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NCIS: Hawai’i, now well into its second season, follows the excellent team led by Special Agent in Charge Jane Tennant (Vanessa Lachey) — Kai Holman (Alex Tarrant), Jesse Boone (Noah Mills), Lucy Tara (Yasmine Al-Bustami), and Ernie Malik (Jason Antoon) — as they investigate crimes involving naval officers from their Pearl Harbor base in beautiful Hawai’i. In their downtime, most of the agents (sans Jesse) have well-balanced and emotional relationships that drive their personal journeys. For Jane, more often than not, these stories revolve around her son Alex (Kian Talan) as he reaches adulthood and plans to jet off to the Naval Academy after high school. For Lucy, it is her blossoming romance with FBI agent Kate Whistler (Tori Anderson). Over the last season and a half, Kai’s story outside of work has been centered around his father Wally (Moses Goods) and their incredibly strained relationship following the death of Kai’s mother and Kai’s long absence from the island afterward. However, as Season 2 continues, it’s showing us what we already knew: Kai is ready for romance.
Adriana Breaks Kai Out of His Shell in ‘NCIS: Hawai’i’ Season 2
Episode 17 of the second season is the perfect example of this, showcasing the potential for Kai if he were finally granted a love interest. Kai is tasked with, essentially, babysitting a witness in a pending criminal investigation against an untouchable billionaire: Adriana Velasco (Anna Grace Barlow). She’s a high-maintenance, Elle Woods type; pretty and pretty smart, too, which Kai begins to notice very early on while protecting her. As he spends more time with her, they form an unlikely bond and start to be quite flirty with one another. Of course, it’s doomed from the start considering she is playing a key role in taking down a crime boss and the remainder of her life is going to look much different after testifying. However, Adriana manages to bring out a new side of Kai, which is quite enjoyable.
With Adriana’s encouragement, Kai loosens up a bit. He dances with her while undercover at a party. He gets a pedicure with her (one of her many demands while being protected by NCIS). He flirts back, obviously developing some romantic feelings for her, too. He becomes the key to the case, breaking down Adriana’s walls and coming to understand how her mind works, even stopping her from killing the crime boss point-blank due to her feelings of loss after he had her boyfriend killed. While the story and relationship both come to a close with the episode, this offers a turning point for Kai and his development moving forward.
The Writers Need to Change Things up With Kai in ‘NCIS: Hawai’i’ Season 3
Prior to this story with Adriana, Kai has been very focused on work or his father. Over the course of nearly two seasons of NCIS: Hawai’i, he and his father have started to put together the pieces of their fractured relationship. Things aren’t perfect by any means, but they have come a long way since Kai showed up unexpectedly to start working at Pearl Harbor in the series premiere. Thus far, Kai’s warmest interactions have been with his father in rare moments of bonding and healing. Since the premiere, they’ve slowly been coming back together, but they still fight regularly and struggle to ever be on the same page.
One of the stories throughout the second season has been a perfect example of their rocky relationship, which is Wally inadvertently getting his struggling business tied into a criminal enterprise led by Kai’s childhood best friend AJ Hale (Jonah Ho’okano). While AJ was stopped, thanks to some tough work from Kai and Whistler, it highlighted the differences between Kai and his father that are going to take a long time to work on or come to terms with. Thus, this relationship doesn’t provide the lightness we need to see from Kai occasionally.
Other than with Wally, we’re missing out on so much potential development for Kai as he grows and begins to lighten up. The team has become his family, allowing Kai to begin fixing the chip on his shoulder that he has carried since high school and the death of his mother. While he’s close with each member of his team, these relationships don’t provide the same kind of opportunities that, for example, his relationship with Adriana did. His team is there to support him and offer sage advice on his personal situations, but those relationships aren’t often written on procedurals to provide the same lasting change as outside forces do. Introducing a love interest and romantic storyline for Kai would do just the trick though, and it’s much-needed as the series continues for another season.
Kai always keeps his walls up. He also manages to pull off the stone-cold demeanor of a law enforcement officer better than anyone else around him. But, this behavior translates over to Kai’s personal life, which is stunting his growth. As great as his relationship with his father can be, it’s bogged down and complicated by years of trauma that Kai is still actively working through. While we all love Kai’s relationships with the members of his team, his chosen family, they’re still at work and those stories can only rarely revolve around the characters individually. Meanwhile, Adriana’s brief, one-episode stint on the show brought some levity to the character, breaking down Kai’s walls temporarily and allowing us to see another side of him. A side that enjoys life and is eager to be happy, find love, and live the life he has always dreamed of. After so long, it’s nice to get a longer look at the real Kai buried underneath his hardships. This is something that could continue on in his platonic friendship with his other childhood friend, Hina (Daniella Nuela Zalopany). But, the easiest way is for Kai to finally get a real love interest. It’s been too long, and he deserves some love.
NCIS: Hawai’i continues Mondays on CBS. Every episode is now streaming on Paramount+.
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