Magnum Revisited

 Season 3, Episode #8 features Higgins taking center stage for the first time since Season 2, Episode 7's "Tropical Madness". Both episodes featured Higgins trying to protect women he was infatuated with, but at least with "Foiled Again", Higgins plays the fool for a woman his own age.  The episode starts off with a flashback to a British boarding school where a young Jonathan Higgins is being bullied by a classmate named Willy. Back to the present day and we find out that the same bully is in Hawaii to check on a mill that he owns which is run by his son. While in town, Willy signed up for the club's fencing tournament. He will be facing off against Higgins in the first match, much like they did back in England as tweens. Furthermore, we also find out that Willy had married Jonathan's onetime love interest, Velma, portrayed by Dana Wynter(who was last on Magnum only eleven episodes prior as the Murdering actress in "Double Jeopardy").  When th

It's official, Magnum has the gift of "sight"! No, not that sight, we knew his eyes worked, but in Episode 7 of Season 3, "Flashback", Magnum confirms what we suspected in Season 2's "Memories are Forever" when Magnum dreams of a scenario, it plays out in real life. I never realized this when I was a kid watching this for the first time, but this show is getting spooky.  In any case, what am I talking about? Well, the episode starts, like many, with Magnum sleeping off a hangover in bed. But when the phone rings to wake him up, we see that it is an old timey phone and Rick is talking funny. Magnum gets up to find that the guest house is decorated in depression-era furniture and artwork. Also, Magnum's Hawaiian shirts and short-shorts have been replaced with boxer shorts and fancy white suits. After greeting Higgins and heading off to the club in an old car to meet a client(per Rick's phone call), Magnum realizes that he is not the subject o

  Onto season 3's sixth episode, and the convoluted plots roll on. "Black on White" starts out in London where a dapper caricature of a British businessman meets a woman on the street, originally from Kenya. The clouds clear suddenly and a full moon is exposed. The man gets freaked out and hurries away, sweating profusely. He is being followed by someone(maybe the woman he just met), and a spear almost hits him. (By the way, it should be noted that this dapper British gentleman is being portrayed by Ian McShane, who we last saw in Season 1, Episode 6 playing a murderous Russ Meyer type filmmaker.) Anywho, on to Hawaii, where we find Magnum in his guest quarters when Higgins bursts in to complain about some loud music Magnum was playing. Uh Oh, Higgins just broke a quarantine. Magnum had been exposed to the African Hemorrhagic Fever and now Higgins would be forced to quarantine with Thomas for seven days. It sounds like a fun Odd Couple sitcom set-up.  But the plot soon ta

 Onto episode #5 of the third season, "The Past Tense", where the convoluted plots roll on for the second week in a row. This is also the TC/Higgins episode where they get to spend a lot of quality time together. Apparently, a gun runner criminal, Morgen Lydon, who Magnum helped get locked up  three years ago while Magnum was still with Naval Intelligence, decides he wants to exact vengeance on his nemesis. So, does he hire a hitman to kill Magnum using some underground network from prison? No. Does he try to escape, get to a hiding spot and then think of a plan to get revenge? No. What he does do is use his underground connections to hire two goons from Honolulu to hijack TC's helicopter and land it in the prison yard at the precise hour of the day that he will be in the yard. He also coordinates with the other prisoners to start a dumpster fire at the exact same time for enough of a distraction. He will then fly to a remote island where he will await Magnum to come and

  Magnum 3:4 "The Eighth Part of the Village" starts out with Magnum mowing the expansive lawn of Robin's Nest with a manual lawnmower. When Higgins questions Magnum's motives, Thomas explains that last week he was working a divorce case and the husband and wife each started shooting at each other with him right inbetween them. Miraculously, Magnum was not hit by any bullets at all. He should have been dead. Thomas attributes this not to luck, but to some sort of karma or mystical force. Because of this, Magnum has decided that he needs to change his ways and pay back his debts, starting with his friends. This sounds a lot like Julius' motive to change his ways after nearly getting shot in Pulp Fiction...Hmm, maybe a young Quentin Tarantino was watching this episode in the Fall of '82... Anyway onto the real plot. As part of Thomas making amends, he decides to do a favor and pick up a heavy crate from the docks for Higgins. Higgins thinks it is a lot of book

  Magnum 3:3 "Ki'i's Don't Lie" is a crossover episode with Simon & Simon. The Simons were hired by a Beverly Hills antique dealer who sends them to Hawaii to track down a "Ki'i" which is a Hawaiian relic cursed by the poison god(you know the trope). Apparently, this dealer was conned out of this expensive artifact by a woman. After losing it, he started to get sick, an effect of the curse of the Poison God. He needed to get it back to return it to the volcano in Molokai to break the curse. The woman who stole the Ki'i, played by Morgan Fairchild, came to Hawaii with the relic and, with Higgins help, set up an auction for the religious artifact and other Hawaiian cultural items. Right before the auction, Simon and Simon were able to sneak into the estate posing as a pest control guy and a surfer dude. They manage to steal the Ki'i back and return it to their client at the hotel. As soon as the client puts the Ki'i in his hands, he d