Way of the Stalking Horse (6.17)
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- Jay-Firestorm
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From one of the worst episodes (‘This Island Isn’t Big Enough…’) to one of the best.
[rating=10]
Magnum thinks he’s got an easy case when a seemingly meek and mild insurance salesman hires him to find his long lost-father, but the client is actually a hitman, using Magnum to find his latest victim. Possibly the best episode of the season…
-----
This review contains spoilers.
You might have gathered from my previous review, the terrible ‘This Island Isn’t Big Enough…’, that I consider that episode to be one of the worst of the entire series. Well, from one of the weakest, to one of the best – ‘Way of the Stalking Horse’ is firing all cylinders, and stands not only the arguably best episode of season six, but one of the best of the entire show’s run.
First things first, I like the opening trailer – it hardly gives anything away about the episode, and – other than one shot of hitman Driscoll firing a gun – does not spoil any of the plot twists for the first-time viewer. The opening trailers on some other series of the era often spoilt major plot twists, but thankfully MPI seldom did this, leaving the story as a surprise.
Anyway, things start of light-heartedly enough, with Magnum, T.C. and Rick playing baseball on the Estate and breaking a window (or so we assume from the smashing sound). The first act seems pretty average and routine, as Magnum searches for the insurance salesman’s long-lost father; it is not until the end of the first act, when the salesman turns out to be a hitman, that the story takes a much grittier turn.
Magnum coming close to death is a forerunner to the closing episode of season seven, ‘Limbo’, where he seemingly meets his maker.
A good scene is when Magnum returns to the guest house, only to find T.C. waiting for him; for me, this sort of scene shows how Magnum was closer to T.C. than Rick; I think if the same scene had been done with Rick in place of T.C., it wouldn’t have worked so well.
The rest of the episode is quite dark and moody, as Magnum becomes hell-bent on tracking down Driscoll. Magnum – both the character and the series – was maturing, and is reflected in much darker stories like this.
I also like how Magnum and Driscoll’s tales intertwine and parallel for the rest of the episode, with Magnum healing himself on the same dingy hotel bed as Driscoll had done, and using the same street contact, ‘Mary Elizabeth’.
One thing I did feel though, was that if Driscoll was such an elusive hitman, why did he wait around to bump off Magnum to stop him from identifying him – he could easily have just made his escape and never be seen again. But that’s only a minor plot quibble.
All-in-all, this is an excellent story, and quite possibly the best of the sixth season. It also gives the series a darker, edgier feel, which would continue on into many seventh and eighth season episodes.
-----
Other notes, bloopers and misc.:
* I’m getting bored of mentioning that the act breaks on the DVD are abridged, so I’ll skip that!
* It’s already been mentioned, but I too was curious about the white cap that T.C. wears in the baseball scene. As far as I can remember, this is the only time that he wore it.
* When the baseball is heard to be breaking glass, part of the sound effect that is heard was also used for the sound of ‘Airwolf’s turbos igniting. This sound effect was used several times in MPI, but this is the most notable.
* Kathleen Lloyd (Carol) is not credited for the ‘vision’ that she makes to Magnum when he is nearly dead.
* Did anyone notice the photo by Magnum’s bed, in the scene where he returns to the guest house and finds T.C. waiting for him? I did several freeze-frames, but couldn’t make out who it was of. His parents, maybe, or his marriage to Michelle?
* When Magnum is chasing Driscoll out of the hotel, in the shot where Magnum jumps from the bottom of the fire escape, it is quite clearly a stunt double.
* Like ‘I Never Wanted to Go to France, Anyway…’ previously in the season, and elements of season two’s ‘The Woman on the Beach’ and season five’s ‘Fragments’, this episode features some light horror-ish elements at the climax, with the sneaking around the old deserted building in the dark, and the many eerie dummies laying around.
[rating=10]
Magnum thinks he’s got an easy case when a seemingly meek and mild insurance salesman hires him to find his long lost-father, but the client is actually a hitman, using Magnum to find his latest victim. Possibly the best episode of the season…
-----
This review contains spoilers.
You might have gathered from my previous review, the terrible ‘This Island Isn’t Big Enough…’, that I consider that episode to be one of the worst of the entire series. Well, from one of the weakest, to one of the best – ‘Way of the Stalking Horse’ is firing all cylinders, and stands not only the arguably best episode of season six, but one of the best of the entire show’s run.
