"Mohai:" Offering

The delayed broadcasting of a Halloween-themed episode has the potential of being just like that coworker who shows up wearing a Santa hat in January: it's awkward.

Thankfully, this was not the case here, as Hawaii Five-0 learned something from last year’s less than stellar Halloween offering and aired an installment that took place around Halloween, but didn't use the holiday itself as a scary point. For that, they had the creepiest grandson and grandmother relationship. Ever. 

Seriously, am I the only one who was more creeped out by the relationship of Seth and his grandmother than the killings of Seth?!? Helen went from sweet, sleepy, old woman to cop-shooting-psychopath in the space of time it takes to finish a cup of tea. 

Which actually lead to my biggest disappointment: we did not learn anything about why Seth was performing the ritual murders or why his grandmother was willing to kill herself instead of turning him in. There was such potential for it in the scene where Seth came home and Helen was sipping tea over the body of Lucas. All we needed was a little dialog giving us “the big reveal” of why he was doing it all.

Sadly, nothing. Okay, Helen gave us "clean up your mess." But I’m not really counting that. 

Then, on the other hand, Steve shooting Seth without shouting "stop" or "hold it right there" worked well as a climatic ending to the story. However, given how many knuckleheads Five-0 chases on foot, it seems unlikely he wouldn't have given any sort of warning before shooting his creepy ass.

As for the brief nod to the holiday in question, it's always a bonus when we get to see Grace, who I swear has doubled in size since last Halloween. Then we had Catherine and Steve watching Child’s Play while trying to make out on the couch. This scene alone earned big points because we so very rarely get to witness the team “at play. Seeing Steve act like he's in high school is always fun. 

In conclusion, the episode earns four "spin the bottles" for a good nod to Halloween, but it fell a little short on insight into the motives of the villains. 

What did you think? Did Grace make the cutest bee ever? Should Danny just give up on Halloween? 

Jim G. is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow him on Twitter.