Summer School

Episode Number: 119
Season Number: 6.13
Air Date: 1/9/1986
Writer: Bruce Cervi
Director: Russ Mayberry
Producer: Chris Abbott
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Recurring Characters

Carmella Barut (Carmella)

Guest Stars

Tate Donovan (R.J. Masters), Meredith MacRae (Charlotte Graham), Russ McCubbin (Archie Fleming), Michael MacRae (Jack the Hitman), Carl Ciarfalio (Scott the Hitman)

Episode Brief

After being expelled from a number of expensive schools, R.J., Robin Masters rich, careless, teenage nephew, arrives at the Estate to be reformed and educated by Higgins. R.J., however, has other ideas and decides to impersonate Thomas after being impressed by his adventures. Hired by a woman to find the only witness to her husband's murder, R.J. manages to get Thomas and everyone else involved in the case targeted for death by the men who killed the woman's husband.

Rating

8.0

(40 votes)

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Notes

¹ This episode features several extended scenes filmed at the historic Clarence H. Cooke House (the location of the second King Kamehameha Club) in the Nuuanu Valley. Several new angles of the building and grounds can be seen. We also see the entrance to the club off of the main road for the first time. We see a streetside sign that reads "Private Club 3860 Old Pali Road". This same address was seen in Season Two's "Billy Joe Bob" (2.1). We also see a couple of new shots of the club's main building and driveway. Outside of stock footage and closeups of the back entrance, this location is rarely used for filming (see "Billy Joe Bob" (2.1) and "Murder 101" (5.8)).

² Future star Tate Donovan makes an early-career appearance here as R.J. Masters, Robin Masters nephew. Tate was 22 at the time.

³ As he browses through Magnum's newspaper clippings, R.J. finds one headline reading "P.I. Thomas Magnum Foils Hotel Robbery", which refers to his case in "The Hotel Dick" (6.5), and another headline reading "Local P.I. Busts Drug Ring", which could refer to any one of a number of Prev Episodes.

⁴ Robin's nephew R.J. is seen driving a green Ferrari 308 GTS, with a license plate named Robin 23. Robin Masters' other cars on the estate have license plates named Robin 1, Robin 2 & Robin 3, so this more than likely means that Robin owns at least 23 motor vehicles!

⁵ The King Kamehameha Club "Beach Bar" is seen for the first time in Season Six, some 13 episodes into the season! We also see a new guest room set for the main house at Robin's Nest.

⁶ A new guest room is seen at the estate. It appears to be upstairs and features a personal computer.

⁷ Magnum's phone number at the guesthouse is shown as "808-555-6788". Rick's phone number at his KKC office is shown as "808-555-3679".

⁸ The silver vintage car that is seen pulling away when R.J. and Mrs. Graham exit the King Kamehameha Club is a late 1950's "Ponton" model Mercedes-Benz sedan with a Webasto sliding sunroof. It appears to be a W121 (1956+) model. The car will briefly be seen again in two episodes time, in the opening scene of "All Thieves on Deck" (6.15), and in Season Seven's "Little Girl Who" (7.7).

⁹ Magnum eats Fig Newtons with milk for the 7th time. (Noted by Timmer33)

¹⁰ Higgins' River Kwai Bridge model is destroyed again, this time by one of the hitmen. It will be destroyed yet again in "Paper War" (7.8).

Quotes

¹
Magnum: R.J., the guys in the Firebird were professional hitmen! Being a private investigator is not a game! It takes years of training, hundreds of hours of study!

²
Magnum: R.J., you're never gonna know what's for you until you get some idea of what the world is all about, and you never will until you get some education and some discipline. Then you can make your choices. At the moment, Higgins is the best thing for you.

Flubs

¹ R.J. is still in boarding school at the age of 20?! He shows up in his boarding school jacket, Higgins is supposed to reform him by his 21st birthday, and Magnum tells him that if he doesn't straighten up he will be sent to another boarding school?! Maybe it's not technically a flub, but it's an extremely odd and unlikely scenario! Also, why is R.J. still in his uniform when he arrives at the Estate? He didn't have time to change clothes before he boarded the plane on the mainland??

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