First things first, I like the opening trailer – it hardly gives anything away about the episode, and – other than one shot of hitman Driscoll firing a gun – does not spoil any of the plot twists for the first-time viewer. The opening trailers on some other series of the era often spoilt major plot twists, but thankfully MPI seldom did this, leaving the story as a surprise.
Anyway, things start of light-heartedly enough, with Magnum, T.C. and Rick playing baseball on the Estate and breaking a window (or so we assume from the smashing sound). The first act seems pretty average and routine, as Magnum searches for the insurance salesman’s long-lost father; it is not until the end of the first act, when the salesman turns out to be a hitman, that the story takes a much grittier turn.
Magnum coming close to death is a forerunner to the closing episode of season seven, ‘Limbo’, where he seemingly meets his maker.
A good scene is when Magnum returns to the guest house, only to find T.C. waiting for him; for me, this sort of scene shows how Magnum was closer to T.C. than Rick; I think if the same scene had been done with Rick in place of T.C., it wouldn’t have worked so well.
The rest of the episode is quite dark and moody, as Magnum becomes hell-bent on tracking down Driscoll. Magnum – both the character and the series – was maturing, and is reflected in much darker stories like this.
I also like how Magnum and Driscoll’s tales intertwine and parallel for the rest of the episode, with Magnum healing himself on the same dingy hotel bed as Driscoll had done, and using the same street contact, ‘Mary Elizabeth’.
One thing I did feel though, was that if Driscoll was such an elusive hitman, why did he wait around to bump off Magnum to stop him from identifying him – he could easily have just made his escape and never be seen again. But that’s only a minor plot quibble.
All-in-all, this is an excellent story, and quite possibly the best of the sixth season. It also gives the series a darker, edgier feel, which would continue on into many seventh and eighth season episodes.
-----
Other notes, bloopers and misc.:
* I’m getting bored of mentioning that the act breaks on the DVD are abridged, so I’ll skip that!
* It’s already been mentioned, but I too was curious about the white cap that T.C. wears in the baseball scene. As far as I can remember, this is the only time that he wore it.
* When the baseball is heard to be breaking glass, part of the sound effect that is heard was also used for the sound of ‘Airwolf’s turbos igniting. This sound effect was used several times in MPI, but this is the most notable.
* Kathleen Lloyd (Carol) is not credited for the ‘vision’ that she makes to Magnum when he is nearly dead.
* Did anyone notice the photo by Magnum’s bed, in the scene where he returns to the guest house and finds T.C. waiting for him? I did several freeze-frames, but couldn’t make out who it was of. His parents, maybe, or his marriage to Michelle?
* When Magnum is chasing Driscoll out of the hotel, in the shot where Magnum jumps from the bottom of the fire escape, it is quite clearly a stunt double.
* Like ‘I Never Wanted to Go to France, Anyway…’ previously in the season, and elements of season two’s ‘The Woman on the Beach’ and season five’s ‘Fragments’, this episode features some light horror-ish elements at the climax, with the sneaking around the old deserted building in the dark, and the many eerie dummies laying around.
JAY FIRESTORM
Facebook: Jay Gathergood / Twitter: Jay_Firestorm NEW BLOG: http://thea-teamcaptured.blogspot.com/
My A-Team site - http://thea-team.org aiming to be the most detailed A-Team site on the Net - if I ever get around to updating it!!
Facebook: Jay Gathergood / Twitter: Jay_Firestorm NEW BLOG: http://thea-teamcaptured.blogspot.com/
My A-Team site - http://thea-team.org aiming to be the most detailed A-Team site on the Net - if I ever get around to updating it!!
- Jay-Firestorm
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One more thing that I forgot to mention, when Five in the U.K. ran the series in 2002-3, this was the last episode they broadcast before taking a break before Christmas in 2002.
Boy, were they a long two weeks!!
Boy, were they a long two weeks!!
JAY FIRESTORM
Facebook: Jay Gathergood / Twitter: Jay_Firestorm NEW BLOG: http://thea-teamcaptured.blogspot.com/
My A-Team site - http://thea-team.org aiming to be the most detailed A-Team site on the Net - if I ever get around to updating it!!
Facebook: Jay Gathergood / Twitter: Jay_Firestorm NEW BLOG: http://thea-teamcaptured.blogspot.com/
My A-Team site - http://thea-team.org aiming to be the most detailed A-Team site on the Net - if I ever get around to updating it!!
