The Answer to the Riddle is Seen

The Answer to the Riddle is Seen (Ahuwale ka nane hūnā) is the 21st episode of Season 8 in the remake version of Hawaii Five-0.

Synopsis
Harry Langford enlists McGarrett and Danny’s help to track down Lady Sophie, a teenage British royal who has run away while under his protection. Also, Grover, Tani and Junior work a 25-year-old murder case after a mysterious Betamax tape arrives at 5-0 headquarters.

Plot
Tani must have seen this show before. The chances that the anonymous Betamax tape sent to headquarters weren’t going to be something horrifically gory were indeed quite low. The opening for tonight’s Hawaii 5-0 takes us deep into the mailroom of the palace and the poor souls who have to sort out all the creepy mail the team gets.

It’s up to the new kids to weed out the crazy mail from the truly psychotic, and Tani and Junior stumble on to something truly eerie with a grainy video of a woman being murdered in a hotel room. The only clues to the murder are the heavy breathing accompanying the video and the tacky tropical décor. Tani and Junior lament that it’s not a lot to go on, but Lou takes the opportunity to be a mentor for the rookies and teach them all about good old-fashioned police work.

Meanwhile, Steve and Danny are visiting their old friend Harry Langford and low-key name-dropping the Queen. Harry is town with his own old friend, Lady Helen Mortimer, and her daughter Sophie.

The friends’ lunch turns into an excruciating long shopping trip with Sophie, and Steve ends up close to snapping. Apparently, like Charlie, he turns into a psychopath if he doesn’t get a snack, and Danny refuses to share his animal crackers. Before this turns into a bloodbath, Harry discovers that Sophie has gone missing. Hard to go missing under the watch of a former Navy SEAL, a member of the Honolulu PD, and a bonafide MI-5 agent, but I guess it’s possible.

Turns out that Sophie is a bit of a criminal mastermind and uses a convenient town car to give her babysitters the slip. “Team Killjoy,” according to Sophie’s best friend, has no business going after Sophie, who just wanted to meet up with her date. Steve, on the other hand, knows that having a British royal loose on the island could lead to not only some bad PR but some dangerous situations for Sophie.

Sophie, as Danny finds from some light internet stalking, has ran off with a muppet and gone to a pool party.

Let’s be honest, this was not the most interesting episode in the world. It’s not incredibly fascinating to see Steve, Danny, and Harry go into super-over-protective dad mode and hassle some teens for an hour. It’s also a bit annoying that all of the guys’ bellyaching proves to be valid and Sophie ends up kidnapped by genuine international sex traffickers. After this, the episode lurches quickly into Takenmode as Harry gets increasingly frantic about tracking Sophie down.

The Taken plot is as over as quick as it started when Steve and Harry take care of the traffickers on the boat and get Sophie home safe. The twist, that Harry was Sophie’s real father, was incredibly obvious from the get-go but does give this plot some much needed emotional heft.

Back at headquarters, Junior and Tani are still scratching their heads over the mysterious tape. The two manage to figure out that the room is on the first floor and the murder happened sometime in the nineties. Their best lead is the number on the room key, which indicates that it’s one of the few hotels that would mark a “Room 13.” After a bunch of cold calls, the team gets lucky and finds the Avalon Hotel and the creepy crawlspace the amateur videographer used to tape the murder.

Tani is taking this case hard. With the exception of their mysterious pen-pal, no one cared enough about poor Lara Levy to fight for justice when she first disappeared more than two decades earlier. Lou gives Tani a pep talk about doing what they can to help the victims, but understanding that they can’t do everything. It’s a nice, small emotional moment in an episode that isn’t too concerned about feelings or deeper meaning.

Junior has identified Mr. Heavy Breather as a former hotel employee who slipped into a coma nearly a month earlier. Although he’s definitely the one taping the murder, he couldn’t have been the one to reach out to H50. That was his wife, who lived with the secret for years. The wife took her husband’s absence as an opportunity to do right by Lara.

Junior and Lou bust out the old “zoom and enhance” cliché to see a tiny pin on the killer’s jacket that identifies him as a pilot. Tani is there to personally arrest him and show that justice can still be served after so many years.

With this light and breezy (give or take some creepy heavy breathing) episode of H50, the serialized plots of the season fall by the wayside. Steve basically tells Danny that he’s not going to deal with Adam and his connection to Noriko’s death until he absolutely has to and no mention is made of Catherine’s return last week or any of the other change-ups to the team’s dynamic.

Quotes
Danny Williams: So, let me get this straight. You're, like, a, um like, a royal, um..

Lady Helen Mortimer: I am.

Danny Williams: So.. How many people have to die before you become the queen?

Steve McGarrett: Hey, hey.

Danny Williams: Legitimate question. Is that a faux pas? You don't ask something like that?

Lady Helen Mortimer: Uh, well (stammers) It's fine. No, the truth is I've never actually counted.

Danny Williams: Ah.

Lady Sophie Mortimer: Oh, she has. - It's 34.

Danny Williams: Mmm, long shot.

Steve McGarrett: Are you serious right now?

Danny Williams: I'm hungry.

Steve McGarrett: Oh, yeah, I know. We're all hungry. Where'd you get the animal crackers?

Danny Williams: I was with Charlie today. And he's five. So you have to have snacks for five-year-old kids, 'cause if their blood sugar drops too low, they act like, um, psychopaths.

