That, ladies and gentlemen, is how to do a change-of-pace episode.

Grover drew on his own painful experiences to save a suicidal man on Hawaii Five-0 Season 8 Episode 13.

Little action (one small shootout), no reality-twisting plot-lines (unless you count Tani beating McGarrett on paddleboards), but there was still plenty of tension and suspense.

There was an effort to address a severe societal problem without being heavy-handed.

The topic of this after-school special was suicide, and the storyline was about how it can be considered by those you would least suspect.

You wouldn't expect to find any suicidal tendencies among alpha males and female of Five-0.

And the least likely of all would have to be Grover, the jovial giant and the unit's wise Buddha.

One of Buddha's sayings would be particularly relevant here: "Nothing is permanent. Don't stress yourself too much, because no matter how bad the situation is...it will change."

Brad was right to be at the end of his rope. His wife had died a violent death, and he was about to be charged with her murder, even though he swore she had committed suicide. 

There was one tiny unlikely plot twist necessary to set all this drama in motion. 

The Grover men were out for a joyride, with Lou regaling an uncomfortable Will with his wisdom about women. Granted, he's been married 25 years, so he's pretty much offering up advice based on one woman, but I digress. Much of his hard-won knowledge was sound and valid for others of the gender as well.

Will, not Lou, got a  BOLO text about a certain car, and naturally they rolled up on said vehicle within a minute or two. Small island. And we were off.

Grover called McGarrett after his crushing defeat by Tani, and soon, a good chunk of Five-0 and HPD were surrounding Grover and the suicidal Brad in his dented car. That would have been a good time for a bank robbery across town.

Five-0 could have just left this to HPD to handle and gone back to their day off. But since the series isn't called Cocky HPD Crisis Negotiator, that didn't happen.

That's because Brad's distress resonated with Grover. He felt sure he could talk Brad down because he's "been there," that well-established TV parlance for connecting with people in crisis. 

McGarrett, a big fan of the gut call, backed Grover's play and dismissed HPD's offer of help. Well, except for a couple of snipers, who could come in handy.

Hey, just a side thought: With Kono and Chin gone, who is Five-0's resident sniper now? The remaining veterans all strike me as volume shooters. So will Tani or Junior step up to that role?

OK, back to the action. Or the talking, as this case may be.

Most of the hour consisted of Grover trying to reach Brad, while everyone else stood behind those fancy HPD sawhorses. I think Danny was back, manning the binoculars, with one line or so. 

Those HPD officers set a super tight perimeter, as an angry geriatric get through them twice with a gun. I shouldn't complain because otherwise there was zero action (again, paddleboard racing doesn't count).

While this was happening, the young Wonder Twins cracked the case with the aid of an ATM camera. I wonder how HPD missed that across the street from Brad's apartment. Was it because they were following the open-and-shut case manual?

This episode mainly served as an entryway into Grover's backstory; what brought him to Hawaii, beyond exchanging the frigid cold of Chicago for the sunny warmth of Honolulu?

It had already been established that he left the Windy City under something of a cloud for daring to suspect his partner of malfeasance. He was right, by the way. But now we learned there was more to it than that.

The last time he was in a similar situation with a suicidal man, Grover failed, and the man shot himself and his two-year-old son.

Grover blamed himself, and he kept seeing Will when he thought about the dead boy. So he brooded and drank and brooded some more. Grover was set to kill himself, but Will came home unexpectedly, and Grover investigated a noise instead of taking his life, almost putting his gun on Will.

He moved to Honolulu to escape the pain, and the rest is TV history.

So, in this season of change, Grover finally got a little more spotlight action, the other time being on Hawaii Five-0 Season 8 Episode 5.

Thinking back, Grover has yet to do anything with the evidence he recovered then. Upon further reflection, the serial killer from that episode is still roaming free. There are a couple of story threads that need to be picked up.

To revisit that or any other episode, watch Hawaii Five-0 online.

Did you suspect Grover had ever been suicidal? Did he handle the situation well? Who needs the spotlight next? Comment below.

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