Critic’s Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
4.5
This is the kind of hour I can get behind every week.
A nice blend of action laughs, relationship exploration, and drama made Rescue HI-Surf Season 1 Episode 4 the best hour yet.
Have they found their footing? It may still be too early to tell, but this is the kind of episode the show should aim for.
Thus far, the series has relied on a big overall rescue to kick things off or dominate much of the hour. Here, a series of rescues made it feel more like 9-1-1 or a comparable procedural, where various emergencies played out and allowed for different forms of rescue.
This approach allowed for action while also injecting some humor into things. Em even met a potential love connection while saving a life.
Em is the team member who’s competent and about her business and goes above and beyond. She’s the lifeguard you want on your team, and I almost wonder if her team knows how lucky they are to have her.
The first rescue of the two people sucked into an ill-advised sand pit allowed Em to use her paramedic skills and, in doing so, impressed fireman Sean, who was looking at Em like she was the most impressive person he’d ever seen.
I’m all about them giving Em a life and a romance outside of the overall pining for Will, which hasn’t been excessive but is still very much present. The longing looks and smiles that don’t reach the eyes will tell you these two aren’t over each other.
And while Will has seemingly moved on with Julie (they’re engaged, after all), he’s still looking at Em with a little twinkle in his eye anytime he can. Em’s more subtle, but not very much, to the point where it doesn’t appear either one even wants to get over the other.
Sean’s nice enough, easy on the eyes, and a natural flirt, which never hurts. He makes his interest known and then puts it on Em to reciprocate or rebuff.
They haven’t built up Em and Will and their “love story” to not have them come back together at some point, but Em deserves some fun and to spend a nice night with a man interested in her.
It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.
Especially during the time of the lawsuit, which has lingered over Sonny and Em since Rescue HI-Surf Season 1 Episode 1 and struck Sonny during this one as he weighed whether or not he would go to Zion’s memorial.
Paralleling the lawsuit and the parents’ pain to the grief and loss Sonny feels about Zion’s death was an interesting way of breaking down Sonny’s feelings and the way many people feel in the wake of tragedies they feel responsible for.
What happened to that young boy was a tragic accident, and while a significant mistake was made, it’s not clear whether there would have been a different outcome. As the case proceeded, it would have fallen on the courts to decide liability and whatnot.
But Sonny wasn’t content to let it get that far, which was a total departure from his previous behavior, which was much more nonchalant.
It was almost as if Sonny and Em switched places or something in their response to the lawsuit at this juncture. Sonny marched over to the family’s house to plead his case, while Em couldn’t be bothered to even lawyer up.
I understand where Sonny was coming from, but he’s lucky that man didn’t throw him out of his behind. Right or wrong, it takes a lot of audacity to go to someone’s home and tell them they blame themselves for what befell their child, and they can’t blame everyone else for their perceived mistake.
It’s a heavy thing to say aloud, but it was something Sonny felt comfortable saying because he’s battling the same demons.
He wasn’t in the water or on the beach when Zion passed, but he still feels responsible for what happened because he was meant to protect Zion. Zion was supposed to ensure his safety, especially not while doing something they both loved.
Sonny and the father, for that matter, will always wonder ‘what if’ because it’s a natural thing to do: hindsight and all that.
But no amount of asking yourself that question will change what’s happened, and that lawsuit would have harmed the people who rescued their son from that water. That’s just a fact, but how Sonny set about getting his message across felt a little much.
That talk could have gone so much worse, but it struck a chord with the grieving man, who could probably see the hurt in Sonny’s eyes for the person he couldn’t save reflected back at him.
Sonny’s been avoiding his grief as much as he can, but it’s not going anywhere, and I felt for him when he was turned away at Zion’s memorial. Sonny just has a lot of sadness inside him, and he doesn’t know how to process it yet.
When he’s ready, he should return to that counseling center because avoiding the raw pain and throwing himself into work and everything else, as we’ve already seen, won’t be helpful to him or anyone else.
Bree’s a grieving mother who lost her son, and we don’t know what the relationship was like between her, Sonny, and Zion. But her belief that her son would still be alive if not for Sonny is a hard pill for Sonny to swallow, and me as well.
But that also goes back to the father from the lawsuit, right? It’s all connected, and with time, Sonny and Bree can actually have the tough conversations and start to heal.
Even if they never heal together, hopefully, they can both start their own journeys toward recovery from Zion’s loss.
The rest of the hour was a mix of rescues, including the first real shark emergencies you knew were coming and some interesting new dynamics, with Hina and Kainalu becoming roommates thanks to some meddling from Laka.
Hina needed to move out and start living her own life, which was SO relatable. You can love your family and do everything in your power to help them, but you can’t always do that at the expense of your own life.
Hina has a responsibility of her own, and if moving into her own space would help her, I support the decision.
Now, moving in with Kainalu, someone she can barely stand half the time, adds an intriguing layer to their dynamic. Hina was reluctant to do it, but Kainalu was much less annoyed at the prospect of living with his crush.
Hina obviously harbors some resentment toward Kainalu, and she’s not wrong to do so. However, considering they are co-workers and now roommates, hopefully, she finds a way to get to know him beyond the first impression he’s trying to move past.
I keep saying it (and I hope I’m not proven wrong!), but there’s much more to Kainalu than meets the eye. Yes, he’s privileged and using that privilege to his advantage, but we know nothing else about the guy outside of that.
I’m not ready to write him off completely.
Something Will needs to write off completely? Becoming a firefighter.
I’m sorry, that was harsh, but it’s reality. He was banking on getting that job and finally giving his fiancée some peace, knowing he wasn’t out gallivanting in the waves with his one true love.
But Will didn’t get the job, even though he was qualified, and Laka’s explanation did little to make him any less disappointed. My question is, did he not know his chances of getting the job were low before he applied?
Was Laka telling him about the sanctity of that job during any of the process?
Will was discouraged, which is understandable, but what he does next will be crucial.
Extra Rescue Notes
- Laka was MUCH more likable here, even if he was an instigating little thing half the time. One thing I like about Laka, he may be a player and whatever else you want to call him, but he’s a damn good lifeguard.
- The guy whose leg was shredded, my goodness! That’s not going to grow back, my guy, but the mushrooms helped him in that moment.
- Who else thought the team would run into Em and Sean on their date?
After the next hour, we’ll be almost a fourth of the way through the season! Taking that into perspective, how are you feeling about things so far?
Let me know in the comments so we can discuss!
You can watch Rescue HI-Surf on FOX at 9/8c on Mondays.
Watch Rescue HI: Surf Online
