Pilot

Pilot is the pilot episode of Hawaii-Five 0, it is the very first episode of the entire series and it premiered on September 20th, 2010. The episode follows Steve McGarrett as he tries to search and find the man responsible for the murder of his father, Victor Hesse. Steve has been tracking down Victor for 5 years now so he cannot help to do it alone; he forms a task force sanctioned by the Governor of Hawaii.

Synopsis


Navy SEALS officer Steve McGarrett returns home to native Hawaii his father, John McGarrett was murdered by a terrorist mastermind that Steve has been tracking down for 5 years, Victor Hesse.



When Steve returns to Hawaii he is contacted by the Governor of Hawaii who offers Steve a job to form a task force with immunity to all laws above the state jurisdiction for a standard police force, Steve reluctantly declines, saying that he wants to spend the minimal time hunting the man who killed his father while he is still on the island, she manages to convince him to atleast think about the offer.



After meeting up with an old friend, Chin Ho Kelly. Steve heads back to his father home to further examine the crime scene, while there he gathers evidence such as fingerprints, footprints and finds a voice recorder in a big metal red case marked 'CHAMP', after he finds the tape recorder he is confronted by Detective Danny Williams, a newcomer from New Jersey who hasn't been in Hawaii for a while now, Danny was assigned by the Honolulu Police Department to investigate John McGarrett's murder. After their brief and unfriendly confrontation, Steve calls Governor Jameson back on her personal number and accepts the job offer, he then takes control of the crime scene.

Afterwards, Steve departs to Danny's apartment to ask him about the lead he had called about earlier. The ballistics from the bullet that killed Steve's father was owned by a suspected gun runner, Fred Doran. Steve then declares that he had Danny transferred into his new unit and becomes his partner, Steve has Danny drive him to North Shore to meet up with Fred Doran, Danny isn't too happy with his new unit and Steve's method of "police work".



When they arrive, Fred Doran ends up grazing Danny's shoulder with a bullet after a gun fight. Doran flees the scene and ends up at a road, he grabs a innocent woman hostage and begins a confrontation with Steve. Steve lowers his gun, hoping that Doran will tell him where Hesse is but Danny ends up shooting Doran from behind and kills him. Although they didn't find any leads to Hesse himself, Steve finds a young Chinese girl, Chen Chi being held prisoner in a barricaded closet in Doran's residence, she was smuggled in on a freighter and became a prostitute. Steve and Danny argue about Danny killing Steve's only lead to find Hesse, which turns a little violent.

Steve believes that Hesse being in Hawaii was assisted by local human traffickers. Steve goes to one of his dad's oldest friends, Chin Ho Kelly for assistance into the matter. Chin Ho was disgraced from the Honolulu Police Department for allegedly taking bribes on some accusations, Chin Ho exclaims that he was an innocent, Steve asks Chin to join his new task force and after much reluctance, Chin agrees to join and they set off to locate an old police informant who "trusts nobody". The informant tells Chin Ho of a man named Sang Min who is one of the figureheads of human trafficking on the island.

They make a plan to hatch Hesse's location from Sang Min, which involved Chin initiating his young cousin, Kona Kalakaua into the task force, who was to graduate Police Academy next week. While Chin is busy setting up a date to meet with Sang Min, Steve and Danny spend some quality time together and bond after fighting with each other for several days. Danny tells Steve that he moved to Honolulu to become closer to his daughter, Grace, who lives with his ex-wife and her rich husband, he tells Steve that the nickname "Danno" was given to him by his daughter when she was three.

When the time came to use Sang Min to find Hesse, they used remote sensing equipment outside of the warehouse complex which eliminates the need for a wire. Kono talks about a deal to Sang Min for him to retrieve her "Aunt" and "Uncle" from China to live here, in Hawaii. Sang Min becomes suspicious with the sand on her body and sends a photo of her to a friend, who will basically tell Sang Min whether Kono is a cop or not. Chin, Steve, and Danny find out that there is a mole inside the HPD. A few seconds later, a text comes in on Sang Min's phone citing that Kono is an undercover cop. Before Sang Min is able to kill Kono, the other three storm the warehouse and kill several of Sang Min's associates, after a long gunfight Sang Min tries to flee the other in his car which is shot by Steve, and crashes into a crate which housed dozens upon dozens of Chinese immigrants, two of which are Chen Chi's parents who is reunited with them later.

Later on, Steve interrogates the captured Sang Min and demands to tell him where Hesse is. Sang Min doesn't wish to help Steve get his revenge, so Steve "blackmails" him threatening to send his wife back to Rwanda and leaving his son to join the Hutu Militia. Sang Min tells Steve that Hesse is about to leave Hawaii the next day and what ship he is on, Steve then guarantees that his family can stay here in America.

Steve and Danny order that Hesse's ship to be blocked so he can't leave, and the two then storm the ship. Danny deals with the few henchmen while Steve searches out and looks for Victor Hesse, after a gunfight, Steve is shot on the shoulder and drops his pistol. Victor was reloading his gun and Steve managed to retrieve his fallen pistol and he shoots Victor, who falls off the crate, off the ship and into the ocean water. Steve orders Danny to get the Coast Guard to find Hesse's body and to also book the surviving shiphands.

Later on, the four set up their new headquarters and equipment and decide upon a name.

Trivia

 * This episode primarily focuses on formation of Five-0.
 * Danny's ringtone for his ex-wife, Rachel is the theme of Pyscho.

Production Notes

 * This episode had the highest viewer count in the show, with a viewer count of 14.20 million. But it was dethroned 4 months later when Kai e'e aired which had 19.23 million viewers.

Guest Starring
Governor Pat Jameson - Jean Smart

Sang Min - Will Yun Lee

Victor Hesse - James Marsters

Anton Hesse - Norman Reedus

John McGarrett - William Sadler

Chen Chi - Allison Chu

Grace Williams - Teilor Grubbs

Jovan Etienne - Thomas McCurdy