My magnum opus on Magnum, P.I.

Season seven
The seventh season was originally intended to be the last, but more about that later. As usual this season opens with a two-parter that originally aired in October 1986 as one feature-length episode however, but it’s broken into two for syndication airings and re-runs. The simply titled LA (S7, E1, parts 1 & 2) has Magnum visiting the City of Angels and inadvertently stumbling into a drug-related murder spree. It’s fun to see some of the shooting locations, like the Ocean Front Walk in Venice circa 1986. Interestingly, the opening credits haven’t changed and remain the same from the previous season and there’s a gorgeous throwback to the very first episode when Magnum tries to focus by saying to to himself, “Don’t look at the dogs, work the lock” (while being chased by dogs) just like he does in Don’t Eat the Snow in Hawaii (S1, E1). Alfonso Ribeiro pops up as one of the players on TC’s baseball team who witnesses his friends being shot dead after stealing a car. Ribeiro of course became a household name playing Carlton Banks in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 1990-96. It also co-stars Dana Delany, who played Kurt Russell’s love interest in the excellent Tombstone (1993). In fact, despite a serious conflict of interest, Magnum asks her to marry him!

One Picture is Worth (S7, E2) starts with a particularly gruesome bank heist where the robber blows away everyone in the bank with a shotgun even after getting the money. Carol Baldwin pops up again and again beautifully mirrors the manipulation Magnum tries on others by doing exactly the same thing to him. It’s nice that even with different writers and directors for different episodes, certain elements have been kept consistent. Interestingly, Carol also seems to have a big rock on her wedding finger, but no mention is made. In addition, no mention is made in this episode of the quite significant events of the previous one, namely Magnum nearly getting married. By now, the majority of Magnum, PI has settled into a formulaic affair, which is why most episodes that break from this routine stand out. Straight and Narrow (S7, E3) more or less follows the familiar theme and guest stars Candy Clark, last seen in  The Hotel Dick (S6, E4), but thankfully she’s playing the same character and the events of that episode are mentioned.

If you find any of the clichéd crimebusters that have appeared so far in Magnum annoying, you might want to skip AAPI (S7, E4) as they all appear in this one. There’s Luther Gillis, Tracy Spenser – played by Annie Potts and last seen in Legacy From a Friend (S3, E18), HPD Detective Katsumoto – the one with a John Wayne fixation and Detective Jean Claude Fornier, played by Paul Verdier and last seen in The Man From Marseilles (S5, E18) where Magnum sings shockingly bad karaoke. In fact, reference is made to this as Fornier gets murdered at a private investigator’s convention, hence all these extremely annoying characters in one place. Interestingly, Stephen J. Cannell, close friend of Donald P. Bellisario, fellow 80s TV pioneer and the man who gave the world The Rockford Files, 21 Jump Street and The A-Team, appears as a hotel detective, before he gets added to the body count. Tom Selleck’s first episode as producer is Death and Taxes (S7, E5) and the influence of Miami Vice, which by this point was well into season 3, is pretty obvious. It has many night scenes, a freaky serial killer, gritty feel, a modern, synth-driven score and even song-length musical scenes featuring the music of Genesis! Granted, it’s used to great effect in a sequence shot with Magnum searching for the serial killer’s next victim. To add to the deep, dark plot line, it’s set around the fourth of July weekend, which of course is when Magnum sets off for his annual surfski of solitude.

Knowing that in the early stages of writing and production everyone involved thought this was going to be the last series, it becomes a little easier to see some of the choices behind the episodes. Little Girl Who (S7, E6) features the return of  Magnum’s ex-wife, Michelle…and her daughter, Lily Catherine, who may or may not be Magnum’s daughter. Incidentally, this particular plot line formed the basis of the apparent reboot of Magnum, PI, announced last year, which would apparently focus on Magnum’s daughter. Whether anything comes of that, remains to be seen.

In only the second example of a crossover in the Magnum PI Extended Universe, our permanently penniless private eye pairs up with Jessica Fletcher, played by Angela Lansbury, from Murder, She Wrote. The first was Ki’i’s Don’t Lie (S3, E2) which, like this episode, is technically a two-parter, but the second part is concluded as an episode of the crossed over series. So, like Ki’i’s Don’t Lie – where you had to watch Simon & Simon season 2, episode 1 to find out what happened – with Novel Connection (S7, E8) you have to watch Murder, She Wrote, season 3, episode 8, Magnum on Ice. Just in case you weren’t confused enough, a new ending was filmed for syndication to make it a single, stand alone, episode. The Magnum, PI – Complete Seventh Season DVD includes only the original version (along with the Murder, She Wrote crossover episode), not the syndicated version.

