#AlexOLoughlin about Steve – It’s been a long and hard road ……

Question: What does it mean to you to make it to 150 episodes?

Alex: It’s kind of surreal. It’s crazy. I can’t believe it, on one hand. On the other hand, I feel like it’s been torture, too. It’s a lot of television, there’s been a lot of injury, there’s been a lot of water under the bridge, etc.

But at the end of the day, what it really means is it’s a great testament to everybody who works on the show. It’s hard, man. It’s hard to make a show.

Entertaiment Weekly

November 2016

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Being McGarrett

One of the things I have experienced, subjectively, is an ease and relaxation on a level that I’ve never experienced before so that when the cameras are rolling, the choices that come in are much more natural.

There’s a subtlety to that that is disarming for me and enjoyable. It’s a highlight for me, those tiny moments that you don’t see but I feel.

Alex, talking about being Steve McGarrett for 7 years

ET Online

November 2016

 

Oh Alex, but we do see and feel them too!

That is why we are still here, watching you being Steve …..

#MickStJohn’s Best Side?

My favorite thing about him I think is his ability to overcome extreme drama and duress and not lose sight of the lighter side of life, which essentially stems back to the humanity that he desperately clings to, which is fundamentally extended in his heart.

So I think without sounding sanctimonious or sentimental, my favorite thing about this character is his heart.

— Alex O’Loughlin (talking about Mick St John)

November 2007

 

Best camera angle ever 😉

The Steve McGarrett Story – No # 145 (Epi 7:02)

We continue our story ….

As promised I will continue with my thoughts on the episodes of Season 7. I’m kind of sure nobody cares about the episode anymore, but I am just doing it for myself, because I like to finish stuff that I have started. Well sometimes. Ask Paula, she complains a lot about all  the stories in drafts that I never finish.

At least we got a short glimpse of the real Steve McGarrett story again, but more of that at the end……

This episode was a ‘joyride’ of nearly every British spy movie cliché in the book ….. Let us see how Steve handles it. Any James Bond poise displayed by him?

Of course this was not only the second episode of the season, but also the second in the series of the serial killer …..

We meet the profiler Alicia played by Clair Forlani. And can I start by saying I just love Alicia and Steve together. Not that I necessarily see them as a romantic couple at all, but I always have this thing for Alex with women a little older than him …… you know it’s the cougar in me coming out to play.

And I have always had a thing for Chris Vance since Prison Break where he played the ‘Whistler’. And I also enjoyed him in the short-lived Transporter series. So I guess this episode had my attention right from the start.

Some of my thoughts …….

• I guess the profiler (Alicia) thinks that Steve is the knight (protector of the realm) in this game of Chess with the serial killer and I guess she is right. But that makes it so much more intriguing that the serial ‘doctor’ had some special beef with Steve. But also frustrating because I fear we will never really know what it is that made her play the game with him (and the Five-0 team) …. or will we?

Koala Smartass: Hold your horses, the Psycho Dr is on her way back to Hawaii in a while. We might get answers … or not. This is Hawaii Five-0 after all. You know we sometimes get answers years or seasons later …… but of course mostly not. 😦

• Where did Alicia get the intel of Detective Lau investigating the suspects, if it was never filed in reports? Especially since he died 6 months ago.

Koala Smartass: She might have a crystal ball? Maybe even a broom?

• And then apart from all the James Bond clichés, we also get a rehash of another Five-0 episode. Some similarities between Episode 1:02 and here. They just revamped the ideas a bit
  • A skeleton key from 1:02 that can access all communications, is now The Greystone.
  • A man is hanging from the side of a building as interrogation technic by McGarrett – been there, done that in 1:02.

Koala Smartass: To use the words of an online friend. The Hawaii Five-0 writers like to “Rinse and Repeat” stuff. Nothing new about that. Are you complaining?

• I really do not understand why there needs to be a cargument about Steve’s driving with every car chase? Why does Danny go with Steve if he does not want to be there, chasing after the bad guys? It gets old after 6 years ……

Koala Smartass: But it is soooooo much fun. It is the heart of the story. Fans will never have enough of it. It is like a lovers quarrel. Foreplay I guess. So just shut up. #sarcasm

• Okay so this time we do not have them aimlessly diving somewhere, but they fly kind of aimlessly to Europe just to deLIVER us another post-liver-transplant-argument on a plane ………

Koala Smartass: Well after being shot on a plane while flying it, Steve had to get back on the horse again so to speak – although he did not get a chance to fly the plane himself this time. And thankfully he did not have to ask Danny to do so either. Much like Max, oo7 does not like to share his equipment or take any recommendations from Steve.

