I am officially amazed at how some fans of Alex react to a journalist who questions and insults Alex’s integrity as an actor. Just because it serves the purpose of their point of view, they support the insult. My question is – Are you a fan of Alex or a fan of your own fantasy?
Many of you might not even be aware of this, but a journalist who often reports on Hawaii Five-0 suggested that Alex did not smile enough in the final scene of Hawaii Five-0, because he did not like the storyline. The journalist since then deleted that comment and without an apology for the insult towards Alex, just said that he tried to make a joke.
In my opinion that is one of the worst insults, you can give an actor!
The debate is not whether Alex liked the storyline or not. For all we know, Alex might not have been entirely on board with it (that would be nothing new), but no one but Alex has the right to comment on his own feelings. I for one, would not even try to do that. Whatever his feelings might have been, that comment suggested that he did not do his job to act the scene as it was intended because he did not like it.
My suggestion – If you are a journalist, get an interview with Alex and ask him about it. Then report truthfully on his answers – but do not suggest that you know how he feels by how you interpret the scene.
And the fans who query and belittle fans for taking the journalist on about it, I suggest you take a step back and think a little bit harder about what actually happened. #ThisIsNotAboutYourShip
Maybe, just maybe one day the penny will drop …. although my hopes for that are not very high. #LogicIsNotYourStrongSuit #StuckInYourOneFantasyWorld 😦
That leads me to another thing.
For me, it is kind of important to quote articles, at the correct place in their time and date. When comments are quoted out of context to serve a certain purpose, it just shows a lack of intellect and insight …… simply put – it is stupid.
It seems that some people got stuck with a few articles from 4 years ago and rehash them out of context regularly.
For that reason, I decided to take a look back at those articles from 2016 and analyze and recap them on how they fit into the story then and since then.
To place them in context – Many articles were posted around the celebration of the 150th episode of Hawaii Five-0. Alex was suffering from his back injury and started to get stem cell treatment for it. At that stage, he wanted desperately to quit the show because of his health.
We will never know what else went on behind the scenes during that time, because, at the end of that season (7), two main cast members refused to accept the terms of their new contracts and left the show …… but it is none of our business of what actually went on.
As a further reminder of that time – the season (7) started with Steve ‘s miraculous recovery from a liver transplant. I will never try to say that I would know how Alex felt about that storyline, but if I was an advocate for Organ Transplantation like he is, I would not have liked the mockery that was made of it by the storyline in the show ….. but he went on as a professional and played it out as it was written.
Let’s look at some parts of the articles from back then
From Collider:
Collider: This is a very big episode, being the 150th, with the return of Catherine and having to rescue McGarrett’s mom. What can you say to tease the return of what are arguably the two most important women in his life, both of whom seem to keep eluding him?
Alex: I think it’s a really important episode for Steve, in the sense that these women have meant the most to him in his life, but have also caused the most grief and pain. They’re both a pain in the ass, but they also both mean more to him than anyone else. There’s closure with one, and then kind of closure with the other.
The closure he gets with Catherine is really important. It answers a couple of questions for him. Whenever anyone is left in the situation that he was in, it forces that person to look at themselves and question whether or not they were the problem, and I think that’s finally done for him.
Collider: Knowing that Steve was going to propose to Catherine before she left, do you think he’ll ever consider marriage again, or has that opportunity passed?
Alex: I don’t know. I don’t write the show, and I don’t know what’s around the corner. But from the character’s standpoint, I don’t think he would consider marriage with Catherine, at all. What’s become clear is that Catherine is not the correct candidate, regardless of how they feel about each other.
The life choices that she’s clearly committed to are not going to work. Even though he hasn’t been married before, he’s smart enough to understand what the institution of marriage requires and what it would mean. She took that off the table when she made the decisions that she made. He respects and admires the decisions that she’s made, but she’s removed herself as a candidate for any kind of long term.
Through Catherine doing what she needs to do for herself, following the path that she needs to take, he has been able to empathize with Doris on a level that he couldn’t before. In a way, she has humanized his mother for him. That’s what she has facilitated for him, more than anything else. That’s the greatest gift anyone could have given this guy.
Collider: Have you thought about where you’d like to see Steve McGarrett end up and have you had any discussions with the writers about that?
Alex: I don’t really speak to the writers because it’s frustrating for me when we see things differently. I just try to do my best with what they give me. They have their own ideas, and I have my own ideas.
Frankly, I think that if my ideas were written down, we probably wouldn’t still be on the air. I don’t know how to make a successful TV show. So, I’m open to it. As long as it’s smart, thought-out, creative and interesting, I’m down with it.
- Here Alex admits that some storylines frustrate him. But he takes it for what it is and accepts his role in this collaboration.
