, you realise that the person who took your suggestion further, did not really know what you meant. In fact your suggestion turned out into the most horrible thing ever.

Well it happened to me – kind of, but not really. I really do not think anybody from the show would be interested in what I write here and I do not really think it was my suggestion that was actually taken forward. But during my reviews at the end of Season 3, I jokingly  suggested that we should see how Steve interacts with Danny’s family. Well, Danny’s mom came to town during the next season, but I must admit it was the worst part of season 4 for me. One small interaction with Steve and the rest a family divorce story that only a few fans ever cared about. Nothing of what I thought it would be ….. 😦

Where am I going with this? Well as you all know Alex mentioned on ‘The Talk’ that he thought the therapy season of Episode 501 was great and he suggested that they do more of it, maybe even in every episode. Something like in the Soprano’s. But I must be honest – I cringed when I heard him say that, and hoped that it is one of those ideas that would stay a funny idea …… In theory it is an excellent idea. But it is one of those times where I wished Alex actually watched the show and see how things play out. Because such therapy sessions IS a funny idea, but only if you use them correctly. And if it is not a forced scenes but comes from continuity in the storyline and as part of the story and not some fabricated stuff. You will hopefully see why I say fabricated as we go along ….

Sorry, but that therapist sounds like a robot and is the worst bit of voice acting I have ever heard in my life. And last time in therapy with her, we heard Steve say, “We’re Ohana, we’re good”. Now she says they agreed to come back. However since then these two men has gone through some traumatic stuff together and supported one another with great empathy. First Danny lost his brother and became a murderer and then Steve had to face is arch-enemy and had to kill him in a fight for his life as well. Their support to each during it all, showed how much they cared for one another – now the show suggests they don’t agree on anything. For me their so-called “fights” are loads of bickering between brothers like friends. I agree there has been some nastiness to some of it, but to call it real disagreement about real stuff and that it needs therapy, is just stupid.

Not that what was said in the session did not give me some great laughs. Alex and Scott played their parts a whole lot better here, than in that first session in the first episode. And I think the best line of Season 5 so far has been:

Steve: Okay, actually you know what, here is the real reason we’re getting along so great. Is that I don’t listen to him anymore.

Let’s get back to some Steve stuff……

Out of character Steve?

Sorry but when a guy wears an apron while making eggs in the microwave, he is not the type of guy who throws dirty used plates on the couch. And I recall a few other times when Steve displayed his neatness and Navy upbringing. And Danny showed how he messed up Steve’ s house while house sitting. It sometimes feels as if the writers forget which character they are writing. 😕

What is Steve passionate about?

• Steve staying connected to his dad by fixing his car old car. (But then again, that is not something to discuss, because Danny has been mocking that passion of Steve since day one.)
• Loyalty to his friends and family, even when they have sometimes disappointed him so badly. (But then again, we can not discuss that because Danny has been mocking Doris’s behaviour since day one)
• Finding the truth – in cases they solve and in real life.
• Giving people the benefit of the doubt and second chances.
• Fixing “broken” toys /people

While I saw Steve fixing that little cat, and I saw him sending Jerry to do some fixing with Ruth. And maybe even allowing Jerry to get some value for is own life  in return from her, my heart just warmed up to this character once more. Steve sees the pain….. And this is why this sentence from the “therapy workbook” describing Steve according to Danny, is totally bogus. Anybody suggesting that this is the character that we have seen over 4 ½ years, need to watch again…..

Weaknesses: Not naturally in tune with what others are feeling. Difficulty expressing emotions. And difficulty excepting criticism.

So the star quarterback of the school performing so great for his school on the football field, got performance anxiety? I really do hope the story of the guitar playing Steve goes somewhere – and ends with us seeing Alex actually playing. Otherwise it is just another story like so many that show has given us before, meaning nothing at all in the end ……

Steve: The McGarrett men are a different breed? To them showing emotion is like showing a weakness, you know. I mean, it’s stupid but it’s just the way it is.

Have I missed some introduction to some McGarretts in a previous episode somewhere? Only ones I know about are Steve and John. And he use the words  “to them” – it just does not make sense to me what he means by that.

(Personally I would have used the story of guitar playing Steve a bit differently. It could have been said that he was unable to perform because his mother died that week and the memories of that just made him stop enjoying it. And that at military school he never had the chance to take up playing again. More in character, more real)

Steve talking about his feelings?

