[Hawaii Five-0] Belated "Kame'e" Meta Post
Oct. 8th, 2011 09:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eumeliaEver since Tuesday I've been trying to write a proper reaction, a proper meta for episode 2.03.
The best thing I can come up with is to take the title of the episode as ironic, and roll with it.
The title translates as "Hero". It's a singular and it's rather unclear as to who or what it is referring.
Is it Steve, the hero of Hawaii Five-0? Is it the SEAL Team, which are often referred to as a singular entity both in the context of the show and in real life? Is it Kono, who is doing her best to make a life for herself post-IA investigation?
It's ambiguous. Ambiguity is one of the best things in fiction, as it reflects life with great loyalty and truth. Often, there is more truth in fiction than in so-called real life.
The narrative of the episode was actually really well thought out, as were the themes and metaphors. The execution (hur hur) can kiss my ass, it was so bad, considering the jingoistic military might rah rah rah thing it did. Earlier this week, right after the episode, I wrote that Danny had the decency to look upset at what he was seeing on the screens.
For reference, this is what he looked like:
He's squinting, he's frowning, he's looking unhappy. I've read a few people interpreting this moment (both in meta and in fic) as Danny being upset about Steve and the fact that he did oh such terrible things.
That moment wasn't so much about Steve doing bad things1, but about being an ethical person seeing unethical things happen a few thousand miles away.
"The long arm of American justice" as White said.
Even if that is the official political stance of the show, so what? The show has always been conservative, always bent slightly to the Right and has always been pro-authoritarian.
My own issues overshadowed my analysis until today, but that doesn't make the episode void of development and narrative benefit.
Steve is most definitely having trouble adjusting to the new knowledge discovered in 2.01, he's got issues with Lori (oh man, more on her in a second), he needs to behave a certain way with White that he never did with Danny (I'm not sure how much people get the fact that Steve is so much more rigid and, well, military, with his former CO, than with his, you know, partner), and speaking of Danny, the man is obsessing over a dead relationship – not the best head space to be in and he's not being the most supportive of Steve at the moment, mainly because he is messed in the head himself2.
On a more critical note, we are only three episodes into the season, I haven't been in this fandom as long as others (I mainlined the first season in about 10 days in July), but honestly, many of the episodes in season 1 were, um, you know, bad.
And yet, here we are.
I also find is surprising that people found Steve to be OOC in this ep, when really, he was as IC as can be. Him beating up the supposed SEAL killer, completely understandable, you know, Steve being upset about dead SEALs. Also, this show has always been totally fine with police brutality. Just saying. And again, Steve behaves differently with the Five-0 and Danny, than with White and the other Navy people.
I also would have preferred for the Navy to be more a part of Steve's past than his present, but he never retired and he's a patriot so I'm not complaining that we're seeing more and more of that, I'm all for his moral ambiguity coming out to play.
The Navy and the SEAL mission could and should have been done with more taste and respect.
Kono's plot. I'm not sure what is going on, I'll speculate that she's on an under cover mission for someone, most likely Steve because he said to her in 2.01 that he's "may" need her for under cover work. Kono has been the go-to girl when it comes to under cover work. Yes it's mainly sexy-girl stuff. But Kono can work that and be kick-ass at the same time, so I'm really not complaining.
As for Lori, I wish, she's go away. I was willing to give her a chance, but last week I blames make up for the fact that she had no facial expression, now I'm blaming the actress. Last week I blames character introduction for her being irritating and pushy, if someone did a "cold read" like that on me like she did on Danny, I would have smacked them.
Also, would she and her gender essentialism go the fuck away!
One of the things that attracted me to the show is how it didn't fall into the trap of gender essentialist language. This is extremely special considering the cultures Steve and Danny come from (military and police, that is) are both extremely misogynistic – neither of them used that kind of language (Danny's sexist moments of female objectification notwithstanding, he never used gender as a way to disparage someone). Whereas Lori ragged Steve for his coffee being not "masculine enough" for a BUD's graduate in 2.02 and Lori getting on Danny not talking about his marriage because "most men can't handle the truth when it comes to love" in this ep.
Seriously.
Just, I wanted to smack her, and I am so not used to dismissing female characters. But she is unprofessional, irritating and is an object for the camera to look at.
