Hawaii Five-O: Season 7

The police detective series has been a staple of television programming since families began to gather around that glowing box heightened with expectations of entertainment. With some many similar shows produced over so many years each series had to find some means of distinguishing themselves from the rest of the pack some of the devices employed bordered on the comical or attempted to pull in elements of the supernatural or science fiction. One literary device to help customize a crime drama is to allow the setting to dictate the underlying flavor of the series. Many major American cities have served as host to such crime thrillers with very popular representative hailing from New York City with its juxtaposition of social classes to Los Angles; land of the laid back. In 1968 CBS came up with a more novel place to play cops and robbers; Hawaii. While it had been a state for a few years by then it was still considered a foreign and exotic place with grass skirts and its own lyrical language it just wasn’t like any other state we were used to. Hawaii was a contradiction; part of the United States yet a true island paradise. It was also the perfect location for a crime show. Not only could you have the familiar crimes of murder and kidnapping but the international central placement of the island made it perfect for everything from espionage to drug smuggling. The respond to such a myriad of criminal activity you need an expert, professional elite department. For the purposes of television this requirement was ably met by the state police force locally known as ‘Hawaii Five-O’. For a dozen seasons this series maintained a loyal fan bases and continued to garner respectable ratings. The term ‘Five-O’ has become synonymous with the police in popular street parlance. This series rose to the heights that helped to define the decade and remains a cult classic. CBS paramount has been releasing the series season by season and have just moved up to season seven. Although this was near the end of its tenure the series continued to provide top quality in stories and performances. Actually there are place to re-imagine the series for a renewed run.

The series’ creator Leonard Freeman had ample experience both with television on films. He just had a knack for setting up a story in such a way that the audience would be pulled in quickly. Although this is to some extent an ensemble cast the leading man dominates the tone and presentation of the series. Lord plays the undisputed head of the Five-O unit; Det. Steve McGarrett. With his trademark full head of hair and sunglasses he commands respect at every crime scene. He is not only a seasoned investigator but one of the best police administrators around. His department may be small but they always manage to get the job gone. Steve’s trusty right hand man was Det. Danny Williams (James MacArthur) usually referred to as ‘Dan-O’ by the boss. Senior man frequently taking the lead in the field is veteran detective Chin Ho Kelly
(Kam Fong). Most of the time his backup consists of another well seasoned officer sergeant; Duke Lukela (Herman Wedemeyer).

Some of the crimes depicted are common to most series of this type such as kidnapping, extortion and the ever popular grand theft. The spin that differentiates this series from other treatments of the subject is the writers here tend to focus much more on the psychological perspective of the criminal. Long before shows like ‘Criminal Minds’ looked into the inner workings of the villain’s motivation the writers here took a probing that that resulted in a darker look at the crime at hand. Peppered into the mix are crime that broader in scope requiring McGarrett and his team to keep the country safe from our foreign adversaries and there spies. Just to spice matters up several episode pits the Five-O team against organized crime syndicates. No matter whom the squad placed their cross hairs upon one thing was certain; they would wind up being booked by Dan-O. the most important thing about the DVD release of this series is just how well it stands up. Sure there are some aspects that tend to date the show but the quality remains and it is better than many modern detective series current on the air.

Posted 10/16/09