Adam just can’t win.
After being largely mishandled since he joined Five-0 three years ago, he’s now caught up in a real mess after Hawaii Five-0 Season 10 Episode 10.
Still, I guess that’s better than being the guy in the background every time.
Since the team can’t go down another member, what with Danny gone every fourth episode, he should still be on the task force after all this shakes out.
After all, going rogue to protect a loved one is almost a team trademark.
We only have to go back three episodes, to Hawaii Five-One Season 10 Episode 7, when McGarrett went to Mexico to attempt to save his mother Doris from herself.
Granted, that trip was somewhat authorized by the CIA, but it was a textbook off-the-books mission, especially after he recruited a couple of SEAL buddies and then Junior to lay siege to a drug deal.
So Steve can hardly be judgey.
Hell, there’s at least one of this type episode each season.
That’s not to say that Adam didn’t handle things exceptionally badly.
First off, wouldn’t you think that Tamiko, the daughter of a mob boss, would have a little better security than that?
There’s nothing wrong with being independent. But invest in some electronics and sturdy locks, for crying out loud.
That should have been the first sign that something was hinky with this whole abduction.
Sure, having a hunky Five-0 officer as a boyfriend should provide some protection but he was preoccupied.
Adam should get points for taking out one of the kidnappers. But the abductor being dead did make him awfully hard to interrogate.
His bad choices started when Masuda told him to back off and to not involve Five-0 and he only half-listened.
Adam wasn’t going to back off and just let the Yakuza handle it. But he should have brought in McGarrett right then.
Then he wouldn’t be in the mess he is now.
What he did wrong wasn’t going outside the law. That de rigueur for Five-0. There’s a reason that the series doesn’t follow the cases through trial because you know some are going to get tossed out for procedural reasons.
What Adam did wrong was doing things extralegally without his team.
Some of Five-0’s best adventures involve going outside their jurisdiction, without permission, to rescue and/or capture someone.
As a team.
Otherwise, it’s just going rogue, and that’s not cool in McGarrett Land.
Instead, Adam opted to go solo and pile up the unsanctioned crimes: Assault, armed robbery, kidnapping.
In the service of solving a crime: fine. In the service of ultimately the Yakuza: not fine.
It’s truly not that fine a distinction.
Has it been so long that Adam has forgotten how things are done in organized crime?
Adam delivered someone to interrogate after Masuda had already decided to pay the ransom, in this case, his life.
Yes, we should have been asking who benefits with Masuda out of the way?
Kenji.
Yet who comes up with the great plan to rescue Tamiko?
Kenji.
Was it any surprise that Masuda still got shot and died on the way to the sketchy mob doctor?
Things that make you go hmmm.
Yes, Adam eventually figured out what Kenji was up to, but way too late. He couldn’t prove shit and he was now in Kenji’s debt, not a good place to be.
To make matters worse, he dropped his watch while robbing the Filipino bar. Why would he wear anything that could identify him while committing a crime?
Duke had no choice but to take the watch to McGarrett because it looks like the old Yakuza boss returning to form.
So much for Adam’s one-time brag about how much it’s possible to leave the Yakuza behind.
To make matters worse, Tamiko is likely to blame Adam for being involved with her father’s death and they’ll probably break up.
I bet Adam’s ready to go back to partnering up with the stray Five-0 agent of the week. Maybe being part of the scenery isn’t all bad.
Hopefully this Adam’s-in-trouble storyline is over and done next episode, before the Christmas hiatus. It really doesn’t need to linger.
After all, Adam’s just doing something that everyone else there has done. He’s just got to fess up to his bad choices and hope it doesn’t leave Steve’s office. After all, I figure that Detective Beldon handed the evidence off to Duke to wash her hands of it.
Now to the other interesting storyline of the episode: Tani and Junior helping Grover clean out his garage.
I jest, but it was sweet listening to Grover philosophize about being an empty nester, only to have Tani and Junior reassure him that he’ll always be needed.
After all, he was paying for a pricey meal.
Lastly, dead lastly, was the case of the week.
What a shocker!
A rich person killed another rich person who lost her money, then she paid off three potential witnesses and an unfortunate schmo got unjustly convicted of the crime.
Then, when one of the victims grew a conscience, she had them all killed. Only she sucked at that and left a money trail, eventually leading to the poor schmo getting freed after losing 10 years of his life.
Warms the heart, doesn’t it?
To follow Adam’s journey, watch Hawaii Five-0 online.
What was Adam thinking?
Should he have taken his situation straight to McGarrett?
Did the case of the week even register with you?
Comment below.
Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.