After the season premiere continued off what was leftover from the first season, "Ua Lawe Wale" gives us a look ahead at the second season. Lauren German joins the cast as Homeland Security officer Lori Weston, and Larisa Oleynik leaves the show, as Jenna claims her fiance may still be alive and leaves. It's obvious the angle the writers are going for with Lori, a capable female counterpart to McGarrett doubling as a love interest (though isn't Michelle Borth's character still his girlfriend?) and thorn in the side.
Without more information, the audience is still in the dark about Jenna and the writers are far less clear about her. There are a couple of possibilities. 1) Jenna is lying about her fiance so she can make a clean escape. 2) Jenna is telling the truth about her fiance and Wo Fat is using her. I suspect it is the later since Jenna seems like a good person, but we barely have any clues.
The plot of the episode involves a cult which is immediately written off a crazy, so there isn't an interesting dynamic at work. But it allows for a ton of action, which I'm guessing cost quite a lot of money as did the season premiere.
I was genuinely surprised when Kona got everything taken away from her this early in the season. While I know she'll be back eventually, Grace Park sat out for most of this episode and it'll be very hard for her to do anything of importance with the new watchdog. Are the writers really going to put her on the sidelines and for how long?
Score: 8.8/10
