Little Girl Who (7.7)

[Stelth]

This was a great episode. The scenes with Thomas and Lily were charming. I also liked how Higgins was smitten by her too (acting silly and buying her clothes). There was good action in this one as well when Thomas had to shoot at the Lincoln limo. It was very emotional and touching. The little girl was very endearing and Thomas' love for her was very convincing. This episode rated a 10 for sure.

[Buck]

The end had me in tears when Lilly turned and ran to Thomas. It's at that second he knows she is his daughter.

I wish they would have stayed at the estate and allowed Magnum to protect them.

[ConchRepublican]

I think Michelle is even colder when she moves to France to marry a businessman ("Limbo"), while Magnum lays dying in a hospital bed.

What a scandalous ho.

Word

[SignGuyHPW]

I've always considered this to be one of the best episodes of the whole series. Really, I have no complaints about it. The only really minor complaint I have is that Higgins seemed especially rude to Agatha in this one. It was extremely well acted, the plot made a lot of sense, there was a continuation of much earlier episodes, it had a little of everything.

For the people that were saying Michelle seemed very cold in this episode I don't agree. Early in the episode she finds out that her husband's in grave danger and she needs to get their daughter out of the country. Then she barely escapes two guys openly shooting at her in an airport so, obviously, people were out to kill her at any cost. At the end, she had found out in a very horrible way that her husband had been killed and she and her daughter were going to be forced to live a new life away from everyone and everything that they knew. She was also, I'd think, worried that Magnum would want to stay in Lily's life which could blow their cover if that happened and put her in danger. I don't think it was being cold so much as her being traumatised by it all.

I think it was a really nice subtle touch for them to slowly give Magnum clues that Lily may be his daughter. The fact that she equated baseball with Detroit Tigers which is Magnum's favorite team, Lily knowing the symbol of the ring matched her mother's necklace and whom shared that symbol, and (as others pointed out) the middle name being the name of Magnum's mother. Also, for those asking about Huy not recognising that the girl looks mostly western I'd say that based on the previous time we saw them that they may have never spoken of it and he just raised the little girl as his daughter without question. He may have known, but never voiced it.

[EZiller]

An excellent episode with all the elements we love of MPI, plus we see a new dimension of TSM, having discovered Lily is his daughter. As a father of 2 girls I found his interaction with Lily very touching. And the ending, when that shrew Michelle is yanking Lily from TSM's life, just after bringing her into it, was heart-breaking. Having Lily run back and hug TSM was a wonderful touch.

We also saw another side to Higgins, very caring of Lily, like an uncle.

Regarding TSM's women-he has this incredible infatuation for Michelle, although she seems to manipulate him. Meanwhile, the lovely Maggie Poole, who is constantly going out on a limb for TSM, breaching top security items to help him, only seems to get cursory interest. Quite tacky of him to bring flowers [not even roses] as an apology for forgetting their dinner date, while all he really wants is information about Michelle, Hue and their present status.

10

[.45caliber]

Great episode, very touching. Brought tears several times, especially when Lilly runs back to Thomas at the end. Made me feel like a baby, but Lily is so cute and reminds me of my oldest daughter at that age. Feel horrible for TM and all that he has gone thru in his life with Michelle and now Lily.

[Dave Anderson]

Chalk up another flub for James!

It's been a looooooong time since I've seen Little Girl Who/Limbo/Unfinished Business.

Not quite sure why I questioned Higgins' comment about Michelle's "oriental heritage". It just surprised me. For some reason, I always had her pegged as all French. But of course, she could be of mixed descent.

I always viewed the character as based to some extent on Madame Nhu, former first lady of South Vietnam.

[SignGuyHPW]

Regarding TSM's women-he has this incredible infatuation for Michelle, although she seems to manipulate him. Meanwhile, the lovely Maggie Poole, who is constantly going out on a limb for TSM, breaching top security items to help him, only seems to get cursory interest. Quite tacky of him to bring flowers [not even roses] as an apology for forgetting their dinner date, while all he really wants is information about Michelle, Hue and their present status.

This may have to do with their initial meetings. Maggie made it clear that she couldn't be manipulated the same way that Mac could with all of the gifts. Magnum didn't deny trying to use food to get Mac to give him the info he needed. I think if Magnum had always shown up with flowers or candy or whatever then it wouldn't have worked on Maggie. She was more about doing the right thing and helping Magnum when it seemed like the correct thing to do rather than thinking, "those flowers look really great... what could giving restricted info to a civillian really hurt?"

