S09E22 - “See How She Runs” - Plot

Act One

A couple receives drinks they ordered at a bar overlooking the beach: an underage woman (Jessica Harper) and her older companion (Paul Shenar). She says she can do anything when she's with him. He leaves to receive a phone at a pay phone from Liana (Lynn Ellen Hollinger) who tells him, "you can bring her over now".

The man drives the young woman to a little motel where Todd says an old friend is staying there and he said they would stop by. As they walk in, a guy (Kwan Hi Lim) across the street watches through his binoculars. As they enter the room, the peeping tom tells his wife there are four people in one room! Todd tells the young woman to sit down as he pulls the shade. Another woman steps into the room saying the young woman is Sunny Mandell. The woman is Liana and Todd takes off her brunette wig giving her a passionate kiss in front of Sunny. Sunny stands in shock but her nightmare has only just begun as they take her into another room where a dead man has been shot to death. They make her pick up the gun to put her prints on it. At the first opportunity Sunny runs for it with Todd giving chase as Liana wipes all their prints off in the room but soon catches up. The guy across the street watches all three run out of the room. However, Todd and Liana soon lose Sunny on a crowded sidewalk.

McGarrett exits a judge's chambers meeting Danno in the stairwell. Danno briefs him on a murder at a motel where Sunny's prints were found on the murder weapon and her purse was found at the scene. The problem is she's the daughter of Babe Mandell (Biff McGuire) who is one of the best police officers in LA. McGarrett has to be in court at 12:15 but wants all the details once he returns to the office.

On the street, an older man listens to the news on a boom box. Besides a former apartment tenant having too many explosives, the news also reports HPD is looking for Sunny in connection with the shooting death of "forty-nine-year-old Clifford Braswell". They also mention her father in the broadcast as she overhears the news as the older man finds his friend at a table ready to play checkers.

Todd slams the door upon entering the apartment where he and Liana are hiding out. He's frustrated because he can't find Sunny who "could be anywhere on this island". When he asks if she watched the news, Liana says "the cops donÕt have her" and Mandell just arrived. Todd freaks as he wasn't expecting Mandell to show up. Liana tries to calm Todd down by telling him Sunny would hide among a lot of young faces in "dark corners. Music. Dope. Action. That's where she'd hide".

Todd goes to a disco where he talks to the bartender (jack Hisatake) showing him Sunny's picture but he hasn't seen her.

The next morning, a young man (Roland Nip) walks in the War Memorial Natatorium finding Sunny asleep on the concrete seats. He warns her that an HPD officer makes the rounds forcing several young people to move on. As he nears them, the young man offers her something to eat but she says she has no money. He retorts, "so who does?" He takes her to a park where a man (Steve Carlson) speaks to a crowd blabbering some New Age crap. The young man tells Sunny the speaker is Osiris and she should listen. Osiris is a cult leader saying there are people who are dying and those who are "reborn". She approaches Osiris introducing herself but he says, "you're someone who's been tossed about. I can tell that from your eyes, not your name". Because she has had to bend so much in her life, he names her "Willow" give her a chance to start over.

Act Two

McGarrett is talking on the phone with Chin as Danno walks into the office. Chin shared that Braswell was a CPA on vacation in Hawaii. McGarrett tells Danno Braswell was seen leaving a bar with a woman with long dark hair who could have been Sunny. By the timings of his registration, it appears Braswell went straight from the bar to the motel where he was killed. Danno adds more: Mr. and Mrs. Maiki, the husband is the peeping tom. Mr. Maiki explains he saw four people enter the motel: two men and two women. He tells them he saw a woman run out really fast followed by a man and another woman but he didn't get a good look at their faces or the cars they arrived in. Of importance, he never saw the second man leave and he's certain it's the same motel on the same date as the Braswell murder. Maiki goes on saying it's his hobby to watch the motel. As the couple leaves, she slams the door in his face! McGarrett takes the story seriously though as he wants Che Fong to go over the room again to see if there are two more sets of prints that can be used: it'll be a whole new case.

Sunny is driven to the cult's house where other members are carrying out boxes of goods. When Sunny stops, Osiris tells her Mariah (Luella Costello), Rainbow (Ehukai Teves) and Phoenix are off to make their living selling wares on Diamond Head Road. Osiris shows her around introducing Rhyme (Teri Foster Brooks) and Cassiopeia who are sitting in the yard surrounded by pottery. Inside the house, he introduces Aquarius and Cloud who was the one who found her at the War Memorial. When Sunny compliments the names, they run into Karma (Valerie Charles) who tells her Osiris named them all and only if he's sure they'll stay. Sunny begins using the name Willow because "I'd like to stay".

