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Re: "Hawaii" on NBC: Chapter 3
Well, I'd love to hear from the native Hawaiian perspective on last night's episode. It featured their first, and inevitable, Hawaiian culture plotline. Two Hawaiian families in a 100-year-old feud over who killed a Hawaiian princess - Hawaii's "Hatfields and McCoys," someone quipped. A scuffle over a surf spot leads to a shooting inside the police station. The whole mess is settled by our young buddy cops who - brace yourselves - dig up the princess' bones to determine cause of death. A kupuna reads a rope, and it turns out, the princess died for an entirely different reason.
Compared to the way native Hawaiian plots have been handled in the past - remember the Brady Bunch "tiki" escapade? - I suppose this account was positively nuanced. We had protesters decrying the disinterment, we had some Hawaiian language, we had some culture lessons (prompting a "enough with this Discovery Channel" stuff line)... but it still bothered me.
Then again, I'm not sure how I'd come up with a way to fold something people take so seriously into a not-very-serious TV show. People here might pick it apart, but I'll tell you, I bet people I know on the mainland would consider the episode positively educational and respectful. Eep.
The "protect the witness" plotline was passable (though the "Hawaii's Pablo Escobar" line made it two "metaphors for Americans" within of five minutes), and was where they packed in the quota of action and gunplay. Good thing cops really don't drop dead at that rate in real life. I wonder if we'll see the witness/geek again?
Generally speaking, I really think the two young cops (Eric Balfour and Ivan Sergei) are playing off each other well. They've definitely stolen the show from the vets (Michael Biehn and Sharif Atkins). And as always it's good to see Bumatai.
Well, I'd love to hear from the native Hawaiian perspective on last night's episode. It featured their first, and inevitable, Hawaiian culture plotline. Two Hawaiian families in a 100-year-old feud over who killed a Hawaiian princess - Hawaii's "Hatfields and McCoys," someone quipped. A scuffle over a surf spot leads to a shooting inside the police station. The whole mess is settled by our young buddy cops who - brace yourselves - dig up the princess' bones to determine cause of death. A kupuna reads a rope, and it turns out, the princess died for an entirely different reason.
Compared to the way native Hawaiian plots have been handled in the past - remember the Brady Bunch "tiki" escapade? - I suppose this account was positively nuanced. We had protesters decrying the disinterment, we had some Hawaiian language, we had some culture lessons (prompting a "enough with this Discovery Channel" stuff line)... but it still bothered me.
Then again, I'm not sure how I'd come up with a way to fold something people take so seriously into a not-very-serious TV show. People here might pick it apart, but I'll tell you, I bet people I know on the mainland would consider the episode positively educational and respectful. Eep.
The "protect the witness" plotline was passable (though the "Hawaii's Pablo Escobar" line made it two "metaphors for Americans" within of five minutes), and was where they packed in the quota of action and gunplay. Good thing cops really don't drop dead at that rate in real life. I wonder if we'll see the witness/geek again?
Generally speaking, I really think the two young cops (Eric Balfour and Ivan Sergei) are playing off each other well. They've definitely stolen the show from the vets (Michael Biehn and Sharif Atkins). And as always it's good to see Bumatai.
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