If you don’t want to read this spectacular alternate ending to “Kai E’e”, scroll further below.
Dolla, dolla bills, y'all. Photo: Tina Lau
Scene: Hallway to the governor’s office.
Steve stood there, at a loose military “at ease” position, waiting for the governor’s assistant to round the corner. He didn’t have to stand that way, but it was a military habit he was never going to get over-the Governor was his superior. Military bearing became second nature after years of conditioning. Lost in his own thoughts, he almost didn’t hear the shuffling behind him. Turning, he saw Chin, Kono and Danny.
“What are you looking at… we’re all in this together,” Danny said.
The assistant finally came around. “Commander, the Governor’s ready for you.” Looking past him, “She only wants McGarrett,” she told the others.
He fell in step behind her, followed her a few feet around the corner and through the two huge koa wood doors. The first thing his eyes were drawn to was the huge desk at the far end of the office. Governor Pat Jameson was sitting in her high backed chair, with her shoulder tucking her LG Optimus 7 phone to her ear (available at fine electronics stores nationwide).
“Yeah. Uh-huh. I know, I only got one chance at this.” McGarrett could hear her mutter into the phone.
“I’m sorry Ma’am, your assistant said you were-” he said softly just as the assistant quietly shut the doors on her way out.
She cut him off mid sentence, holding the finger of her free hand in the air. He stopped, and took a breath. He had never been into the Governor’s office before and looked around. From left to right he gazed…there were photos of her shaking hands with dignitaries, even one of her with Hiro Noshimuri, the business man he had just arrested the week before. He looked further down the wall, and noticed something interesting…an oval shaped African shield…two crossed spears over it…and what in the world was that in the corner…was that a stuffed…?
“Cougar” called out the Governor, watching him. “I took him down myself while hunting in Montana. I owe you a beer, by the way,” she said nonchalantly and handed him a bottle of Kona Brewing Company’s Fire Rock Pale Ale (available at fine supermarkets everywhere).
The pressure was mounting, but McGarrett didn’t want to be rude, so he took the cold bottle in his hand.
“You’re a hunter, Ma’am?” was the only thing he could think of saying.
“Well just for that day, at least,” she quipped and took a sip from her bottle.
McGarret followed suit and took a swig of the fine, refreshing ale currently on sale for $6.99 for a six pack at your nearest liquor store.
There was an awkward pause for a second, as she gave him a once over from top to bottom. Not quite an eye-hump, but a casual once over.
“But I hunt whenever the mood strikes, especially when I see something I like,” she said. Simultaneously, an eyebrow raised and a corner of her lip came up in a curve for a split second.
McGarrett snorted ale out of his nose.
“What was that Ma’am?” he choked, wiping beer from his nose.
“Nothing,” and her half smile dropped.
He stood there, stunned, and the Governor moved up from her chair and behind him.
“We have a problem,” she said flatly, from behind him.
“Yes I know, Governor, about the $10 million…” he started.
“The $10 million you coincidentally needed to ransom Chin Ho? Yes, any idea where that could have gone?”
“Ma’am, we had every intention to-”
“Call me Pattycakes,” she said demurely.
“I can’t do that Gov-”
“Just stop right there.”
From the corner of his eye he saw her extend her index and middle finger of her left hand onto his left hand. Like the old yellow page ad, she let her fingers do the walking, up his forearm, past the tattoo on his bicep and onto his shoulder.
“So just what are we going to do about this missing money, Steven? I can make it disappear for good,” she purred.
McGarrett’s mind rushed. A few years ago, his SEAL team was outmanned and outgunned in a little hamlet just outside of Kandahar. He was rationally concerned for his safety at that time. What he was feeling now was pure fear.
“There’s one way we can forget about this $10 million, Commander,” she murmured.
“Ma’am?” he could only stammer.
“Take off your shirt.”
He froze. He didn’t know what to do.
“Do I have to make that an order, sailor?” she said sternly.
Hesitantly he undid his tucked shirt, and pulled it all off in one quick stroke.
“Now turn around,” the Governor ordered.
His eyebrows furrowed, and he turned his head slowly at first, not knowing what to expect, then eventually spun around.
The Governor was standing there, her LG phone in hand, positioned to take a photo. The LED flash went off and the synthesized sound of the shutter snapped.
McGarrett’s jaw dropped. “Ma’am did you just take a photo?”
A childish grin crept up her face, “Yeah. Totally. The girls on the forum are going to love this.” She started to hit the upload button.
“What girls? What forum?” he stammered.
She ignored him. “Look at the expression on your face! It’s like you’re having an…”
“Aneurysm?” The words were out of his mouth before he could even stop his lips from moving.
“Well I was going to say embolism, but whatever. Steve, everyone wants to see you shirtless. The newspaper is covering everything you’re doing and you’ve got quite a fan club on the internet going on!” she said excitedly.
“But Ma’am, what about the $10 million?!?!”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll raid the Rainy Day Fund, raise some taxes, who knows. Who cares. I got you shirtless. HA! You’re dismissed.”
Confused, he put his shirt back on, and walked back out to his team. They all stood to greet him.
“She’s satisfied,” was the only thing he could muster.
“Satisfied?!” said Danny in disbelief. “That took only 2 minutes! Is that all it takes for you to satisfy a woman, Cassanova?”
“She wanted to thank us, actually she wanted to congratulate us for another job well done,” McGarrett said, winging it.
“What about the money,” Chin said hurriedly.
“$28 million…it’s all present and accounted for,” said McGarrett.
“What? I don’t understand,” Kono said.
“I don’t wanna talk about it!” McGarrett said as he rushed away.
[cut to Chevrolet commercial]
Ok so what really happened to the $10 million?
I’ve read a lot of interesting theories thanks to my bestest blog and facebook followers and on the forums I follow. A whole bunch of you think Wo Fat planted the money. A few clever ones think the Governor had something to do with replacing the money. While we don’t have a lot to go on, I’ll take a stab at a few theories.
What we know:
The Coast Guard and HPD took down a huge cocaine and $28 million cash bust eight years ago.
3 years ago $200,000 went missing and Chin Ho lost his job.
$10 million was liberated from the evidence locker not long ago, to be used to ransom Chin Ho from Victor Hesse, who subsequently torched it.
Commander Hale of the Coast Guard managed to sneak what he thought was $28 million into the sandbags.
