#h50 commentaries

[trickster-archangel]

Random thoughts about Hawaii Five-0 rewatch: part 3/?

Last random thought for a while, because I need to find the time to skip between s6-s10 DVDs.

Thought #4: dude....love triangles only apply to romantically and sexually involved people, so no, don't worry, we won't "call it bromance", or: The Prom Date parallel, or: The Real Jersey Slip.

This one is really just on my mind, but since I was skipping between contents just to make sure everything was (probably) working (Danny's negativity is powerful in me), I happened to land onto two specific bits of dialogue which made me bitter-laugh so madly.

The incriminated dialogues are found in the s4 Shorelines (I think), and in the commentary (courtesy of Lenkov, O'Loughlin, and Park) for 3x17 aka the Pro Bowl date episode.

I'm reasoning backwards, because what the writers were saying, extensively, about the Billy storyline, was that they wanted to show a different side of McGarrett: he's sure of himself, self-confident, cocky even, when coming to his job and skills....but what about his feelings and personal life? He does have a vulnerable, doubtful side, one which makes him feel stuttering when coming to relationships. He trusts Catherine (ouch), and Billy too because they used to be battlefield brothers. But does he? So they explored this jealous side of him, one he's not proud of and which he desperately tries to stifle, deny, push down and downplay, because admitting it would mean feeling weak.

Also, Billy's death would've put Catherine in a place where she didn't have purpose in life anymore, where she felt guilty for something she was trained to prevent, bringing her to seek Steve's presence as a friend too (!!!!) to have a shoulder to cry onto.

This is absolute perfect, and I do appreciate the effort and the general masterplan...even if as usual, character-study is not the main interest for an older audience thus it was obviously shallow and just hinted at, in reality....and also they shamefully killed Billy after a few episodes instead of exploring this "love triangle" in depth.

That's it. That's the exact idiom they used for the Billy/Catherine arc. Love triangle. Which is absolutely the correct term for the situation. Let's pack it for later, and let's move to the 3x17 commentary.

What's so funny to me, is that when the (in)famous "Cath gets ditched because Steve is going with Danny" scene comes on screen, you hear PL almost absentmindedly perking up and laughing, saying something like "Oh, and here we are at the classic love triangle drama!".....then suddenly shuts up because he gets aware of what he just said.

At this point things get frenzy, they laugh, Grace cheers, and someone (PL? Alex?) hurries to add "C'mon Steve, don't be that man who ditches his girlfriend to go out with his best friend!", to save the situation.

Only problem is, we hear Alex (I think it’s his voice this time), saying "It's exactly like one of those awkward moments when you're asked for prom, but you turn down the person because you already have a date".

And we really remember when that other "prom date moment" was, right?

I really can't understand why they chose to ditch all this potential they were all clearly aware of, just for heteronormativity sake. A man and a woman can be platonic best friends. Two men can be completely romantically committed to each other. I really can't see what the problem is.

[teruel-a-witch]

what if one day steve and danny stumble into what they think is a crime scene but actually turns out to be the production of a cop tv show and the more they find out about the show the more familiar all the details seem until they realise to their horror that someone is making a tv show about a fictionalised version of their team. of course it's highly sensationalised and inaccurate but has just enough details for it to feel creepy and make steve and danny suspect someone they know has fed the production some information. (jerry, it was definitely jerry)

turns out they can't shut it down because all personal information has been changed and there's not enough actual accuracy in the show to impact their procedure/operations since the viewers don't care about accuracy so much as entertainment and interpersonal relationships between characters.

they are, however, welcome to stay and watch the filming as long as they don't interfere. it's actually a bit amusing to watch their all too familiar banter from the outside, danny grins and pointedly looks at steve when his counterpart lectures his partner about recklessly risking his life and steve smirks when his calls danny's 'a nagging wife' which makes danny huff and glare adorably.

nothing could've prepared them to what they saw next, when their characters' usual heated argument suddenly turns into them making out against the wall in the interrogation room right in front of the 'suspect'.