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Chalk up another flub for James!
It's been a looooooong time since I've seen Little Girl Who/Limbo/Unfinished Business.
Not quite sure why I questioned Higgins' comment about Michelle's "oriental heritage". It just surprised me. For some reason, I always had her pegged as all French. But of course, she could be of mixed descent.

Greetings J.J.
Women of mixed racial background have historically been considered exotic or even 'forbidden fruit', as least thru the 20th century. For whatever reason more than one Vietnam vet has sworn to me that French/Vietnamese Eurasians are the most beautiful women in the world.
In the 19th century you had the French Creoles of New Orleans. The Creoles being of French European and African heritage, many becoming the most celebrated and sought after courtesans of the age.
In the deeply weird racial categorizing of the Old South, the most desirable were the "High Yellows" which if I recall correctly were people 1/4 African and 3/4 other. The Yellow Rose of Texas, the great beauty of the song, was a black 'high yellow' woman who General Santa Anna halted his army for, in order to dally with for a few days during his invasion of Texas. Combined with the time he used up besieging the Alamo, it was just enough to give Sam Houston the time he needed to organize his army.
By the way, my college age nephew handed - or attempted to - hand me my head for using the word Oriental, a word other posters in this thread have used as well.
His little PC heart just about stopped in horror.
He claims it is the same as using the "N" word.
This was news to me, as well as to my Vietnamese friend Hong, a ARVN vet.
I told my nephew it was a geographic term indicating where a given person was from, like "Iberian" for the Spanish or Portuguese. And just what panel of carefully chosen experts suddenly decreed it was a racist term, issuing fourth it's edict, that the common herd must obey.
He just knew he was told it was a bad word, and like most know-all enlightened youth everywhere he does what he's told.
But I digress.
This episode has got to be in the top ten Magnums, at least in my opinion.

[thechickinthemiddle]

In regards to the word, its meaning also differed depending on who and where was using it. In the UK, it's historically meant India and its surrounding area. I don't think most people consider it as bad as the "N" word, but it's been used by white people and old advertising to stereotype (especially East) Asians, and in the age since independence from colonialism, there are probably more accurate terms nowadays to refer to the person, i.e. East Asian, their country, etc.. It's also a good way to avoid awkwardness concerning territorial and other disputes (i.e. mistaking a Taiwanese or Malaysian for Mainland Chinese), as a lot of these still have old wounds for people. That said, in a lot of Asia itself, they probably would be confused too as to why it's seen as offensive.

Higgins of course was stationed in a lot of colonies, so it's not surprising that that's the term he'd use. I joke with my mother occasionally for her using the word (she's Han Chinese from Beijing). She says she can use it of course, and her English was originally taught by British people during the era of Wade-Giles for transliterating Chinese.

In regards to Michelle and Lily, while they're relatively white-passing in the show's universe (In real life, Marta DuBois is Panamanian and Kristen Carreira is as far as I can tell White Hispanic), many Eurasians do look like them (such as yours truly). Nowadays, if they were casting, they'd much more likely go with actresses with actual Asian descent to avoid controversy.

[Big Kahuna]

Forgive me if this has already been discussed – I did have a quick look and couldn't see it – but why is Michelle still being chased by the Vietnamese? Especially since her husband is now dead...

[thechickinthemiddle]

My guess is, the people after her wanted to fully purge the people close to the General as well, fearing she might have information.

[PickledEggPlease]

Doing the described video (for people with low/no vision) for this episode now - can anyone make out what Lily says when she's looking at his ring (after he's tucked her in bed with the rubber chicken)? The first time it sounds like "Muh PC Thomas?", then "Ba ma wit tici Thomas". It's driving me nuts!

[marlboro]

Doing the described video (for people with low/no vision) for this episode now - can anyone make out what Lily says when she's looking at his ring (after he's tucked her in bed with the rubber chicken)? The first time it sounds like "Muh PC Thomas?", then "Ba ma wit tici Thomas". It's driving me nuts!

I'm kind of curious myself. Is it possible she is saying "Rick, TC, Thomas"? A list of people who all wear the same ring.

[PickledEggPlease]

I'm kind of curious myself. Is it possible she is saying "Rick, TC, Thomas"? A list of people who all wear the same ring.

Oh! I think you might be right! I think the first one is "Mama, TC, Thomas" and the second "Mama, Rick, TC, Thomas"!
THANK YOU! It was driving me nuts.