Update on Hawaii Five-0's cousins

I was curious about the prevalence of cousins of different ethnicities (Chinese, Hawaiian, Japanese, Samoan) on Hawaii Five-0. Fortunately, I have someone to ask about it: my college roommate James from Hawaii. Here's what he said:Rob,

Pretty rare to have four different first cousins of those nationalities and full-blooded. More likely to have mixed ethnicity in first cousins (or one or two of the same ethnicities), than four different of full blood. Japanese don't usually marry outside of their race to Polynesians, although there are many Chinese-Hawaiians. Samoans also don't marry much outside their race.Comment:  In short, the cousin situation is possible but unlikely. Which is what I thought.

For more on the subject, see Asians in Hawaii Five-0 Remake and Review of Hawaii Five-0 Remake.

Adam Beach in Hawaii Five-0

Monday's episode of Hawaii Five-0 (airdate: 11/2/10) featured Adam Beach. Here's the story:

Hawaii Five-0: “Ho’apono”--review

By Gerald SoNavy SEAL Graham (Adam Beach), suspected of killing his wife, runs from police and takes seven tourists hostage aboard the U.S.S. Missouri memorial, intending to force a search for “the real killer.” McGarrett sneaks aboard to negotiate with Graham while Danno, Chin Ho, and Kono investigate Graham’s claim that someone else killed his wife.

Graham had suffered from post-traumatic stress since his SEAL team was ambushed in Iraq and children were caught in the crossfire. He had a history of arguing with his wife and had stopped taking his medication, believing it was clouding his judgment. In short, Graham could have killed his wife and have no recollection of doing it. Adam Beach played Graham’s sympathetic, confused, and violent sides well.Comment:  Thankfully, Beach didn't play another cousin to Chin Ho and Kono. <g>

The episode didn't mention Indians or Indian lore, which is fine. It's not necessary in a quick-paced cop drama like this one.

Because of his character's PTSD, Beach got a chance to emote. I think he did a good job.

All in all, I'd say this was a better than average episode of Hawaii Five-0. More psychological tension, less nonstop action. It wasn't great, but it was definitely watchable.

For more on Hawaii Five-0, see Asians in Hawaii Five-0 Remake and Review of Hawaii Five-0 Remake. For more on Adam Beach, see Who Are the Great Native Actors? and Beach's Role in Cowboys and Aliens.

Below:  Graham Wilson (Adam Beach) holds Steve McGarrett hostage.

Cousins in Hawaii Five-0 remake

OMG, they did it again. In the third episode of the new Hawaii Five-0, they gave Chin Ho and Kono another cousin. This time, he's Samoan.

To recap, Chin Ho Kelly is Chinese with an Irish name. Kono Kalakaua is Native Hawaiian. They say they're cousins. Both are played by Korean American actors.

Kono mentioned another cousin in Kyoto, Japan. This could be a cousin only on Kono's side of the family. And the cousin could be Hawaiian, Chinese, or another ethnicity. But I presume the cousin is Japanese. Not many foreigners move to Japan to get married.

And now we have a fourth cousin, a Samoan. This time we learn he and Chin Ho grew up together. I think both Chin Ho and Kono called him "family." Presumably he's cousins with both cousins.

Add the fact that McGarrett speaks Chinese and Chin Ho speaks Hawaiian, and you have to ask: What the heck's going on here? Asians of different ethnicities aren't interchangeable, people. They aren't members of one big happy Pan-Asian family.

This is becoming ridiculous. It's ruining whatever credit Hawaii Five-0 gets for using minority actors. I thought I was kidding when I hinted that Chin Ho and Kono might have Vietnamese, Thai, or Filipino cousins. Apparently it's just a matter of time till these cousins show up.

The only saving grace was that they cast a Samoan to play the Samoan cousin. He's the first of the cousins to be played by someone of the right ethnicity. Well, whoopee. In 2010, that's not much of an achievement.

For more on the subject, see Asians in Hawaii Five-0 remake and Review of Hawaii Five-0 remake.

P.S. In this episode Kono (Grace Park) appears in a bikini and a short serving-girl dress. I'm sticking with my claim that she's there mainly as eye candy, not as a serious effort to diversify the cast by race and gender.

Asians in Hawaii Five-0 remake

My comments on the second episode of the new Hawaii Five-0 series:

Pan-Asian Hawaii Five-0: Chin Ho Kelly, Chinese with an Irish surname, has a cousin named Kono Kalakaua, supposedly Native Hawaiian. Kono says she has a cousin in Kyoto, presumably Japanese. No word on whether they have any Vietnamese, Thai, or Filipino cousins.

I'd love to see their family tree!

And Korean American actors play both characters. But they all look the same, so it's okay.

This led to the following discussion on Facebook:Yeah, how do y'all tell us apart? lol ;) I actually don't mind Asian actors playing a character of a different Asian ethnicity, since European American actors play different European ethnicities all the time. But I understand why it bothers some people.That happens all the time in Native productions too. It's not great but not terrible either.

But considering a central theme of Hawaii is diversity, it's kind of lame that they didn't try harder to cast within the proper ethnic groups. When Wes Studi played a Cherokee in Trail of Tears, that was good. When he played Geronimo the Apache, that was not so good. He didn't look right for the role and that was part of the movie's problem.

Many people may not notice, but I notice Hawaii Five-0's mismatched ethnicities. It takes me out of the show a little, which is never what you want.Yeah. But as a friend reminded me, problems like poverty, unemployment, suicide, addiction, and domestic violence take precedence over issues like sports logos and Hollywood stereotypes. However, I do think these issues are all related.We can tackle both. That's what multitasking is for. And yes, they're related.

For more on the subject, see Why People Don't Care About Indians and The Harm of Native Stereotyping:  Facts and Evidence.

Review of Hawaii Five-0 remake

Back in 2006, I commented on Hawaii Five-0 and Indians. How does the remake now airing on CBS compare to the original? Here's one take on it:

Wipeout!:  The Racialicious Review of Hawaii Five-O 1.1

My thoughts:

Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park are Korean, so they're playing Chinese cousins? It does not compute.

Park is there mostly for cheesecake factor, so far. The original barely had any women in it...so now we have a pretty young thing in a bikini and underwear? What progress!

No Native Hawaiians. And no other significant Asians. (The governor could've been Asian.)

Two white guys dominate, as before. I understand someone named Steve McGarrett probably has an Irish background, but why not make this version half Asian? Why not make Danno Williams an Asian, a woman, or both?

Unlike the new Chin Ho Kelly and Kono, the old ones weren't Hollywood young and beautiful. On TV, it seems there are no police officers over 35. And using two Koreans in place of a Chinese and a Native Hawaiian is unfortunate. The latter ethnicities are more common in Hawaii.

The white McGarrett utters a line in Chinese, while the Korean Chin Ho utters a line in Hawaiian. Nice try at multiculturalism, but it would've been better to have people of those ethnicities uttering the lines.

Therefore, I'd say the old show was cast better than the new show. Forty years after the fact, that's ridiculous.

As for the show itself, the look and feel was an homage to the old series. But the old series put us into the shoes of ordinary Hawaiians and gave us clever detective stories to puzzle out. This show was mostly chases, gunfights, and explosions. The only thing that saved it was the banter between McGarrett and Williams.

I'd give it a grade of "B." I'll keep watching for now, but the original was better.

For more on the subject, see TV Shows Featuring Indians.

Below:   Grace Park shows what she brings to the Hawaii Five-0 team.