Danny, clearly my favourite character for a variety of reasons, is going through a hard time. I'm not sure why the fact that Danny is focusing and obsessing over Rachel seen as a bad thing. Danny had a choice, he made it (Steve), Rachel made a choice in accordance and so they now have to deal with that. Danny having circular thoughts about make a lot of sense to me and it's delivered in a realistic way.
We don't know why Danny and Rachel divorced the first time around. My opinion was that the irreconcilable differences stemmed from class issues that were exacerbated once Grace was in the picture and not, as some speculated (and speculate in fic) because Rachel couldn't hack it being a cop's wife.
I was inadvertently spoiled regarding next week, and I know there's a new female character that is supposed to be a "love interest" for Danny… people, have we not heard of a rebound? In relation to the slash, Steve is giving Danny a lot of space, for that very reason, no one wants to be the rebound guy.
To conclude, the episode was badly executed, badly directed and the crap spouted by White regarding soldiers coming home from war should be considered his words and not the sum total attitude of the show. Recall that in episode 1.07 there was a different attitude concerning returning war vets… White is here to affect and effect and he's doing so. I for one enjoy watching Steve compartmentalise himself vis a vis White vs. Danny. However, the actual substance and character development was important and interesting.
Also, Sky-Dive rescue, pretty fucking cool - oh, and who can forget the Beatles madness - yes, Danny, you are the walrus!
And while we haven't had a whole lot of the Steve/Danny show, what there was of it was glorious, specifically the scene in which Danny physically removes Steve from the suspect. Like so:
Why weren't we talking about that, among the rest of this crap?
Footnotes
1) One can argue about the morality of black-ops, the use of the military when it comes to international crime, but that didn't happen in fandom, which I think is strange, as it has to do with Steve's being a morally ambiguous character and person when it comes down to it.
Back to text.
2) Danny has been clean shaven and without a tie three episodes straight. Word of God notwithstanding, to me it looks like the man is just going through the motions and just, not caring.
Back to text.
For people who read me and aren't in this fandom (or fandom in general), I know, I'm obsessing over this show, I hope you can wait a little longer for things of a different substance... Thanks in advance!
The best thing I can come up with is to take the title of the episode as ironic, and roll with it.
The title translates as "Hero". It's a singular and it's rather unclear as to who or what it is referring.
Is it Steve, the hero of Hawaii Five-0? Is it the SEAL Team, which are often referred to as a singular entity both in the context of the show and in real life? Is it Kono, who is doing her best to make a life for herself post-IA investigation?
It's ambiguous. Ambiguity is one of the best things in fiction, as it reflects life with great loyalty and truth. Often, there is more truth in fiction than in so-called real life.
The narrative of the episode was actually really well thought out, as were the themes and metaphors. The execution (hur hur) can kiss my ass, it was so bad, considering the jingoistic military might rah rah rah thing it did. Earlier this week, right after the episode, I wrote that Danny had the decency to look upset at what he was seeing on the screens.
For reference, this is what he looked like:
He's squinting, he's frowning, he's looking unhappy. I've read a few people interpreting this moment (both in meta and in fic) as Danny being upset about Steve and the fact that he did oh such terrible things.
That moment wasn't so much about Steve doing bad things1, but about being an ethical person seeing unethical things happen a few thousand miles away.
"The long arm of American justice" as White said.
Even if that is the official political stance of the show, so what? The show has always been conservative, always bent slightly to the Right and has always been pro-authoritarian.
My own issues overshadowed my analysis until today, but that doesn't make the episode void of development and narrative benefit.
Steve is most definitely having trouble adjusting to the new knowledge discovered in 2.01, he's got issues with Lori (oh man, more on her in a second), he needs to behave a certain way with White that he never did with Danny (I'm not sure how much people get the fact that Steve is so much more rigid and, well, military, with his former CO, than with his, you know, partner), and speaking of Danny, the man is obsessing over a dead relationship – not the best head space to be in and he's not being the most supportive of Steve at the moment, mainly because he is messed in the head himself2.
On a more critical note, we are only three episodes into the season, I haven't been in this fandom as long as others (I mainlined the first season in about 10 days in July), but honestly, many of the episodes in season 1 were, um, you know, bad.
