Hawaii Five-0 season 8 episode 3 review: McDanno’s Bar & Grill

McDanno's Bar & Grill

Hawaii Five-0 season 8 episode 3 review began with a bit of gambling, and following that also a little bit of Steve – Danny bickering. After all the two are in the process of planning their restaurant and Danny wanted to go over some ideas for decorations.

This, in turn, led to us learning about the restaurant’s proposed name from Kamekona: McDanno’s Bar & Grill. Let’s just say, first and foremost, that we love the idea of the show subtly making this canon. Also, we want one of the shirts if Kamekona already made up hundreds of them. (Take a look at the logo below if you want a reminder.)

Let’s get in now to the main case of the episode: The death of a power player. The victim was someone who was well-connected with a number of different men and women in Hawaii, and in order to help resolve the case Five-0 recruited the help of a familiar face: Harry Langford. Chris Vance is back! You’ve been waiting to see him back on the show, and he was every bit the James Bond that you probably wanted him to be. He was suave, sophisticated, and had class beyond measure. He also unfortunately has a habit for going rogue here and there — the good news is that Langford is more than capable of being surrounded by bad guys stuck a truck full of guns.

What made this entertaining most of the way through was the almost non-stop action. This was one of the more intense episodes we’ve seen in a while, and after seeing it, we’re not surprised that CBS waited to air it for a week. That was probably the right move. While McGarrett and Danny continued to try and work with Harry, Grover and Tani teamed up to take on some other parts of the case. We’d say that some of the story in the middle of the episode was a fairly typical Five-0 investigation, but we didn’t love getting Harry on board for a car argument as we saw him, Danny, and Steve prepare for a standoff.

So was it Steve, Danny, and Harry who ended up saving the day in the end? They were, but not in the way that you would expect. The villain at the center of the story was one acting out of revenge — he had a reason for going on a killing spree against some of the people who wronged him and his family, but like many other killers with this motive in the end it didn’t matter.

After the good guys won…

Let’s just say that McDanno’s Bar & Grill had a trial run at Steve’s house when they had Harry and his wife over for dinner. They tried to prepare a meal for the two of them, but let’s just say that it didn’t go well. They spent most of their time bickering and not enough time actually cooking.

CarterMatt Verdict

Overall, Hawaii Five-0 season 8 episode 3 was a fun at the start and end of the hour; in between was an action-packed installment about the arms trade and organized crime. While the bad guys themselves weren’t the most memorable foes that we’ve seen on the show, we did have a worthy counterpoint to them in Harry Langford.

What did you think about Hawaii Five-0 season 8 episode 3? Would you eat at McDanno’s Bar & Grill? Share in the comments! You can also click here to read more news on what lies ahead.

Also, like us on Facebook to get more news on all we cover at CarterMatt right now. (Photo: CBS.)

Love TV? Be sure to like Matt & Jess on Facebook for more updates!