• And I guess “007” Harry have his own private jet just standing around in an airport in every city of the world to fly him somewhere? Harry flew into Hawaii on a commercial flight, but how is it now possible that he can fly them to Europe on his own plane?

Koala Smartass: Maybe it is something like a sailor having a girlfriend in every harbour. Obviously MI6 has got the means for 007 to have a plane in all the cities  ……

• And just as a reminder the distance between Hawaii and Europe is more than 12 000 km. So I guess the 3 of them just jumped on 007’s plane and started flying, and flying and flying ……… not really knowing where in the “small” continent of Europe they should be?

Koala Smartass: Maybe  they were just too happy to get away from the girlfriends. You know, the ones that we saw at their bedside 24/7 while they were in hospital. Remember, they just got out of hospital a short while ago. Kind of sure they got tired of the women by now.

• And then suddenly when they are nearly there, after maybe 16 or more hours flying, Chin calls them and they have an actual destination …. the exact spot in Prague. Yey! And not only do they still have to fly there, but get weapons and guns and authorities to work with them there ……

Koala Smartass: Well that just shows you how good it was that they flew to nowhere, otherwise they would have never been there on time. And oh, I am sure 007 have the intelligence community in Czech Republic on speed dial and standby for just such an occasion. SURELY!

• They capture the terrorist, but he does not have the key and he refuses to talk. But luckily Steve brought Doris’s jumper cables with …… and 007 might have the means, but Steve has the immunity!

Koala Smartass: Smart boy following in mom’s footsteps. Moms always know what to pack for every emergency.

• And they find The Greystone and save the world when Steve shoots the computer, that ran the program, to pieces. I am no computer expert and not sure how wise that was from Steve. Wonder why it is not done more often in movies?

Koala Smartass: You see, we can always learn something from Steve. Brut force always trumps brains. Lucky for 007 that he had Steve there, otherwise the whole world would have blown up.

• And all is well in the world again ….. but oh dear, 007 has other plans. He’s got a score to settle with the people who killed his wife ….. in Pakistan. And once again the boys “quickly“ travel more than 5000 km from Prague to get to Pakistan. And as far as I can recall, the CIA and the armed forces last time told Steve never to come to that region on one of his “missions” again.

Koala Smartass: But Steve has been longing for his turban disguise and this time with MI6 on his side, they were able to stop 007 in his tracks. And also Steve has got a new liver, and maybe now he is allowed back there in that region again?

 

• AND of course the Queen (yes, the real Queen of England) was just sitting around having tea and playing with her Corgis, just waiting for two Americans and a Brit to ‘save’ the world and then quickly organise an event and hand them some medals before they return home? Even in the unreal world of Five-0, that is a bit idiotic for me.

Koala Smartass: Maybe it was a stroke of luck that she was just about to do the event in any case. LOL. I am kind of sure the writers wanted to endear the British people with this honour – having the image of the back of the Queen as part of the show. Just as they endeared the old Hawaii Five-O fans with the ghost of Jack Lord in the previous episode. Especially giving out such a prestigious reward as the George Cross to non-Brits. #Oopsie #Maybenot

But then at long last we get something personal from Steve about his story again. Harry was prepared to put is life and career on the line to avenge his wife’s death. And when Harry mentions her,  who he says was the only one he ever really let into the inner circle of himself, Steve confesses that he’s got someone like that as well.

Wow! He admits that Cath was the one woman he ever let into the inner sanctuary of Steve McGarrett! But he allowed her to leave and for him, there seems to be no chance of ever getting her back. And that definitely does not sound like a man who feels that he was abandoned or lied to by her or who he felt he needed to hate for some reason at all. That pretty much sounds like a man who says that he got his soul mate and that he lost her along the way.

Not exactly sure where the writers/producers are going with this love story, but there still seems to be a story there for Steve and Cath.

And that was Steve’s  story for:

Hawaii Five-0 – Episode 7:02

No Ke Ali’i’ Wahine A Me Ka Aina
(For Queen and Country)

Written by: David Wolkove & Matt Wheeler

Directed by: Sylvain White

To be continued  …….

Steve´s best side?

I don’t know what my sexiest feature is.

Maybe my widow’s peak. My eyes.

I hear I have a good… ass

Alex O’Loughlin

TV Guide

September 2009

 

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