Riding on the Crest of a Wave...

I’ll begin with an upfront confession: I have no knowledge of the original Hawaii Five-0 that aired back in the 60’s and 70’s. It was slightly before my time and mostly all I have is a vague memory of my mother having a thing for Jack Lord (the original Steve McGarrett). What I will say is that the new reboot is absolutely brilliant and I adore it possibly more than my mother adored Lord. And I’m not the only one: Hawaii Five-0 was a massive success for CBS last season.

There are five top reasons why I think the show has captivated people… Beware, spoilers ahead!

5. More than the Sum of its Parts

Any show is more than the sum of its individual parts. Everything has to come together from the stunts and fight scenes to the explosions and special effects, from the costumes to make-up, from the iconic music to the post-production, from the main cast to the recurring supporting actors. Hawaii Five-0 is a quality offering. A couple of things deserve special mention in my book:

Firstly, the movie-worthy stunts that graced the pilot episode from its very opening where an army convoy is blown up to McGarrett jumping out of windows and between crashing cars and to the final car ride onto a ship and shoot-out, the pilot came close to challenging the likes of Die Hard and Lethal Weapon for sheer adrenaline and testosterone-soaked action.

The second special mention goes to the supporting cast. Practically everyone who turned up in a recurring role put in such a fabulous performance that I wanted to see more of them. Jean Smart in particular just owned the role of Governor Pat Jameson.

4. The Gorgeous Scenery

Not a show goes by without the beautiful Hawai’ian islands being showcased. Mostly O’ahu is depicted which is where the show mostly films but there are glorious shots of evergreen rainforest, stunning canyons, gorgeous beaches and aquamarine ocean. The cinematography of the show is just amazing. Having been there some years ago now, I can attest that it is as wonderful as it looks.

Of course, there’s scenery and then there’s scenery.

It’s fair to say that the main cast is very, very pretty. From Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica) who makes a convincing twenty-something year old at the age of thirty-seven (neither my best friend nor I can believe she’s the same age as us), to Daniel Dae Kim’s (Lost) astonishing beautiful cheekbones and Scott Caan’s (Ocean’s 11, Entourage) figure-hugging shirts that leave very little to the imagination, there’s something for everyone.

The prettiest of them all though is Alex O’Loughlin (Moonlight, The Back-Up Plan) who plays Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett. Clearly, the show’s producers have no issues in writing scripts that regularly call for McGarrett to lose his shirt or be hot and sweaty in a tank showing off his great biceps and tattoos.

However to reduce O’Loughlin or any of the cast to mere objects to be drooled over would be doing them a disservice because they all can act their shirts… I mean, socks off too.

Which brings me onto…

3. Cool Cousins

Much of the public fanfare about the show has revolved around the Steve and Danny dynamic (more on that later) but the show would not be half as successful as it is without the talents of Kim and Park, who play cousins Chin Ho Kelly and Kono Kalakaua respectively.

Kim plays Kelly as a man of hidden depths and emotions; calm and zen-like on the outside, passionate and bad-ass on the inside. Park, meanwhile, just rocks as rookie Kono. She’s terrifyingly good at playing the young woman finding her feet as a cop while still kicking butt doing so.

But it’s the relationship between the two characters that really brings a different dimension to a cop partnership. Park and Kim have developed this wonderfully supportive familial vibe complete with in-jokes, family drama and teasing. It doesn’t have the same flash and fireworks as Steve and Danny but is in its own subtle way a fantastic partnership.

And talking of family…

2. Daddy Danno

A number of the plots in Hawaii Five-0 revolve around family but one of the joys for me (as a Daddy’s girl myself) in the first season is the ongoing storyline of Danny ‘Danno’ Williams and his daughter Grace (Teilor Grubbs).

Caan’s portrayal of Danny Williams as a struggling divorced father fighting for time with his daughter is fantastic. There is a scene in episode three where Danny begs his ex-wife not to take his daughter away from him through an intercom and it is stunningly good. Caan was nominated for an Emmy for his performance in this show, and deservedly so.

Of course, there is that one other important relationship to talk about…

1. The Epic Bromance to end all Epic Bromances

Although Five-0 is a team, from the pilot through the rest of Season 1, the relationship between SuperSEAL Steve and his Danno took center stage. The evolution of their friendship from distrust to a true partnership is the highlight of the show.

Primarily, the reason why it works is that the chemistry between Caan and O’Loughlin is off the charts. They play off each other brilliantly and have worked out a give-and-take that’s very enjoyable, especially in their characters’ ‘carguments’ – the regular personal and professional heated discussions that happen in Danny’s Camaro. The on-screen banter is hilarious. They’ve noted in interviews that they’re friends off-screen and that comes across on-screen; you just get the sense that here are two people who like spending time with each other.

The rumor surrounding the addition of Lauren German in Season 2 was that CBS wanted to introduce a relationship to the show to rival that of Rick Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) in timeslot competitor Castle. I think if the rumor is true, CBS kind of missed the point that Hawaii Five-0 already has a key relationship that attracts fans in Steve and Danny. Maybe there’s no explicit will-they/won’t-they romantic intrigue, but the buddy-buddy relationship offers something different and something that in my opinion is just as compelling to watch.

Obviously, there are things that the show could improve -- tightening up the plots being one of them and the overall continuity. The beginning of the second season has also had mixed reviews in fandom to date since the show has added new people and there’s a debate about whether that’s a good thing or not, whether the show has done it in a good way or not (the jury is still out for me on both questions).

But Hawaii Five-0 has good bones as they say, and if the show continues to deliver the five magical ingredients, it’ll continue to capture my attention.

-- Rachel Day