Hawaii Five-0 interview: Peter Lenkov on Adam’s crisis, a blast from the past
On Friday night, CBS is airing the final Hawaii Five-0 episode of 2019 … and it’s going to bring a lot of drama along for the ride. There was a major cliffhanger on this past episode courtesy of Adam, who could find his job in jeopardy (or worse) after what transpired in his quest to save Tamiko. Then, there’s also a major story from the past resurfacing. Even if it doesn’t involve the classic villain Wo Fat himself (hard to have him involved given that he’s dead), that name will be conjured up and any long longtime fan of the show knows what that means.
Leading up to this episode, we turned to the man who knows better than anyone about what’s coming up: Executive producer Peter M. Lenkov. Check out some of what he told CarterMatt about Wo Fat, Adam, and a whole lot more below.
CarterMatt – I’ll just start with this — McGarrett has gone through a lot this year. Is some happiness on the horizon?
Peter Lenkov – Yes. I don’t wanna say too much, but yes.
Here’s the thing — he’s gone through so much trauma since he first landed on the island, going back ten years. But, he’s also gotten so much as well courtesy of this family and these people who have been there for him. A lot of what’s happened in the past couple of years has been very hard on him.
I’ve seen the promo and synopsis for this episode, and there are hints of a few things. The name Wo Fat is mentioned explicitly. What does that mean?
There is a new character named Daiyu Mei that is going to bring back the legacy of Wo Fat. That becomes a new wrinkle in our characters’ lives…
Why revisit this now? I know you brought back Mark [Decascos] in the past [for ‘Cocoon’], and I know how much you care about this storyline and the history with it.
I always look to add to the mythology of the show, and this is something we’ve been talking about for a while now. Wo Fat was around for a hundred episodes, and I think we needed to have a bit of a breather and some other big bads. It felt like the right time to go back to the building blocks of that character and bring it back up.
I also think that when the audience hears that name, they have some fond memories of those episodes. I love the fact that we took a long time before hearing that name again. It just felt right.
In regards to the Adam story, how can we expect the next phase to play out? McGarrett wants to see him, and the trouble he’s in revolves around a lot of things that he did do and lines that he did cross.
First of all, it definitely does not resolve itself on Friday. It’s a long arc, but you’ll have to wait and see. There is an endgame, but it’s pretty drawn-out.
How is Steve going to react to everything that’s happened with him? The two have such a history.
He’s conflicted. It’s hard when you have someone who you work with and is family go off in this way. He wants to think that whatever Adam is doing is not nefarious or bad. But, I think all the signs are pointing to him being wrong. He’s struggling with it.
What do you think is coming on this big episode Friday night?
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