Out of nowhere — and almost a year to the day that the episode in question aired — a burning question of sorts from Hawaii Five-0‘s final season has been answered.
Two-thirds of the way through the long-running CBS reboot’s farewell run, there was an episode, titled “I ho‘olulu, ho‘ohulei ‘ia e ka makani” (“There was a lull, and then the wind began to blow about”), in which Danny Williams (played by original cast member Scott Caan) met Leslie (Haunting of Hill House‘s Kate Siegel), “the girl of his dreams,” at a local bar.
Out for a drive afterwards, they were nearly clipped by an oncoming car, and wound up crashing in a ditch when Danny swerved out of the way. With Leslie critically injured and no cell phone signal available, Danny did his best to tend to his passenger’s wounds if not extricate her from her crimped seat. But by the time he was able to successfully flag down a passing truck, Leslie had already died.
And save for a brief follow-up in the next episode, where we saw that Danny was still out of sorts… that was the end of the abrupt, tragic storyline.
On Twitter Friday afternoon, a Five-0 fan named Alicia asked Peter M. Lenkov, who had showrun the series (as well as executive-produced MacGyver and Magnum P.I.), “Was there purpose or hidden reason for making Danny go through that heartbreak and trauma? It still confuses me.”
Lenkov answered, “I thought it was a compelling story. Simple as that. And I knew [Scott Caan] would act the hell out of it.” Which Caan did. Lenkov then concurred with another follower that when it comes to Caan’s Five-0 work over the years, the episode was “one of his best.”
I thought it was a compelling story. Simple as that. And I knew he would act the hell out of it. https://t.co/4Y26e9Jn3M
— Peter M. Lenkov (@PLenkov) January 16, 2021
In July 2020, CBS ended its relationship with Lenkov, following an investigation into claims that the prolific producer created a toxic work environment. In a statement, Lenkov responded, “Now is the time to listen and I am listening. It’s difficult to hear that the working environment I ran was not the working environment my colleagues deserved, and for that, I am deeply sorry. I accept responsibility for what I am hearing and am committed to doing the work that is required to do better and be better.”
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