S2E18: Tonight’s episode of Hawaii Five-0 was a tad all-over-the-place, but the periphery (namely a pair of guest stars) kept things interesting. What starts out as a murder — for Five-0 to solve, of course — of a popular radio disc jockey (guest star Dennis Miller; more on that below) devolves unnecessarily into a convoluted whodunit too twisty for even this show. In short, after more wrong turns than usual, the Five-0 team, with help from a retired NYPD bomb expert (guest star James Caan; more on him below, too!), uncovers the murderer by way of murder, and naturally it’s all got to do with money. Now to the more interesting parts …
Dennis Miller Gets to Sound Off — and Die
It was only very recently announced that Dennis Miller would guest-star on tonight’s episode, which he shot less than three weeks ago! That sounds like it leaves little room/time for error, but it becomes immediately clear that since Miller’s (opening) sequence looks like it was simply filmed during his actual radio show — Occupy-movement rant and all — it was all presumably very low-maintenance, quick and stress-free. And then he dies (and sets in motion the entire plot of the episode).
It was ‘Take Your Father to Work’ Day
And in the Caan family, that means you’re going to star on a show. This time, it was Scott’s turn to bring his dad, James, onto his show, and the results were somewhat fascinating and filled with natural chemistry. (We can only imagine how many takes it required to film the scene in which Scott holds a gun to his dad’s head!) All in all, he was characteristically superb and seemed to out-energize the much-younger regulars, including his own son.
The Danny-Steve Marriage Continued
They once again bickered like a married couple, which actually helps keep this show refreshing. Arguing (good-naturedly) about everything from Danny’s toenails to Danny’s overbearing nature when it comes to his young daughter, Grace (it’s worth noting that Steve played the role of “shrink” in the latter scenario), the partners in crime-fighting and pretty much life continued their bromance with no breakup in sight. At the end of the episode, James Caan (aka Tony Archer) even chimes in: “I’m gonna be ya marriage counselor.”
New York? Or Hawaii?
With James Caan guesting tonight and bringing his over-the-top, thick New York accent with him (he does play a former NYPD bomb expert, after all), this really felt like a New York episode. And when he and Danny (from Joysey) were bantering, well, fuhgeddaboudit! In case there wasn’t enough of a Big Apple feel, though, several minutes toward the end of the episode are devoted to proper NYC pizza consumption and lingo. And the “Original” Ray’s Pizza!