Magnum does a John Book in Kapu (S7, E9) an episode clearly influenced by the movie Witness (1985) in which our indomitable investigator is injured and taken to a Hawaiian island where outsiders are forbidden after saving a young, Hawaiian native girl from being shot because she herself witnessed a murder while visiting the mainland. During his recovery, Magnum eventually wins the trust of the tribe and helps out with fishing, net making and all the usual chores that need to be done. You almost hope he’s going to help build a barn, but alas, these particular Polynesians don’t seem to have much use for one. Roger Mosley co-write the next episode Missing Melody (S7, E10) in which we learn for the first time that TC has an ex-wife, a son and a daughter – who gets kidnapped.

The high quality benchmark set by season six continues into season seven – however, six still remains the best thus far. Death of the Flowers (S7, E11) is a moving episode that centers around both Carol Baldwin and Ice Pick, of all characters. In this episode we learn that both of Rick’s parents were killed in a car accident when he was just 12 and Chicago crime boss Francis Hofstetler unofficially adopted him and even pulled strings to get Rick into military academy. It might have been nice to have learnt this some time ago, so it didn’t just seem like Rick was a wannabe wiseguy, but instead had a genuine, emotional connection to this elderly ex-con. Higgins goes full John Rambo in Autumn Warrior (S7, E11) and we return to the American film noir style we’ve seen once or twice in the past for the Sam Spade-inspired, 1940s-era episode Murder by Night (S7, E12), which features an amusing twist at the end and even a self-referencing joke midway through the credits as Tom Selleck chokes after taking a drag from his cigarette, looks at the camera, then puts it out, since in this episode his character smokes almost all the time and Selleck doesn’t smoke cigarettes.

All-round chaos ensues in On the Fly (S7, E12) as a dramatic last stand is mounted at the Robin Masters estate, Magnum has to land a plane and manages to seduce a beautiful woman while gorging on pepperoni pizza. Solo Flight (S7, E13) is a pretty lame attempt to recreate something similar to Home From the Sea (S4, E1) but Forty (S7, E14) is quite entertaining. In it, Magnum celebrates his 40th birthday even though his actual age and birthday frequently change throughout the series – Selleck himself was 42 when this episode aired. While on a case, he basically stalks a very attractive, young news reporter played by Patrice Martinez, fresh from her success in the ¡Three Amigos! but before she appeared in Beetlejuice. He’d more than likely be labeled as a sexual predator if he tried any of this today. It also guest stars celebrated Asian-American actor James Hong, who’s been in countless movies and TV shows, but you might recognize as the “eyes, I just do eyes” guy from Blade Runner.

This season continues to show evidence of influence from more gritty cop dramas, particularly Miami Vice and Laura (S7, E15) is another such example, complete with Genesis soundtrack. However, what makes this episode arguably stand out more than Death and Taxes (S7, E5) is the guest star, none other than Frank Sinatra, playing a hard-ass retired New York cop. Sinatra was no softy, he was the first choice to play the title role in Dirty Harry (1971), but broke his finger before shooting started and had to bow out of the production. Coincidentally, Kevyn Major Howard, who plays this episode’s bad guy also had a brief appearance in Sudden Impact (1983) and was on the receiving end of Harry Callahan’s awesome “dog shit” speech.

From the pre-opening credits Out of Sync (S7, E16) episode looks interesting and it doesn’t disappoint. Unusually and quite effectively, it features a nonlinear, on camera, narration from Magnum as he talks to the audience throughout the episode after the main events of the story have concluded (for him). Dana Delany returns as Cynthia Farrell, the woman Magnum proposed to in the season 7 two-part opener, LA. David Hemmings also makes another appearance, but playing a completely different character than he did in Compulsion (S5, E13). After seven seasons, the characters are of course completely established and with the minor exception of one or two episodes – like Missing Melody (S7, E10) where we learn that TC actually has an ex-wife, a son and a daughter – there aren’t too many surprises. What’s also really nice is that Magnum and Higgins have finally got past that compulsion to shout at each other all the time and actually have quite civilized conversations, even offering each other helpful advice. The Aunt Who Came to Dinner (S7, E17) is one such example and even though Magnum never, not once, says ‘thank you’ when Higgins offers him a cigar throughout this season, the two of them can, and do, work well together.

