#actually no its flippa rip my daughter

[junipaca]

i squint at qsmp from a distance . i think miss bagi is very pretty. very pretty.

[five-wow]

to avoid extreme spam of anyone brave enough to follow me, i’m putting all of my 9.12 thoughts in one post. tl;dr: i loved it.

the (much, much) longer version:

the “previously on” starts with scenes from episode three or four of season one oh gosh

THIS IS A GRACE HIGHLIGHTS REEL. I’M ALREADY EMOTIONAL

first question of the night: rachel wakes up and finds that grace didn’t come home so she jumps in the car and races to danny’s, but where did she leave charlie in the middle of the night??? i’m assuming he was with her

i’ve already seen this very first bit in one of the previews but still: grace was driving a car that stan bought her two weeks ago and that DIDN’T HAVE PLATES YET and nobody told danny. there are so many things wrong with that

these actors are both so good in their despair though. the opening credits are just now starting and my heart has already been squeezed to a pulp???

steve!!! the very first thing we see after the credits is steve, sick with worry, half running into the hospital and speeding up when he sees danny to wrap him in a hug. he does this little hop thing?? that kills me??

so steve squeezes danny (and it kind of looks a little like danny was going for a handshake bro hug thing but steve just bulldozered over him and gave him the real hug they should be having? good steve) and then he rushes to rachel to hug her too, like a matter of course. i like that

oh noooo. the other girl’s dad turns up and blames he crash on grace (understandable under the circumstances but not helpful in the least) and as soon as steve realizes what’s happening he steps over to situate himself in between this guy and danny??? i love steve so much gosh

duke turns up with critical info and he tells steve about it??? not danny or rachel, and admittedly he maybe has a stronger bond with steve i guess but at least danny he definitely knows pretty well too (they’re ohana too, right?) but he tells steve about what’s technically danny’s daughter and there’s so many things to be read into that (the main thing obviously being that steve is as good as grace’s parent too and it’s canon fdjkfdjk)

i’m five minutes in at this point and i already have this much commentary. this is going to be long

i think i’ve said this before but: it’s not necessarily bad that stan bought grace a car. it’s not bad either that rachel didn’t tell danny, but if what rachel says and it’s because grace wanted to tell danny herself, then rachel should have put her foot down and not let grace go out with the car (that didn’t have plates yet??? that can’t be legal right?) until grace had actually told danny about it!!! rachel just doesn’t learn from her past mistakes about not telling danny shit about their kids that danny DEFINITELY should have been told and it’s a believable character flaw but it’s so painful

“there’s all kinds of things that happen that you should’ve told me about that you don’t tell me about, i’m used to it, alright? i’m used to it.” danny fucking knows and this is honestly the number one reason why romantic danny/rachel can’t ever work again as far as i’m concerned because it would be built on so much resentment and pain and pure shit that it’s just too much to put behind you, because they won’t ever be able to fully, completely trust each other again (and not all of it would be rachel’s fault, btw, i’m not saying that - it’s just that when she fucks up, she fucks up big time)

“i’m a cop now. i’ll keep it professional.” [cut to tani pushing her suspect out of his chair and onto the floor] well, you know, she’s got a point there. that’s exactly what professional looks like to five-0 (i like this secondary plotline a lot though! tani as protective and slightly violent older sister is super interesting)

danny is calling steve to update him even though there’s barely any knews because steve deserves to know everything (and probably because danny’s wants to hear his voice, lbr) and it’s good

this phone call between tani and junior is also super sweet!! (though it does kind of add obvious fuel to the fire of parallels they’re drawing between tani&junior and danny&steve, whether that’s something you like or not)

the whole team is so concerned about danny and of course they are but it’s still really good to see!!

of course grace can’t just get in a car accident, it has to be some kind of a crime. (i don’t even really mind but it’s just so predictable, gosh. they need someone to blame)

kamekona and flippa are bringing food to the hospital!!! that’s so thoughtful!

charlie! he exists in this episode! i’m still slightly fuzzy on where he was all night (because noelani comes in with him but the way she then asks charlie if he wants to hang out doesn’t seem like he’s been with her this whole time, so where the hell was he?) but it’s good to see him now, at least

also!!! noelani babysitting charlie!!! EVERYONE IS HELPING OUT. OHANA. <3

danny had noelani bring some stuff for rachel which is good and kind but the sweatshirt thing makes me... a little concerned... about romantic connotations. but i’m stubbornly deciding to read this as a purely platonic gesture to help out a sort-of-friend/co-parent

OOPS steve calls because they located a phone that grace received a threatening text message from at the hospital, but is leading danny to this person really a good idea right now? oh gosh

oh god grace was helping a classmate that got bullied and she dropped a girl’s phone in someone’s beer to stop her from showing around a picture and i love grace

the thing is, right. the thing is. I KNOW that grace is going to be okay because she’ll be in the next episode, eating pancakes at danny’s and laughing with steve, but i’m STILL almost crying watching danny and rachel wait with all this sickening tension without knowing anything and then watching them rush to get some news only to hear there’s been a complication and all they can do, AGAIN, is wait more

it’s GOOD but it’s SO PAINFUL

steve, junior and lou watch a security tape of zippy’s where some creepy guy keeps coming up to grace and katie’s table and then grace gets up and clearly tells the guy to go away and a) that’s really good on its own but also b) steve’s proud “atta girl”!!! yes!!!

danny apologizes for being mean about the car, holy shit. and yes, he was a little mean, maybe, but he was also incredibly stressed and he had a right to be angry, god.

