The Big Blow (3.22)

[KingKC]

I remember this episode because I first thought it was going to be a game of "Clue" with someone being killed and the killer still in the crowd due to the storm. The prison escapees with a pregnant girl was over the top but made for good suspense on two fronts of 1. will the escapees hurt someone or give up or end up caught and 2. when will the pregnant girl give birth. Add that to someone out to get Robin and you have pretty good suspense. The Barry Van Dyke baseball character and his interactions with TM made me want to vomit. I saw the alleged statistics in the episode synopsis he was supposed to have put up in his last season and at least they were believable for the most part.

KingKC

[MaximRecoil]

This is bizarre:



A multimillion-dollar estate mansion, in a fancy dining room, and that wall is constructed of bare SPF lumber (warped, or otherwise less-than-square lumber no less; note the irregular gaps between the boards), with a set of curtains for a "door"? That's how you build an outhouse, not a mansion interior. I guess we know where Rick and TC got the bare lumber for boarding up the windows.

I don't think I've seen any other examples of such crude/out-of-place set construction on MPI.

[K Hale]

^^ It does seem like something is missing in that entranceway. Like the rest of the wall...

This is an enjoyable episode. Nice creepy storm/darkness factor, a bit like "Black on White" but with an element of camp that BoW doesn't have. Good TM/JQH interaction. I had to laugh at Magnum's declaration that you can't have a party during a hurricane; obviously he's never been to New Orleans in hurricane season. I thought his plan for capturing the potential killer was solid with the exception that his reasoning for not telling Higgins ahead of time was very slim ("You wouldn't be objective enough" etc). It seems like that only increased the risk factor of Higgins possibly doing something unknowingly that could endanger the entire mission. Of course Magnum could not have known about the escapees breaking in, which began a cascade of yet more unforeseen events that nearly ended with Higgins buying it in the wine cellar, to say nothing of the lads. If they had been shot as a side effect of Magnum keeping Higgins in the dark about the plan, the repercussions would have been dreadful.

Things I thought could have been improved were: Magnum's way over the top reaction to Duke Davis, and a better explanation for just how Rick and TC wound up at the estate.

Things that could not possibly be better: Magnum pouring a pitcher of Mai Tais on the rug when he sees the wine on Higgins' shirt and shouts, "Higgins! YOU'VE BEEN SHOT!"

[K Hale]

Speaking of which, how close would he have to have been to the shotgun blast to get wine on his shirt while not actually getting hit with any of the shotgun pellets? I guess it was a really concentrated blast, which is why the lantern didn't get blown up.

Edited to add: I just realized he basically answers this question himself in "Skin Deep"... four feet or less.

[Mad Kudu Buck]

I always call this episode, The Big Suck - because it sucks so much. The guests are annoying and not believable, Magnum acts like a loser and the story is a lame "whodunnit".

I never understood the fascination with "whodunnit" stories, where all the action takes place in one room, nobody can leave and everyone is a suspect. "It's always the person you least expect!"

I find "whodunnits" to be extremely boring, tedious, frustrating and cheap. But that's probably why they made them - because they're cheap and require only one set.

[J.J. Walters]

I always call this episode, The Big Suck - because it sucks so much. The guests are annoying and not believable, Magnum acts like a loser and the story is a lame "whodunnit.

LOL!... Thank you, Kudu! I really needed a good laugh right now. Spot on timing... It's indeed hurting in so many ways!

[jeffran]

Far from perfect, but one of my top 10 episodes (rated 9.5). The ensemble is present, there's some humor, a bit of a mystery, plenty of Magnum/Higgins banter, more estate interior shots (including the kitchen), and all during a hurricane. Oh, and Mr. Scott, although I wish he would've been given more to do.

As I watched this episode last night, a series of strong thunderstorms were moving through the area - I even had some water in the basement. It was the full experience.

Question - can anymore make out what Rick says when they're in the kitchen? Something about Myrna Loy - maybe a movie reference. Magnum responds something like "Rick, please!!"

[marlboro]

Question - can anymore make out what Rick says when they're in the kitchen? Something about Myrna Loy - maybe a movie reference. Magnum responds something like "Rick, please!!"

Something like "Boil water? Saw that in a movie once with William Powell and Myrna Loy."

[karolis]

Radio shot:




Higgins reaction to drunken lads:

2) When we see the shot of the hand pulling the gun out of the suitcase, it is a different gun than what we see Magnum taking away from Candace after she shoots "Robin"

Candice arrive at the party with a white purse (no suitcase seen):




When Candice takes the gun to shoot Robin:

Opens a drawer:



Opens a suitcase:



Gun is wrapped in a cloth:



She unwraps the gun:



It looks that Candice didn't take her gun in her purse, she took it from the suitcase which was put in some dresser. I believe it's not a gun from the Robins Collection, why would he cover it with cloth, put it inside suitcase and put it in a drawer, would Robin hide his own gun from his collection? We don't see Candice arriving with a suitcase, so did she put it here in an earlier visit? Or did she put that suitcase in a drawer before she went to the cellar to meet Higgins? It's a little strange to me, not a flub, but strange.


I believe it's one of a few MPI episodes where be don't see a Ferrari (except for the intro).


