Magnum Revisited

  Episode #15 of Magnum's 2nd season, "Try to Remember" finds our hero unconscious in a damaged Ferrari to begin tonight's story. Magnum is rushed to the hospital where we find he has had a severe concussion, two cracked ribs, a bruised hip, and bruised kidneys as a result of his accident. Not only that, but Magnum cannot remember the hours leading up to the accident, meaning he has(wait for it) amnesia.... Over the next day, as Magnum heals, he puts together that he was working on locating a woman's missing sister. Soon, Magnum is paid a visit by Lieutenant Tanaka of the Honolulu P.D. Apparently, the missing girl was found dead in an apartment and Magnum's trademark Detroit Tiger's baseball cap was found beside her body. Magnum has some splainin' to do, but he can't remember. As the police start to close in on him for the murder, a desperate Magnum agrees to have Higgins hypnotize him to regain his memory. This brings up some ugly Vietnam PTSD...

  Season #2, Episode #14, "Computer Date" finds Magnum being hired to find out who is leaking laser technology secrets from a company. While investigating this corporate espionage case, the company president hires Magnum on the side to follow his wife, who he suspects is cheating on him. Magnum follows her one night to find out she was, indeed, cheating on her husband. However, much to Magnum's suprise, the other guy is Rick. Magnum is faced with an ethical dilemma. He ends up quitting the side gig, but doesn't tell Rick about what he found out. Shortly thereafter, the president's wife calls it off with Rick as she knows her husband suspects something. Rick then finds out that Thomas was trailing him earlier in the week. He gets pissed and punches Magnum in the jaw. Later, Magnum enlists the help of a former Navy buddy, Mac, who is a computer expert to help him crack the case of the corporate espionage. They discover who did it, but also find out that the pres...

  Episode #13 of Magnum's 2nd season, "The Jororo Kill" features Tyne Daly as an old journalist friend of Magnum from his Vietman days. In present day 1982, Tyne's character is in Hawaii to interview the prime minister of the Pacific Island nation of Jororo. She is also aware that a highly skilled international assassin may be making an attempt on the prime minister's life while in Oahu. The assassin hides in plain sight as he dresses up as a woman with several different costumes. In the end, he is able to throw off the authorities, including the CIA, in order to be able to shoot the prime minister at a church on the island. Magnum is able to put the pieces of the puzzle together just in time to race the Ferrari over to the church. Magnum's commotion interrupts the assassination plot and the assassin flees. Magnum is able to catch up with him, though, and shoot him dead, avoiding several shots from the assassin. Side Note: The assassin killed a few secur...

  Episode #12 of Season #2, "Ghost Writer" was a pretty silly affair. The set-up is that Magnum has to guard a ghost writer who is writing an autobiography for a Howard Hughes-type eccentric millionaire. The writer's materials get stolen and people start firing shots at Magnum once they try to get another meeting with the reclusive businessman. It turns out that the Howard Hughes guy that they did meet was an imposter. Apparently, the real guy had died and they put his body on ice so that they could conduct some important business before anyone realized he was dead. In the end, Magnum sniffs it out and everyone is safe with relatively little damage. Magnum did knock out two corporate security guys in a fistfight and Rick took a few punches. The dobermans, Zeus and Apollo, also got dosed by an assassin who came to Robin's Nest. Apparently, the assassin had a soft spot for dogs and didn't just shoot them...

  For episode #11 of the second season, "The Sixth Position", Magnum finds himself protecting a prima ballerina who, for some reason, has been the subject of recent attacks. Magnum enlists the help of ballet aficionado, T.C. , who is more than willing to help, as he is a big fan. That is helpful because Magnum and the ballerina do not get along, at all. Magnum can't stand that she is demanding and not polite and thankful for his services. In fact, one night, they argue on the grass at Robin's Nest and start pushing each other until they fall to the ground. Magnum overpowers her and they start to kiss. This tried and true 80's romantic mechanism takes a left turn though when they are then attacked by two strangers(who turn out to be KGB agents). Magnum punches one and shoots the other to death. This temporarily lands Magnum in jail, but Robin's attorney gets him sprung before too long. In the end, Magnum figures out that the CIA knew that the KGB was huntin...

  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 hop...

  Season 2, Episode #9, "Mad Buck Gibson" finds Magnum babysitting an arrested adolescent writer friend of Robin Masters who likes to pull off big stunts and live large at every turn. Buck Gibson's only enemy is himself as he hurts himself jumping out of a plane, getting in a barfight, and crashing the Ferrari into a chicken coop. Everyone else on the show is just collateral damage. Magnum gets punched in the eye in the barfight and also gets dosed with a Mickey Finn while trying to keep an eye on the mad writer. Magnum's friends have it much worse. Higgins separates a shoulder, cracks two ribs, and suffers a slight concussion when Buck lands on him after parachuting out of a plane. Rick gets his jaw broken in a bar fight started by Buck. In the end, ole Buck Gibson is the worst off. He finds out he has bone cancer and decides to handglide to Molokai(a destination which would never be reached from Oahu). Magnum helps Buck set off on this final ride that will sur...