their simultaneous 'what the hell?' startles everyone but the writer and director defend their choice 'just because it didn't happen like that with you guys doesn't mean we aren't allowed some creative license and our viewers respond well to passion. especially since two episodes ago captain o'malley finally confessed his undying love for his partner and sergeant walters reciprocated they are supposed to be unable to keep their hands off of each other. just like you were, i imagine, when you first succumbed to the obvious attraction between you two. all that flirting couldn't be for nothing.'

afterwards danny is quiet and steve angrily promises to have a word with jerry. when they confront him steve asks why, on top of everything, would jerry say that steve and danny are a couple? they are in for another shock when jerry says that he didn't. apparently the production team just assumed, based on all the details and behaviour, because it made more sense for their characters to be romantically involved rather than not.

steve is rattled because he feels exposed but the absence of danny's ranting is worrying so he overcomes his fear to ask what's wrong. danny surprises him with how small and resigned he sounds when he murmurs 'is the idea of being in love with me really so off-putting to you??'

steve realizes his reaction was misinterpreted and ended up hurting danny's feelings so now he has to risk admitting the truth even if it means making things awkward because he can't stand danny thinking he's not worthy of his or anyone else's love.

he never realised he was that obvious and being confronted with the opposite made him act defensively. 'i was bitter, and resentful, it felt like they were throwing what i could never have in my face. how unlikely is it to be hopelessly in love with your best friend and have him magically reciprocate? the chances are probably one in a billion'.

steve is afraid he made things awkward with his confession and tries to leave a speechless danny, until he is stopped with a hand on his wrist and a blinding smile. 'you big oaf, did it never occur to you that i am your one in a billion? now let's make our fictional selves jealous.'

once they are done making up for lost time they send jerry a gift basket.

[leupagus]

Director's Commentary

I saw this post about how fanfic should have more behind-the-scenes info, and it reminded me that there used to be a mildly popular thing of director's commentaries for fanfics — authors would literally edit an existing story with their thought processes behind certain scenes or characterizations, etc.

And since I'm in a bit of a writing drought at the moment, I thought it might be fun to do one of these, but I have no idea what story folks would be most interested in hearing all the various and sundry shenanigans around writing. So here are some of my most popular/beloved AO3 fics, with the 10th option being something you tell me in replies or something that's not on this list! You can find all the fics here, so hit me up babes.

[doctor-sailor-investigator]

“Only to the younger vamps, love. I can be in the daylight without a problem. I just like the night better. Less kids awake...well, in my circles.” 

[five-wow]

steve to danny on the beach in 10.21: [immediately assumes danny is jealous of him and cole, a random man they just met]

danny to steve on the beach in 10.22: [immediately assumes steve is jealous of the nurse that danny thought was very nice, a random woman they might never see again]

[mcdannowave]

“[laughing] I gotta say, I just love doing the car scenes, man, it’s  soo much fun’‘ - Alex O’Loughlin, via Audio Commentary, Episode 3x17.

[zzh3]

Danny Williams has such big bottom energy, I said what I said.

[nicole-goddessofloki]

You Animal (Chapter McDanno story)

This is the 4th chapter of my first McDanno story: Valentine’s Day in Hawaii. And after I saw the final, I’m working on 2 fix-it stories. I’m already liking those stories more than this one, but will continue this one anyway.

Summary story:

Danny received a mysterious Valentine’s card, however much time for figuring out who sent it, he doesn’t get when duty calls. Also Steve is acting strange. Would they finally admit what they are truly feeling for each other? This low-key Valentine’s day might be the perfect occasion for that..

I will post here a small part of the 4th chapter. This 4th chapter is a bit smutty, but for the smutty part you have to continue reading on Ao3 ;).

Chapter 4: “You Animal!”

Because Danny got home early, he offered to help Steve preparing dinner. When Steve reassured that it wasn’t necessary, Danny reminded himself of the fact that the two of them together in the kitchen was destined to end in disaster anyway. Steve told him to sit down, so after grabbing himself a beer, he did.