The Five-0 team feared their $10 million dollar default on their “loan” would be discovered when the money was recovered.
Governor Jameson told McG all the money was there.
“Someone” orchestrated the fake tsunami and heist (according to the hacker).
Possible scenarios:
1) Wo Fat had another mole in the HPD who knew of and replaced the missing $10 million. Hale was simply the bagman who’s promised a cut after delivering the money back to Wo Fat. Governor Jameson had no idea of what’s going on. If the plan failed (as it did), all $28 million would still be accounted for, and HPD would not have to launch another internal investigation, and the money would go back to the evidence locker.
2) Wo Fat and crew failed to get the $28 million, the Governor realized there’s only $18 million, but lies to reporters and the Five-0 team about the amount to save her and the HPD from embarrassment.
3) My favorite… Governor Jameson was somehow involved. We know she’s tied to Hiro Noshimuri, the Yakuza boss of Hawaii. She may be under pressure to keep HPD internal affairs from investigating the missing money, so Wo Fat or Hiro Yoshimuri may have given the money to Jameson to put back into evidence.
4) Governor Jameson told McGarrett that $10 million was missing. McGarrett came clean. Jameson told McGarrett to tell his team that the money was there, in the hopes of rooting out a mole or weeding out the perpetrator of the fake tsunami (Wo Fat).
Ultimately my impression is that *someone* wants the entire $28 million to be accounted for so HPD wouldn’t be alerted, but this same someone wants their $28 million back. Considering it was a joint Coast Guard/HPD operation that netted the bust, I can guess that it was a Yakuza drug shipment traveling between Hawaii and Japan.
So, to my active Hawaii Five-0 Undercover Special Agents (I promote you all 😉 )what do you think…?
For the record, I did not go through the writer’s room document shredder and repiece the above missing scene together. It’s 1:00 AM, Nyquil is kicking in and my imagination is working overtime.
Hawaii Five-0 UNDERCOVER 
Pretty good writing there! You should do some more Gov/Steve het.
I agree that $28 m was probably part of the Yakuza operating budget and the CG’s seizing of it pissed off someone high up enough in HPD to start the whole thing crumbling around McG senior and Chin. They engineered HPD taking over the evidence and the credit for the bust so the investigation would eventually lead nowhere and anybody who got near would either be killed or discredited.
I’m willing to bet that it goes all the way up to the Chief of Police. He’s the guy who assigned Danny to the John McGarrett murder, a weird choice considering Danny had only been there 6 months and had no real inside knowledge of Hawaii and how it works. I suppose he didn’t plan on Jameson giving Steve the keys. Jameson will somehow get her fingers burnt over Hiro, the Chief of Police will start an investigation on her and it will all come down to the season finale where her job is on the line, Steve’s life is put in danger – and everybody will have to make Choices?????
Can’t wait!
Hey all, if you enjoy “romantic” fanfic, check out spotted reptiles’s blog http://spottedreptile.livejournal.com. Advisory…really, really, really adult content. This entry is about as racy as you’re going to get out of me, with the product placements.
Good take on the boss…mybe a stretch though since we haven’t seen the chief yet…
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Just a couple of quick questions before I really put a lot of thought into this.
Ok..28+mil was confiscated and put in the locker 8 years ago. $200K went missing 3 years ago and Chin got fired for it. 10mil was taken by Steve. SOMEONE checked that locker 3 years ago to discover the missing $200K and triggered the investigatioan that got Chin fired. Who was that person?
Now all 28+mil is back, INCLUDING the $200K Chin was accused of taking. So whoever replaced the money not only put back the 10mil but also the 200K. That person KNEW about both missing amounts. Was it the same person who discovered the $200K missing 3 years ago?
If it isn’t the same person won’t the reappearance of the $200K cause questions to be asked? No one knows about the missing and now returned 10mil except 5-0 and whoever put it back so that won’t trigger any questions. Do you think it’s the same person as 3 years ago???
Good call…someone is keeping tabs of the money, but it’s possible that there’s a periodic inventory of everything in the locker…
True but who does that inventory? Someone else mentioned that in reality those lockers are routinely checked by random people as a precaution. If that’s the case wouldn’t someone notice that the $200K has been returned? I mean, EVERYONE knew about that because Chin got fired for it.
That makes me think there is someone higher up than everyone who checks the locker who gets the reports and deducts the 200K before forwarding that report even higher. Or if others are right, the Governor is playing with the figures. But I really don’t want it to be her. I really like Jean Smart in this role, I’d hate to see her carted off to prison.
Good summary, LOL!
I think that all 28 million is counterfeit, having been put there when all of the money was stolen (by Wo Fat’s inside men?) That’s why Hesse “tested” Steve, to see how much he really knew about the stash (Wo Fat to Hesse “How much does he know” Hesse: “Too much” i.e. – he knew about the asset forfeiture fund) Then, when the 10milion burned, it had to be replaced so that there was no attention brought to it.
Thanks! I forgot to mention in my delirium that some or all of that money may be counterfeit… Hesse testing Steve, that’s an interesting idea.
This seems pretty far fetched, but Chin Ho could be protecting the person that stole the $200k – maybe that person suspected that the 28mil had been stolen and replaced with counterfeit $$, so they stole some to test. Then it all went bad and Chin Ho was framed, but he still has to keep the ID of the real 200k theif under wraps in order to protect him/her. The only problem with this theory is that I don’t think that Chin would have kept all of this quiet from the team when it came down to them having to get the 10mil to keep him from blowing up.
Secret Agent Man, I didn’t know you moolighted as a Harlequin romance novelist!!!
I consider myself more as a classy, Nicholas Sparks type. 😉
The big question we don’t know the answer to here is why was the forfeiture locker checked three years ago, and by who? Who let it leak that possibly some money (the $200,000) had been taken, and what was their reason? Wait, did Chin say he was framed because he was getting too close to something? We might find out how the $10mil got back in the locker if we can figure out who leaked the info 3 years ago to frame Chin.
yeah like I said before, it may be standard procedure to inventory everything. But who knows, maybe another mole is keeping track.
Lynnette: Looks like you and I are both wondering the same thing. Was the locker checked 3 years ago because it was routine, was it checked because someone was tipped off that money was missing or was it never really checked? Someone just took the money and made sure Chin was blamed to cover something. You’re right Lynnette, Chin did say he was framed because he was getting close to something. This story is more than replacing the 10mil Steve took. It goes all the way back to that original 28+mil bust. I think the idea of a Yakuza drug shipment traveling between Hawaii and Japan is a logical one.
