Magnum Mania!

The Return of Luther Gillis

Episode ID: 79
Episode Number: 4.16
Air Date: 2/16/1984
Writer: Reuben Leder
Director: John Llewellyn Moxey
Producer: Reuben Leder
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Recurring Characters

Eugene Roche (Luther H. Gillis), Wallace W. Landford (Artie Keanu)

Guest Stars

Geoffrey Lewis (Lloyd DeWitt), Sheree North (Blanche Rafferty), Jeff Harlan (Jack Gillis), Gabriel Aio (Little Tony), Kanani Choy (Big Sally), Jim Bertino (Scrungo), Jana Linden (Jo), Jake Hoopai (Guard)

Plot Outline

Magnum is delighted when an old friend, Luther Gillis, arrives in Hawaii to collect an award from the National Academy of Private Investigators. But when Luther's secretary and Higgins go missing, Magnum and Luther must join forces, again, to crack the case, despite their completely opposite methods of detective work.

Rating

8.0 (13 votes) MM Episode Forum Thread & Poll

Notes

1 This is the second "Luther-centric" episode of the series. It is best viewed after the first Luther Gillis episode, "Luther Gillis: File #521" (4.2), as events, characters and "inside jokes" are referenced from that episode. We learn that Luther's daughter Nancy is now at a boarding school in Chicago.

2 A stock footage aerial shot of the St. Louis Gateway Arch is used for the opening scene.

3 The Hotel Street vice district is used briefly as a filming location for a night scene shot. The Swing Club strip bar can be seen in the background. This exact location will be famously used for the "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" sequence [video] with Frank Sinatra in Season Seven's "Laura" (7.18).

4 Higgins says, "While the Higgins lineage is decidedly distinguished, it is not of the realm", implying that he is not in the English Peerage. This will later be contradicted in Season Five's "Echoes of the Mind" (5.1 & 5.2) where we learn that he is actually a Baron.

5 After getting hit over the head with a frying pan, Luther sings several lines from the classic pop standard "You Always Hurt the One You Love".

6 Geoffrey Lewis (Lloyd DeWitt) appeared with Tom Selleck in the 1982, made-for-tv, Western movie The Shadow Riders. He will appear again on the show in "I Never Wanted to Go to France, Anyway" (6.12).

7 At the P.I. convention, the following page can be heard over the PA system - "Paging Harry 'The Shadow' Martini, paging Harry Martini".

8 Magnum tries to read Tolstoy's War and Peace.

9 "Scrungo", Magnum and Luther's cell mate from "Luther Gillis: File #521" (4.2), makes a brief, humorous appearance.

10 Sheree North (Blanche Rafferty) appeared with Tom Selleck in the 1976, made-for-tv, movie Most Wanted, which also starred Robert Stack.

11 Magnum wears the "Al's Automotive and Muffler King" cap.

12 Higgins was in Albania (date unknown) where he was imprisoned in a zipper factory with Bertie Farnbush and his maiden sister, and used her hairpin to escape.

Quotes

1
Luther: Welcome to St. Louie. Maybe it ain't the best of towns, but it ain't the worst either. So what if the football team and the baseball team got to share the same nickname. Who cares, I call it home.

2
Magnum: Higgins, I can explain.
Higgins: I knew I could count on hearing that pathetic little phrase once again. It is as regular as the rising and setting of the...

3
Higgins: Please, Ms. Rafferty, I fail to see how some sordid detail from the past can have any relevance to our current plight.

4
Luther: I was beginning to get the feeling that I was stuck with the big guy for the duration. The only thing more depressing than that was this case, because we'd run out of leads. You try being a detective with no leads. It's like a tailor without a needle, or Godzilla without Tokyo, or... (Narration)
Magnum: A bad guy without a motive. (Narration)
Luther: Did you say something?
Magnum: What?...Nope.

5
Magnum: This was done by dot matrix.
Luther: Who's dot matrix, and what's she got to do with this?
Magnum: She's a computer, Luther!

Flubs

1 Blanche says she met Luther on July 12, 1953, but in "Luther Gillis: File #521" (4.2), Luther says she's been with him since '51. (Noted by Mike Barnes)

Wish to add something? Got a correction? Shoot me an email.

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