“i should have been more honest with you. about a lot of things.” at least rachel had realized that much, omg.

rachel is playing the “what if” game and danny tells her that she shouldn’t and it’s actually a really nice moment. i like this.

THAT VIDEO. and both rachel and danny just crying and crying and the mutual forehead kisses and comfort??? i think i’ve made it pretty clear that i don’t ever want romantic danny/rachel again but this? i LOVE this. they can’t be a couple but they can still be a team and family in this weird way through their kids.

danny is just sitting on the floor in a hallway now and steve finds him and sits down next to him before they even say a single word and i’m already swamped with feelings just from that. i’m easy like that djfdkjf

steve says that grace is really taking after danny by going after bullies and standing up for the little guy and danny says “i think maybe she gets that from you more than me” anD I AM DECEASED. RIP ME. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO HANDLE THESE FAMILY FEELS??

i’m not going to quote their entire conversation about steve being in more of grace’s pictures than danny and steve saying they should throw grace a big graduation party in steve’s backyard and danny actually smiling about something but i COULD because this is EVERYTHING I EVER WANT.

rachel finds them with the news that grace is OKAY and FUCK YES but also???? danny and steve’s expressions of relief???? are the exact same??????? and then there’s THAT ONE HUG that involves danny and rachel and steve, all three of them, and at this point literally nobody can convince me that steve isn’t as much a parent to grace as either of these other two

ALSO. LET ME JUST TALK ABOUT THAT HUG FOR A BIT. danny and rachel fall into each other’s arms because duh, at this point, of course you’d hug, and danny kind of swings them around a bit and then REACHES FOR STEVE who’s standing there right next to them with his hands on his hips and just DIVES into it and rachel makes room for him too? and then they’re CLINGING TO EACH OTHER and steve has closed his eyes and wrapped himself around them and he has his chin on danny’s shoulder and danny is smushed between them and have i given of the vibe that I LOVE THIS yet because I DO

grace! we get to see grace in color for the first time this episode!

there’s a party for grace at danny’s home!!! and danny says he didn’t know about it and i’m leaning towards believing him because i can easily be 100% convinced that this was steve’s doing oh gosh

GRACE AND STEVE HUG. literally just the hug content in this episode is lethal to me oh shit

“we’re still here, okay. anytime you need us, we got you.” PRIME DAD!STEVE. FUCK YES.

djfdjkfd @ steve somewhere in the background when kamekona mentions the restaurant going “i still prefer the name steve’s”

koah’s thing about appreciating tani and appreciating being brought into this big weird family????? almost made me cry again

OH NO. yep i was bracing for this already because i’d seen enough people talking about this, but i’m at the end, with danny and rachel outside at a small table and danny brings her some food they ate at their first date and she points that out and he says that it’s on the menu because it was their first date meal and, uhhhh, no. nope. don’t do that, come on, guys, what the fuck

alright, so yes, there are pretty undeniable flirting vibes here, but i’m stubborn. i’m still going to deny them. i’m going to view this as a happy end where danny and rachel have been brought a little closer together as divorced parents of two kids and where they can share a moment again without it devolving into a fight and i’m choosing to let that be all it is. and steve’s look and smile at them? that would honestly be out of character if it was supposed to be “oh i’m happy that danny might be getting back together with his ex-wife” so obviously i’m going to interpret that as “oh i’m happy that danny and rachel seem to be getting along platonically because that’ll make danny and grace and charlie’s life easier”

okay, now that i’ve seen all of it, two things:

what happened to katie??? she was just as bad off as grace from what we heard but we never got to hear if she was alright??? and the thing with her dad was never resolved either???

MELISSA. remember, danny’s girlfriend??? i’m about 99.9% sure we never heard that she and danny broke up, unless i missed something, and i don’t think i did. so. what the fuck are we supposed to think there? i’m not certain they’ve mentioned her once this season but at the same time danny was definitely teasing steve about his lack of dates in 9.01 and that was a prime opportunity for steve to say something, anything, to danny about danny’s dating life as a comeback, but they didn’t take that chance so at that time i assumed he was still with melissa. but? now they seem to be doing this thing with rachel? and melissa has been forgotten? i see people in the fandom say that danny is single all the time and i get it because at this point it’s an assumption that makes sense, with how little melissa has been mentioned for seasons now, but we’ve never gotten confirmation of that and it bugs the hell out of me because she’s a character that supposedly played a big role in his life at one point and she was in multiple episodes and now they don’t even have the time for like, one line of dialogue that somehow tells us what’s what? the complete irony here is that i never really liked danny and melissa’s relationship (she is so young for him, and that’s just the start of it) and now i sound like i’m defending it when really i just don’t want this poor woman to be treated so ridiculously. i swear i’m going to file a missing persons report omfg where is melissa #melissadeservedbetter

aside from my bitterness about melissa though - i LOVED this episode. it was tense and painful and i’m as concerned about the danny/rachel hints as the next guy, but it’s not that explicit here and i do like seeing them together as friends so i’m good with it for the most part for now? and there was SUCH good dad!steve content and some amazing steve/danny and the steve-danny-rachel hug killed me as much as i’d hoped and there was a steve and danny hug and a steve and grace hug and the sideplot was great too and i loved seeing tani and koah together more, and i just??? really loved almost every second of it a lot