Blind Justice (5.7)

[miltontheripper]

I have to admit I had never liked this episode a whole lot in the past but while watching it again yesterday I thought it was much better than previous viewings. I do like the episode's featuring Carol and this actually was a pretty intense episode with the ultimate morality check for TM. Overall a pretty decent episode for me.

[Sisophous]

I did not care much for this episode when I viewed it the first time but now that I saw it again it is very good.

Carol really destroys episodes for me but she is more low key and less abrasive in this episode. She does manage to nearly get Magnum killed while running red lights. You have to ask yourself is that a wig on her head or is it a birds nest? I know the 80s had a lot of funky, bad hair but this looks ridiculous.



Then just 3 plus minutes into this episode we have Magnum being Magnum. Not only does he destroy Higgins flowers, parking the Ferrari at night in the dark, but does not offer to reimburse Higgins for the flowers. Understandably, Higgins goes off the wall and takes the car away from Magnum.



Then we have that car Magnum picks up to replace the Ferrari and of course TC can't repair cars. Black smoke is emitted from the rear. And Magnum does not even fit in the car, his head is above the windshield.



The girl in the Black car, looks like a Corvette, really caught my eye. Who is she? What an 80s girl.





I think the ending is the worst and most incomplete I have seen in this series. Some may call it an open ended conclusion but I found it left me guessing what happened after they built this story up. Did the husband go to jail for murder or not? And what did Magnum decide to do, help put the husband away or not? A tape recorder gets erased and there is no back up? Wouldn't you make a copy just in case something destroyed the evidence? It seems the writers got tired here and wrapped up the episode prematurely.

[ConchRepublican]

The girl in the Black car, looks like a Corvette, really caught my eye. Who is she? What an 80s girl.

Ahh . . our Mystery Girl returns. There's a whole thread about her! Or, "Lady X" as she's been dubbed.

viewtopic.php?t=2032

[Sisophous]

Ahh . . our Mystery Girl returns. There's a whole thread about her! Or, "Lady X" as she's been dubbed.

Thanks, I have an idea but will post it on that thread.

[J.J. Walters]

LOL!

[MaximRecoil]

Are the seats in that particular model of Jaguar really that high in relation to the top of the windshield, or did they have Selleck sit on something (e.g. a stack of books, cushion, whatever) just to create the comedic effect of him looking way too tall for the car? I remember Selleck saying in a TV interview (on David Letterman's show perhaps) many years ago that him driving around in that little Ferrari was supposed to be a joke, because of his size relative to how small the car was. But in the case of the Ferrari the effect is minor, not even close to how cartoonish it looked when he was driving that Jaguar.

I'm 6'2, only 2" shorter than Selleck, and I've never even been close to being too tall for any vehicle I've ever driven.

Also, I loved the scene where Magnum was apparently driving the Jaguar, and then the camera zooms out to show that he's actually being towed on a flat trailer. The scene was also ironic in that they basically just pulled back the veil on the usual method of filming driving scenes when they want to show a closeup of the actual actor (rather than a stuntman in a zoomed out shot where he isn't recognizable) "driving" down a public road at a significant speed; i.e., the car is actually being towed on a low, flat trailer during such scenes.

This is a far more realistic method than the cheaper method of filming the actor sitting in a "buck" in the studio with the passing scenery projected onto a screen. For example, in the early Georgia episodes of the very car/driving centric show "The Dukes of Hazzard", the closeup driving scenes featuring Schneider and Wopat were done in a car on a trailer being towed down real roads. After they moved to a Warner Bros. backlot in Hollywood, they went with the cheaper (and cheesy looking) studio buck method, like so:



Fortunately, MPI never used that cheap method.

[Doc Fred]

[quote="J.J. Walters"]And Ms. Jones, the "Hall of Records" clerk, makes another all too brief appearance.[/quote]

Throughout the series, after seeing her a few times, I kinda figured Magnum would eventually date her... I was surprised that never happened...

[Doc Fred]

This was a pretty good episode, with the outcome of the trial in doubt and the verdit never revealed at the end. I wanted to see how it ended! :cry:

Anyway, I thought it was interesting what that sleazy defense lawyer told Magnum when he said that he wasn't concerned whether his client was guilty or not, but that his job was just to make sure he wasn't convicted. Being a defense lawyer must pose a lot of ethical challenges for those in that profession.

Also, I loved the scene where the defense lawyer, Aldridge, tries to bribe Magnum to stop investigating the case, and Magnum makes fun of the situation by asking him whether there are any other cases he would like Magnum "not to investigate", and how much he would pay him for "not investigating" because he could spend a lot of time "not investigating." Very funny! :lol:

Finally, it was nice to see many scenes filmed in front of Aliiolani Hale , which is the building that houses the Hawaii State Supreme Court. There is a time capsule buried somewhere beneath the building by King Kamehameha V back in 1872, and contains photos of the royal family, Hawaiian coins, the Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, newspapers and books. However, to dig it up would damage the structural integrity of the building, so it has not been disturbed.

