A Look at Hawaii Five-0

We watched the show Hawaii 5-0 last Monday on CBS.com. The show falls into the genre of crime drama. The show is about a four person specialized crime-fighting team. The team works independently from the normal police force to deal with unique high profile crimes. Each member of the squad has his or her own personality that complaints those of the others. In the episode we watched, someone tampered with the tsunami warning system to make everyone on the island believe that a tsunami would hit the island within hours. This caused mass evacuation of the coastline and downtown area. In the confusion they hoped to escape with drug money that the coast guard had seized. Luckily the crime-fighting quintet was wise to their scheme and served them a good ole' plate of justice for dinner.

From left to right: Daniel "Danny" "Danno" Williams, Chin Ho Kelly, Steven "Steve" McGarret and Kono Kalakaua.
(Photo courtesy of CBS.com)

Steve McGarrett, the leader of the squad, is a former Navy SEAL. He's serious and puts the mission above all else. His partner, Daniel "Danno" Williams, is an ex Newark New Jersey police officer. His personality is blunt and refuses to conform to the laid back Hawaiian way of life. Chin Ho Kelly is a former Honolulu police officer that had to leave the force due to the accusation of him being on the take (which he of course was not). Kono Kalakaua used to be a professional surfer, but her career was brought to an abrupt halt by a tragic injury. Her only other career option was to join a specialized crime fighting team. The actor, who plays Chin Ho Kelly, Daniel Dae Kim, is most recognized for his role as Jin-Soo Kwon in the show Lost. Scott Cann, aka "Danno" Williams, acting achievements include Ocean's 11, Ocean's 12, and Ocean's 13, However he is most well know for the work he did as a roadie for the rap groups Cypress Hill and House of Pain. The other two main actors are not well known. The blatant product placement of Chevys is saturated throughout every episode. This makes it safe to assume Chevrolet is a major sponsor.

The show reflects the values that most Middle Americans have. It has a stereotypical good vs evil theme throughout the show. The show's main protagonist, McGarrett, is a strong moral man who protects the innocent at any cost. Family values are emphasized in most of the struggles in the episodes. The show is filmed on location in Hawaii. The overall idea of the show is pretty similar to most crime dramas out there. It's unique in that the laid back Hawaiian outlook on life plays a major role in how the episode develops.

As we mentioned earlier, each member of the team represents a stereotypical personality. Kono is young and confident. She doesn't seem to waste any time with beauty and is more concerned with making it in what would normally a man's world. Danno is your typical wise guy from back east. McGarrett is the leader and embodies our ideas of responsibility. He portrays the brave soldier type. Chin is a Hawaiian native and has that mellow laid-back attitude. The commercials shown during breaks where very family oriented. The products advertised were dog food from Pedigree, insurance from Allstate and State Farm, cell phones from T-mobile, and laundry detergent from Tide. The advertisers most likely assume that this is a show that families will be watching together, so they want to make their advertisements correspond to the message the show is sending. If you where visiting the United States and saw this show you could assume many false things about American Culture, such as; That all cops are good looking crime fighting machines and that everyone has a laid back style. Some of these assumptions could be that good always prevails over evil and money is the main force behind evil actions in our culture.

Speaking in entertainment terms, the show has strong plot lines and interesting twists. The acting at times can be weak and unbelievable. As far as being a cultural mirror of society it does reflect our overall values. The show doesn't embrace complexities with in the subject of good and evil. It presents every case as black and white, either good or evil. From the characters to the weather to the way the crimes are solve the show isn't a good reflection of reality. It's a glossy version of what we wish reality was. I like the escapism of the show. It presents a reality we wish we could live in. All the good guys are perfect and the bad guys are bad. The watcher is asked to form opinions about issues in the show, which makes it very relaxing. There isn't much that is memorable or worth talking about with people. The show isn't engaging in this way. The critics seemed to agree with us by stating that the show is a "Brain Vacation."

We learned that this show found an interesting way to break loose from the normal mold that most crime dramas fit into by incorporating the Hawaiian way of life into the show. Personally, we think that this show would have just faded into the crime drama sea of forgetfulness without that unique aspect. We watched this show for the first time last Monday and don't plan on watching it again. This choice has nothing to do with any shortcomings of the show, we just think that our time could be better spent doing something more productive. However, if we get a sudden urge to zone out on some mindless entertainment, we might just consider it.