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Without doubt, the most difficult-to-produce and most scrutinised episodes of any television series are its first and its last. Every year comes with loads of new American pilots, many of which have already made their way over to us in the UK. The latest of them is the rebooted Hawaii Five-0 (Sky1), a re-imagining of the popular cop show which originally ran from 1968 to 1980. I never watched that first version of the show, so I’m not really equipped to make comparisons. I can say, though, that Hawaii Five-0 has one of the most fun and engaging premiere episodes that I’ve seen this year (and a pretty great second episode, too).
The focus of the show revolves around Steve McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin), a Navy SEAL whose father is killed at the beginning of the first episode. McGarrett returns to his home in Hawaii to hunt down the people responsible for his murder, and upon arrival the Governor (Jean Smart) offers him a job. This job is to head up a task force in charge of keeping Hawaii safe by whatever means necessary, and over the course of the first episode he assembles the Five-0 team, Detective Danny Williams (Scott Caan), ex-cop Chin Ho Kelly (Daniel Dae Kim) and Chin’s cousin, Kono Kalakaua, (Grace Park), a talented newbie cop.
Hawaii Five-0‘s pilot is a fast-paced and engaging episode, quickly establishing the dynamic of the show and introducing the key players. The action is cool, with excellent fight scenes and shootouts that only get better in the second offering. Furthermore, it looks beautiful; the scenery of Hawaii is so spectacular that if that’s all you wanted to see, it’s enough of a reason to tune in. By the end of the first two episodes, Steve’s found the man who killed his father (Victor Hesse - played by Buffy’s Spike, James Marsters) and new cop Kono has really proven her worth as a member of the team.
The cast of Hawaii Five-0 is another aspect of the show that really works. The chemistry between O’Loughlin’s McGarrett and Caan’s Danny (or Danno) is a highlight even within the first hour as they play off each other and bicker rather convincingly. The other two members of the team are geek favourites - Park was Battlestar Galactica’s Sharon Valerii and Kim was Lost’s Jin-Soo Kwon.
As premieres go, Hawaii Five-0’s is very effective and the second episode shows us that the tone established in the pilot is something that can be maintained. (We at The Yorker have been thinking about opening credits sequences a whole lot recently, and the theme tune of Five-0 is really something very special.) The beginning of Hawaii Five-0 is really entertaining and it looks like it could be a procedural worth tuning in for each week, with potential to be something even better.
Hawaii Five-0 airs on Sundays at 10pm on Sky1
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