If I recall, Steve was prepared to share his feelings with Grover …… somebody who was actually prepared to listen without judgement or making fun of things he cares about. It just came naturally ……

How about if Steve share some real relevant present feeling with Danny – Things like loneliness and trust issues, because ……..maybe let’s say ….. things like missing Cath who left. Things like mom keeping her distance, even after WoFat was eliminated. Things like Joe stringing him along with untruths. Things like dad sending them away to be “clinical” orphans. Real stuff that affects Steve McGarrett of today!

Then just a personal pet peeve of mine, that I most probably got from my dad. He really detests it when people talk with food in their mouths. Whenever he sees a scene on screen where actors do that, he comments about the fact that people think it is “good” acting to be able to do that. For him good acting is if you can space the eating and the talking in such a way that it does not have to happen at the same time – something like people in real life would do.

This brings me to a little family joke we have, from when I was young. Dad one day reprimanded one of us (most probably me I think) at the dinner table for talking with food in our mouths. And then he realised that he was in such a rush to say it, that he actually said it with food in his own mouth. He made a quick recovery and then went on to say that it is only allowed when you reprimand you children. We still joke about it.

Maybe it is also allowed when you discuss all your relationship problems. Or maybe eating like that while talking, is an American or and Australian custom? But even if it looks bad, seeing Alex do it with such vigor, is always okay. I can watch him do anything and like it – I am cheap that way. 😛

 Something that would have really made me laugh, was if Steve instead of just using their names, to introduce themselves to Ruth as he normally would have done by saying, “Hi, I am commander Steve McGarrett and this is my partner Detective Danny Williams” – And if she then still thought they were a gay couple – Now that would have been funny. (but that is just me, and most would not even get why I thought that would be funny) 🙂

Some random ??’s and laughs:

• So the bad guy, who is as strong as an ox and a real killing machine, don’t fight back when his girlfriend shoots him. He instantly passes out from that not fatal shot in his gut and can be easily thrown from the car? But he is fine when he operates on himself later on – no fainting there?
• No wonder the girlfriend was so eager to go to jail for her boyfriend – seems she likes to bat for the other team and as the cliché goes – prison is full of opportunities for that type of fun. Or is that where she got the taste for other girls and decided to screw him over? 😛
• Does the jewelry shop have more than one safe? She says, “He emptied the safe”. And that was a small bag of big diamonds. In the end when she hides in the walk in safe, there are lots of stuff kept there that are not displayed in the shop. Where were those things on the day of the robbery? 😀
• So this is a shop that sells jewelry – I did not see them having a workshop making jewelry. Why would the owner buy and keep unset diamonds?
• That bad girls’ blonde ‘wig’? If it is a disguise, why sit around  the house with it? Was that supposed to be her real hair after she took of a brunette wig? Or was it now supposed to be her own hair, straightened and dyed and cut like that?  Ouch. 😕
• Maybe the blonde hair (cliché) suits her better. She was dumb enough to leave a wounded, and by her thinking a presumed dead guy, with who she’s got a well-known affiliation and then go back to her own place, not thinking that the police (or he) might come after her?
• If they can hear what happens 2 levels down, why can’t they hear what happens in every apartment in that building? Nobody home?
• So Jerry and Ruth watches the sunset – and then the sun shines bright again and they all eat at Kamekona’s, without Danny of course. Not that it is the first time that we have had these longgggg sunsets or reversed sunsets in Hawaii before. 😀
• So help me out here. Danny arrives with his car and without ever handing Steve the keys, Steve is gracious enough to throw it back at him. REALLY?

And that last point brings me to something that is really irking me out big time. This issue that Steve is driving the car all the time – not allowing Danny to drive his own car. As with anything in life, if you do not give up your right of something and somebody is not threatening your life to give it up, there is really no reason to say the other just takes it from you. And no reason to blame them if you are not in control.

When they get to the car to drive somewhere, does Steve throw Danny out of the driver seat, does he rush to get there first – how is it possible that he drives all the time, if Danny doesn’t give it up willingly? It is just stupid and make no sense to me at all – RANT OVER!

 

I just want to end off by saying, I am not really a cat person (or a dog person for that matter), but after this, I ship McPickles (or is it McPussy?) 😀

And I always love the little bit chubbier Alex, in these episodes each year, filmed right after a the nice Christmas puddings and New Years parties. It makes him even more adorable. 😀

– Hawaii Five-0: Episode 517 –

Kuka’awale (Stakeout)

To be continued………..