In the real world, the money would have been recounted – under supervision – on a regular basis, and (in an uncorrupted police/government facility) never, or rarely, by the same personnel. I don’t remember what Chin told the team about it being unattended, but that leaves room for all the theories we can come up with.
spottedreptile has some good ideas, and I’m leaning heavily toward kimmer’s counterfeit money theory. Which makes me assume that somebody does want it gone before it’s found out. Is there anybody on earth who could really burn up $10 million without a second thought? The criminal element just can’t be that indifferent to a whole sh*tload of cash. Can it? And I too think the Gov’s behavior is smelling a little funny.
Ossifer, you have outdone yourself today (last night) – the gov/McG scene is priceless. Thank you for the inspiring – not to say titillating – images. Hoo-hah.
Thanks textbook 🙂 I love titillating. The counterfeit idea starting to sound pretty good…and good call on the periodic money counts.
Yep, Nyquil is a wonderful thing, but I don’t usually have such a great writing moment from it, I just pass out. Maybe your loyal undercover agents will have to pitch in to buy you a case of the stuff! LOL
The number of typos that I left up for the first few hours is evidence of my delirium LOL.
Officer Bob…. why is the song “Mrs. Robinson” by Simon and Garfunkel keep playing in my head??? Hmmmm? Thanks for the laugh!
…also with shades of Jane Seymour and Vince Vaughn from Wedding Crashers. LOL. And I’m glad you enjoyed the post !
OMG, Officer Bob, you did it again! You’ve outdone yourself!!!
ROTFLMAO!!!
All nice theories… I’d have to think that the gov would be smart enough not to get in too deep that it could damage her reputation or she’d become an unwitting accomplice.
Thanks Pinkie and overdamoon for sharing the link! One would assume that a politician would not get involved with a crime lord, but she seemed pretty oblivious to McG’s revelation that Hiro was the Yakuza boss. However, she threw him under the bus pretty quickly…”Steve, I trust your judgement…”.
love it- but here is another alternative ending…
“But Ma’am, what about the $10 million?!?!”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got your picture now and you have tons of fangirls! I just uploaded your picture to ritzpix.com so I can print out some copies. (they do fabulous work and they are ready in an hour or they are free!) so, let’s think… if I sell each picture for $100, and can get 100,000 fans to buy one, that would make up the $10 million. Piece of cake. We should have all the money back by the end of the month.”
“Fangirls?” McGarrett muttered, clearly confused.
“Yes, fangirls! But, to get $100 a picture, I’ll need you to sign them. Come back to my office at tomorrow at 2:00 to start. And bring a sharpie. And some beer. But you can, um, leave the shirt at home.”
Brilliant! I didn’t think of that… look for ebay seller pattycakes808 and her autographed Steve McGarrett photos!
lol- glad you liked it. 😀
and since you asked, here you go (copy and paste style, with minor editing)…
in trying to figure out who would put the $$ back, it would have to be someone who knew about it, had the $, had the ability/means to put it back, and a motive/reason to do so.
so…
1) knew about it- wo fat (likely, through hesse), hesse, 5-0 team, maybe sang men (through hesse as well)
2) has the $$$- wo fat, hesse (?), san men (?), governor, stan/rachel (most probably)
3) ability/means to replace- wo fat, hesse, sang men (all through the mole, if there still is one), governor, whoever has the blueprints that chin was “protecting” by keeping them (blueprints) at his house, 5-0
4) motive- 5-0, governor, stan/rachel (so danny would not go to prison), whoever chin is protecting, bad guys (to hold it over their heads/way to get out of trouble/blackmailing team into looking the other way, which basically controls them, but also does not alert the governor that the team is helping wo fat out. but I really don’t see them doing this, since the team would fess up before being pawns)
so, the $10 million dollar question is, who actually did do it? (we can rule out 5-0 for obvious reasons).
based on the guardian angel angle and gut instinct, I am going with whoever chin is protecting by keeping the blueprints. he/she could have found out about it if he was a current or former cop, maybe a dist attorney, someone in the governor’s office, etc.
he could have:
1) known that steve was meeting with heese with the $, known that the governor would not have given it to them, and either deduced that 5-0 raided the locker or gone himself to check. (steve already did the hard work by getting the locks off, etc. in the tunnel). and chin was “captive” in a public place- he could have been watching what was going on from the sidelines.
2) has the $$- plausible, depending on who he/she is. usually a cop would not have that kind of $$, unless it was imherited/won the lottery/married “well”, etc. but since we do not know who this person is, they might or might not have the $$.
3) ability/means to replace- well, if they had the blueprints, it’s not a stretch to to think he would remember how to get in
4) motive- not wanting chin/5-0 to get in trouble, being grateful steve saved chin’s life, maybe self-preservation (not wanting 5-0 to get caught, which leads to the “how did you know how to break in” discussion, which leads to blueprints, which lead to him)
so, my officail guess is whoever chin is protecting
I also find the counterfeit $ angle interesting as well… I need to chew that one over. although the only thing that makes me think it is counterfeit is hesse nonchalantly throwing it in the fire. but who knows? maybe he really did not care about being $10 million richer (he’s obviously already rich) or is just really crazy.
Sockie, you’re a Five-0 Undercover Special Agent due to a good breakdown of means, motive and opportunity. So who is Chin protecting…? Most if us are thinking John McG…
I love the “original” story and the alternate ending.
glad you liked it 😉 lots of theories in the comments section…
There is definetly more to the Governor than we’ve been told. I’m wondering if the theory I’ve heard a few times that she was somehow involved with John McG isn’t worth considering.
1) She formed a high level task force giving them “immunity and means” which means funding and rule bending to go after who killed John. Yes they now go after all high level crimes on the island but initially it was John’s murder that prompted her to form the force AND recruit John’s son to run it even though he has no actual police experience.
2) Bob, you are right. She didn’t hesitate more than a second to “throw Hiro under the bus” and believe Steve even though she’s known Hiro for years and has only known Steve for about 6 months. She was totally willing to believe John’s son over her old friend. Of course, Steve DID have overwhelming evidence to show her.
