Steve McGarrett has been processing a lot about his family on Hawaii Five-0 since he learned his mom, Doris (Christine Lahti) was alive – and a spy no less. And they’ll be plenty more family drama in the coming episode, as not only Doris, but Steve’s sister, Mary Ann (Taryn Manning) return.

I was on the set of this episode, “Ohuna,” and Alex O’Loughlin told me, “Mary Ann comes back, and she doesn’t come back alone either -- but that’s a whole other story. My character is constantly perplexed by the decisions that she makes, forever believing that she cannot take care of herself. She comes back and he has to break this news [about Doris] to her. I think even after she does accept the news and it looks like it’s going to be okay emotionally for her, I don’t think we necessarily believe that it’s going to be a great outcome. It doesn’t feel like ‘happily ever after’ to me anymore.”

Alex O'Loughlin in Hawaii Five-0

Manning told me that when it came to Mary Ann’s reaction, “She’s having a pretty tough time in the duration of this one episode. She’s super conflicted -- sad, confused, pissed. Also, it makes her kind of miss her dad, which was maybe a feeling that was shoved down, and this whole situation has brought that all back up.”

Lahti said that when it came to how Doris treats the situation, “I basically just stalk [Mary Ann] and track her down, because she refuses to see me. I don’t want to give anything away, but it ends up that we do have kind of a reconciliation.”

Doris (Christine Lahti) follows Mary Ann

It’s not an easy path for them – Manning explained that Mary Ann has no interest in meeting Doris. “She actually goes to her father’s grave to vent to somebody, but really nobody; just kind of get all these feelings out. But I believe in that moment you get a glimpse of a pretty layered, conflicted girl. She’s like, ‘This is crazy. What the heck, dad? She put you through this, and I’m just supposed to meet her and be okay with this? What do I do?’”

O’Loughlin and Manning have always been an interesting duo as brother and sister, with very different appearances and energies. With Lahti now cast as mom, Manning said with a laugh, “Yeah, it kind of just makes us make a little more sense. I was saying, Christine is really tall and has this great body, and Alex is tall; but our father is kind of short, so I’m like, ‘I got dad’s genes!’ She has these really pretty green eyes, and you can definitely see what they were doing. I think it’s cool. She’s incredible. I know everybody, from my agents to fans, have been like, ‘Yes! I love that woman!’ I think they put together a good little scenario if they were to build on it. There could be some pretty epic scenes.”

Shelley Berman and Taryn Manning in Hawaii Five-0

When I asked O’Loughlin if he was excited about the potential to play out scenes between the entire McGarrett family in future episodes, he said, “Absolutely, I’d love to play that scene right now. The thing is, as an actor, the more that they give you, the more you can work with. This stuff’s so rich for me. It’s all part of the rich tapestry that makes Steven McGarrett who he is. We’re very lucky to have the creative team behind it who have woven these tapestries for each of us. Scotty [Caan], Daniel [Dae Kim], Grace [Park] -- we’ve all got these terrific storylines, backstories and present or eminent dangers. It’s so much more than a procedural show.”

Hawaii Five-0 airs Monday at 10pm on CBS.

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