“Where’s my beer?” Steve asked after he served dinner. Danny was about to jump into a defensive mood but then he noticed the beer bottle inside Steve’s apron’s pocket. Steve winked, grabbed it out and sat himself down. “What’s with the outfit?” he asked.

Steve referred to the tie Danny wore. A loose tie fell out of Danny’s closet while he took the blouse out he now wore. For some reason, Danny decided to wear it. However, he knew his partner from like the back of his hand so he should have seen the commentary coming..

“The tie?” Steve continued.

“Can’t I never wear a tie? It’s evening,” Danny responded. He shook his head and shoved the pasta swirled around his fork inside his mouth.

“You actually look like you’re on a real date..” Steve shared. He gave Danny a nervous smile while he tried not to get distracted by the blonde’s way of slurping the spaghetti in and licking the red sauce from his lips. “Have you found out who sent you the Valentine’s card yet?”

Danny coughed as Steve’s comment had gotten him close from choking in his food. “You know, I really don’t care who sent it. It’s probably from a joker like Sang Min anyway. If you hadn’t brought it up I totally had forgotten about that stupid damn card!” Danny reacted a bit annoyed.

Like he usual does, Steve waved his hands up in the air. “You can’t be serious.. Sang Min? That’s an insult to the actual sender..” Steve sounded offended.

“I didn’t say Sang Min sent it, I was just making an example,” Danny continued. “Can we drop the card thing now, please?”

“Sure.” Steve shrug. “Whatever you want, Sunshine. How’s the pasta?”

After dinner the men continued their ‘date’ with a movie night. Many beers later, they both sat sacked out on the couch. Danny did his best following the movie, but the movements happening next to him, as flashes in his eye corner they were distracting him from doing so. Several times Steve turned his head, staring at Danny frowning. “What? Is there something on my face?” Danny turned to Steve.

“No, there’s something on your chest..” Steve mysteriously said. “You look ridiculous with that tie, you know that?” Steve continued, laughing.

Danny rolled his eyes. “Don’t..”

“Take it off..” Steve spoke. Now, he did no effort in hiding his feelings as his lustrous eyes were already giving it away.

Suddenly Danny’s interest for the movie had decreased, it was not like he was able to follow the movie anyway. “What?”

“Take off your shirt!” Steve clarified, now with a louder voice.

Danny grabbed the remote and turned off the tv. “What the hell is the matter with you?”

For Tumblr I’ll stop here.. Continue in Ao3 link:

Chapter You Animal

Next chapter my fav H50 criminal debuts :D

[dictee]

i think as a korean person u don't owe anyone anything wrt ur mash post and criticizing it, and its increasingly fair game to ask people to knock it off in 2021. it's like - so hawaii five oh in the original one was racist, idk i never saw it, but even the 2000s reboot was still racist - while there were efforts made to cast more asians such as grace park, daniel dae kim in the main cast but there was the whole bts pay rate of them being paid LESS than their white costars, and they did cast lots of asian extras but mostly all of them were in antagonistic/villain roles. the most Japanese people we saw like as in fully japanese were all yakuza vs the japanese american character ian anthony dale played was a good guy trying to reform all that is like. extremely messy. idk it's just shitty to go into mash h50 for the gay shit while u actively ignore the racist stuff or act is if its a deeper commentary than just outright racism that permeates american works of fiction on other people of color written by white folks

mmhmm and even if hawaii five oh paid its actors equitably it would still be about the fucking police occupying hawaii protecting settler interest on stolen land and presenting them as heroes

[nade2308]

H50 4x12

So, usually when we watch TV with my father he has a running commentary, asking me what's this and that, because usually I have already seen something (like H50 4x12). And then we are watching Grover and Steve and all of a sudden my father asks me "Hey, where is Danno?". I love my father

[thebesteverseen-blog]

“Annapolis, five years Naval Intelligence, six years with the SEALs. Your superiors say that you are

                                                      тнeвeѕтeverѕeen                  .”