3) She was totally paniced when Steve told her MaryAnn had been kidnapped. That did not look like friendly concern because she’s Steve’s sister. To me that looked like the type of reaction someone with genuine feelings for someone would have when they find out that person is in trouble. And her overwhelming relief when Steve told her MaryAnn was safe showed the same. Did Jameson know Steve and MaryAnn as children? Or maybe just MaryAnn because Steve would have mentioned it if he knew her when they met in the Pilot. “Nice to see you again after all these years…” type of thing. Didn’t she actually introduce herself to him in the Pilot?
3) During that Hiro conversation when Steve told her that his mothers accident wasn’t an accident Jameson said (I don’t remember the completely exact words) “I knew if that were true he would have told me”. And the way she said it…. her voice was low and it cracked with deep emotion like it was not possible that John would not tell her something so important. Why? That was 18 years ago. What was she 18 years ago, certainly not the Governor? How did she know John? What was their relationship that would make it so impossible for her to believe he wouldnt’ tell her something. Were they simple extremely good friends? Were they lovers? Or could they on the police force together, possible partners after Steve and MaryAnn left Hawaii? Could she have been John’s boss, his captain or higher? Could she have been the person in charge of the forfeiture locker?
Could it be Governor Jamison Chin is still protecting on John’s instructions?
I did miss the very beginning of the pilot episode, (where the initial contact with the Gov happened) so, I guess that I have been assuming all along that she was friends with, or at least an acquaintance of Jack McG’s. That’s why I didn’t register her reaction to hearing about Mary getting kidnapped. I just figured she was an old family friend. Interesting to hear that it wasn’t addressed as I thought it would have been (can’t wait to see the re-aired pilot!)
I do think that the person that took the 200k is Jack McG – but I don’t think it was real money when he took it. That way, Steve’s father doesn’t come out looking like a criminal. I also think that there is a link to the money with whomever McG Sr. had as a contact in Japan. That person could be the “person looking out” for the 5-0 team. I still can’t figure out a way to make it right that Chin Ho wouldn’t have fessed up to Steve about any of this yet, though.
Still pretty sure John took it. But OH SNAP what if it Gov Pattycakes that took it?
In the pilot, she said something to the effect of “I read your file.” Pretty unclear if there’s a connection with John McG
Hmm… #3 is intriguing…. I have to watch that scene again.
Did you watch it again Bob! What do you think?
thanks, bob. I expect my official badge in the mail any day now. 😉
as to who chin is protecting, mcg sr. is the likely answer. however, since he is dead, chin would only protecting his rep. at this point. (which, admitedly, chin would do, even to his (chin’s) detriment).
but for some reason, I think chin is protecting someone who is still alive. he could be protecting someone we have not met yet. probably and old friend/partner at hpd. maybe even someone with ties to malia (he’s “protecting” her too). and gov. jameson is still in play as well. I had her pegged for 3 of the 4 above (excluding knowing about it). she probably did not know at the time, but would have figured it out if she was the blueprint “owner”.
so, in a nutshell, I’m not really sure who chin is protecting, but think whoever it is is 5-0s angel and (apparently) multi-millionaire.
Linda, kimmer, and sockie, you’re making some really good points here! It stands to reason that the gov would have more going on plotwise than just showing up to be empathetic to the team and the victims from time to time, given the early casting and prominent mentions of the gov when the series was being promoted. Early on she almost sounded like a 5th regular castmember, didn’t she? Not that Jean Smart’s name wouldn’t help sell the series – although she might be a selling point for older viewers – but compared to the other four she’s been window dressing. There’s bound to be something going on here.
Yes! I love this train of thought! I’m with you all. Governor Jameson is going to be a lot more influential in future episodes. Originally, I expected her to have had a relationship with John McG, probably after losing his wife, because he did say on the tape how hard it was to lose her. But I’m wondering, Linda, if maybe she did know him from the police force. Her background is still a mystery. We need to know if she had been on the force – I don’t see her being a partner to McG, more likely a superior, maybe someone on the crime task force McG had been on at the time.
Know what would be cool? If the producers allowed for a “fan-written” episode! We could really throw them some good story twists and solve all the little mysteries for them. Imagine the one-liners we could come up with for Dano and Steve!
Didn’t Steve say his father was working on an organized crime task force, or something like that, that was investigating the Yakuza presence in Hawaii when his wife was killed? It’s possible he and Jamison were partners at the time working the task force together as part of a team. John and Chin were partners when John retired. It’s possible John confided in Chin that the Governor was on the task force at the same time he was. He didn’t tell Chin about his wife’s murder because that was a total surprise to Chin when he found out the “accident” report was actually a homicide report.
Somene who runs for Governor and wins usually has a background in local government. City Councilman or Sherrif or Police Chief. I think Jamison went on to become some high level professional in the Hawaiian government to aspire to the Governorship. I think she worked her way through the police force into local government and proceded to the Governor’s office. I think Chin is protecting Jamison. She definitly plays a bigger role in all of this than we have seen so far. God, I can not wait to see how this works out!!
Now, as to Malia and Chin protecting her too. I don’t think she had anything to do with anything. I think that Chin was just trying to protect her the same way John tried to protect Steve and Mary by sending them away. Chin broke up with Malia so she wouldn’t be in the line of fire.
Wow Gov Pattycakes connected to John…now that’s interesting. That’s a Lost style connection LOL.
Great points, Linda – I agree, Jameson was likely a local politician or involved in local politics when McG Sr. was on the force. I don’t see her as being in law enforcement, though – maybe a mayor or Dist Atty or something. That way she would have been directly involved in Jack’s organized crime task force.
I also agree that Chin broke off his engagement to Malia to protect her from harm through her association to him. Maybe she was threatened in some way and he broke up with her and had it look like her idea so that the “bad guys” left her alone. They said that they hadn’t seen each other at all since they broke up. Come on Chin, you know more than you have given up so far!
The instant we found out that the entire $28M was accounted for, I thought Wo Fat was behind it, and while some creative ideas have been proposed, I’m sticking with Wo Fat.
My idea is that Wo Fat is a major international criminal who is moving into Hawaii. He is already linked with both Victor and Hiro. CBS has revealed that the new CIA agent who is going to be working with 5-0 was widowed by Wo Fat, indicating that he already has a long reach. The question that Wo Fat asks of Victor in jail clearly indicates that he is aware of the thrust of Steve’s investigation and what secrets could possibly be revealed. The scene with Wo Fat, Hiro and Koji on the golf course indicates a solid link between the three, probably as “business partners”. It is not necessary for either Wo Fat or Victor Hesse to have been involved in either the murder of Mrs. McGarrett or even the drug bust. However, as current business associates who are at risk of being exposed through their association with Hiro, they are probably now well informed of those crimes.
