Original Air Date: February 27, 2015
Starring: Alex O’Loughlin, Scott Caan
Also Starring: Lili, Ghost
Directed by: Daniel Dae Kim

Synopsis: McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) and Danno (Scott Caan) work on their antagonistic relationship while working a diamond thief stakeout in a woman’s apartment and interacting with her interesting neighbors as well as her prized cat, Mr. Pickles.

Featured Feline: Mr. Pickles is a beautiful and well-mannered blue-eyed white cat which the never-seen owner obviously cherishes, since she has a larger-than-life portrait of the feline hanging in her apartment above her collection of porcelein and Fenton glass cats.

Danno picks up one of the Fenton cats and is comparing it to the portrait when the real Mr. Pickles darts underneath his feet, startling him into dropping and breaking the figure.

As it turns out Danno doesn’t like cats but McGarrett does.

Mr. Pickles is seen in several scenes during the stakeout and is carried by McGarrett through a scene in which an elderly neighbor lady (Cloris Leachman) stops by.

Mr. Pickles is also picked up by another neighbor who stops by saying he is there to feed the cat (he’s actually looking for his stash of pot, which the cops have already found.)

Mr. Pickles also makes the diamond thief’s fence (Jon Lovitz) sneeze when he comes over to talk about what he is going to say to the thief to stall her.

Eventually Danno seems to tolerate the cat but Mr. Pickles is sadly short-changed, his character playing no pivotal part in the story and disappearing towards the end of the stakeout (Danno leaves a window open accidentally.)  Eventually the drug dealing neighbor finds Mr. Pickles but his return is not shown on screen.

Update! We have learned the lead cat who starred in this episode is named Lili, trained by Sue Chipperton of Check the Gate, a Hawaiian-based company for animal actors.  As quoted by Check the Gate online: “Lili was exceptional on set, nothing fazed her, three cameras, five actors, pages of dialogue, she reacted naturally to the actors when they talked and was a gem.  Lili is owned by Marie who takes her weekly to local hospitals and homes as a therapy cat – she is the only therapy cat in Hawaii!  So her exposure to the world has been very full.

Also appearing in this episode (for the brief moment when the cat runs away) is Ghost, who appeared courtesy of Joey’s Feline Friends.  Ghost was also trained by Sue Chipperton for this appearance.

Many thanks to my wonderful sis, Cynthia, for finding out this information about the cat actors in her home state!

Final Mewsings: Cats don’t mind stakeouts as long as they are petted and fed.

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