Years:  2010, 2011
Genre:  TV series, Cop, Drama
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Alex O’Loughlin, Scott Caan, Daniel Dae Kim, Grace Park
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

     There are very few similarities between the original Hawaii Five-O and the new one.  Only the surface of the show remains the same – cops in Hawaii, McGarrett and Danno and Chin Ho, the classic theme song.  Aside from that, the substance is markedly different.  Rather than being a calculated, clever chess master always one step ahead of the bad guys, McGarrett is a gung-ho, muscular tattooed badass killing machine demolitions expert sniper ex-Navy SEAL.  Like so many other cops on so many other shows.

     He and Danno have the standard, seen-so-often buddy cop relationship where they yell at each other and then love each other and then beat up suspects together.  And of course, because this is a show that popped up in 2010, it has to have the HOT, ass-kicking chick.  In this case Grace Park, who is an all-new character on the show.

     Much as I complain though, it’s hard not to be entertained by such a shiny, polished-until-it-gleams program.  It’s all gunfights and car chases and fighting with fists, and precious little police work, but as far as escapism goes, that’s pretty standard.  In the end, this first season felt familiar to me, and comfortable.  Not because it was anything like the original Hawaii Five-O (look to CSI: Miami for the similarities there), but because it’s just like NCIS: LA, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour and every other show out there.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 20th, 2011 at 8:50 am and is filed under 2010, 2011, Cop, Drama, TV series. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.