A Tall Tree Stands Above the Others

A Tall Tree Stands Above the Others (Oni kalalea ke kū a ka lā’au loa) is the 11th episode of Season 8 in the remake version of Hawaii Five-0.

Synopsis
It’s Christmas Eve and Danny tells Charlie a bedtime story about a recent Five-0 case involving criminals dressed as Santas and a holiday miracle.

Plot
So Five-0 went to the hotel hoping they’d identify him and instead they found a picture of Danny that said:  “He Deserves to Die”.

No one knew what that message meant or who it could have come from. But in the weeks that followed, Danny tried to put the whole thing behind because he had the kids this year for Christmas and hadn’t wanted his son to worry. His son still doesn’t know he had been shot and so Danny asked Adam to not mention anything when Adam stopped to help them clean out their chimney, but Adam hadn’t mind going up on the roof because he hadn’t wanted Danny to risk injuring himself. So Danny explained to Adam all the things he had to get ready for kids. Like making sure Santa could use the chimney and that all the Christmas cookies were eaten.

All of which sounded pretty laughable to Adam. But Danny said he’ll get it once he and Kono have kids one day and had said goodbye to a friend that was clearly looking forward to the future. So Danny tried to finish his Christmas tradition by reading Charlie a bedtime story and the book had been good though Charlie had wanted another story and so Danny found himself telling his son about a case. The case involved several bad Santas stealing money and that there had be good guys that went after them like McGarrett or “Uncle Steve” as Charlie called him. And so Uncle Steve chased after these bad guys despite being only one man.

That’s why Danny called him the crazy guy as well as one of the good guys. But the Santas had split up and Uncle Steve could only chase one. So he decided to chase the Santa that he could better reach and that Santa had seen Uncle Steve closing in on him so he took a woman hostage, however, Charlie wanted to know where were Uncle Steve’s friends. His friends should have been there to help and so Danny explained Uncle Steve hadn’t called his friends because he thought he could handle the situation. And so the friends hadn’t known what he was doing until they heard about a “911”. The call along with the Uncle Steve’s movements had told his friends where he was and so that’s when they went to his rescue.

But Uncle Steve had lost sight of the bad Santas at the mall and it was pretty crowded. So they got, even more, help thanks to Junior. Junior had been driving veterans to the shelter because they feed the homeless every year and this year they had wanted to help Uncle Steve because they knew they could assist him. They had one vet that used to work at the mall and therefore knew how to navigate it, but more importantly, none of the vets were worried about getting hurt and so Uncle Steve agreed to them going inside. He asked them all to move about the mall quietly and try to get as many civilians as they could out of there.

So they did their part by easily blending in with the crowd. No one was going to suspect a vet in a wheelchair or one with a mechanical arm. But they helped clear the place department store by the department store and that allowed Uncle Steve to find something. He found out that the Bad Santas had changed out of their clothes and that they were moving about the mall dressed as civilians yet one of the vets figured they could find out more about the bad guys at the car they had been using and so they found a cap with a fingerprint. The print belonged to a known bad guy and so the police had a picture of him.

A picture they could use at the checkpoint. But then Danny had to explain things like checkpoints and fingerprints. So he ended up teaching Charlie new things that Charlie found to be cool and then he carried on with his story. Danny told his son that Uncle Steve stopped looking for Santas because he thought the bad guys were in everyday clothes and so it was much later on that Uncle Steve found out the bad guys had found out about the checkpoints because that’s when they decided to steal two more Santa suits. And so one bad Santa had almost gotten away because he was wearing Santa suit when everyone was checking regular people.

Only Uncle Steve had found out what happened and so one bad Santa was arrested while he called the other. He used the loudspeaker to ask the guy to turn himself in and he didn’t want to. But the good guys spotted him and Uncle Steve chased after him until he eventually caught him. So it was a happy ending for Charlie and Charlie got to go to sleep knowing that everything was right in the world because the good guys even got to have their own party at the end, but that party from the story had been important for Junior because he was praised for bring in the vets and finally promoted to Five-0. And so it really a happy ending for everyone.