What has been revealed (and correct me if i’ve got it wrong):
John McGarrett was investigating organized crime and police corruption. He was warned off by the murder of his wife. Steve has reasonably proved that Hiro was behind this and Hiro’s brother was the individual who planted the bomb.
Chin Ho Kelly was the investigator on the drug bust case and wouldn’t back down. “Someone” instigated an investigation with accusations of corruption, and, when that didn’t stop Chin, accused him of stealing $200K. Chin was forced out of HPD. Again, Hiro was probably behind this. The drug bust investigation was effectively officially halted.
John McGarrett continued the investigation into organized crime and the murder of his wife unofficially. He was aware that the HPD was compromised by moles and decided to continue the investigation after retirement (or resignation?). He gets close to Hiro, who becomes aware of the investigation, and somehow the paths of Steve McG and John McG converge. The end result is that John is murdered, but in a fashion that on the surface appears completely unconnected with John’s investigation.
Steve was hunting Victor’s brother, Anton, for what, 5 years? And somehow, Anton manages to get captured and Victor rounds up a heavily armed rescue team and takes John hostage. Anton seems to know all the details of the rescue, too. It’s very coincidental – and thus probably took a bit of planning.
I suggest that Hiro instigated the scenario to eliminate John, but arranged for Victor Hesse, an arms dealer, to carry out the plan. The operation went pear-shaped, with Victor’s brother dying, and Steve surviving and then being appointed head of the Governor’s task force. Victor is almost killed in the fallout. John ended up dead, as was planned.
Hiro, Victor and Wo Fat were not aware of the evidence compiled by John and found by Steve until Mary began her phone campaign at the HPD. That and the query by Chin Ho for the “accident” report file number raised warning flags with the moles.
Chin Ho (and Steve) were then targeted by Victor. The bomb threat against Chin seems odd, except that Victor has used the method before. The goal is apparently the murder of Chin Ho and probably Steve, plus the retrieval of the $10M from the locker. Again, things don’t go according to plan. Victor is captured, Chin Ho and Steve survive. The only “success” is the destruction of the money which doesn’t make much sense on the surface. At this point, Wo Fat is concerned enough to confront Victor in jail about the threat level Steve represents.
Next Hiro, sends mafia-boys to abduct Mary and steal the house key and then steal the Champ box. Then he orders a broad daylight hit on Mamo at the beach. Hiro has become overly reliant on his position in Hawaiian society and his friendship with the Governor; his attitude is arrogant and complacent. If he did arrange the hit on Mamo, then he’s getting careless, too. Not caring for these traits in his business partner, Wo Fat arranges the planting of the Champ box with Hiro’s fingerprints in the Pipeline Cafe dumpster, effectively removing Hiro from power. When he recognizes that Steve is moving against Hiro’s brother, Koji, he arranges the car accident. This hopefully removes the incentive for Steve to investigate further in that inquiry and creates an opening for Wo Fat to take over control of the Hawaiian Yakuza operation, and, since Victor is in jail, Victor’s arms operations.
Now comes along Captain Hale of the CG with his fake tsunami and plot to steal the $28M from the locker. Was Wo Fat behind this theft, too? Or did he get wind of it and intervene with some damage control through the HPD moles? Officer 808, I think your scenario #1 is closest to the truth.
However, I really like the suggestion that the money was/is counterfeit (good one, Kimmer), because that makes more sense than Victor having some type of psychotic break and throwing real cash in the fire (kudos also to Sockie). Putting the $10M back in locker may help deflect an investigation that would reveal that the real cash was swapped out for fake sometime in the past and reopening a police corruption enquiry. Hopefully, they remembered to put the correct serial numbers on the replacement bills, though!
I also really like the suggestion that John was working on a counterfeit money hunch and that is who Chin Ho is protecting (good one again, Kimmer).
As for the Governor, I see her as a committed straight-arrow, who would look dimly on moral compromises. Yes, she threw Hiro “under the bus” pretty quickly, but if she got wind of what Steve did I think it would cause her a LOT of grief and she would throw him under, too. And I do like the premise that she and John were “close”, that would explain a lot of her emotional responses (thanks Linda Stein). I do recall, she was very emotional too, though, when her good friend the ambassador’s daughters were kidnapped/murdered, so that may be part of her character.
Whew! Good post…and good theories.
Was the hit on Mamo or McG…all this time I thought it was on McG. Mamo didn’t tell anyone that he saw Koji place the bomb…unless Koji remembers seeing Mamo way back when…
A very, very late reply, sorry. I came back to read the comments about the Governor and noticed your comment.
I think the hit was on Mamo, because the mysterious letters that Maryanne deciphered as being a police description of the bomber were written on a postcard from Mamo’s surf shack. That card ended up in the hands of Hiro & Co. when the Champ box was stolen. It would have been easy for Hiro to infer from the incription and the vintage of the card that Mamo was a witness to the bomb planting, especially if he know that John’s family lived in the same neighbourhood as Mamo at the time of the murder.
The scene is a bit ambiguous because Danny thinks that he and Steve may have a tail on the way to the beach, but it turns off.
The other thing is that it would have been easier, safer and simpler to kill Steve at his home during the break-in, instead of tasering him and then trying to shoot him at the beach.
Holy Cow!
Well, you have been able to string together the pieces better than I have, I keep running into mental blocks with some of the data – great job!
I would think that Chin is a great big liability out there for Wo Fat, Noshimuri, and friends. I would think that they want him dead, gone, and silent. The bomb necklace was a way to see if he would tell Steve about the $$$. If Steve and Chin ended up dead, they could have deflected more suspicion away from Wo Fat and onto Chin – “the dirty cop” (you know – once a thief always a thief). But, when Steve prevailed, they had to cover their tracks and get that money returned pronto.
Oh! I just put another piece together!! (Ow, my head hurts!!) The whole tsunami ruse was put out there not as a way to steal the 28million, but a way to get the 10MIL BACK INTO THE forfeiture pile!!!! (My apologies and kudos if someone quicker than I has figure this out already…) Hale was the scapegoat in that scheme, setup to take the fall.
