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McDanno talks with General Pak, a dictator on his way to the United Nations to testify against his country's military junta. Photo: Neil Jacobs/CBS

The squad investigates the dirty deeds of a femme fatale (former "community," aka CIA) while protecting a dictator who is in the Islands en route to the U.N. Strap on your aviator goggles as we fly around Oahu:

We start with what looks like the signature shore break at Sandy Beach and a lovely stretch of Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki at night, panning to a rooftop bar of the Aston Waikiki Beach, where our killer takes out an agent in Hawaii for the visit of ruthless dictator General Pak. (Didn't know they had a rooftop bar up there. It may be a penthouse suite styled to look like one.)


Waikiki as seen from the skinny Queens Beach groin nearest the Natatorium. Photo: Richard Hubatka/Creative Commons.

Overhead soaring shot of Magic Island, panning to Diamond Head then back to the Aston in the daytime, where Five-0 starts their investigation of the murder and we have a reunion of McGarrett and one of his old SEAL buddies Nick Taylor, also there for Pak's arrival. (They call each other "Bulldog" and "Smooth Dog." Hmm, just doesn't have the same zing as McDanno.)

Some quick shots of the protest on Beretania Street, then on to the Hawaii State Judiciary at Aliiolani Hale, aka Five-0 HQ. Chin Ho is on his hog at Kuhio Beach when he gets a lead on the killer that leads the team to a house in Waimanalo (you could see tell-tale Rabbit Island, below, and the Koolau mountain range).


Blahedo/Creative Commons

A quick shot of the Ala Wai Boat Harbor and a spectacular coastal shot of the Windward side, where they try to track down a General Pak hater. Looks to be around Kahaluu on Kamehameha Highway.



Lovely overhead shot of crystal-blue Ala Moana Beach Park, onto the less crystal Ala Wai Canal, then to the Capitol Building, where we see more of the General Pak protest. The team learns from "Bulldog" that the female killer is a "mechanic" for the CIA. An assassin. I'm not letting her look at my Subaru.


Cliff1066/Creative Commons

They track this mechanic down to the Aloha Tower Marketplace, above, where she's trying to jump on a cruise ship. But the team gets there first, a shootout ensues and — pretty shocking! — she gets done in by a Waikiki Trolley painted lime green and called a Waikiki Mover. Always look before you cross.

General Pak's C-17 lands at Hickam Airfield. The ambush of the SUV caravan is next to the Discovery Center in Kakaako. The Five-0 team takes Pak and his family to the Bayer Estate in Aina Haina, which is playing McGarrett's home. (Oddly in McGarrett's SOS call to the HPD he mentioned Mokulua Drive, which is in Lanikai.)


Neil Jacobs/CBS

And though the evil "mechanics" for hire try to gun down our Five-0 squad in a hail of bullets that should have collapsed the Bayer Estate, all ends well and McGarrett had only a scratch. Albeit a very bloody scratch. And McDanno quickly returned to bromance banter.

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The Quotable Danno

Danno (Scott Caan) was nothing short of brilliant in this episode. Props to the writers, he's the light of my "Five-0" life.

• "Genocide, ethnic cleansing, you got quite a client."
• "Can you translate, Smooth Dog?"
• "If we have to go guns on this case, happiness is not one of the emotions I will be expressing."
• "Do you realize how much of your life revolves around armed conflict?" — to McGarrett when he says "Do you realize how much of your life revolves around food?"
• "Absolutely, Bon Jovi!"
• "You've been gone two hours and you've conducted two raids. What are you planning for lunch?"
  

'Five-0' map mashup