In McGarrett's office, he takes a call from Danno who is in the lab. There are latent prints everywhere except on the main door knob like it had been wiped clean. Danno doesn't understand why Sunny wouldn't have wiped down the obvious places with McGarrett adding why did she leave her purse and the gun. McGarrett points out two possibilities: someone wanted to kill Braswell and frame Sunny or framing Sunny is the main objective but they needed a witness.

McGarrett goes to visit Mandell at his hotel room where McGarrett has nothing to report on Sunny. Mandell has a scanner in his room, which he turns off. McGarrett asks why Sunny ran away and the bottom line is that no one is happy in Mandell's house. In the case of Sunny, it was "some guy" who she never brought around. McGarrett confronts Mandell with the very real possibility that someone hated him enough to set up Sunny. While McGarrett wants Mandell on the sidelines, there is something useful he can help with: trying to figure out who would do this. Mandell wants to borrow a desk and a phone with "three lines to the West Coast".

Todd walks in a park looking for Sunny as the cult group sells a piece of pottery to a tourist (Jim McInerny). A group of rowdy young people drive by with one young man yelling and the group throwing bottles that hit Phoenix! Cloud is ready to take her home saying that calling the police is unnecessary but the tourist goes to call anyway. Later at the house, the group surround Phoenix and chant over her in an attempt to heal her. An HPD unit arrives at the house with the officers looking around and one (Roland Naauao) verifies they have the right place based on the van's description. They enter the house where the officer talks to a young man (Terrance Paul) as Phoenix wakes up. Sunny tries to stay hidden but she's spotted by the officer who asks if they're sure they don't want to file a complaint or need an ambulance. They turn to leave.

Act Three

At Five-O, Mandell is on the phone yelling at his officer in LAPD. As he slams down the phone, McGarrett walks in with Chin stopping him about a report from HPD: a girl fitting Sunny's description was spotted in a "hippie joint in Manoa". McGarrett wants Danno and Chin to check it out asking Malia to contact Manicote for a warrant. She has him right away as Mandell is up to 41 names with more being added. McGarrett speaks to Manicote telling him he'll have an address and exact description in short order because Danno will be over in ten minutes to pick it up. Mandell is now sweating bullets with a hope of finding Sunny.

At the house, Cloud watches Danno and Chin arrive followed by an HPD unit as they move into immediate action. Danno and Chuck go inside as Chin and Rowan go around back. Inside, Danno shows them his badge and the warrant to search for "Sarah Mandell". Osiris stays in the room with Phoenix but watches Danno warily as the search commences. Cloud stays on top of Danno as he searches even trying the light switch, which doesn't work because they don't use electricity! "Cheaper that way". Osiris confronts Danno saying there's no drugs in the house with Danno explaining they're looking for Sunny because she a suspect in a murder and if they're hiding her, they could all face criminal charges. Neither is backing down as Danno has Chuck search upstairs. Chin and Rowan stand outside not finding any signs of Sunny when Rowan says she may be under the house but upon further inspection, Chin dismisses this because it hasn't been opened in years. However, Sunny stares wide-eyed at them from the ground! Chuck returns with nothing found and Rowan is certain Sunny was there. Danno calls it and they leave with Cloud telling them bye. Once the officers pull out of the driveway, Osiris, Cloud and Phoenix pull Sunny from the crawl space! Osiris tells her they're gone much to her relief.

Liana enters the apartment as Todd watches the news: still nothing there either. However, there is something in the newspaper as the case is being given "a second look". Todd is not amused and neither is Liana: she's tired of being ignored even after the two months it took to entrap Sunny. Todd reminds her they have to find Sunny together because they'll face charges together since Liana pulled the trigger!

At the house, Sunny/Willow contemplates her next move knowing she can't really stay. She explains to Osiris that her father is a cop and her boyfriend framed her for murder. She's sure her picture is up at the Post Office by now and there is simply too much to leave behind to be "reborn" like the others. When Osiris gets close, Sunny balks but he gets it: "what you want is a father. And a father doesn't put his arms around little girls that way". She tells him fathers don't put their arms around them at all: the reality of living in the Mandell household.

Duke checks out the bar where Todd talked to the bartender earlier and is summarily ignored until Duke has to shove the picture in his face. The bartender tells him he's seen the picture before and Duke says it wasn't him. The bartender says someone was and it was probably another cop. Duke leaves with the new information.

