BY MIKE GORDON / mgordon@staradvertiser.com
Incorporating history in the plot of a crime procedural is rarely top-of-mind with executive producers and their writers, but using the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and Hawaii’s World War II internment of Japanese citizens was a goal of the show’s creators since the very start.
It took four seasons to get there, however. In “Ho‘onani Makuakane,” which is Hawaiian for “Honor Thy Father,” the show uses World War II as a backdrop for a cold case and a story that’s been praised by TV critics.
Ken Solarz, who co-wrote the episode with executive producer Peter Lenkov, said the experience was unique.
“This has been a special project that Peter has wanted to do for a long time,” Solarz said. “When we got together to figure out how to do it, I think we both really felt when we were working on the script that this was a special episode.”
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Mike Gordon covers film and television in Hawaii for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Email him at mgordon@staradvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter. Read his weekly “Outtakes” column Sundays in the Star-Advertiser.