Magnum Mania!

Am I to understand that in the Pilot, when Rick owned "The Snow Palace", was he himself a drug dealer?

No. There's no way that would have fit with the moral codes they established for TM and especially TC.

They were going for that Bogart "Rick Blaine" vibe from Casablanca where he ran a place that was neutral territory and where characters could mingle which I assume would be fertile ground for stories. I do think initially they wanted his character to be more grey than Thomas and TC but realized the "Snow Palace" was taking things a little too far, inimating that Rick was OK with, if not a part of, the drug scene, and dialed it back to a guy who "knew people".

I am glad someone else wondered about Rick and the drug connection. I agree that the character in the pilot sure gave the impression of being on both sides of the law and that would not have been good for the show. Heck, I was expecting his first Rick character to start talking about his black market operations in Nam! I think Rick's character, as a "bar" owner was super cheesy and was glad to see it go. Manager of the club that Higgins sat as board member on and Robin Masters allegedly owned a portion thereof fit perfectly. There was always talk that the original concept of MPI would probably have come off as campy/cheesy with a perfect private investigator and the first character of Rick would have probably fit into that. I am glad they gave everybody flaws including Rick's flighty personality (but not a shady, maybe underworld, drug connected type), TC's anger management but do-gooder image, TM's financial irresponsibility/juvenile attitude and Higgin's anal retentiveness.

Come to think of it...I did not think drugs played much of a role in MPI when they could easily have due to the Southeast Asia/Vietnam connections. I went back through the episodes and only found a few that had any connection to drugs or drug running.

Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii (Season 1 - Pilot)
Thicker Than Blood (Season 1)
By Its Cover (Season 3)
Paradise Blues (Season 4)
L.A. (Season 7)
Tigers Fan (Season

After the first season MPI stayed away from that topic and I am glad it did. As usual if anyone knows of an episode that is not listed please post it.

KingKC

KingKC wrote:Come to think of it...I did not think drugs played much of a role in MPI when they could easily have due to the Southeast Asia/Vietnam connections. I went back through the episodes and only found a few that had any connection to drugs or drug running.

Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii (Season 1 - Pilot)
Thicker Than Blood (Season 1)
By Its Cover (Season 3)
Paradise Blues (Season 4)
L.A. (Season 7)
Tigers Fan (Season

After the first season MPI stayed away from that topic and I am glad it did. As usual if anyone knows of an episode that is not listed please post it.

KingKC

Wave Goodbye (Season 2). Gary, the local coke dealer is a suspect in Kacy's death. TM sets up a fake coke buy using TC and Rick. Rick goes to a bar mentioning he's THE Rick, the one who used to own The Snow Palace; he wants to score. And the bartender immediately calls Gary basically telling him that THE Rick is there and this could be the deal of his life. And then Gary tries to backstab the two of them but Magnum shows up, gun drawn and the scene is tense, you think Magnum is gonna blow the guy away any minute (He even tells TC and Rick to leave as he 'doesn't want any witnesses').

Later, Magnum's "friend" at the police leads TC and Magnum to almost getting blown away, as they're working on a hot tip the guy gave him, when they accidentally intrude on a major coke deal.

Good Catch Magnum Fan!!!!

KingKC