And yet, here we are.
I also find is surprising that people found Steve to be OOC in this ep, when really, he was as IC as can be. Him beating up the supposed SEAL killer, completely understandable, you know, Steve being upset about dead SEALs. Also, this show has always been totally fine with police brutality. Just saying. And again, Steve behaves differently with the Five-0 and Danny, than with White and the other Navy people.
I also would have preferred for the Navy to be more a part of Steve's past than his present, but he never retired and he's a patriot so I'm not complaining that we're seeing more and more of that, I'm all for his moral ambiguity coming out to play.
The Navy and the SEAL mission could and should have been done with more taste and respect.
Kono's plot. I'm not sure what is going on, I'll speculate that she's on an under cover mission for someone, most likely Steve because he said to her in 2.01 that he's "may" need her for under cover work. Kono has been the go-to girl when it comes to under cover work. Yes it's mainly sexy-girl stuff. But Kono can work that and be kick-ass at the same time, so I'm really not complaining.
As for Lori, I wish, she's go away. I was willing to give her a chance, but last week I blames make up for the fact that she had no facial expression, now I'm blaming the actress. Last week I blames character introduction for her being irritating and pushy, if someone did a "cold read" like that on me like she did on Danny, I would have smacked them.
Also, would she and her gender essentialism go the fuck away!
One of the things that attracted me to the show is how it didn't fall into the trap of gender essentialist language. This is extremely special considering the cultures Steve and Danny come from (military and police, that is) are both extremely misogynistic – neither of them used that kind of language (Danny's sexist moments of female objectification notwithstanding, he never used gender as a way to disparage someone). Whereas Lori ragged Steve for his coffee being not "masculine enough" for a BUD's graduate in 2.02 and Lori getting on Danny not talking about his marriage because "most men can't handle the truth when it comes to love" in this ep.
Seriously.
Just, I wanted to smack her, and I am so not used to dismissing female characters. But she is unprofessional, irritating and is an object for the camera to look at.
Danny, clearly my favourite character for a variety of reasons, is going through a hard time. I'm not sure why the fact that Danny is focusing and obsessing over Rachel seen as a bad thing. Danny had a choice, he made it (Steve), Rachel made a choice in accordance and so they now have to deal with that. Danny having circular thoughts about make a lot of sense to me and it's delivered in a realistic way.
We don't know why Danny and Rachel divorced the first time around. My opinion was that the irreconcilable differences stemmed from class issues that were exacerbated once Grace was in the picture and not, as some speculated (and speculate in fic) because Rachel couldn't hack it being a cop's wife.
I was inadvertently spoiled regarding next week, and I know there's a new female character that is supposed to be a "love interest" for Danny… people, have we not heard of a rebound? In relation to the slash, Steve is giving Danny a lot of space, for that very reason, no one wants to be the rebound guy.
To conclude, the episode was badly executed, badly directed and the crap spouted by White regarding soldiers coming home from war should be considered his words and not the sum total attitude of the show. Recall that in episode 1.07 there was a different attitude concerning returning war vets… White is here to affect and effect and he's doing so. I for one enjoy watching Steve compartmentalise himself vis a vis White vs. Danny. However, the actual substance and character development was important and interesting.
Also, Sky-Dive rescue, pretty fucking cool - oh, and who can forget the Beatles madness - yes, Danny, you are the walrus!
And while we haven't had a whole lot of the Steve/Danny show, what there was of it was glorious, specifically the scene in which Danny physically removes Steve from the suspect. Like so:
Why weren't we talking about that, among the rest of this crap?
Footnotes
1) One can argue about the morality of black-ops, the use of the military when it comes to international crime, but that didn't happen in fandom, which I think is strange, as it has to do with Steve's being a morally ambiguous character and person when it comes down to it.
Back to text.
2) Danny has been clean shaven and without a tie three episodes straight. Word of God notwithstanding, to me it looks like the man is just going through the motions and just, not caring.
Back to text.
For people who read me and aren't in this fandom (or fandom in general), I know, I'm obsessing over this show, I hope you can wait a little longer for things of a different substance... Thanks in advance!
