Hawaii Five-0 3x15: Hookman

I'm not sure if it's a stunt episode or if the writers were just overworked, but they decided to remake the sixth season premiere of the original Hawaii Five-O series. Since the show ran for twelve years, I think it's safe to assume that everyone important lives through the episode, which sort of removes some of the suspense.

Anyway, Peter Weller is a double amputee who's holding a bit of a grudge and exacting a cruel vengeance against everyone he believes was responsible for the loss of his hands. He starts by assassinating a police officer who was leading a funeral procession.

This guy's about to have some company.

The first victim, Ben Keoki was a friend of the McGarrett family and was basically an uncle to Steve. He is understandably upset at the loss of his friend, especially after Chin finds a bullet casing that literally had the man's name on it.

McGarrett starts the investigation by interviewing Keoki's old partner. His friend was a street cop who never busted anyone bigger than a low-level drug dealer, and was too honourable a man to get mixed up with anything dirty. So, they don't have any leads, but based on the calling card, the killing was personal, and Steve's certain that if they don't catch the guy soon, more people are going to die.

Quite a few more, based on the number of bullets the guy has.

Kono goes to see Fong, but the bullet casing's a very common calibre, and it could take him days to track down a match to the engraving. She doesn't have days, but fortunately she notices that the casing's really shiny, so she heads off to find out who on the island does custom bullet engineering.

While she's doing that, Peter Weller's off somewhere, selling his rifle to a small-time thug played by Charlie Murphy. He's a smart guy, and he tips off the cops to the thug's whereabouts. Soon, half a dozen officers, including Danny and Steve are on him. He has superior firepower, but the cops have superior numbers, and McGarrett is really ticked off because he thinks Charlie's the guy who killed his friend. Steve tosses a smoke grenade while everyone else covers him, and in short order, Charlie's lying on his back with two bullets in his chest. But, he's not the only one. In all the confusion, Keoki's old partner takes a hit.

I don't think he's gonna make it.

McGarrett thinks something smells funny. Charlie was just an ice dealer who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn while the guy who shot Keoki was a trained sniper. Max and Fong's analysis confirms his suspicions: Charlie didn't hit him, and the shot was fired from a rooftop across the street. Danny and Steve investigate and they find another engraved bullet casing.

The Governor calls Steve in to get an update on the situation and to make sure he's playing things by the books. But the two dead cops were McGarrett's friends, so he's taking things very personally. Which is good, because the killer's still out there, and he has a bullet with his name on it.

Literally.

Kono's earlier lead yields dividends, and Danny and Steve are called to a nearby gun shop. Meanwhile, across the street, the killer breaks into a vacant office that's being painted. He sets up and gets ready to kill McGarret when the painter returns and he's forced to choke him to death with his robot hand. That gives the guys enough time to realize that the gun shop owner didn't call in with a tip and the whole things a set up. The killer misses his shot, and takes off in a Ford Mustang. A high speed chase ensues. Despite his handicap, he's an excellent driver, but because this show is brought to you by Chevrolet, Danny and Steve catch him in their bitchin' Camaro and he winds up in the drink.

It's like anti product placement.

They pull the car out of the water, but the bad guy's not inside. One of his hands is still on the wheel, though. Steve quickly puts things together and realizes that the killer is a former bank robber who had his hands blown off when the elder McGarrett busted him 20 years ago. Keoki and his partner were part of the team that took him down, as well as Duke Lukela, who turns up in an alley with a bullet in his back.

Thanks to Max's analysis of the prosthetic hand, the team tracks the guy to his apartment. He's not there, but he calls them from across the street just before he opens fire. His positioning is better, but once again, superior numbers prevail and Kono shoots him in the head while Danny and Steve draw his fire and distract him. They wrap things up with some witty banter, and then the two dead cops and McGarrett's dad drop by to say thanks. But Danny calls out to Steve, and when he turns back around, they're gone.

Case... closed?

What I Liked
-They slapped up a big ol' title card for the episode. I may be alone in this, but I like knowing the title of an episode before I watch it. It's a bit old school, but a good title card can add some punch to an episode. It says to the audience "Here. Here is what you're about to watch. Prepare yourself."

Look at it. This is a thing of beauty.

-Peter Weller played the titular Hookman and directed the episode. Not only is it kind of hilarious to have the guy with mechanical hands played by freakin' RoboCop, but Weller's actually a reasonably good TV director.
-Charlie Murphy's last words are "Time to make the doughnuts, bitch." I'm willing to bet that wasn't in the original episode in 1973.

What I Hated
-There was a whole bit with Danny being anti-gun and getting into a fight with the gun shop owner. I get that there's a big debate about guns in the US right now, but I don't need politics in my wacky island cop adventures. I need bikini girls, car chases, and Danno booking 'em.
-They catch the bad guy because he filled out a warranty card for his prosthetic hands. A lot of TV murderers seem to have that weird combination of brilliance and idiocy.
-Peter Weller goes from being an excellent sniper to being unable to hit anything. They made a big deal about how good a shot he was, but in the end he was spraying bullets around like Charlie Murphy.
-The ending seemed really out of place. Does Steve have a brain tumour that we're not aware of?

Final Thoughts
I had high hopes for this episode after the opening, but I can see now that those hopes were misplaced. Television just wasn't as mature in the 1970s, so a remade episode was bound to feel a little bit dated. Some of it worked, but overall it just felt really disjointed and a little bit rushed. The 1970s and 2010s are two decades that just shouldn't mix, I guess.