We are officially half-way through Season 5 with the episode “The Clock Struck Twelve”. I’m giving a mild trigger warning to both the episode and the discussion for brief mentions of sexual assault.

I also go on a bit of a rant about the demonization of hippies and land back movements, but that’s less of a trigger warning and more of a “She’s back on her bullshit” warning.

The half-way point also seemed like an ideal time to cover an episode from Season 5 of the 2010 reboot. I went with the Halloween episode “Ho’oma’ike”. I’ve been dying to cover one of the Halloween episodes and this one is a good time.

Listen on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

Have an explosive situation on your hands? Call Danny Williams to diffuse it.

Season 5 gifts us a three-parter. Five-O finds themselves up against a formidable crime family in “V for Vashon: The Son”, “V for Vashon: The Father”, and “V for Vashon: The Patriarch”.

Instead of mashing the discussion of the episodes together like I would a two-parter, I chose to treat them like separate episodes, but obviously talked about the endings of the first two episodes.

Heads up if you’re watching the episodes…The ending of “V for Vashon: The Patriarch” could be upsetting for some viewers.

Listen on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

The Vashon men may have been dastardly, but they did give us one great gift…

A Steve McGarrett outfit.

The Season 5 fun continues with an STD-related murder in “Chain of Events” and Danny battling a case of amnesia in “Journey Out of Limbo”.

In my “Chain of Events” discussion, I talked about how the local station that I watched Hawaii Five-O on would always skip this episode and so the first time I watched it was for the podcast. However, if I’d checked out this episode in Karen Rhodes’s fabulous book Booking Hawaii Five-O (which I often forget to do because I’m a dumbass), then I would have also mentioned that this episode faced censorship in Hawai’i during its initial airing…because of politics.

At the time, Herman Wedemeyer…aka Duke…was running for re-election as the 12th district rep in the State House of Representatives. His opponent, Shirley Sax, claimed that his appearance in the episode meant that she should get equal airtime under an FCC regulation in place at the time. As a result, the episode wasn’t aired in Hawai’i. For the record, Duke is only in the episode for about 63 seconds and only has one line. Hope it was worth it, Shirley!

Anyway, here’s a pic of Dirk Benedict from the episode. He gets my vote.

“Journey Out of Limbo” has a trigger warning for animal death both in the episode and in the discussion. However, my discussion of it does go off the rails because I am weird. Gird your loins accordingly.

Listen on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

In conclusion, I was rather verbose in this episode for some reason and it made editing a real bitch.

So, here’s a picture of Danny in his amnesia recovery Aloha shirt.

Season 5 continues with a couple of big plots. And you know me. I love me some big plots.

First Wo Fat needs to smuggle a stolen device out of the country in “The Jinn That Clears the Way”. This elaborate plot is actually a Plan B, which makes it even more fabulous.

And then Clu Gulager has one hell of a heist going in “Fools Die Twice”. I mean, it’ s Clu Gulager, so you know it’s going to be good.

Listen on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

Is there anything better than a pleased Wo Fat? I think not.

Only three episodes into the new season and we get yet another large-scale criminal enterprise in “You Don’t Have To Kill To Get Rich- But It Helps”. We also get a necessary dose of William Shatner. You may argue with me about that, but you’d be wrong. Please be advised that I go into detail about how decomposition works with a corpse that’s been underwater for two or three days. Some knowledge I’m just compelled to share.

And then Danny finds himself going through it after a friend is killed in the line of duty in “Pig in a Blanket”. This is not my favorite genre of copaganda episode and I explain that at length.

Listen on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

Here’s a little Shirtless Shatner to get you through.

And, of course, Dollie, who is now part of my life vision board.

Welcome to Season 5!

Things kick off with a big time criminal enterprise in “Death Is a Company Policy” and we get introduced to Kono’s replacement Ben Kokua and Duke begins his recurring run in earnest.

And then Five-O untangles a web of lies in “Death Wish on Tantalus Mountain”. Ricardo Montalban is back (but not in yellow face!). Diana Muldaur returns. And a race car sort of returns.

Listen on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

The team is ready for a new season. Are you?

When Episode 49 of Book ’em, Danno came out, I mentioned that I had to edit a chunk of conversation between Dan Budnik and myself out due to the fact that it contained spoilers outside of spoiler territory.

I also threatened to release it as a minisode.

Well, here it is.

Enjoy!

Soundcloud iTunes Spotify

WARNING: It should go without saying since I already said it, but I’m going to say it again…This entire little minisode contains spoilers for the episode “Goodnight, Baby- Time to Die!”. So if you haven’t seen it, you may want to skip this. And if you haven’t listened to Dan and I chat in Episode 49, you’re not going to have any context for this and you may want to skip it.

Okay? Okay.

Season 4 comes to a close with “R&R&R”. A killer is murdering the wives of soldiers who are meeting them in Hawai’i for R&R. It’s a tricky case of vengeance that Five-O must unravel.

I also do my usual inadequate season wrap-up. I think in all of my ramblings about my tallies and such I forgot to mention that Season 4 is a strong season. There’s a nice variety of cases, the two-parter was bonkers in a very good way, the return of Lewis Avery Filer was fabulous, and there was a balanced mix of fun and serious. Did not disappoint.

You can listen to me not say any of that on Soundcloud, iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher.

As always, there will be a hiatus in August, but I will be back in September with Season 5.

Until then, please enjoy Steve doing a Superman-change on a plane.

Season 4 is fast coming to a close. But we’re riding high all the way out.

In “Didn’t We Meet at a Murder?”, an unusual trio comes together to assassinate a mob boss from Chicago. Five-O has their hands full with this clever plot.

And then Five-O goes gloriously undercover to bust a heroin ring in “Follow the White Brick Road”. So many beautiful aloha shirts and we all know that undercover aloha shirts are my favorite things.

Listen on Soundcloud, iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher.

For your enjoyment, Steve and Danny playing sailor and a magnificent selection of the undercover aloha shirts. Not pictured: Steve’s fabulous white pants and Kono’s shirt because I couldn’t get a good shot of it. Yes, this pains me, too.