It may very well be true that Chin is seen as liability by Wo Fat and Noshimuri but I still have a hard time believing that the bomb on Chin was part of a larger plan. I think Hess was making that part up as he was going along. Hess had no idea who was going to find the ankle bracelet that was on Sang Min. It could have easily been any 5-0 member, some member of a SWAT team or just some random HPD cop sent as backup.
It very well may be that Hess was going to use the bomb exactly as he did, to try to get 5-0 to use that money but the fact that it was Chin was just coincidence.
the fake tsunami to put *back* the cash- now that would be smart. (nice one, kimmer)
However, I cannot see Hale as being a voluntary scape goat. so, he would either have to be blackmailed into doing it, or was really planning on coming back to get the cash later. whoever set him up would either
1) have to count on 5-0 figuring out not only the tsunami, what they were after, and where the cash was or
2) be willing to clue in the police, via annomous tip or what have you, and count on them getting there before hale comes back for the money.
and, of course, none of this solves who is behind the reappearing money in the first place. (although I do love reading everyone’s theories)
ok, now *my* head is starting to hurt. 🙂
nice twist…but I’m convinced though that the intent was to take the $28 mil
Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus! You done real good, Merry Blue. Now I’m thinking we should have an evidence wall like they do on the procedural shows, with pictures and arrows and ideas. Then as the season progresses we stare at it and fit things together when we get new stuff. Your post is the best evidence wall I’ve seen so far, I just wish it was a real wall.
However, I still think there’s something goin’ on with the gov…
Love love love this evidence wall idea!
Sorry about all the head aches, folks! I really did not mean to share those when I was trying to work out all the ideas. (And, yeah, it makes my head hurt, too.)
I’m going to have to print out all the comments so I can refer to them all easily. My brain works better with paper and ink (or toner) than a monitor screen. Keep working on the ideas about the locker money! Hesse is such a loose cannon, it’s really hard to figure out where his head is at.
Some new ideas:
Officer 808, your interview with Carey was great and his lines about future plot development possibilities really started the ideas churning. It sounds like – assuming Wo Fat arranged Koji’s accident – Wo Fat has had evidence planted pointing to Steve as the one who caused the accident and thus murdered Koji. Steve had motive – he believes that Koji killed his mother. Steve also publicly threatened Hiro at the restaurant and Koji at the golf course. And, as investigator, Steve is not working at arms length and could be accused of conducting a biased investigation. Or taking the law into his own hands (there’s no precedent for that, is there?). Deflecting the investigation onto Steve and 5-0 would disrupt the operation of the task force and it would prevent Hiro from realizing that Wo Fat is the true murderer and prevent a gang war between Hiro’s faction and Wo Fat from developing. To truly succeed, Wo Fat would also have to make it look like the Champ box was planted by someone in HPD or 5-0 at Steve’s instigation. To add some icing to his cake, Wo Fat could also rig up a scheme to implicate the governor in some
activities that are not above board and throw her relationship with 5-0 into difficulty and imperil her chances of re-election.
To make Wo Fat a true nemesis, which in my opinion is how the character should be handled, he needs to be to slippery to catch and he should be chased through all 7+ seasons of H50. Hopefully the writers won’t shy away from some political intrigue sprinkled between the explosions and beautiful scenery.
OK, go wild. Pick this apart ruthlessly! I’m off to do an internet search for chocolate covered Tylenol. 🙂 (If I find some, I’ll share.)
Ah, Cr@p! My apologies to Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa for mis-spelling his name.
Digested a little bit more of your post… Hesse’s $10 mil demand was without regard as to where it came from, in my opinion… Whether it came from the gov or the evidence locker, Hesse would have torched it. Also, I don’t think Hale was the mastermind of the entire tsunami plot, the hacker said that there were others…
I’ve read all the comments (whew!!), and the discussion here is thought provoking and EXPLODING MY BRAIN at the same time!!
I don’t have any new thoughts but my usual questions, because I’m dense, and a few comments.
The biggest question that still remains for me is, How does anyone outside of 5-0 know where the $10M was taken from in the first place and that it needed to be replaced? I have been devouring these delicious theories presented here of who replaced the money, but the question I keep coming back to is, How did [Hesse/Wo Fat/Jameson/etc.] know where the money came from?
Presumably, only our four 5-0’s know where the money came from, and the addition of Hesse (and then maybe Wo Fat who Hesse might have told during Wo Fat’s visit) knows that the money was destroyed. To an outsider, it would seem that since Chin Ho was saved and Hesse was captured, the ransom money (wherever they might have gotten it) would’ve been returned.
One fleeting & almost comical thought I had when I momentarily entertained the idea that the Governor was “covering” 5-0 for the missing $10M was that the little aunty with her walker out in front of her condo actually did call the authorities on Kono for doing “water stuff” in an unmarked vehicle and it somehow got all the way up to the Governor who put 2 and 2 together. I know, it’s ridiculous, but kind of humorous, and that aunty did look like the tenacious type, with her neighborhood watch and all.
Regarding the Governor’s past relationship with John McGarrett and/or family… they leave her past career and relationship w/ the McGarretts vague enough that there are several possibilities at this point. My impression is that she is a long time friend of John’s, most likely related to their jobs, but also possible they were romantically involved. Sorry, with more than 40 comments at this point, I can’t remember who initially brought it up, but I also like the notion that she was a DA or crossed paths w/ John while in local office – a career path that makes sense for a Governor.
I also don’t see her as a cop – and her apparent age makes it hard for me to believe that she was John’s partner or superior, even though yes it is possible for her to have been either and still be younger than John. Since Steve’s grandfather died during the attack on Pearl Harbor (Dec 1941), the youngest John could possibly be is about 68 if he was born soon after the attack. Jameson looks to be about 10 years younger than that to me.
My feeling is that she and John are old friends, and it’s possible she could have known Steve and Mary Ann as kids – minimally she must have heard a lot about them from John and must feel like she knows them. This explains her emotional outburst when finding out Mary Ann was grabbed. In the Pilot, she says to Steve, something to the effect of “thanks for agreeing to see me”. She doesn’t say “oh, it’s been so long since I last saw you”, but she also doesn’t say “Nice to meet you for the first time”. Steve does take a phone call from her while still on the plane during their approach to the air force base, so maybe they exchanged their “it’s been a while” niceties then. She does tell Steve something like, “I knew your father, so it’s personal for me, too”.
