Pilot – The pilot episode of Rescue: Hi-Surf begins with a brief introduction of Pipeline, North Shore O’ahu, noting it as one of the most famous and dangerous stretches of coastline in the world. By the time Captain Harlan ‘Sonny’ Jennings (Robbie Magasiva) arrives for his shift, there have been six rescues and Lieutenant Emily ‘Em’ Wright (Arielle Kebbel) doesn’t suspect things to slow down. Her fears are confirmed merely seconds later when Reef (Kameron Dowis) goes down hard. As difficult as it getting Reef out of the raging waters, that’s just the beginning but Sonny and his team prove more than capable.
Sonny is startled awake the following morning by what is later revealed to be the recent death of someone named Zion. Things don’t get any better when he shows up at work to learn that he’s up for recertification. While Em delivers the news, she overhears a trainee, Hina Alexander (Zoe Cipres) arguing over the phone with her mother about not being able to pick someone up from school. Em and Hina’s brief encounter further reveals that Hina is the only female in this year’s training class.
Several minutes later, Kenji Nixon (Nakoa DeCoite) is schooling her class on passing the physical fitness test required to become a lifeguard. It appears that the test is not only a grueling triathlon-type event, but it requires a yearly rectification. Hina and Kainalu Emerson (Alex Aiono) will be the two frontrunners but Hina will edge out the first-place finish. This doesn’t sit well with Kainalu and he only becomes more enraged when Kenji gives her special praises.
Elsewhere, Will Ready (Adam Demos) receives a bit of hazing from Laka Hanohano (Kekoa Kekumano) over his decision to become a firefighter when he shows up for his shift. Once Em orders Laka away to begin his patrols, she’ll ask Will if his decision has anything to do with their previous relationship. He’ll point out that it’s not only been two years but he’s engaged.
Jennings is hitting the weights when Councilman Clayton Emerson (Shawn Hatosy) shows up and tries to leverage him with extra funding to get his son, Kainalu, assigned to his division. Although Jennings will carefully point out that it is tradition for the first-place winner of the certification course to choose his or her posting, a few scenes later, Jennings gives Kainalu a brief recap of their job while welcoming him to the team.
Laka receives two very intriguing offers while working his shift. The first is two young beachgoers who try to sell him a watch and engagement ring that they supposedly found during a salvage diving session. He’ll take the watch without paying. The second comes in the form of a Bikini Clad Blonde (Maria Breese) who gives him a business card of sorts with her room number. Will jumps on the opportunity to return the earlier hazing when an encounter with a jellyfish reveals the blonde to be a bit ditzy. A subsequent call to emergency response will lead to Laka meeting and asking out Jenn Lamonde (Sea Shimooka). She’ll take him up on the offer.
The following day, Em confronts Jennings after he formally introduces Kainalu to the team. Passing up Hina clearly doesn’t sit well with her and Jennings doesn’t appear to like it much better but he claims they need the funding and he doesn’t know how else to go about getting it.
Over beers with Will and Em that evening, Laka continues to tease Will about becoming a fireman. When Laka becomes distracted by a passing lady, Will admits that he lied earlier about claiming she was part of his decision. It turns out that it isn’t him who’s hung up on their previous relationship but his fiancée, Julie (Hayley Malia Johnson).
Kainalu and Laka immediately bump heads when he gets assigned to his and Will’s tower the following day. While they trade passive-aggressive insults, the two young beachgoers who tried to sell Laka the watch get toppled by a giant wave during one of the ‘salvage diving’ outings. Despite the call being a thousand yards away, Will, Em, and Laka will be the nearest tower. A nearby Jennings will spring into action as well when he overhears the call. The rescue goes off without incident, except for the fact that Kainalu calls in the wrong response location, causing the first responders to show up a 100 yards away. The team will have to carry the injured on the stretcher to the EMTs but all turns out well.
Kainalu is immediately vilified online for his mistake and when Em confronts Jennings it leads to a huge blowup. Jennings attempts to play it off as Kainalu being new to the job and even blames Laka for not personally calling in the location.
More will be revealed about the Zion incident when Em later meets with Kimi (Tristyn Lau) to discuss her concerns about Sonny’s decision-making as of late. As it turns out, Zion was Sonny’s nephew who, along with several others went missing during a swimming trip. The two were more like father and son than uncle and nephew. It will even be suggested that Zion’s disappearance caused a huge riff between the families when Sonny visits a memorial site dedicated to the missing swimmers.
In spite of all the fallout from the Kainalu situation, it turns out to be a blessing in disguise. The incident leads to the Chief approving another tower and a new hire. Sonny will choose Hina. When Hina is introduced to her new posting at Will and Laka’s tower, Reef’s family will show up with lunch for the guards who saved their son’s life.
The episode ends with Laka and Will watching Sonny and Em’s recertification. Both will pass.
Rescue: Hi-Surf Series Review
Not a bad series, certainly nothing spectacular but for national network TV, this was surprisingly good. I really enjoy the sun, sand, and surf setting, and learning more about the treacherous island of Oahu is intriguing. I also find the main story of Sonny’s missing nephew interesting. It’s unclear whether he is dad or just missing, so there is a potential for a shocking return somewhere down the line.
Also, whatever ensued has led to a huge riff in the family, with Sonny coming out looking like the bad guy. That will be fun to learn more about. Other than this, the series is your typical cheesy drama like you’d expect. It’s got the rich kid and politically connected father who is always being bested by someone of lower stature. You have the potential for a rekindling of the fire just waiting to happen between Em and Will. You have the horn dog, Laka, who is becoming smitten by the mysterious new arrival. It’s as formulaic as it gets, but all around not bad.
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