Hawaii Five-0 season 8: How to use Taylor Wily’s Kamekona now
For the entirety of its run, Wily’s Kamekona has existed mostly as a shrimp-truck owner, a musician, and a good source of humor and local charm. He brought some of the local culture to the show in a great way, and helped to bind the team together as more of an Ohana.
With that said, this is a show about police-work, and perhaps more so than any other actor on the show, Wily is separate from that. While he’s had some arcs here and there (see the shrimp truck crisis with his cousin), he’s served more as the hub for many gatherings between local characters and guest stars. He was even a great conduit for the show over on MacGyver when the crossover happened there. It’s hard to imagine the show without him, but it’s also hard to imagine him suddenly diving into any Five-0 cases with great regularity.
So how do you use Wily with this new promotion in mind? We should start by noting that even with the promotion, you shouldn’t expect Kamekona in every episode of the show. The majority of the actors on Five-0 don’t appear in every episode, but that is the benefit of having a large cast. you can alternate people around, and effectively just use people whenever it is that you want to. With Taylor, we do have a few ideas as to how he could be interesting:
1. An informant – Hey, his food is really popular, so what if McGarrett and his team use him a little more often in an undercover capacity to get information on cases? Secret Agent Kamekona could be fun, but it’d probably be detrimental to his business if it ever came out that he was collecting information on customers and giving it to the authorities. Once that metaphorical toothpaste is out of the tube, there’s no going back!
2. A victim of a crime himself – If you want to stretch Wily’s abilities as an actor, you could have something happen to him or his family and force him through hell and back to try to make things as they once were. Or, have him be a valuable witness to something that leaves him as a target. This is probably more of a 2-3 episode arc than a story that would last forever, but seeing Kamekona handle different situations would help us to get to know him better.
3. Even more of a mediator – Even though Kamekona doesn’t run a bar, he’s probably gotten to be very good at listening over the years thanks to his job. You could use him almost as the show’s therapist, where people show up at the shrimp truck every week in order to get some sort of advice or information.
How do you want to see Kamkeona utilized on Hawaii Five-0 season 8, and are you thrilled that Wily is a regular? Share in the comments below! (Photo: CBS.)