Critic’s Ranking: 2.8 / 5.0
2.8
I don’t know if any present that premiered this tv season has been more durable to determine than Rescue: HI-Surf.
There’s a good present in there, and we get flashes of it once they lean into the motion and even once they select the precise moments to deal with the romantic entanglements, that are the one a part of the present that provides off Baywatch vibes.
However general, the present has failed to actually achieve traction as a result of it nonetheless isn’t 100% positive what it needs to be. And that begs the query: Is what the collection is doing now ok?
I’d be mendacity if I stated I hadn’t loved a few of the installments. The present isn’t boring per se (regardless of what some have stated), nevertheless it’s lacking that SOMETHING that makes it the sort of present you wish to discuss.
That present makes you wish to get into the true nitty-gritty of the plot and characters, individuals you’ve grown to essentially look after and even despise. No matter you’re feeling, constructive or adverse, at the least you care.
I’m undecided that’s taking place to this point with Rescue: HI-Surf.
There are characters, absolutely, however are they making an impression? Do you genuinely care somehow about their tales? Is the collection creating a fancy and intriguing narrative that has you clamoring for extra?
Or is that this the sort of present that goes via the motions? The present you could have on within the background when cooking dinner or folding laundry?
We’re solely ten episodes in, so perhaps it’s too quickly to inform, however that might not be a very good factor.
Rescue: HI-Surf Season 1 Episode 10 is one other a kind of hours that’s superb on the floor. It picks up rapidly from the place Rescue: HI-Surf Season 1 Episode 9 left off, that means these entanglements had been nonetheless figuring issues out, and Sonny was nonetheless poised to retire.
The Sonny retirement storyline has at all times felt like it could in the end be for naught as a result of what’s going to they do with Sonny if he retires? There are tremendous dramatic methods to play this out, however would the present really go there?
Em doesn’t have many followers from knowledgeable standpoint exterior of Sonny, and it’s important to marvel if she is going to ultimately hit some extent the place Sonny can’t save her.
Would he then be tempted out of retirement to maintain every thing he’d constructed and guarantee Em nonetheless had a job and a future alternative? I might see issues heading that method, however because it stands proper now, Sonny is hellbent on retiring.
Sonny has wanted assist for some time, and we nonetheless haven’t seen him again partaking in any significant remedy, however he has appeared quite a bit lighter since deciding to step away.
Nonetheless, he’s nonetheless doing the track and dance accompanying being a captain as a result of Em might not be prepared for it.
Like every management place, being the captain of a bunch of different adults comes with its fair proportion of difficulties, however each captain has a boss above them, they usually have a job to play.
For a lifeguard captain, this implies rubbing elbows with politicians and doing issues that will not align with their needs for the better good.
It’s a slippery slope, and we’ve seen a few of the choices Sonny has needed to make that weren’t ones he would have essentially made if he hadn’t felt it could in the end profit his staff.
However Em isn’t Sonny, and that’s made fairly rattling clear through the council assembly when she goes off-script.
I detest the phrase “hothead” when used to explain a badass lady who’s keen about her convictions, however Em is opinionated, sensible as hell, and decided. She’s not one to at all times go together with the established order as a result of she’s not constructed like that.
Sonny, after all, steps into the state of affairs and smoothes issues over, however he received’t at all times be round to try this if he rides off into the sundown. And I don’t see a universe the place Em falls in line remotely like Sonny.
It additionally doesn’t assist that Kenji is simply ready within the wings with a smugness that might give Laka a run for his cash on his worst day.
Em’s outburst, if you wish to name it that, on the council assembly introduced her true emotions to gentle, however she’s additionally coping with the entire Will state of affairs, which has not gotten any higher for the reason that holidays.
Right here’s the factor about Em and Will and the place they stand proper now. It’s apparent that they nonetheless love one another and that their emotions for each other run deep, however Will has proven zero curiosity in breaking off his engagement, although it’s apparent he doesn’t wish to marry that lady.
