‘Hawaii Five-0’ season 7, episode 12 review: Did Chin survive? A terrorist plot; Max’s news
We want to say that the biggest surprise in Friday night’s new episode of “Hawaii Five-0” was Chin managing to survive his capture by the cartel, or that he managed to become the legal guardian of Sara after it was determined that she’d be so much safer in Hawaii than she would ever be in Juarez.
However, the bigger shocker to us was just how quickly all of this was tied up. By the end of the first ten minutes of this episode, we learned that some members of the team were able to save him, and the guardianship transfer was over and done with. From there, we learned that Jerry was sleeping within Five-0’s offices since he didn’t have a proper home, and we figured out a thing or two more regarding a new case.
Grover goes undercover – Any chance to see Chi McBride take on a new persona is a cause of celebration, and tonight, he did so as a car salesman with one primary goal in mind: Trying to figure out what happened to cause a prominent salesman at the dealership in Mitch die This was not the easiest murder case to piece together, largely because you were dealing with so many people who are cutthroat, slimy, and willing to do whatever they can to get commission. It’s with this in mind that the first two suspects in the case were both salespeople, including someone who tried to take the fall for what happened.
Eventually, the team did figure out that it was actually a prominent drug trade that Mitch was involved in, and this suddenly made it clear that there were quite a few new people with an interest in taking him out — including some prominent dealers. Yet, over time it started to become clear that even this group may have been innocent in the killing. After all, they didn’t want a police presence around them.
While we won’t necessarily say that this was the most high-octane case of the season at first, what made this for the most part interesting is that it continued to progress from one thing to the next. The episode first began with us thinking that this was a simple murder out of jealousy or greed. Then, it was about drug money. Finally, it was about terrorism. While it looked as though the team caught the guy responsible, it just so turned out that the uranium that he had in his possession, which was tied to a specific car he was meant to pick up at the dealership, was seemingly already dealt somewhere else. This means that there could be an even larger threat coming up!
The ending – In the closing minutes, we did revisit the story of Jerry, and in the process of him finding a new place, we started to figure out that he was effectively going to be taking the place of Max — not in terms of being a coroner, but in terms of where he was choosing to call home.
Grade – Until the cliffhanger with the case, we’ll admit that the first part of the episode felt slow. Part of the problem there may have been that we expected more buildup with the Chin storyline, and be the time we were a quarter of the way through the episode, that was done and we were on to the next thing. That probably impacted our focus moving forward one way or another; maybe it would’ve been different if we had other expectations going in.
By the end, though, we were fully on board with trying to figure out what was going on; not only that, but it’s nice to have a cliffhanger that could pay off down the road. Max’s impending exit, however, is not so great. Grade: B+.
Next week – We wish we were coming with some better news for you here, but unfortunately, Max is going to be leaving the show next week. You can read some more news when it comes to his departure over at the link here. (Photo: CBS.)