                                    Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett                            Navy SEAL & Task Force Commander                             (& Amanda’s H50 Commentary Tumblr

                                            Since  2012    )

                               ☢       ☢        ☢        ☢        ☢

[trickster-archangel]

Random thoughts about Hawaii Five-0 rewatch: part 1/?

So, as someone of my mutuals already knows, I'm currently undergoing the exhausting task of checking all the fucking 61 DVDs from the H50 box set before the 30-days guarantee expires, because it's physically impossible to watch them all completely in that time, even if I took 1 month leave. So I'm simply skipping back and forth and leaving the regular rewatch for when my life will be less of a living hell...so, supposedly around 2038...

I have one complaint, which is the subtitles are not completely matching all dialogues, but since my brain only needs them until it's switched to English-mode and I can start understanding it again, I guess it's alright. Second complaint: they're fucking HUGE and OVERLAPPING THE SCENES SO RANDOMLY IT HURTS.

Anyway, I've by now processed only s1-s5, and dude....some things I caught in the deleted scenes (which I've watched entirely) AND in some parts of the commentaries I specifically sought because curiosity won, and which I've never seen giffed or captioned....man, I was so angry and disappointed at times. So I thought I'd be randomly processing them here, no pics sorry, only thoughts.

~~~~~~more under the cut~~~~~~

Thought #1: Alex and Scott goofing around.

Trust me. The gag reels are so much better than you'd expect. At times I was genuinely laughing to tears and god knows how rare it is.

What I loved most was to watch that scene where Alex and Scott start cussing in Italian, and I bet no one who's not Italian could understand a fuck about what they're yelling. Best part, though, were the subtitles, captioning ALEX AND SCOTT: SWEARING IN ITALIAN 😂 Just to make sure what language exactly they were using.

Thought #2: missed chance to make Amber's character less of a plastic doll, or: Why did you fucking cut those 57 seconds?!?!

While watching s5 deleted scenes, I stumbled upon two real jewels from the 24th episode. I'm still trying to understand why they couldn't include them in the canon episode, since both of them combined are less than a minute and surely there were other moments that could've been cut. My only explanation, sadly, is that it would've painted Amber in quite a different light, making her a stronger, rounder character, and giving her an agency we rarely saw in her, except when confronting her ex husband. They could've followed that route, but we cannot have a beautiful woman who's also her own person, a self-confident person, and not just a plastic Barbie doll, right?! God forbid a woman can have agency and call out men on their bullshit, it would threat masculine privilege too much....

So, what exactly happened that bothered me so deeply? (Be aware I'm quoting by heart and not literally, as I didn't take screenshots and anyway I can't make gifs. Also, the following meta is just my interpretation of the implications running through subtext).

The first scene is very short, just six or seven seconds long, but it's a jewel in subtext and non-verbal communication. It takes place presumably after or around the moment Rachel tells Danny about Charlie: we see them from afar, clearly in a street-taken point of view, from an external observer. They are agitated and distressed, Rachel more than Danny, who's tensely spread on the bench with his arms looped behind the backrest, angling far from Rachel's compact and almost self-hugging frame.

They're distressed, not happy, not even remotely connecting to each other, so it's clear it's not a scene which could be envisioned as romantic. It's only a couple of seconds long, and then we see whose this external point of view belongs to: Amber. Amber who's not an idiotic, mellow, shallow doll. Amber who's been so clearly upset by Danny's lie about the texts, that she decided to follow him to the place Rachel had indicated. Amber who's been manipulated and controlled and abused long enough to become suspicious and self-preserving when someone she loves, and who knows her vulnerability, tries to play her around. Amber who looks at them, and clearly isn't angry nor jealous, because those few moments the actress uses to convey all of Amber's inner distress, are some of her best ones (giving that the actress, alas, is not very expressive to begin with), and we understand that she doesn't see any romance in the air. She's disappointed. She's hurt. Betrayed. Again.

