Hawaii Five-0 3x13: Olelo Ho'Opa'I Make

Chin is missing, and unlike Waldo, he's kinda hard to find. So hard in fact that Danny and Steve have to shoot one guy and engage in a little police brutality on Daniel Baldwin. But then it's 14 hours earlier and we know exactly where Chin is. He's handcuffed to his bed while some creepy dude stares at him in the dark.

In order of creepiness, the Baldwins go Daniel, Stephen, Billy, Alec.

Daniel's henchman jams a syringe in Chin's neck, and soon it's sleepytime. Which is good, because he was in bed and they woke him up.

At the Noshimuri house, Adam and Kono are relaxing in the tub. It's taking Adam a while to get his brother up to speed on the family business, so they haven't had a lot of time for romance. Unfortunately, just as things are about to turn interesting, Adam gets an upsetting call that he has to take in another room. Afterwards, he has to run off, so Kono, being both a cop and his girlfriend, has to check the number while he's putting on pants.

"555? Damn, that must be fake."

The next morning, everyone heads over to Kamekona's truck for breakfast. Everyone except Chin. It seems he texted McGarrett late at night and told him he needed a few days off. Kono recognizes that it's the eighth anniversary of Chin's first date with Malia and she figures he needs some time to himself.

He's not going to get it, though, because when he comes to he's in the Halawa Correctional Facility, and prisoners don't get a lot of 'me' time. He manages to beat down a couple inmates who recognize him and get in touch with a guard, but he predictably turns out to be in on the whole thing and delivers Chin to an old friend: Former dirty cop and current prisoner, Kaleo.

He seems really happy to see him.

Now, Chin's a big tough guy, but Kaleo was Bruce Lee for a while in the early 1990s, so the fight's a little unfair. Fortunately, just as Chin's about to get his face mashed flat with a laundry press, a saviour appears.

Show Sang some love, Lieutenant.

Sang busts Kaleo in the back of the head with a sledgehammer, which I guess is standard prison issue, and saves Chin's sorry butt. Since the Five-0 squad got him moved back to O'ahu so he could be closer to his kid, Sang figures he owes them, and he's going to pay them back by keeping Chin alive. They steal the guard's keys, but they won't get them to the outside. Instead, they gather as many books and sheets as they can find and start a fire so Chin can tell the HFD who he really is and get a message out to McGarrett.

On the outside, Chin's grief counsellor drops by Five-0 headquarters to tell them that she's worried about him because he missed his appointment. That's a bit fishy, so Kono pings his cell phone, and when she discovers that it's at his house, they move out. They discover that his back door's open and his alarm's been cut. McGarrett figures that it's a kidnapping, but he doesn't know why.

Back on the inside, Sang's plan is going perfectly. The fire is too big for the guards to handle, so they have to start evacuating the prisoners. But when Kaleo sees that Chin's not coming out, he starts a riot so he can get back in. In a matter of minutes, the guards are incapacitated, and he's got everyone hunting for Chin and Sang.

Maybe they should've spent less on monitors and a little more on guards. Maybe.

Fong gets some DNA off Chin's phone and links it to the older brother of the guy who killed Chin's wife. Which is an odd coincidence, since the older brother of the guy who played that character is in this episode. I wonder if they knew they were related when they cast him. McGarrett has Catherine misuse government resources to try to track him down.

In the meantime, the riot's in full swing, and Chin and Sang have to get to a phone so they can call for help. The only one they can get to is in the main holding area, and that's swarming with guys, so it looks like they're screwed. Luckily, Chin's a hero, so when they spot some guys attacking a nurse in the prison infirmary, he kicks their asses and saves her. And, it just so happens that she has a master key and can get them out.

I smell a prison romance.

Catherine tracks down Daniel Baldwin relatively quickly, and we're back at the beginning. Steve and Danny smack him around a bit, and then use his phone to figure out where Chin is. It's not good news. It's even worse when the dirty guard grabs the nurse and her keys before they can escape and then Sang turns on Chin to save his own hide. It's all a ruse, though, and he does his best to convince Kaleo to call the Five-0 guys and trade Chin for their freedom. Ex-Bruce isn't buying it, though, so he stabs Chin with a screwdriver and has Sang locked up so he can deal with him later.

When the cavalry finally arrives, the warden won't let them go through the front door, so they commandeer Kamekona's helicopter and go over the wall. Then the shooting begins. Only they don't actually want to kill anyone, so they use flash grenades and bean bags. The distraction is enough to give Chin a chance to fight back, and he manages to slap Kaleo in an armlock and choke him out with his legs. The team picks him up and wants to head for the door, but he makes them go back for the nurse and Sang... who seems to have disappeared.

Oh wait, there he is.

While he's convalescing in the hospital, Chin gets to taste test Kamekona's new breakfast burrito, and the pretty nurse brings him a nail file as a thank you for saving her life. His wife died less than six months ago, which probably means she'll pursue him, but he won't be able to reciprocate because he feels like it's betraying Malia's memory. I've seen it a hundred times.

The episode ends with Kono cloning Adam's cell phone so she can more easily spy on him in the future.

What I Liked
-Kamekona uses spam in his breakfast burritos because it goes down smooth. I've never tried it, but I'm in favour of anything that goes down smooth.
-They brought back everyone's second favourite guest star. It's too bad Larisa Oleynik and her butt died.

What I Hated
-The flashback at the beginning was unnecessary. Chin gets kidnapped before the opening credits, so we know the stakes are high without Steve and Danny killing a guy.

Final Thoughts
Kono's actions seemed a little out of place. She knows Adam is technically the head of the local Yakuza and that his business is sometimes a little shady. She shouldn't be prying quite so much. I realize it's more Five-0 and less crazy jealous girlfriend, but she's still coming off as a little stalkerish.

I'm glad they found a way to get Sang into another episode and to get him out of prison so he can reappear in the future. He's a fun character and they do fun things when he's around. This show takes itself far too seriously sometimes, and they need a crew of guest stars who can lighten the mood every now and then.

Nevertheless, the story they told in this episode has been told many times before. But, they did a decent job of it, so I can't really complain too much. Danno didn't get to book anyone, though, so I can't give it a really high rating.