The penultimate episode of this season, The People vs. Orville Wright (S7, E18) features an usual, cliffhanger-style ending with Rick, first being cleared of murder, then shuffling into a cell as he’s sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in prison by the FBI. This story arc continues into the final episode Limbo (S7, E19), which was to be the last episode of Magnum, ever. Opening in medias res, we find our plucky private eye in the middle of a fierce one-on-three firefight in a crate-filled warehouse. Unfortunately, he takes two to the chest, making a total of 10 times Magnum has been shot! (That’s more than Sgt. Barnes in Platoon.) What follows is something that echoes a little of the final episode of Quantum Leap, which makes some sense, since Donald P. Bellisario was responsible for both. Magnum watches events unfold and his friends mourn for him as a ghost of sorts, with only Mac offering a little cryptic advice here and there, since Mac died in Did You See the Sun Rise? (S3, E1, part1 & 2). However, this is nicely handled in a very effective manner with little or no drawn-out sentimental nonsense. He finally walks off into the clouds, symbolizing his readiness to die only after he has got Rick out of prison, sent Higgins’ memoirs to the publishers and accepted Michelle’s desire to marry another man.

When this episode was filmed everyone on the crew thought it was the last one, including Selleck. Not long before the air date in April ’87, he agreed to do one final season, albeit a much shorter one. His salary was substantially more than the previous seven seasons, plus he received a $350,000 bonus from Universal Studios, all of which he gave to the entire cast and crew of the show in the form of lavish gifts and thousand dollar checks. After this was given the green light, Limbo underwent some minor edits where possible to reinforce the idea that Magnum wasn’t really dead.

Season eight
How the dickens are they going to get around this? Will Magnum be less of an insufferable brat following his near-death experience? Well, Infinity and Jelly Doughnuts (S8, E1) picks up more or less straight from where the last episode left off and it’s done surprisingly well. This was the third episode produced by Selleck after Death and Taxes (S7, E5) and Limbo (S7, E19) and like those other two, this a well-written, enjoyable follow-up to the near-death of Magnum, both the character and the series. His continuing recovery is the subject of Pleasure Principle (S8, E2) and in a delightful role reversal we see Magnum trying to act his age a bit more and Higgins reclaiming a little of his lost youth by staying out late and partying. The mannerisms and language of both are carefully observed and switched with great success, it’s just a shame we had to wait eight seasons for something like this to happen. We learn that the change in Higgins’ character is a sub-conscious reaction to Magnum’s nearly dying, which adds a new layer to the friendship between these two, even at this late stage.

The season eight opening credits are practically identical to those of the preceding season, with just three or four split-second snippets being replaced, in essence one for each character and couple of miscellaneous clips. Selleck produced the first few episodes for this season and they are of a pretty consistent high quality. Innocence… A Broad (S8, E3) follows a vaguely similar plot to the 1950 film Born Yesterday, starring William Holden and Judy Holliday, but Tigers Fan (S8, E4) is yet another well-written, emotional offering and has Magnum tracking down the killer of series regular Lt Tanaka. Towards the climax of the episode Magnum goes impromptu SEAL, using motor oil to blacken his face and arms before an improvised night time, solo assault on a luxury yacht anchored off of Waikiki. The whole scene is set to a very effective synthesized score, reminiscent of Jan Hammer’s music in Miami Vice, but not so similar that it could be considered a rip off of any sort. Equally as memorable is that for possibly the very first time, Magnum actually demonstrates some military knowledge of properly handling weapons in a CQB situation.

Forever in Time (S8, E5) offers another mystic-Magnum story, but The Love That Lies (S8, E6) is quite an emotional affair where Carol discovers that her mother isn’t her biological parent, in this, the seventh and final Carol-centric episode of the series. Both this and Tigers Fan (S8, E4) would almost certainly be in a Top 20 list of all-time epic episodes as we’ve become quite attached now to secondary, reoccurring characters, including Carol, Lt Tanaka and Ice Pick. Out of the blue, the character Susan Johnson – the bumbling bank teller and daughter of a world famous forger last seen locked in a vault with Magnum in Rembrandt’s Girl (S4, E14) – pops up again in A Girl Named Sue (S8, E7). Lo and behold, she’s decided to become a private investigator in a move that must now mean the island of Hawaii has the highest number of private detectives per capita of any US state. Johnson – played by Carol Burnett – mimics Magnum in many ways, as she sees him as a role model, to the point of driving an identical bright red Ferrari 308GTS. Magnum even hangs a lantern, to use a TV writer’s term, to the fact that it’s hardly suitable for remaining inconspicuous. “Nice surveillance car,” he jabs. “Very subtle. I get mine free.”