Amber's face, in a handful of seconds, perfectly displays the devastating feeling of someone who finally felt safe and respected and secure, only to discover that it's yet another kind of control and manipulation, less cruel, less brutal, but not less humiliating and even worrying.

This is something she's learnt at her expense, and now that she knows the red flags, she cannot trust a man who can't be honest with her, not with this kind of problems, not with something which is clearly affecting his life to a deep level. He wants Amber to be a part of his life, but only if he can control the terms, limits, boundaries and times of their relationship. And Amber has been through it all before, and can't trust that history won’t repeat itself.

She then drives away, hurt and disappointment written all over her face.

The second deleted scene is even more important plotwise, because it explains Amber's absence as Danny’s plus one at Kono's wedding, after all the talk he did in the car about bringing some Amber's friend as Steve's date, and it casts a new light over Danny's reaction to Steve's resolve to ask Cath to marry him, or his tension about Lynn, or Amber's condistent absence for the whole first part of s6, or even Danny's and Amber's fight during their Valentine's dinner.

The scene is longer, about fifty seconds, and it supposedly takes place right at the end of the episode, after Danny pulls up at the hospital's parking lot, after Steve's affectionate text. He takes his phone out of his pocket again because he's received a voice-mail message.

A message from Amber (sorry, I noticed just now I'm still going with Amber instead of Melissa).

She says she's sorry to be doing this by voice-mail because she'd prefer to do it in person, but given their situation it's probably for the best if she spares them both the trouble to be forced to find shallow excuses. She says he's an amazing man, and that she likes what they have and that she thinks it might be real, and that she hopes he feels the same. She's understanding that his job comes first and it's terribly demanding, as she's also aware of how hard his life and his backstory is, with Grace and Rachel. This all considered, she thinks it's best if they stop and take a pause, so that he can reflect and decide if he wants to keep this thing going, but as for now, she can't keep seeing him on these terms.

Amber decided to stop seeing Danny until he decided what to do with their relationship and be honest with her, and started thinking seriously if he was just using her, as she probably felt.

Why?? Why did they cut this whole plotline? It's pivotal for Danny's arc, for his strained and angry attitude towards everyone, for his constant distress, for his even worsening negativity, for the way he's overcompensating with excessive euphoria to Steve's announcement about Cath, for how he meddles with them and confronts Cath about being honest, for how he's not thrilled about Lynn's insertion inside Steve's life.

Because he's alone, at that time. Call it temporary breakup or period of reflection or a break, but he was single and thinking, again, about everything he was doing wrong with his life and his relationships, and falling again into his old black hole of depression and self-sabotage, and seeing Steve going on with his life even at the cost of pretending he was happy with this woman he had supposedly no trouble cheating on, during their "couple retreat", making him wonder if either what he had with Lynn wasn't serious, or if his obvious charade about his threesome with Alyssa and her friend had a second meaning.

Also, they were probably both single again, or at least testing the waters, when they were at the retreat. And Danny definitely was when Cath left Steve once again abandoned, betrayed, and never-chosen in face of anything else.

Quite a lot of subtext to think about, for just 57 seconds which were, prudently, cut.

[boazpriestly]

I am watching the new H50 episode now and I’m gonna liveblog it.

If you don’t want to see my commentary, just block the tag ‘jay watches h50′

[mcdannowave]

Audio Commentary on Ep 3x17:

Alex: Okay. It was so slippery this day. It didn’t stop raining, and- and it was very difficult to move.

Lenkov: Yeah. There was alot of takes of you guys coming around that corner pretty hot and, slide all over the place.

[five-wow]

6.03 vs. 6.03 again, seven minutes later.

[mcdannowave]

Scott Caan in Varsity Blues (1999) - Part 8

(p.1, p.2, p.3, p.4, p.5, p.6, p.7, p.9)

Dvd commentary with Director Brian Robbins and Producers Tova Laiter and Mike Tollin:

Prod. Mike Tollin: Here’s a little improv.

Prod. Tova Laiter: Yeah. That’s what he did [laughs], nobody wrote that

Dir. Brian Robbins: I remember Scott doing it, and I was thinking ‘’What is he doing, why he’s touching himself’’ [laughs], and then I watch the monitor, and then of course, that was what it was leading to.