Steve McGarrett: Give me a cracker.

Danny Williams: No.

Steve McGarrett: Give me a cracker.

Danny Williams: This is my food.

Lady Sophie Mortimer: I don't know. I'm not convinced by the trousers. I'm just not loving the cut.

Steve McGarrett: I like 'em a lot.

Danny Williams: No, you're right. I think the high-waisted jeans from before. The pink suede mules are.. are good. Keep those. And the silk bomber jacket from three outfits ago. I think that's the jam.

Lady Sophie Mortimer: Take note, gents. This one actually knows what he's talking about. Let me get everything together, and we'll grab that lunch, yeah?

Steve McGarrett: Okay.

Harry Langford: How?

Danny Williams: Well, um.. I have a 16-year-old daughter, and I have a really good sense of style.

Harry Langford: I was there when Sophie was born, you know. Watched her grow up. She was such a sweet child. It's been a few years since I last saw her, and, um, well, let's just say she's changed quite a bit.

Danny Williams: It's called puberty, buddy. Yeah, my daughter's a different person every single day. It's a nightmare.

Steve McGarrett: Hey, I just feel like it's my duty to warn you guys that my personality is about to take a -a serious left-hand turn if I don't get some food into my system.

Harry Langford: Agreed.

Steve McGarrett: Thank you.

Danny Williams: What was that?

Steve McGarrett: Don't talk to me unless you have more animal crackers.

Steve McGarrett: All right, good news is he does not have a criminal record. Oh. Doesn't have a driver's license, either.

Harry Langford: So there's no way we can identify him.

Danny Williams: You guys, get out.. move away. I gotta do everything? Look. He may not have a license or a record, but if he is under the age of 30, he definitely has a social media footprint.

Harry Langford: Well, if he isn't behaving himself, I'm going to leave a pretty heavy footprint..on his face.

Steve McGarrett: Look at you, all tech savvy.

Danny Williams: I got a 16-year-old daughter. Nothing I wouldn't do to spy on her.

Travis Lynch: You want to talk? You can call my dad's lawyer. He can..

(Harry slaps Travis Lynch in the face)

Travis Lynch: Ow!

Steve McGarrett: Kind of had that coming.

Travis Lynch: That, like, really hurt.

Harry Langford: Good. Now that I have your attention, let's start with where Lady Sophie Mortimer is. Looks a little like the girl that you were playing tonsil tennis with.

(Harry holds his hand up to show a height)

Harry Langford: Yea-high, blonde, very smart. English, way out of your league.

Travis Lynch: I don't have any idea, dude.

Harry Langford: Well, that's not the right answer, is it, matey? Which means I'm gonna have to break one of your arms now. But I'll be a gentleman about it and let you choose which one.

Travis Lynch: You.. you guys can't do this. You guys are cops.

Danny Williams: No, actually, we're (points to himself and Steve) cops. He's (points to Harry0, uh he does his own thing.

Steve McGarrett: Yeah, and while you do your own thing, we're gonna look this way, okay?

(Steve and Danny smile and turn around)

Danny Williams: So, uh, is, uh, she hip? Does she know?

Harry Langford: Does who know what?

Danny Williams: Does she know that you are her real father?

(Harry looks at Danny with a straight face)

(Steve watches how Harry reacts to Danny's statement and grins when Harry gets a small smile)

Danny Williams: I mean, the way she had us running around the island. She's very elusive, you know. It's, uh it's like you guys are very similar.

(Harry tries to hide a proud grin)

Danny Williams: And that look you had on your face, uh, when you thought she was in danger. That is that is the look of a scared father. I know that look. And not to mention when, uh, Lord What's-His-Name, he showed up and she ran into his arms, gave him a big hug, you looked like you were about to throw up, so..

Harry Langford: (sighs) Lady Helen was separated at the time. And, um, when she told me she was pregnant, I very much wanted to do the right thing. Which, in the end, meant accepting her decision to go back to her husband.

Steve McGarrett: Harry, can I ask you a question?

Harry Langford: Hmm?

Steve McGarrett: You think the kid has a right to know who her real father is?

Harry Langford: If she ever asks, I won't lie. In the meantime, I'll always be there for her.

Danny Williams: Fair enough.

Trivia

 * Despite being credited Ian Anthony Dale, Jorge Garcia, Taylor Wily and Kimee Balmilero do not appear in this episode.

Cast

 * Lady Sophie Mortimer
 * Alana Boden
 * An escaped aristicrat with a close conection to Harry Langford.
 * Lady Helen Mortimer
 * Kate Beahan
 * 35th in line to the British Throne, and mother to Lady Sophie
 * Lord Mortimer
 * Saul Rollason
 * Husband of Lady Helen, and father of Lady Sophie
 * James Hollis
 * Scott Speiser
 * Unknown
 * Dean
 * Adam Burnett
 * Unknown
 * Blonde #1
 * Camille Claire Hendricks
 * Unknown
 * Travis
 * Adam Scott Miller
 * Unknown
 * Paparazzi
 * Darren Richardson
 * Unknown
 * Alice Dubbins
 * Mariko Van Kampen
 * Unknown
 * Paparazzi
 * Darren Richardson
 * Unknown
 * Alice Dubbins
 * Mariko Van Kampen
 * Unknown
 * Mariko Van Kampen
 * Unknown