Also – who is Chin Ho protecting? He is “protecting” Malia, but I agree with the previous poster that she is probably not directly involved and he’s protecting her by distancing himself from her so she is not damaged by his bad reputation or caught in the cross fire. I’m not convinced the person he’s protecting is John McGarrett. AND, I don’t think CHK knows who it is who took the $200K from the locker.
Love the ideas that:
* Chief of Police is somehow involved – put Danny on John McGarrett’s murder hoping it would go cold.
* The $28M is counterfeit! Totally makes sense that Hesse would be so cavalier about throwing $10M into the fire. Even if you are a hardened badass criminal, and it really ISN’T about the money, why not enjoy a $10M windfall unless he knew the money was worthless?
That’s all the room my brain has left to process. And all the time I’ve got for now. Looking forward to reading more and watching as events unfold.
I’m almost glad tonight is a rerun because I’m still chewing on all of this!!
Nice job *figuring out* Jack McG’s age – you were right on the money – I noticed on last nights epi at the end his tombstone has his birthyear listed as 1942, so he was 68 when he was killed.
I’m glad it is not just me whose head hurts! Everyone has done a agreat job of trying to connect dots. New epi next week, plus the pilot on Sunday – can’t wait!
I feel for you, MyMcG – you, Merry, the Ossifer, and others have been hard at work while the less diligent like me are just waiting for you to give us the goods. My head hurts just with the reading. Hey, take the night off, watch the rerun, and put your feet up.
I’m with you Textbook! I’ll let all the other undercovers do the leg (or in this case, head) work! It took me forever just to read through all this! Gotta say, it was fascinating! Love the idea of a storyboard as, I believe Danny said in the last episode, “I’m a visual learner.” I really have nothing more to add here, it’s all been said.
My one simple thought is that there is no way the Coastguard dude, Hale, could have known where the $28 million was stored on his own. Chin claimed the forfeiture locker where the money was kept was a big secret that most police officers never knew about. So, unless he was lying about that, someone else is involved in the coastguard duo’s attempted heist. Was Hale approached because he was initially involved in the drug deal and knew about the confiscated $28 million? Who used him? He was definitely somebody’s fall guy.
You guys are all smarter than me…I’m going to let you figure it out and I will shower you with praise and leis when you get it right! Aloha!
The aunty reporting to the authorities about the Five-0s breaking into the vault, which gives the gov the heads up about the missing money? Brilliant!
I really love all your ideas about the 10 mil, but I still have a few questions.
How would Wo Fat benefit in putting the money back? I just don’t see it. The remaining 18 mil would probably not be further investigated, it is an old, cold case already. The missing 10 mil would not change that.
But Wo Fat would greatly benefit if the 10 mil were missing, be course that would get investigated and they would find out that McG took it. Wo Fat would get rid of McG without doing anything. What could be better?
To solve the question who put the money back, we just have to answer two simple questions.
First: is the money even back?
OK let’s say it really is back. The second even more simple question is: who would benefit from the money being back in the locker?
I think the list is really really short.
McGarrett and his team, obviously. With the money back they would not go to jail, something we all would appreciate, I’m sure. On the other hand a day in a cell would make a very interesting story, I’m sure. 🙂
And that is my list. I just don’t see any other person or “organization” benefiting from putting the money back. I mean think about it. What would happen if the money were missing? The theft of it would be investigated. Not necessarily the original crime the money came from. The original crime was investigated to death already, no new evidence would suddenly appear and some till then unseen connections discovered.
So really, WHY put the money back? I just don’t see any logical explanation for it and I’m really looking forward to see how they will solve that in the show. Or maybe they won’t?
exactly! what we got is pure speculation, which is fun in itself for us fans, but we won’t know more until the writers give us more info!
WOW this thread really took on a life of it’s own, didn’t it? But I’ll bet we’re going to have to keep speculating for awhile longer. I’m willing to bet that the money issue won’t be addressed for a few episodes to let the suspense perculate for awhile. Oh, they may mention it while working on other things but that storyline will probably be on hold for a few weeks. Don’t want to peek to early, right?
Besides, aren’t they supposed to be traipsing through the jungle in the next episode and trying to save StepStan’s ass and protect Grace and Rachel? And the one after that is some pirated ship with Nick Lachey on it? Doesn’t seem like they will have much chance to follow a money trail. Remember at the beginning of the season, it was several weeks between sightings and/or discussions about the Champ box?
I think we’re going to have to be patient for answers. But then, those of us who followed Daniel over here from that other island are used to waiting for answers. Over there, sometimes, they never came 😉 I know that won’t happen on THIS island!
Watched the tsunami episode several times now, with special attention to a couple of things that bothered me:
1. jalopie wondered how Hale knew where the $28M was stored and suggested he was a fall guy. Very good point. At the end, Hale says he served 20 years in the CG and was being forced out, no pension. What on earth for? And why was his partner in crime, the guy holding Dr. Russell at gunpoint, discharged dishonourably from the CG 8 years ago (same time as the bust went down, presumably)? Perhaps HPD intervened in the drug bust because they became aware that a faction in the CG was planning to skim off some of the haul? Some of them got nailed, but others escaped? Maybe someone is now pressuring or enticing Hale to go after the money, by threatening to reveal his part in the original plot. Hale needs someone in HPD to help him out to find and empty the forfeiture locker, which the person(s) exerting the pressure could provide. Speaking of HPD insiders, what does that suggest about the cops found at the scene with Hale?
2. Sam suggests that only McG and team would benefit by the money being back. I’m not so sure about that, especially if someone was particularly concerned that the original case not be re-opened. (Someone has previously gone to a lot of trouble to keep it cold.) However, in that line of thought, did anyone find Danny’s response to the money return a bit, um, low key? Or perhaps not entirely surprised. Danny seems the calmest of the lot at the Governor’s office and his response to the revelation is a grimace and a how-about -that “hum!” Danny is normally such an excitable guy. He was not impressed with Steve for not informing the Governor at the outset about the removal and destruction of the money. So, did Danny do an end-run around Steve and tell the Governor about it himself? “Hum” could translate into “I guess she has our backs after all”.
On another note, apparently there are no plans to bring Hiro back into the show at the moment (follow-up with Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa blog post). So much for that fantasy! Or maybe there’s a lot of smoke from multiple fires blowing around.
