“He might be so high that he might not even know that he missed court.” – Leland
The crew gears up to head to Kona “to capture Leland’s fugitives,” which is deemed as a “father and son day,” with Dog (Duane Chapman), Duane, and Leland teaming up to catch the bad guys.
Interesting side note that heading to the “big island” involves the fellas needing to take a 20-minute flight, so we get the picture that their bail bond business involves hopping around Hawaii’s islands quite a lot.
“We’re off to see the wizard,” Dog quips as they head out.
Post-flight and before work, the gang heads to a boxing gym to get swole while honing their apprehension of bad guys skills.
We also learn more about Leland’s history: he only came to live with Dog at the age of eight after some kind of protracted legal process. Then as a teen, when Leland showed signs of wanting to be in a gang, Dog and Duane “cracked the whip” and eventually Leland settled down and joined the family business.
Also: we learn that Leland had a child of his own at the age of 17 or so (I believe this is Dakota, who we see later in the episode).
Sidenote that Leland is in the best shape of the entire group and looks ready to be involved in some martial arts or combat sports competition or another.
At Da Kine Bail Bonds, we learn about who the team is after:
- Wanted: Paki Fukofuka
- Charge: Domestic Violence
Fukofuka is a Samoan dude, and the first step that Leland and Dog gets up to is calling around to see if anyone has seen Paki or knows about his whereabouts.
They get a “hit” right away in calling Charmaine, Paki’s girlfriend, who readily tells Dog that Paki is at her place. When Dog gets Paki on the phone, Dog sets a trap to get him to come down to Da Kine Bail Bonds to fill out some “missing” paperwork regarding his bail status.
If you’re wondering like I am why Paki would breezily agree to meet up with the bail bondsman who are actively trying to track him down for jumping bail, Leland provides some potential insight: “He might be so high that he might not even know that he missed court.”
“Crooks are stupid,” Dog adds. “This is what we call arrest by appointment.”
We also learn that Paki is a boxer, so the team knows it needs to be careful when their bail jumper shows up… to their bail bondsman office.
The team stakes out the entrance to their own office, with Leland hiding out in a “mosquito patch” across the two-lane highway.
Eventually, Paki rolls up in a silver Volkswagen and heads into the office. What happens next is exceedingly underwhelming from a drama standpoint: Dog points a can of Mace at him, followed by Dwane cuffing him from behind.
“You didn’t show up for court, brah,” Dog tells him.
I must say that Dog is always courteous and professional with people they catch, especially if they aren’t being combative or rude.
Paki admits that he knew “something was wrong” when Dog called his girlfriend’s house and talks about how he’s looking forward to putting his issues with the law in his past.
Dog now gets into philosophical mode, saying his goal is to just “arrest and slam” but to “arrest and fix.”
Quickly we move onto the next assignment:
- Wanted: McCaleb Wicker
- Charge Drug Promotion
The entire gang, including Paki, are now on the move in search of McCaleb. There’s zero drama once again as from what we can tell, they stop by his apartment and immediately take in the shirtless young guy.
“It was a total mistake, man,” McCaleb tells the team with regard to his bail jumping status.
At the police station, Leland notes that $7,000 was “saved” for Da Kine Bail Bonds, and that the day’s work represents a “perfect job.”
“This is what makes a father proud,” Dog says of Leland.
Next stop: the beach.
Other thoughts on Dog the Bounty Hunter, “Father and Son”
- I like that Dog throws around the term “youngblood” for anyone younger than him.
- There’s also tons of “what’s up, brah” talk throughout, this being Hawaii, which is always appreciated.
- The background metal muzak-style music gets annoying pretty quickly with this show.