- lutherhgillis
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- Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:54 pm
James,
Another scene positioning flub. Similar to No More Mr. Nice Guy, the beginning has the guys using a baseball pitching machine with Magnum trying to hit the ball. The machine is lined up with its back toward the main estate house and you can see the wall on the road side of the property behind Magnum as he readies himself to hit the ball. After two strikes, the next pitch comes with the pitching machine's rear pointed toward the main gate and the gatehouse and Magnum located nearer the garage end of the estate house.
There must have been a delay between scenes that caused the lighting to change so drastically that they shifted the orientation of the scenes. This is a drastic change of location ala No More Mr. Nice Guy.
Gracias,
LHG
Another scene positioning flub. Similar to No More Mr. Nice Guy, the beginning has the guys using a baseball pitching machine with Magnum trying to hit the ball. The machine is lined up with its back toward the main estate house and you can see the wall on the road side of the property behind Magnum as he readies himself to hit the ball. After two strikes, the next pitch comes with the pitching machine's rear pointed toward the main gate and the gatehouse and Magnum located nearer the garage end of the estate house.
There must have been a delay between scenes that caused the lighting to change so drastically that they shifted the orientation of the scenes. This is a drastic change of location ala No More Mr. Nice Guy.
Gracias,
LHG
Who's Dot Matrix, and what has she got to do with this?
- J.J. Walters
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This was a great ep.
Magnum's shoulder must have one big hole in it from all those shootings he's been in. Any more and the bullets will just pass through there.
I liked the young girl "Marta Kober". She played a good street kid part. I did some internet searching on her and was surprised to see she did a little acting and then seemed to fall into a life of drugs and lost her way for several years. I read that she recently got back with her family in Hawaii and is doing well. Hopefully we will see her again in some other TV/films.
The seatbelt scene really caught my eye when I saw that!
One of the best of season 6.
Magnum's shoulder must have one big hole in it from all those shootings he's been in. Any more and the bullets will just pass through there.
I liked the young girl "Marta Kober". She played a good street kid part. I did some internet searching on her and was surprised to see she did a little acting and then seemed to fall into a life of drugs and lost her way for several years. I read that she recently got back with her family in Hawaii and is doing well. Hopefully we will see her again in some other TV/films.
The seatbelt scene really caught my eye when I saw that!
One of the best of season 6.
- J.J. Walters
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LOL @ the shoulder bit timm! Too funny!timm525 wrote:This was a great ep.
Magnum's shoulder must have one big hole in it from all those shootings he's been in. Any more and the bullets will just pass through there.
I liked the young girl "Marta Kober". She played a good street kid part. I did some internet searching on her and was surprised to see she did a little acting and then seemed to fall into a life of drugs and lost her way for several years. I read that she recently got back with her family in Hawaii and is doing well. Hopefully we will see her again in some other TV/films.
The seatbelt scene really caught my eye when I saw that!
One of the best of season 6.
Thanks for the info on Marta Kober. I really liked her in this episode, as well. Great to hear that she is back on her feet again.
Without a doubt, one of the best Magnum P.I. episodes in the series!
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!
Wow! Great episode!
I was so happy to catch a grade-A Magnum episode tonight! Unfortunately I just discovered the DVD I bought used on Amazon for season 6 has one disc with a big fat scratch on it that prevented me from watching the previous two episodes - thankfully this one was fine and I guess the bright side is I now have 2 easter-egg Magnum PI episodes to watch someday!
This episode reminded me somewhat of the one guest starring Frank Sinatra. I completely agree with JJ - the pacing and well...everything about the episode was to my liking!
It was one of the more believable Magnum PI episodes to my memory - and I don't mean the simple logistics of the plot, but the character of Thomas Magnum. I love how it starts out with the baseball scene. I was just thinking about the Magnum PI plot formulas...I like how they establish the setting etc. in the first part of the episode and then move into the story.
Their were so many great aspects of this episode that I'd have to rewatch it (and wouldn't mind doing that) to mention all of them. But the scene with TC and Magnum is touching. This episode shows Magnum in one of the more vulnerable states in my opinion, he is kind of on his own on this one, TC knows it, and as the good friend that he is, let's Magnum know his concerns. Absolutely no over-acting in that scene lol.
This is one of those "bucket list" Magnum episodes -- if not perfection, very damn near close!
This episode reminded me somewhat of the one guest starring Frank Sinatra. I completely agree with JJ - the pacing and well...everything about the episode was to my liking!
It was one of the more believable Magnum PI episodes to my memory - and I don't mean the simple logistics of the plot, but the character of Thomas Magnum. I love how it starts out with the baseball scene. I was just thinking about the Magnum PI plot formulas...I like how they establish the setting etc. in the first part of the episode and then move into the story.