I thought the same thing about Danny’s reaction at the Gov. office. That face he made was pretty odd. But I do not believe that he went behind McG’s back and told Jameson. That would be a HUGE break of trust. No, he didn’t do that, besides I don’t think that he or Chin and Kono have much contact with her at all.
For a fleeting moment I entertained the idea that he asked StepStan for the money. But first, I don’t think that he would do that, too risky involving other people. And secondly even if he got the money somehow there still would be the problem with getting it back into the locker. I don’t think that he has anything to do with it.
I still think that the writers took a pretty bold step to let McG steal that money. I mean what he did is a felony. He could loose everything. He would be dishonorable discharged from the Navy. He would be prosecuted and probably send to jail. If they don’t solve this theft in a really very clever way, this will haunt the character of Steve McGarrett for quite some time. It will definitely leave a pretty dark spot on his vest and I have a feeling that it will not be the only one.
I also noted Danny’s reaction as being strange. Chin Ho and Kono seemed genuinely confused. Danny seemed like, “Hmm, whattaya know…” I don’t think Danny had anything to do with replacing the money either through the Governor or Step-Stan. As the heist was in progress, Danny seemed to believe the $10M was actually (still) gone. He entertained for a second the idea of letting the heist succeed to cover their tracks. (as a side note, here, Danny says, Then I’ll never be able to look my daughter in the face again… okay, let’s go, I’ll drive. But it’s actually Steve who is driving when we see them in the car on their way to the sandbags.) I don’t think Danny would’ve had the time to work something out between the actual take-down and the meeting at the Governor’s office, which I’m assuming was a day or two in between, at most.
I know it makes for intriguing plot points and twists and turns, but still, nobody has yet explained to my satisfaction how Steve’s immunity doesn’t cover the taking/destruction of this money.
I’m obsessing WAY too much about this, especially at 5:30 am.
Sam and MyMcG, I agree with you – I have a really hard time seeing Danny speaking to the Gov about this. But I still think his reaction is weird. I wanna know why.
Honestly, MyMcG, I think you hit it on the head with your post Jan 31. How does anyone outside of H50 know about the $10M removal from the evidence locker? The simplest answer is, they don’t. While McG and his team are having their WTF moment in the Governor’s lobby, somewhere else on the island, some master criminal (Wo Fat?) is having his own WTF moment – “Why is there only $18M here!!! Who took the other $10M???!!!”
The idea of the evidence money being counterfeit has been batted around quite a bit, but what if it wasn’t counterfeit? Yet? What if there were two sand bags of money, one with $28M in counterfeit bills conveniently left near the top of the pile to be replaced back into the locker if the theft went bad (which it did), and a bag (or some other container) smuggled out elsewhere with the real $18M. I’m pretty sure this theory or something very close to it has been floated, but I can’t find where (please assign credit if you know). An HPD mole could have brought in the fake money, emptied the locker of the real money, and handed the bag of fake money over to Hale to plant for what Hale thought would be retrieval later.
Thanks, MyMcG. That is the theory I think I’m going with. (unless someone posts something to change my mind.)
There’s a *whole* lot to be revealed still yet. Funny thing is, what if Peter Lenkov and writing crew are reading the blogs for ideas…? LOL
Hey, Officer 808, what is with show writers and blogs/mailing lists/bulletin boards/fanfic/etc these days? I remember another show I followed many years ago, the series writers insisted that if anyone posted fanfic to the list, they would leave because they didn’t want to be accused of plagiarism. Is that a concern these days? FWIW, my speculations can be considered public domain.
I’ve found a few fanfic sites, but I haven’t heard any complaints from studio execs or producers… And as far as I know they’ve happened all on their own sites.
I’m pretty sure it was common knowledge within the CG/HPD circle that the big take down would end up in the HPD locker, since HPD swiped the case from the CG… But good ideas on the rest.
It was Steve who said “I’ll drive” not Danny.
About the immunity. Well I thought about that quite a bit. Jameson is just the Gov. of Hawaii, not the President of the United States. She just doesn’t have the authority to give him free reign for anything. Not for something like a murder or a felony like stealing 10 million. I’m sure she will have his back if he “asked” a suspect a bit too forceful or is not waiting for a warrant to get into a house. But other than that, I don’t think it’s in her power to do more. And even that would be tricky, be course McG might get away with breaking into a house of a suspect, but any discovered evidence would be dismissed in court. So the immunity is not really worth that much. And it is certainly completely worthless in regard of the Navy. They have their own rules.
BTW I’m very interested how they will go about the requirements of Steve still being in the Reserves. He needs to do at least one training-drill-weekend once a month and he has to go to active duty for 1 year after 5 years in the Reserves. But I guess they will not address this at all.
Actually, watching the show week to week, the immunity thing doesn’t bother me as much as the liberties they take w/ the due process, as you point out. It’s usually not forefront on my mind that Steve (or is it all of 5-0?) has immunity – it’s not even really necessary for the stories to hold true in most of the time so I don’t even know why it’s “out there” except to annoy me every once in a while when I remember it. You’re right, Jameson would probably only have the power to pardon what is under her jurisdiction (which I’m not 100% sure, but I think trepassing onto and larceny from HPD property would not fall under federal statutes, but I could be wrong) and I hadn’t even thought about the Navy and court martial implications, so immunity just makes things messy for no reason. So why introduce it into the show at all?
Interestingly, the Governor said she was putting together the task force together to get the bad guys the hell off her island, but unless Steve shoots them dead — which he surely does in a few episodes, the bad guys would either go free (and continue to wreak havoc on her island) because prosecutor’s office can’t build a case with evidence that is admissable, OR even if prosecutors do get a conviction, then the bad guys would most likely end up at Halawa Correctional, so technically, still on her island! Hmph.
I’ve thrown out due process, seat belt laws, cell phone laws and location disambiguities out the window a long time ago 😉
We might not have a problem with prosecution. Most baddies end up dead anyway LOL
Without getting too technical, that’s one type of reserves. He may qualify for another type of reserve duty that isn’t required to do anything. But of course, this is Hollywood, so I think his military career is pretty much out the door. But let’s do the math…if he graduated approximately in 1992, that means he’s been in for 19 years. 15 of them will be good for retirement since his 4 years at the Naval Academy won’t count for retirement. He only needs 5 more years to be able to collect military retirement. Maybe in season 2 he goes back to active duty 😉 (info gleaned from military friends).