You can read the full article here: Collider
From TV Guide:
This is what was said in the show:
Cath: Lynn, she seems like a nice girl. I hope that works out. You deserve to be happy.
TVGuide.com: Switching gears to Catherine, she gives McGarrett her blessing about his relationship with Lynn. Based on that final scene between Catherine and McGarrett, is there any hope for them to reunite?
- In my opinion, the reporter made a weird interpretation of this scene – Catherine is not trying to give him a blessing as if she has any say over him. She just says Lynn is great and that she wishes him happiness.
Alex: I have no say in what they write, but if you’re asking me what I think, McGarrett doesn’t need Catherine’s blessing to do anything.
- Exactly – and that was not what she was trying to do here. She wished him well. And Alex was actually correcting the journalist on her wrong assumption of the situation.
Alex: The way she left things, it was pretty disgraceful. He is a high-end special operator for the US government. He was at the highest level. And so, you don’t need to pull the top-secret card with someone like that, who understands the lay of the land. There’s another way you can do it that’s not gonna hurt people. So, the way she did it was kind of gnarly. It was much more like Doris. And so, as far as he’s concerned, he’s going to do what he’s going to do. He certainly doesn’t feel obliged to make sure he’s got a blessing from her.
- Yes, and no. She was was new at the spy game back then. And Steve should have proposed. If she rejected his proposal – that would have been a reason for him to feel that he was rejected. But that was what was written and we and Alex had to go with it.
Alex: That being said, it does offer some closure for him. It’s now been finished the right way.
- Yes, at least there was now honesty between them and that chapter was finished. No more lying from here on.
Alex: I just think if she came back and went, “I’m available”… first of all, he really likes Lynn. She’s a great girl. And I don’t think he would just ditch her. That would be the wrong thing to do. And if he just jumped back into a relationship with Catherine, I think he’s an idiot.
- Exactly – just dump Lynn and take Cath back on the spot – that would have been idiotic. But that is not what happened. He did not just drop Lynn and take Cath back. That was then and the story still needs to move on to where we are 4 years later. Steve realised after 3 years of dating Lynn neither her nor any of the others he tried to date gave him what he wanted.
Alex: You have no self-respect? There’s no sense of self-protection or self-preservation? If that happens, I’ll play it the way it needs to be played, but it would seem like doing something like that would be a cry for help.
- Yes. definitely at that time. There was too much that still needed to happen between them at that stage.
Alex: He’s an idiot if he does. That would have to be a means to an end for a storyline.
- Exactly – that was the story then. But since then the story evolved and a lot happened with that storyline.
According to what I read here, Alex did not say that Cath should not be part of Steve’s life in future. He just talked about that time in the story and that things need to happen with the story the make sense and make it work.
You can read the full article here: TV Guide 2016
- Peter did comment about that story in the media as well. After all, it is his story to write and his visions for it are not known by the actors. Alex said on so many occasions. (also in these articles)
From TV Guide:
“We’re not looking at it as being finished,” Lenkov says. “It’s just a story we’re telling along the way. …. There’s fans of the show that either love [Catherine] or hate her, and they’re very vocal, both sides. But we always saw Catherine being a part of the entire arc of this franchise.”
- If Alex and fans did not get what Peter said here about what will happen at the end, then did not read it properly.
You can read the full interview here: TV Guide
But let’s move on to another article
From Entertainment Weekly
EW: What does his dynamic look like with Catherine now? Will this episode give closure, or is it awkward to have both of his loves in the same place?
Alex: It’s definitely awkward in the beginning. He’s also annoyed at Catherine because of the way she left. Regardless of what was behind it, he ends up saying, “I understand, I would’ve done the same thing,” but he deep down feels that she could’ve done it differently. He understands classified operations, but she did it in a pretty sh—y way. He’s been really patient with that woman, too. He kept waiting for her and being patient.
- Agree with Alex here. She could have done it differently – BUT was that an unforgivable sin. It is not as if she cheated on him or harmed him in any way. And that was then.
Alex: Still, he was going to propose, but she blew it in the end.
- He was going to propose, but never did. Who blew it? Steve or Cath?
Alex: He’s not resentful, but he’s trying to move on, and here she is again.
- Yes, only a fool would have not been wary of her intentions back then,
Alex: They get to a really good place. They get to say the things that need to be said, and hear each other say those things. I really like the place that they get to. I hate the word empowering, but they both end up in better shape as a result of it.
- Exactly – the end of the chapter of keeping things from each other. A very good place to be for any relationship.
You can read the full article here: Entertainment Weekly
From E!Online:
ET: Speaking specifically to the 150th episode itself, it’s far more family-oriented with the return of McGarrett’s mother, Doris. What excited you about exploring the tenuous relationship mother and son?
