Magnum Mania!

Compulsion

Episode ID: 98
Episode Number: 5.14
Air Date: 1/24/1985
Writer: Chris Abbott
Director: David Hemmings
Producer: Reuben Leder
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Recurring Characters

Kathleen Lloyd (Carol Baldwin), Gillian Dobb (Agatha Chumley)

Guest Stars

John Pleshette (Steve Elliott), David Hemmings (Lord Binkie Smythe-White), Susan Swift (Sunshine), Richard McPherson (Moody), David Palmer (Freddie Baxter)

Plot Outline

Appearances can be deceiving when Magnum tries to convince Carol that she's not seeing signs pointing to the next case as being her last, and Higgins finds himself in a rough spot when his former Sandhurst comrades believe he's the owner of Robin's estate!

Rating

8.0 (15 votes) MM Episode Forum Thread & Poll

Notes

1 This is the third "Carol-centric" episode of the series, following "No More Mr. Nice Guy" (4.13) and "Blind Justice" (5.7).

2 Episode director David Hemmings, an English '60s cinema icon, also makes an on-screen appearance as Lord Binkie Smythe-White, one Higgins' old schoolmates from Sandhurst. David Hemmings will later have a small recurring role on another Bellisario TV show, Airwolf, as Dr. Charles Henry Moffett, the creator of the Airwolf helicopter.

3 Carol's last name (Baldwin) is referenced for the first time, by a plaque in her office. We learn that she works in the Honolulu City Prosecutors Office as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney (as indicated by the job title posted on her office door). Her father was also a Prosecuting Attorney. She likes opera music. She once owned a Pekinese dog that went by the name of "Chelsea". Her house is also seen for the second time.

4 Carol propositions Magnum with a seductive look and a glance to the bedroom [see quote below]! Magnum was tempted, but declines over fear of breaking up their friendship.

5 This episode features several downright scary, tension-building, scenes involving Carol and a stalker.

6 The estate's kitchen is seen, a rare sight. Magnum is fixing a "sauteed" meal for the dogs. (Noted by Mike Barnes)

7 Higgins was a student at The Royal Military College (RMC) at Sandhurst, probably starting in 1931 or 1932. He was "sent down" in the winter of his third year when he was falsely accused of causing the partial paralysis of a fellow student during a school prank (Lord Binkie was responsible for the accident). The following spring, he enlisted in the British Army.

Quotes

1
Carol: You know ... sometimes ... you remind me of my father.
Magnum: Me?
Carol: (shakes head) I guess it's just the way the light reflects off the armor.
Magnum: Night blindness.
Carol: Yeah. (widens eyes, glaces towards the bedroom)
Magnum: There's only one cure for it...(steps closer) Sleep, and the harsh reality that comes with it in the daylight.
Carol: You sure?!
Magnum: (shakes head)
Carol: Yeah. (smiles, walks away)

Flubs

1 Wait a minute, a mop falls toward Carol in an open area, with the mop head in the air, and she's still not 100% sure someone else was there? The mop head was in the air, the mop stick was touching the ground! It made for a cool scene (the mop head briefly appeared to be someone's head, with long hair), but Carol would have figured out that someone must have pushed the mop, in which case she would have bolted out of there. That's a character flub.

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