Quotes
Tani Rey: Listen, um, I-I just want to say I'm really sorry about what happened to you. Kekoa Thanks, but I'm not. I'd do it again. Saved a lot of lives that day. Truth is, I'd go back if they'd let me. Tani Rey: Really? Even after.. Kekoa You can only lose your legs once.

Jerry Ortega: (To Junior about his badge) Hey, man. It's heavier than you thought it was gonna be, isn't it?

Junior Reigns: (laughing) Yeah, it is, it is.

(the Williams's Christmas cookies for Santa are missing)

Steve McGarrett: Yo, why you gotta hold out on me with these cookies?

(Steve comes around the corner with the cookies and a glass of milk)

Steve McGarrett: Why wouldn't you tell me about these? These are shockingly good. You don't tell me about these?

Danny Williams: I don't know why that's shocking. I'm a fantastic baker.

Steve McGarrett: You bake these?

Danny Williams: Yeah, I baked those. Do me a favor.. next time you steal, just

Steve McGarrett: Wait, wait, wait. What'd you just say? "Steal"? I didn't steal anything.

Danny Williams: You didn't?

Steve McGarrett: They're sitting right there.

Danny Williams: For Santa Claus. They're sitting right there for Santa Claus, not for you. Okay?

(Danny brings the plate back by Steve)

Danny Williams: I hope you're proud of yourself. You stole cookies from Santa Claus, animal.

(Steve puts the left over cookies back on the plate and takes it from Danny)

Steve McGarrett: Okay, all right. Let me let me explain something to you. All right?

Danny Williams: Please, explain something to me, because I need things explained to me.

Steve McGarrett: If Santa Claus

Danny Williams: Uh-huh.

Steve McGarrett: got his big, fat sausage fingers on these cookies, that means he would be guilty of a home invasion. You ever think about that?

Danny Williams: What about you?

Steve McGarrett: Did you think about that?

Danny Williams: You just broke into my house. No, I didn't think about it, but you just broke into my house.

Steve McGarrett: No, I didn't break into your house.

Danny Williams: Yes, you did.

Steve McGarrett: I used the key that's behind the rock.. that you leave outside behind the rock that you put there for emergencies.

Danny Williams: What's the emergency?

(Steve drinks some milk)

Steve McGarrett: (sighs) I needed some cookies.

(Steve eats another cookie)

Danny Williams: Uh-huh.

Steve McGarrett: Now I'm eating cookies.

(Danny goes to grab a cookie and is blocked by Steve)

Steve McGarrett: What are you doing?

Danny Williams: I can't have one of my cookies?

Steve McGarrett: Yes, you can.

(Steve slides over the 2 remaining cookies only touching the bottom one)

Steve McGarrett: You can have the top cookie.

Danny Williams: No, now that you touched it..

Steve McGarrett: I didn't touch it. I'm touching the bottom cookie.

Danny Williams: Your finger is on a piece of this

Steve McGarrett: It literally.. It doesn't even matter.

Danny Williams: The truth of the matter is I have a whole tray of cookies that I can have for myself with my own milk.

Steve McGarrett: Where are they?

Danny Williams: In the kitchen.

Steve McGarrett: Go get 'em.

Danny Williams: I'm gonna.

Steve McGarrett: Good, Grinch.

Danny Williams: I'm.. I'm a Grinch?

Steve McGarrett: You're kind of Grinchy.

Danny Williams: You're a gorilla.

Trivia

 * Jason Redman, J. Eddie Martinez, Kathryn Taylor Smith and Zachary Perez-Rukavina are all real life veterans.

Cast

 * Frank
 * Jason Redman
 * Former military special ops, now Veteran with burn marks on his face
 * Kekoa
 * J. Eddie Martinez
 * Former military special ops, now Veteran, with missing legs
 * Josie
 * Kathryn Taylor Smith
 * Former military special ops, now Veteran who was a medic
 * Reggie
 * Zachary Perez-Rukavina
 * Former military special ops, now Veteran, with a robotic arm
 * Henry
 * Stephen Jackel
 * Unknown
 * James Wendall
 * Jon Collin Barclay
 * Unknown
 * Unknown
 * James Wendall
 * Jon Collin Barclay
 * Unknown
 * Unknown