I also don't remember seeing a bottle of Coops.


Season 3 Top up to this episode:

1. Black on White
2-3. Did You See the Sunrise?
4. The Big Blow
5. Flashback
6. Off Sound Mind
7. The Eighth Part of the Village
8. Forty Years From Sand Island
9. Legacy From a Friend
10. ... By Its Cover
11. The Arrow That is Not Aimed
12. Past Tense
13. Almost Home
14. Heal Thyself
15. Birdman of Budapest
16. Basket Case
17. Ki'i's Don't Lie
18. Mixed Doubles
19. Mr. White Death
20. I Do?
21. Foiled Again
22. Two Birds of a Feather

This is one of my favorite episodes of the entire series when i watched all of the seasons first time before.

[Little Garwood]

I find "whodunnits" to be extremely boring, tedious, frustrating and cheap. But that's probably why they made them - because they're cheap and require only one set.

It seems like every TV series has a "bottle episode": an episode which takes place on one set. These are probably done towards the end of a season, when budgets are straining, but most every show I like has one. I think Magnum, P.I. may have a "bottle episode" in every(?) season.

[MaximRecoil]

I didn't really care for Magnum's hero worship of Duke Davis either.

The Duke Davis infatuation was a little over the top, I agree.

And hey, why wouldn't Magnum be infatuated with Duke? The guy hit .326 w/ 34 HR, 116 RBI and 45 SB ... and he won the Gold Glove! If somebody like that was in my house, I'd be following him around, too!

I also found it odd that Magnum was in awe of Duke Davis yet didn't recognise Whitaker and Trammell a few seasons later.

The Barry Van Dyke baseball character and his interactions with TM made me want to vomit.

Things I thought could have been improved were: Magnum's way over the top reaction to Duke Davis

Magnum's over-the-top reaction to Duke was feigned. We found out later in the episode that Magnum already knew who all the guests were in advance, along with detailed background information on them, so he wasn't actually surprised that Duke was coming. Higgins said to Magnum:

So everything you've done from the outset has been part of your charade: your protestations about the party, your ignorance of our guests, your childish infatuation with Duke Davis and the Detroit Panthers...

[K Hale]

Hmmm, of course. Makes sense once it’s been pointed out!

[K Hale]

Realized something: the actress who plays Candice reappears as the art gallery owner in season 7 "One Picture is Worth."

Also realized something else: Magnum should not have been surprised that Higgins has a PhD, because MI6 requires its agents to have an advanced degree. Since Higgins was kicked out of Sandhurst and went right into the army, and later on was with MI6, at some point he would have had to take the time to get a degree. Why mathematics I can't say...

[ENSHealy]

The Big Blow
Famous guest stars: 1 James Doohan
Hawaiian shirts:
Tigers Cap:
Island Hopper shirts:
Shirtless:
OMG/Extraordinarys: 4
Higgins Organizations:
Higgins musings: 5
Negotiations:
Body Count:
Bullet wounds:
Little Voice:
I know what you’re thinking:
When I write HTBAWCPI:
Investigator corrections:
4th wall breaks:
Magnumometer: 10
Magnumometer Moments: https://vimeo.com/382298630

Potential magnumania usernames: Duke Davis, Grandfather’s Fish, Hurricane Kukana, Explosions in Poetry, Archie MacPherson, Princess of Tervia (how the subtitles spell it)

How is James Doohan not in the preview?

Even the subtitles refer to Roland and Wanda as the Martines, but it sure sounds like Roland says "Mont-Eden" when he rings in on the intercom.

The first flub I noticed occurs when the bad guy, Randy, goes down to the wine cellar and discovers Higgins trying to call for help on the radio. As Higgins is walking up the steps, Randy shoots the radio with a double barreled shotgun. Granted, he probably only used one barrel since he had previously shot the barrel of wine with the other barrel. After the shot, the camera cuts to a close-up of the radio, smoking, with a big hole in it from the shotgun blast. Directly in front of the radio, and just a few inches from the hole created by the shotgun is the radio-mike, and a candle in a glass candle holder, again, just inches from the smoking hole in the radio. The flub is that a shotgun even using only one barrel would have blown the radio, mike and candle/glass holder to bits. At the very least, the blast would have at least knocked them off the table, or caused them to be knocked askew. However, after the blast, the mike, candle and glass candle holder are in perfect condition and undisturbed.

That wasn't just any old ordinary shotgun! It was from Robin Masters' gun collection, so who knows? -- maybe it's a special tight-cluster shotgun. It made a pretty small (for a shotgun) hole in the wine cask, as well.

About the shotgun blast, I agree that it was not possible to have occurred as in the scene. Even if the shotgun was shooting slugs, which I doubt, it should have at least blown out the candle...!

I have to go with Carol the Dabbler here, and suggest the pattern is possible. After all, as K Hale pointed out, Higgins did the ballistics tests for us in Skin Deep. So the damage could have been inside the diameter of the space between the mic and the hurricane lamp. Of course, there’s no way the radio wouldn’t have been blown right off the table, so there’s that. I don’t know enough about shock/pressure waves to state whether the mic and lamp would have been blown off the table even if all the pellets missed them.