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Hawaii 5-0
I love Hawaii 5-0 for the characters and actors, but I have to admit, sometimes the plots are ridiculous and the 5-0 team so blatantly flouts police procedure and regulataions that even by Hollywood standards, it's hard to believe they haven't been fired (if not outright arrested) by now. However, last night's episode, Ho'onani Makuakane, deals with the decades-old murder of a Japanese American man in a Hawaii internment camp, and it treats the subject matter with the seriousness and respect that it deserves.
The premise is: at a ceremony commemorating the Pearl Harbor attack and honoring the surviving veterans, an elderly Japanese American man named David Toriyama tries to shoot one of the veterans, claiming that the man (who was a guard at the internment camp) murdered his father and stole a sword that was a family heirloom. Steve is able to disarm him before anyone gets hurt, and after hearing out David's story, decides to investigate and find out the truth behind his father's death.
I was a little apprehensive about how the show would handle this episode, and I was pleasantly surprised: while there was a bit of humorous banter between Steve and Danny, it had a much more serious tone than usual, and as I said, handled the internment camp plot and the issues of prejudice/racism respectfully. As someone of Japanese American descent, I found it moving and at times a bit painful to watch: listening to David recount the story of how his father (a teacher) and his family were arrested, rounded up, and sent to the internment camp without a trial, I couldn't help but feel his anger and outrage at the unfairness of it, and was struck by the realization that had I been born a few decades earlier, perhaps I would have been sent to one of those camps. And I also felt humbled by and grateful to the Japanese American soldiers (like David's fictional brother, and real life veterans like the late Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye) who risked their lives to fight for the country that had wronged them, thereby proving their loyalty and making a better life for their children and grandchildren.
There was a bit of artistic license taken: after examining the gun and determining that David didn't really intend to shoot the former guard (he only wanted to make a point and draw attention to the forgotten injustice of his father's murder), Steve places him under "house arrest," accepting his word of honor that he'll stay home and not cause any trouble while Steve carries out his investigation. I was sympathetic to David and didn't want to see him go to jail, but that did seem a little too lenient to be realistic; OTOH that's pretty mild compared to the usual 5-0 shenanigans like ignoring requests for lawyers or threatening to feed suspects to the sharks. They also wrapped up a 70 year old cold case with surprising ease and speed, but that's standard for cop shows, given the 45 minute time limit for episodes. There also turns out to be a connection between Steve's and David's families that's a pretty huge coincidence, but I'm a sucker for sentimental endings, and I still find it touching despite the improbability of it.
But overall, I thought it was a great episode--probably the best they've ever done. It was really well written, and kept the suspense and interest level up throughout, considering that it was relatively low-key, without any big action scenes. Most of the investigation involved research into the past, and many of the people involved had already died, but the flashback scenes were filled with emotion and I really cared about the Toriyama family and wanted closure for David--it wasn't just your standard mystery of the week. I felt that the writers and the actors treated the story with respect and sensitivity, and I was really moved by it. Even if you don't watch any other episode of 5-0, you should probably watch this one.
If only all the episodes could be this good! It kind of redeems the ones that were so stupid that I would have been tempted to quit the show at times if I didn't love Daniel Dae Kim and Alex O'Loughlin so much.
(There really were internment camps in Hawaii, although many people today aren't aware of it. Rather than the wholesale internment of the entire Japanese American population as happened on the mainland, it was mostly community leaders and sometimes their families who were interned.)
The premise is: at a ceremony commemorating the Pearl Harbor attack and honoring the surviving veterans, an elderly Japanese American man named David Toriyama tries to shoot one of the veterans, claiming that the man (who was a guard at the internment camp) murdered his father and stole a sword that was a family heirloom. Steve is able to disarm him before anyone gets hurt, and after hearing out David's story, decides to investigate and find out the truth behind his father's death.
I was a little apprehensive about how the show would handle this episode, and I was pleasantly surprised: while there was a bit of humorous banter between Steve and Danny, it had a much more serious tone than usual, and as I said, handled the internment camp plot and the issues of prejudice/racism respectfully. As someone of Japanese American descent, I found it moving and at times a bit painful to watch: listening to David recount the story of how his father (a teacher) and his family were arrested, rounded up, and sent to the internment camp without a trial, I couldn't help but feel his anger and outrage at the unfairness of it, and was struck by the realization that had I been born a few decades earlier, perhaps I would have been sent to one of those camps. And I also felt humbled by and grateful to the Japanese American soldiers (like David's fictional brother, and real life veterans like the late Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye) who risked their lives to fight for the country that had wronged them, thereby proving their loyalty and making a better life for their children and grandchildren.
There was a bit of artistic license taken: after examining the gun and determining that David didn't really intend to shoot the former guard (he only wanted to make a point and draw attention to the forgotten injustice of his father's murder), Steve places him under "house arrest," accepting his word of honor that he'll stay home and not cause any trouble while Steve carries out his investigation. I was sympathetic to David and didn't want to see him go to jail, but that did seem a little too lenient to be realistic; OTOH that's pretty mild compared to the usual 5-0 shenanigans like ignoring requests for lawyers or threatening to feed suspects to the sharks. They also wrapped up a 70 year old cold case with surprising ease and speed, but that's standard for cop shows, given the 45 minute time limit for episodes. There also turns out to be a connection between Steve's and David's families that's a pretty huge coincidence, but I'm a sucker for sentimental endings, and I still find it touching despite the improbability of it.
But overall, I thought it was a great episode--probably the best they've ever done. It was really well written, and kept the suspense and interest level up throughout, considering that it was relatively low-key, without any big action scenes. Most of the investigation involved research into the past, and many of the people involved had already died, but the flashback scenes were filled with emotion and I really cared about the Toriyama family and wanted closure for David--it wasn't just your standard mystery of the week. I felt that the writers and the actors treated the story with respect and sensitivity, and I was really moved by it. Even if you don't watch any other episode of 5-0, you should probably watch this one.
If only all the episodes could be this good! It kind of redeems the ones that were so stupid that I would have been tempted to quit the show at times if I didn't love Daniel Dae Kim and Alex O'Loughlin so much.
(There really were internment camps in Hawaii, although many people today aren't aware of it. Rather than the wholesale internment of the entire Japanese American population as happened on the mainland, it was mostly community leaders and sometimes their families who were interned.)