The theme is kindness pays.

McGarrett got paid back for a kindness he showed a decade ago, and it saved lives on Hawaii Five-0 Season 7 Episode 24.

It was another adventure of Steve McGarrett, globetrotter, as he turns up this time in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

He got a tip of a planned terrorist attack in Oahu from an unlikely source – a captured al-Queda operative.

It was informative watching how McGarrett cultivated a relationship with Salaam, although it would have been helpful to have some time element displayed at least in the first flashback. 

I was racking my brain trying to figure out what episode Salaam was from. It turns out he was pre-Five-0.

With terrorists popping up all over TV, it's so hard to keep track on who was on which show.

Anyhoo, it soon became clear why Salaam owed McGarrett a solid, even if no one on his team was buying it. Imagine if Danny would have been there. The argument would still be going on.

But McGarrett went with his gut, and a phrase overhead by Salaam led to a suspect travel agency, which yielded a Muslim suspect, who in the end was himself a patsy, the right demographic in the right place at the wrong time.

Amazingly, it was Grover who figured out what an abandoned office building had to do with a terrorist plot. That begged the question of how the terrorists knew which plane had the military personnel on it.

For those who felt there was too much gunfire on Hawaii Five-0 Season 7 Episode 23, this was a much tamer episode, with a just little four-person fire-fight in the office building; unless you count McGarrett blowing up the terrorist with his own rocket launcher.

What's that expression: "Don't bring a knife to a rocket fight"? It wouldn't be Five-0 without a little overkill or without the need for a healthy suspension of disbelief. This hour, that would be McGarrett scaling the building to stop the terrorist. At least he had on sturdy shoes and gloves.

Now here's the key point: This aborted attack points to a larger conspiracy within the U.S. government. So now we know the next large storyline. How that gets investigated from over in Hawaii, I don't know.

Also, I'm in favor of any storyline that could bring back Joe West. With the status of Blacklist: Redemption up in the air, I'm just not sure of Terry O'Quinn's availability, however. Maybe Catherine could even return in her CIA capacity since it seems to be an international conspiracy.

There was a fun secondary storyline about the two men in Kono's life: Adam and Hirsch. Poor Hirsch. No one was dying to invest in his crime-scene cleanup business.

It couldn't have had anything to do with his business plan that looked like a third-grader had created it. Of course, Kono couldn't have expunged Hirsch's record as he requested, but she did the next best thing by offering Adam to help Hirsch.

So you had the successful international businessman tutoring the wanna-be businessman. And they bonded (kinda) over how the business world treats ex-cons.

It was funny watching Adam struggle to keep a straight face as Hirsch explained how Kono had to make the difficult choice of choosing between them. Then to have Kamekona sweep in at the end to help Hirsch, and expand his business empire, was hilarious.

It's good the show's producers have found more for Adam to do recently. He has much more to offer than just being a significant other.

So does Abby, who should be a full partner for Chin. Hopefully, that can happen more frequently now that Julie Benz should be available following the end of Training Day, perhaps starting with Hawaii Five-0 Season 7 Episode 25.

Chin got offered a chance to start his own unit; maybe he'll front Five-0 in San Francisco. But he's not going to consider it until he makes an honest woman of Abby. I'd bet that's coming right up. But I don't see them breaking up the team.

So next up, the team attempts to rescue more young girls caught in a sex-trafficking ring. Apparently, that storyline is still on. And Kono is supposed to make a life-changing decision. Having a kid? Adopting a kid? Either way, I don't think she's going anywhere.

To catch up before the finale, watch Hawaii Five-0 online.

Were you surprised by the new extended storyline? Weren't Adam and Hirsch a winning couple? What will Chin do? Comment below.

Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.