Great comments, Tuan. Personally, I'm very satisfied with how Magnum handled things and that the guy on trial wasn't going to be exonerated because of the tape. As others have said, in the totality of things, justice was done... or appeared like it would be done.

I usually like watching the times when Higgy Baby and Magnum have their disputes and the consequences of them, but not this time. I thought the parts about the Jag that Magnum bought and the destructions of the flowers were pretty bad.

Mostly, Tuan, I want to thank you for the history about the artifacts buried under building. I thought that was fascinating. Perhaps in time, engineering will advance to the point where the artifacts will be recovered without damaging the building. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I suspect the state of Hawaii and the people of Hawaii would surely treasure what's in the capsule, and display the contents in an important place.... a true piece of history.

[Seaver41]

I have to admit I had never liked this episode a whole lot in the past but while watching it again yesterday I thought it was much better than previous viewings. I do like the episode's featuring Carol and this actually was a pretty intense episode with the ultimate morality check for TM. Overall a pretty decent episode for me.

A common thought I have as I watch these shows 30 years later again.Being a teenager then you see the world in general through a much narrower scope than as an adult......and now the impact is different from different episodes. That's been part of the fun for me......seeing things I have forgotten over time and looking at things differently.

I enjoyed this episode. It makes you think. I have to believe the verdict was guilty. Carol had said they had overwhelming circumstantial evidence and the sleazy attorney destroyed his own client's alibi.....so IMO Magnum gets to ride off into the sunset with a smug smile on his face. That is how i believe the writers wanted to leave the viewers(or maybe they simply left it up for grabs for either outcome the viewer imagines).

[marlboro]

Very strong episode. i thought they did a very good job of posing a difficult moral question and finding a fairly satisfactory way of wrapping the story up. It was a bit of a copout, but a satisfying one. Justice was (likely) served and Magnum still kept his hands clean.

A question for you guys: How would you have felt if Magnum had played the tape without interruption and exonerated the defendant?

I did not care much for this episode when I viewed it the first time but now that I saw it again it is very good.

Carol really destroys episodes for me but she is more low key and less abrasive in this episode. She does manage to nearly get Magnum killed while running red lights. You have to ask yourself is that a wig on her head or is it a birds nest? I know the 80s had a lot of funky, bad hair but this looks ridiculous.

Her hairstyle is very... unfortunate. I always feel like a hypocrite when criticizing someone much better looking than I am about their looks or fashion sense, but, damn, that is a bad hairdo. Disclaimer: I am a hideous freak and even though the actress that plays her is probably 60 years old she is likely still out of my league.


I too dislike the Carol character. She is a bit obnoxious.

I wish they had used Lieutenant Tanaka a bit more instead of her. Have him occasionally enlist Magnum's aid when his own hands were tied by official red tape.

[Neil Peel]

I may be completely wrong but I venture to suggest that the photograph's of Debbie Carrington, provided by her mother Ann, are actually of a younger Kathleen Lloyd. Thoughts anyone?

[Milton Collins]

Ok so here again we see the actor who is playing "Willie K", this guy has also been in Kapu (the angry Hawaiian who didn't want Magnum there) and The Kona Winds (the guy who brings Magnum the pitcher of booze in Rick's office). And I think he has been in some others too. I just find it funny that the same guy was used in so many different roles in different episodes. A good episode over all. I always like the one's with Carol, great supporting character! Did anyone else find Rick's wwwaaayyyyyy overdone excitement at introducing Willie K to TM absolute hilarious? (Hey bra, HEY BRA!!). That's a big reason this show is so awesome, it can at times be very funny without trying to be. Just my opinion:)

[Milton Collins]

I may be completely wrong but I venture to suggest that the photograph's of Debbie Carrington, provided by her mother Ann, are actually of a younger Kathleen Lloyd. Thoughts anyone?

YES!!!! I thought the exact same thing.

[Dave Anderson]

I didn't understand this episode. The ending didn't make sense. What was on the rest of the tape that got erased? I will need to watch this again, but wasn't the tape doctored to add the "...I did it before and I'll do it again" line? If so, we still don't know if the guy was actually guilty of the first murder. Again, I may be wrong on that, doing this from memory. I will re-watch to be sure. All in all, I did not care for this episode. It tried way too hard to be profound and dramatic, and came up short.

[marlboro]

The tape would have exonerated him. Ironically, his lawyer destroyed it because he feared that it was evidence against his client.