On the beach, Osiris babbles on some more with his New Age wisdom as Sunny/Willow hangs out with the group. A hippie (Logan Clarke) finds her, offering to sell her some cocaine. Sunny gives him the brush off and has to do it a pretty forceful manner before he takes the hint with her walking away from him.

In McGarrett's office, the team realizes they're not the only ones looking for Sunny. Duke reports "the owner of a discotheque in Waikiki" says someone has been asking about Sunny. The team bounces ideas off one another coming up with facts: the guy she left LA with is probably the same one who is framing her, he's most likely young to attract Sunny and there could be a lot of possibilities knowing Mandell's reputation with the LAPD. McGarrett points out one major fact: Braswell was killed in cold blood "as if he were a minor detail". McGarrett doesn't care if Mandell was after him before, he wants the guy now!

Act Four

Todd commences his search near Waikiki showing Sunny's picture to as many young people as he can. He approaches the hippie dude who tried to sell Sunny the cocaine. After paying him $50 cash, the dude tells him she was hanging out on the beach with "a bunch of religious freaks called the Reborn or something like that". He goes on to say everybody knows who they are and just about anybody knows where they live.

Mandell enters McGarrett's office with 64 names with some underlined: they were the ones that made the most noise going to prison. Another group on another pad whose whereabouts are unknown but five off-duty detectives are tracking them down. Mandell makes the realization he has friends aplenty because so many are working to help him find his daughter. Meantime, Todd and Liana split up to find the address of the Reborn and he threatens her if she doesn't come back. She makes him out to be more ridiculous because she doesn't scare. Later in Five-O, with McGarrett's help, Danno and Mandell work through his list. They check off several names and come across "Todd Daniels, four years on a narcotics charge". The last Mandell knew, Todd was living with some woman and this kicks in a brainstorm for McGarrett: "who would make a more dedicated partner than a lover?" and it makes sense. Braswell was seen leaving a bar with a woman and seen going into the motel with a woman: McGarrett believes she's the one who killed Braswell.

On the beach, Todd checks his watch as Liana finally shows up. She tells him the group has a rented house in Manoa with a painted van in front most times. She also insists they stop at the Salvation Army to throw away his "macho look".

Mandell enters McGarrett's office with Todd's information: he's living in Bakersfield with Liana Meyers. Turns out she sub let her apartment about three weeks ago and left town. Danno walks in with a photo fax of Todd with Mandell confirming his identity. McGarrett wants his photo circulated and they're a phone call away from an APB. McGarrett then wonders if there was something about Todd's arrest that would make him go to these lengths to get back at Mandell. Mandell doesn't recall anything unusual but says Todd had a younger brother who ran and was shot and killed by one of Mandell's men because he thought the kid had a gun. Mandell adds he stood behind his detective all the way because he wasn't going to let the man get fired over the incident. McGarrett takes it all in.

Todd shows up at the Reborn house as Osiris talks to people on the lawn. He makes his way into the house after he sees Sunny/Willow in an upstairs window. Phoenix watches him walk in.

Danno runs into McGarrett's office with a forwarding address for Liana: she's been in Honolulu the last two weeks. McGarrett tells Danno to pick her up as he calls for a warrant. Meanwhile, Todd looks around before going upstairs in the house eventually finding Sunny/Willow's room. She is scared out her mind promising not to talk. Elsewhere, Liana returns to her apartment building only to be cornered by Danno and Chin looking for Todd. They arrest her as Todd refuses to release Sunny but he's got bigger problems when Osiris and the rest of the Reborn block Todd's way out. Todd pulls out his gun but Sunny breaks free of Todd's grasp only to have Osiris go after him. The gun discharges, shooting Osiris who collapses onto the floor! The cult members freak out throwing Todd out the window! On the ground, Todd knows immediately he's in trouble as his back is broken. Cloud refuses to call an ambulance as they heal themselves.

When Five-O and HPD arrive, the cult members are in the room chanting over Todd. McGarrett splits the teams up making Mandell stay put. Upon entering, McGarrett and Danno find Todd who begs for help and tells McGarrett Sunny/Willow is upstairs. Danno runs out to radio for an ambulance giving Mandell the green light to enter. As that happens, McGarrett makes his way upstairs finding Karma beside Osiris with Sunny grieving in the corner. McGarrett checks Osiris who is dead as Mandell walks in. However, the father-daughter reunion doesn't go well as Sunny slaps Mandell after he hugged her. "You're just doing it now because you're supposed to. You're always doing things just because you're supposed to". Sunny goes over to Osiris' side to grieve while McGarrett tells Mandell he has to give her time. McGarrett can't afford to as he has to get her statement, receiving pushback from Mandell: the ultimate in hypocrisy.