You’d think by now Magnum might have actually moved on from Michelle – she went off and married Mark Graison from Dallas after all – but as Colonel Buck Greene says in Unfinished Business (S8, E8), “This is getting very tired.” What unfolds instead though is an utterly unexpected excellent episode. The trail against Quang Ki for orchestrating the attempted murder of Magnum at the end of season seven is summarily dropped and Thomas is again concerned about the safety of his ex-wife and maybe-daughter…rah, rah, rah [yawn]. However, when he receives a video cassette in the mail showing Michelle and Lily Catherine being killed by a car bomb…his concerns appear to have been justified. But, as he intensely plans his revenge to a powerful Genesis instrumental, he discovers there is actually much more going on. In a top secret military operation, Ki is being exchanged for a POW still being held in Vietnam and thus proving there are still US soldiers being held captive. Magnum is torn between his burning need for vengeance and his strong emotional links to being a POW. Tears stream down his cheeks as he has Ki in the sights of his sniper rifle…and also watches as the returning Navy serviceman is reunited with his family. Season eight so far is certainly no drawn out epilogue or just closure-in-12-parts, we’re seeing what is much of the very best Magnum has to offer.

Following on from The Great Hawaiian Adventure Company (S8, E9), an easily forgettable episode, Legend of the Lost Art (S8, E10) is commonly referred to as the “Raiders of the Lost Ark episode” since it’s an obvious parody, playing on the fact that Ton Selleck was offered the role of Indiana Jones. There’s even a Belloq-like character, plus the fedora, whip and occasional sweeping screen wipes made famous by George Lucas, who himself was influenced by Akira Kurosawa. Much of the dialogue has amusing Airplane! -style humour, with the continual mixup of “lost art” and “lost ark” plus it’s interesting to get an idea of what Selleck might have looked like as the battered archeologist. Personally, I can’t help but think Harrison Ford has the “everyman” look that suited the role so much better. From the financial perspective, Selleck roughly made about the same with eight seasons of Magnum as Ford did with the first three Indiana Jones movies. We don’t talk about the fourth one.

Just a three more episodes left now and then that’s it, forever. So what better way than to have Higgins all but confirm that he is Robin Masters, which is more or less what happens in Transitions (S8, E10). Naturally he doesn’t actually come out and admit it, but Magnum persists with his theory as Robin’s latest novel manuscript is stolen mad Thomas must track it down with the help of Luther Gillis for the last time. During this time however, Higgins drops more hints and even gives Magnum a kind of “oh, alright then” look at the end of the episode as the two share a moment looking over the Honolulu skyline. And then here we are; the last installment of Magnum, PI and it ends just like it began – eight seasons/160 episodes/120 hours/seven years and one month ago – with a two parter: Resolutions (S8, E11, parts 1 & 2).

It’s a bit of an erratic, mixed bag, set against the backdrop of Rick’s wedding to Cleo, which draws virtually every reoccurring character to the Robin Masters Estate for the ceremony. Magnum reactivates his commission with the US Navy and becomes a full-time father to his daughter Lily, after he’s reunited with her – spoiler: turns out she’s alive. TC seems to be on the road to reconciliation with his wife. Rick can’t decide if he really wants to actually tie the knot and while standing actually at the alter with Cleo – Ice Pick gives her away, which is nice – he can’t actually bring himself to say the words “I do”. The only thing that really spoils this otherwise nicely set up two-part series finale is the sudden appearance of Magnum’s paternal grandfather, Thomas Sullivan Magnum II. Magnum himself is over 40, so that would make his grandfather 80 at the very least…and this guy is not a day over 60. It’s a shame as it jars considerably over the course of the double-episode as it’s used as a device to illustrate to Thomas what his life might become he maintains his unsettled lifestyle. Higgins denies being Robin Masters at the wedding, in order to preserve some sense of mystery, but personally, I think he’s actually telling the truth when he admits it earlier in the episode.  At the end of the closing credits there is a brief scene of Magnum and Lily walking on the beach (with their backs to the camera). Suddenly, the scene is projected to the TV set in the guesthouse. The beach scene ends and we briefly see the Universal production logo. The camera then zooms out from the TV set and we see Tom Selleck in a tan Navy uniform. He points a TV remote clicker at the camera and says simply, “good night”. The screen goes blank, end of the series.

Now read on for an exclusive interview with the man who actually created Magnum, Donald P. Bellisario…

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