Season 2, Episode 10: The Taking of Dick McWilliams

 


The 10th episode of Magnum's 2nd season, "The Taking of Dick McWilliams" features an older navy buddy who is kidnapped and held for $500K in ransom. Dick's wife, Mitsu, hires Magnum to handle the money drop and to ensure Dick's safe return.



Things don't go swimmingly. The money is picked up and Magnum and T.C. follow the car from T.C.'s chopper. However, the car goes into a tunnel and doesn't come out the other side. Apparently, the kidnapper switched vehicles. Of course, how did the kidnapper know he would be followed in a helicopter and not just another car...?

In any case, Magnum soon uncovers that Dick engineered his own kidnapping in order to simultaneously extort some money from he and his wife's families' business and leave her at the same time. Lovely guy.

At one point, Magnum feels hopeless about finding Dick and getting the money back. Higgins enters stage right and regales Magnum with a story from the war when he was in a hopeless situation in Burma in which his hands were tied, reminding Magnum his situation is not all that bad and that he does, indeed, have agency.



This inspires Magnum to track down Dick. Unfortunately, Dick has been hiding out on another island, but someone got there and beat him to death. Turns out it was Dick's father-in-law, who loathed his daughter's husband. Magnum races back to Mitsu's house and stops her from committing seppuku after knocking out her father with a knee to the head.



Then, Magnum tries to sell Mitsu some trope about how Dick was leaving her because he knew he'd ruin her life if he stayed. Puke, but he did save her life.

Side Note: Rick gets a black eye from a nun while trying to track down the kidnapper


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Season 1, Episode 4: Thank Heavens for Little Girls

Image
  Onto Episode #4 of Magnum P.I. "Thank Heavens for Little Girls, and Big Ones Too". A much lighter episode, airing on Christmas Day, 1980. It did not feature any murdering, and only one fight where Magnum and T.C. fended off about a dozen opponents while catching a few punches to the jaw and ripping their shirts. In any case, the show featured five schoolgirls who approach Magnum to hire him to find their teacher, who supposedly took off with some beach bum while watching them on their field trip to Hawaii. Instead of immediately calling the police or social services, Magnum takes the case and spirits the girls away to his secured estate while he investigates the case. I'm beginning to question Magnum's choices. Turns out its a double cross and the girls(and the teacher) are trying to steal a Gauguin painting at the estate. But then, not really, and it gets more complicated...etc... etc..In the end, Magnum saves the day. Side Note: In another cringeworthy moment, Mag...
Read more

Season 3, Episode 3: Ki'i's Don't Lie

Image
  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...
Read more

Season 3, Episode #9 - Mr. White Death

Image
  The main point of Season 3's Mr. White Death, was to get screen legend Ernest Borgnine to act alongside the new hit show's actors. So, nevermind the plot holes and logic flaws, and just enjoy the good fun. In any case, the episode starts far away from Honolulu in both time and space. We are brought to a barber's shop in Miami circa 1955 where a well-dressed man is getting a shave and somebody comes out of the back room to break his neck. We don't see the face of the killer.  Flash forward to the present day(1982) and we find Magnum, T.C., and Rick stopping by some shady club where there is a low rent wrestling match happening that featured Mr. White Death(Borgnine), a masked marauder who is winning a slugfest with a local wrestler. At the same time as the match, Rick approaches the club owner to ask about $500 that he owes to Rick. The owner doesn't take kindly to being pressured to pay his debts on his own turf. A big fight ensues and it looks like the club owner...
Read more