So now it’s important to ask your self why that’s, and the one factor I can give you is that he’s not absolutely over his and Em’s prior breakup and is totally unwilling to speak to Em about something.
The 2 of them have rapidly fallen again into previous habits and their sexual chemistry, however the deep conversations are non-existent. Even their speak on the seashore on the episode’s finish is about Em confronting her fears and terrifyingly expressing herself.
She’s the opposite lady, and whereas it’s straightforward to say she has nothing to lose by being truthful, contemplating the character of her and Will’s relationship, she has quite a bit to lose.
They’re shut buddies and colleagues, with Em being his superior at stated job. And that’s to not point out placing your self on the market after which being rejected and the way debilitating that may be on a private degree.
I don’t understand how individuals really feel concerning the dishonest storyline right here, nevertheless it’s given the entire storyline a spark.
The whole lot is as much as Will to determine what he needs. We don’t have to marvel who he needs as a result of it’s 100% Em, however he’s frightened to take that leap, and one has to marvel how lengthy Em will let him depart her on the sting of that cliff with out a security internet.
Elsewhere throughout this comeback hour, Laka is struggling after his theft, and it’s onerous to gauge his character’s future.
Laka began the collection as one among my favorites as a result of Kekoa Kekumano oozes charisma, however he’s caught on this rut.
He’s the quintessential dangerous boy due for a redemption arc, and it appeared like issues had been headed in that path when he lastly received Jenn to exit with him, just for that to fizzle out in document time.
Since then, he’s simply been misplaced, and on this hour, he takes all his frustrations out on everybody round him. And Laka’s not a nasty man. He could be prickly, however he’s not horrible, particularly whereas on the job.
It was good to see him return to assist the lady who’d misplaced her ring as a result of that’s the sort of compassion Laka has, and it’s why he would ultimately be a very good lieutenant when he will get his head on straight.
Sonny wasn’t incorrect when he advised him beforehand that he wasn’t prepared, however he might get there. He simply appears to get in his personal method typically.
The final a part of the drama is saved for Hina and Kainalu, although they dealt with their hook-up properly exterior of some awkward interactions.
Hina was at all times going to be the one who felt bizarre about issues as a result of she’d gone out of her strategy to preserve Kainalu at a distance. And now that the traces have blurred, she’s in a bizarre place.
She likes Kainalu, however her head is telling her it’s a nasty thought. Not solely do they work collectively, however they stay collectively, they usually’re from separate worlds.
It’s proving troublesome for her to reconcile that even with all of the issues., the 2 of them have a spark.
Kainalu is a little more aloof and possibly not interested by issues practically as deeply, however he’s at all times had an curiosity in Hina. I don’t suppose he’s racing to get down on one knee, but when Hina gave him the inexperienced gentle, he’d have an interest within the two of them attending to know each other.
Hina successfully shutting down their budding friends-with-benefits state of affairs ought to be intriguing as absolutely we’ll see one or each of them relationship another person, and I’m anticipating some heavy angst and pining!
Their romantic will-they/received’t-they stays the very best little subplot of the collection, and right here’s hoping the second half delivers some extra craving and enemies-to-lover goodness.
Additional Rescue Notes
- Sonny and Jarrah watched the council assembly like an episode of The Actual Housewives, which was nice.
- Kenji goes to be an issue, isn’t he?
- The person stealing the ATV after which working over that lady’s leg was the sort of motion this present does properly. They’ve the motion down, however for a lot of hours, the motion is third or fourth on their record of priorities.
Alright, guys, what did you consider the primary hour again in 2025?
The place do you stand on the Will/Em/Julie triangle?
Did Hina make the precise resolution by pumping the brakes with Kainalu?
Let me understand how you’re feeling within the feedback so we are able to focus on it!
You may watch Rescue: HI-Surf on Mondays at 9/8c on FOX.
Watch Rescue HI-Surf On-line