Their were so many great aspects of this episode that I'd have to rewatch it (and wouldn't mind doing that) to mention all of them. But the scene with TC and Magnum is touching. This episode shows Magnum in one of the more vulnerable states in my opinion, he is kind of on his own on this one, TC knows it, and as the good friend that he is, let's Magnum know his concerns. Absolutely no over-acting in that scene lol.
This is one of those "bucket list" Magnum episodes -- if not perfection, very damn near close!
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This is one of my favorite episodes, and I agree that its tone is akin to Laura.
Clu Gulager was friends with Selleck's parents, if I'm correct, and he's wonderful here in a small but very important part. I really like the way this one unfolds and it's got some great characters thanks to Gulager and Marta Kober as the young runaway. She was SO adorable! It's a dark episode, but well played and effective. I guess this, Laura and Death and Taxes are proably my favorite episodes of the second half of Magnum's runs... I'd have to think about that, but I'm pretty sure those would be my top three...
Clu Gulager was friends with Selleck's parents, if I'm correct, and he's wonderful here in a small but very important part. I really like the way this one unfolds and it's got some great characters thanks to Gulager and Marta Kober as the young runaway. She was SO adorable! It's a dark episode, but well played and effective. I guess this, Laura and Death and Taxes are proably my favorite episodes of the second half of Magnum's runs... I'd have to think about that, but I'm pretty sure those would be my top three...
This is also one of my favorites of season 6...very "gritty" and "dark" episode that shocks you almost from the start!
However, despite its seriousness it also captivates you and keeps you glued to the screen to see what happens next! That dorky looking guy with the dorky looking 80's glasses was a perfect hit-man...you'd never guess until he pulled that gun out and blew his supposed father away!
I also respected Magnum for tracking him down, despite him being seriously wounded by the killer before. The action and suspense in this one really kept it going too...pretty wild ending!
This one was excellent, and that's what I rated it as.
However, despite its seriousness it also captivates you and keeps you glued to the screen to see what happens next! That dorky looking guy with the dorky looking 80's glasses was a perfect hit-man...you'd never guess until he pulled that gun out and blew his supposed father away!
I also respected Magnum for tracking him down, despite him being seriously wounded by the killer before. The action and suspense in this one really kept it going too...pretty wild ending!
This one was excellent, and that's what I rated it as.
"It was more ironic than a Robin Masters novel--she thought he was dead, he thought she was dead...and only the chauffeur knew the truth! He should have been the butler!" "Lest We Forget"
- miltontheripper
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This is one of my all time favorites. Dark and gritty and Driscoll was a great villain! Definitely this is one of the more intense Magnum's ever. Probably one of the best Ice Pick appearance's ever as well! I liked his line in the hospital of "he hit one of my friends" meaning Magnum and not the rich guy who actually got shot. The scenes that chronicled both Magnum's and Driscoll's recovery's side by side were great and built a lot of suspense. The only thing that would have made this one better for me would have been a one on one hand to hand showdown between TM and Driscoll at the end!
- mandolabar
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Re: Way of the Stalking Horse (6.17)
Good episode. Some random thoughts:
Loved the Ice Pick hospital scene.
Loved the grittier tone.
Thought it was a nice touch offing Clu early on in the episode. I expected him to be one of the main stars.
I wish they had chosen a different title for the episode so that the shocking twist at the beginning would have been a bit more of a surprise.
I thought the girl did a very nice job. Considering this show has had a plethora of both annoying kids and annoying female sidekicks it's amazing that she came across so likeable.
Loved the Ice Pick hospital scene.
Loved the grittier tone.
Thought it was a nice touch offing Clu early on in the episode. I expected him to be one of the main stars.
I wish they had chosen a different title for the episode so that the shocking twist at the beginning would have been a bit more of a surprise.
I thought the girl did a very nice job. Considering this show has had a plethora of both annoying kids and annoying female sidekicks it's amazing that she came across so likeable.
Totally agree. I though that the denouement with the teddy bear was a little weak, so i would have loved to see that extra minute of running time replaced with an extended fight scene. Especially if it was filmed as well as the one from "Let the Punishment Fit the Crime."J.J. Walters wrote: If they could have extended the ending a bit, and had a wounded Magnum and a wounded Driscoll fight hand-to-hand, after the gunfight, and with maybe Mary Elizabeth jumping in, this would have been a perfect episode, IMHO! It's still a great ending, but I was left wanting more! I wanted to see an EPIC battle between TM and Driscoll in that dark building!