Magnum Mania!

Unfinished Business

Episode ID: 157
Episode Number: 8.8
Air Date: 1/20/1988
Writers: Chris Abbott, Jeri Taylor
Director: Russ Mayberry
Producer: Rick Weaver
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Recurring Characters

Lance LeGault (Col. Buck Greene), Jean Bruce Scott (Lt. Cmdr. Maggie Poole), Marta DuBois (Michelle Hue), Kristin Carreira (Lily Catherine)

Guest Stars

Richard Narita (Quang Ki), Vincent Baggetta (Gary Rankin), Robert Harker (Commander Edward Rockwell), Leslie Wing (Miss Rockwell), Harry Endo (Judge Haruda)

Plot Outline

Due to insufficient evidence, the indictment against Quang Ki is dismissed, and Magnum's ex-wife and daughter find themselves in mortal danger.

Rating

9.5 (22 votes) MM Episode Forum Thread & Poll

Notes

1 Unusual for the show, this episode does not feature an opening preview clip.

2 This episode concludes the events of the "Quang Ki" storyline, which began in "Limbo" (7.22) and continued with "Infinity and Jelly Doughnuts" (8.1).

3 The montage sequence with Magnum searching for information about Quang Ki, then making preparations to kill him, are accompanied memorably by the entire version of the Genesis instrumental song "The Brazilian" from their 1986 album Invisible Touch. This is the third and final Genesis song to be featured in extended music sequences [video]. "Mama" (from their 1983 self-titled album) was featured in "Death and Taxes" (7.6) and "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" (also from Invisible Touch) was featured in "Laura" (7.18).

4 The package that Magnum receives in the mail shows the address of Robin's Nest as "1541 Kalakaua Ave, North Shore, HI 96801". This is only the fourth time in eight years the location of the estate on Oahu is mentioned (following "Italian Ice", "Double Jeopardy" and "The Big Blow") and is the only time the full address is seen or mentioned.

5 "Ile Debonnevie" is fictional. Although its specific location is not mentioned, it is probably supposed to be an island in French Polynesia.

6 Magnum's MIA braclet (worn since Season Three's "Forty Years From Sand Island") is discarded by Magnum at Ile Debonnevie just before his assassination attempt.

7 We see Maggie Poole with her hair down (and in civilian clothes) for only the second time. She'll have it down again in the series finale "Resolutions" (8.12 & 8.13).

8 Col. Ki's (Quang Ki's brother) full name is Yan Luan Ki.

Quotes

1
The "Letters to Lily" Narrations

Magnum: Dear Lily Catherine, Well, it's another beautiful day in paradise. I woke up this morning and thought about taking you up to the top of the Koolau's, where you can see the ocean everywhere you look. I wonder if you can see the ocean from where you are now? I wonder where you are now? And I guess if you could read this, you would wonder why I've taken to writing you letters. Letters I have no idea where to send since the Navy gave you and your mother new names and a new life. I don't really know myself, except that writing them somehow makes me feel a little closer to you. Somehow, I know I will see you again. I hope that you and your mama are well and happy. I think of you everyday.
(short while later)
... I wish I could tell you that the world is a safe and loving place, that the "Bogey Man" is only a figment of your imagination, and that I could protect you from anything bad that should ever come you way. I wish I could tell you that nobody could ever hurt you, but that wouldn't be the truth.
(short while later, after he believes Michelle and Lily are dead)
... Dear Lily Catherine, I guess I never really told you all the things I wanted to do with you, places I've thought about showing you, books I've thought about giving you to read, the christmas mornings I thought we'd share, the graduation from high school. I guess, even the arguments we would have if you were still here, close to me. I've just lived on blind faith that we would do all of those things, somehow.
(short while later)
... I'd been thinking about how much you'd changed since the first time I saw you at five years old and six years old, and I'd been wondering what you had looked like on your seventh birthday. It's funny, I can't quite see you. I wish your mom could have sent me a picture, but I have pictures of you in my head. Pictures of things we havn't done together, ice skating in Rockefeller Center, snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, cheering and screaming at Tiger Stadium. And those "pictures" are as clear to me as if they actually happened.
(short while later, after deciding not to kill Quang Ki, and, in turn, save a POW)
... And so, Lily Catherine, even though I know you will never read this, I needed to write this to tell you I once did something I think would have made you proud.

2
(to Quang Ki)
Col. Buck Greene: Let me make this perfectly clear. I ever catch you so much as setting your little toe in my country again I'm going to personally rip your heart out....through your throat! You got that.

Flubs

1 Once again, the spelling of the last name of Lance LeGault's character in the onscreen credits ("Green") differs from the spelling on his name badge ("Greene").

2 Rockwell's rank is incorrectly given as "Colonel" in the end credits. There is no rank of "Colonel" in the U.S. Navy. In several scenes he is shown in uniform wearing the insignia of a Commander, including the dossier picture of him taken before he was captured. Later, when his daughter is talking about him to Magnum, she refers to him as "Commander Rockwell". At the end of the show, as Magnum walks away from his sniper's nest, the narration read by a newscaster refers to him as "Captain Edward Rockwell". Maybe he was given a promotion to Captain on his release, but the insignia on his uniform during the exchange was still that of a "Commander". (Noted by eegorr)

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

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