That was a great buildup to the holiday hiatus.
The ghost of Wo Fat has returned to haunt McGarrett on Hawaii Five-0 Season 10 Episode 11.
Five-0 soldiered on despite being down one officer (make that two, since Quinn wasn’t to be seen either).
Instead, Adam appeared to be headed back to the dark side after years of leading a productive life.
First, points to the powers that be for finding a feasible way to resurrect Wo Fat.
Sure, he was dead after being shot in the head by Steve way back on Hawaii Five-0 Season 5 Episode 7. (That dream-sequence appearance on Hawaii Five-0 Season 9 Episode 1 doesn’t count.)
That’s more than five seasons ago. Talk about revenge being a dish best served cold.
Talk about your round-about buildup.
Start with a tourist helicopter being shot down by a rocket launcher. Yeah, that’s strange.
Someone should have been suspicious at how easily the investigation came together.
A surf-cam capturing the shootdown, including a clear shot of where the rocket had been launched so that Junior could recover the launcher.
Then to find out that the launcher came from a stash of stolen artillery once in possession of Wo Fat. That also should have set off warning sirens.
That led to determining who the target of the attack was.
The sketchy wealthy business was a natural choice until the unusual behavior of the pilot brought him to Five-0’s attention.
That, in turn, led McGarrett and Danny to the slaughter at the house in the no-fly zone where the weapons were stored.
Also, there was the mysterious old lady who landed at the airport, then proceeded to peel off her mask in her motel room.
It’s understandable that Daiyu Mei would come in disguise since she was wanted by Interpol.
But how did her connection to Wo Fat escape notice all this time?
And it didn’t make sense for someone who had been flying beneath the radar to suddenly be making small talk with Junior about his truck.
Until it did, at the very end.
Yes, Daiyu left a trail of bread crumbs obscured just enough to make it feel like Five-0 was solving the case rather than being led by the nose where she wanted them to go.
McGarrett and team needed a new nemesis and it looks like they’ve got one now. It will be awhile until she pops up again, with the Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum PI teamup set for Jan. 3.
This crossover makes logistical sense, unlike MacGyver/Five-0 back in 2017. The one seemed forced since the two teams were separated by the Pacific Ocean.
Then there was Adam, who continued to badly handle his part in rescuing Tamiko.
Rather than coming clean to McGarrett and Duke, he chose to resign from Five-0.
Why? Good question, one that Danny and Steve continued to ponder for the rest of the episode.
Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he thought he was protecting Tamiko.
It couldn’t be because Kenji was threatening to ruin his career (using the term loosely) with Five-0.
After all, Five-0 and Duke were more likely to believe Adam over Kenji and his Yakuza thugs.
Does anyone doubt that Kenji was involved with Tamiko’s abduction, to force his ascension in the Yakuza ranks?
Adam knows it, and Tamiko must suspect it. After all, she was raised inside the Yakuza and knows how the organization works.
Unfortunately, Kenji has covered his footprints well, killing the man he had designated as the mastermind behind the kidnapping.
Now Adam is caught between a rock and a hard place and appeared to be ready to go back to his Yakuza ways.
What? All he went through to be with Kono and to go legit and now he gives up and returns to the Yakuza?
And why isn’t Tamiko trying to keep him from doing something stupid, especially after she had complained about wanting to live a life away from the Yakuza?
There has to be more going on than is readily apparent.
Is Adam perhaps going undercover at the behest of some federal or international police agency, to bring down the Yakuza?
If that was the case, wouldn’t McGarrett have had to be brought into the loop?
That seems unlikely, but so does Adam making every conceivable misstep. I’m like to believe there’s some higher purpose at work here.
All that time waiting for Adam to get the spotlight and this is what the powers that be come up with?
Ian Anthony Dale deserves better. But let’s see how Adam clears his name, after the crossover.
A good storyline for the second half of the season would be getting Danny a new house. He’s either got to unload that money pit or tell Steve the truth: that he’s concerned about him.
After all, McGarrett knows what’s going on, and Danny ought to know that Steve knows. But instead, they’ll just keep bantering away with each other.
Also, how about having Tani and Junior move ahead in their relationship, as he threatened to do on Hawaii Five-0 Season 10 Episode 7? Enough “will they or won’t they” already. It’s been 2 1/2 seasons of that.
To tide yourself over until Jan. 3, watch Hawaii Five-0 online.
Were you surprised by the Wo Fat connection?
Can Junior salvage his Five-0 career?
Does Danny seriously need to move?
Comment below.
Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.