Alex: To have a show where I get to deal with two specific storylines, one where I deal with Catherine and Doris, is terrific because I had something to play and something to work with. They’re also the two most important relationships in his life outside the relationship with his sister, and resolution is critical with Catherine for [McGarrett] to move on with his life, which he now can [with Lynn]. And I think he got some sort of resolution with Doris as well by finally understanding what Catherine’s M.O. was. He was able to see his mother through Catherine now; Catherine has humanized Doris for McGarrett and now he can move on from the both of them.
ET: With Catherine in the past, how does all McGarrett went through affect his perspective on his relationship with Lynn now?
Alex: Who knows what’s going to happen with Lynn? She’s a cute girl, she’s funny, McGarrett likes her a lot, and she’s good in bed. I think that he’s now probably freed up to do whatever he wants. He’s going to do what he wants anyway but he’s cut the cord with Catherine and in a loving way. He’s always going to love her but now that she’s shown her hand as unavailable on a fundamental level, he knows to go back into something with her would be a suicide mission emotionally. He’s smarter than that. I think it’s a really healthy place that he’s in now; he can be discerning and his heart’s freed up.
- Yes, he was freed up and had time with Lynn. But it did not work out. And he had new experiences with Catherine since then.
You can read the full article here: E!Online
Then we move on to the next phase…
We move on to March 2018
From ET
ET: In the April 13 episode, McGarrett’s ex, Catherine, comes back into the fray. What can you tease about Michelle Borth’s return?
Alex: It was great to see Michelle and it was cool to pick up where we left off. It’s a great action, travel-y episode with McGarrett and Catherine. It’s also nice to see these two sharing the same space for a minute and to explore how they feel about each other, how everything is cool [between them]. It was weird for a minute, the way she left — somebody who’s about to get proposed to and they choose an allegiance to the government and national security. It was a big blow for McGarrett. I think this episode served as a gentle closure and reinstated the friendship between the two of them, which was really important.
You can read the article here: ET
Unfortunately from that time onwards, there were no more interviews according to my knowledge where Alex had time to address the storyline of Steve and Catherine. So nobody actually knows how he really feels about the story unfolding of the next few seasons. But a lot happens.
We do have a storyline for them that moved forward and kind of also backward. He is reminded regularly of why and how he chose Catherine and what she’s meant to him over the years. And that storyline actually starts with the episode where Alex was credited for the story idea. Is that telling us something of how he feels about it?
You are welcome to read my summary of how the story evolved from there:
#H50 – Summarizing The Steve McGarrett Story (Part 3)
And from what I saw while writing that the story between Steve and Catherine, was that the endgame started in Episode 8:24 and was building up to this final scene where we see Cath again – becoming part of Steve’s day to day life again.
In the end, Alex is a professional and an actor – and from what I have heard and read in interviews he knows his place in this scenario. He is the actor and Peter is the producer/ writer. He can voice and opinion at a specific time, but he can also change that view as years and stories move on. Just as he had to adjust his attitude towards continuing on the show, once his back injury improved, he could adjust to playing the story as it progressed. And that is what I saw him doing.
When allowed to have a different role than just being an actor, Alex did a great job. He opted to give his input to tell Doris’s story in Episode 10:07. Were we all satisfied and how he wrote it? No, of course not. But that was his vision. Were we all satisfied with how Peter wrote his story over the years? No, of course not. But that all is not the point here. Actors act the story as it is given.
For anybody to claim that they know how Alex feels about storylines and the end of the show, it is just ridiculous. You are showing your ignorance and you are dragging his good name down with you. Even if you might be right – it is not your place to speak on behalf of him. Even if you think you are doing him a favour somewhere in your warped mind – you have no right.
Is he happy with everything on the show? Of course not. There are always creative differences. But everybody has their part in the collaboration….
How much influence did Alex actually have since being credited as also a producer on the show? Did he have any influence on the storytelling since then and during this last season? If so, then I would think he had a say in the end. But even if he had no say, he promised us in these interviews in the past, that as the actor, he will do his part in this collaboration, as it was written…..
One of the commenters here already echoed this entire post by her comment yesterday.
You can read it here:
After all is said and done, Alex can choose to comment about it and even say that he did not like the storyline – And that will be fine. The world will not implode for me or any of us. If he still did not like the Steve – Cath Storyline since his last comments – it is fine. Just like everybody else, he’s got a right to have his own feelings. But then he should be allowed to verbally express them himself!
Everyone of us have to right to interpret the show and what we see on it. But unless Alex offers up his own feelings about the show and the end, none of us has the right to interpret it for him. Or on top of that, publicly share and claim those feelings on his behalf. #RantOver
Alex O´Loughlin ~ An Intense Study 