Dead Man's Channel (2.2)

[snp389]

Great episode!! This was one of the first eps that I saw as a kid when they first aired in Australia in 1981.
Horace the pet goat eating JQH's flowers.
Rick on the KK I.
TSM conning Mac for info.
A quiet nod to TSM's days as a SEAL with his Naval diving kit.
Marion is a bit of a babe.

[Magnum T.]

Magnum is hired by a marine biology student to find her missing father, vanished while diving in a channel believed to be cursed by the natives.

Despite the extremely simple storyline this is one of my favourite episodes from Season 2.
Credit for this goes mainly to Wendy Girard, whose performance in the role of Marion Hammond is brilliant. I haven't seen her anywhere else(*) but she is an excellent actress, believable in her character and perfectly balanced in her acting.
I appreciated that, for once, the female guest-star doesn't seem to fall in love with TM instantaneously (no kisses this time!).
We have a short but funny Magnum-Mac scene and even Rick has his moments.
As usual, the interaction between Magnum and Higgins is absolutely perfect, all the "Horace the goat" scenes are hilarious, starting from the first sequence of Magnum arriving at Robin's Nest with Horace on the passenger seat (who wouldn't put a goat into a Ferrari?) up to Higgins hunting for the kudu buck.
There are two other reasons why I like this one: 1) it's the first episode (as far as I remember) to show underwater shots, which I like very much; 2) it deals with Hawaiian cultural elements.
A very good and entertaining episode to me (and probably a better season starter than "Billy Joe Bob").

Plus: as said, Wendy Girard's performance, Horace, underwater scenes.
Minus: the fight scene between Magnum and Prof. Martinez is not realistic (as noted by Milo Minderbinder)
Best line:
Magnum: Come on Higgins, just another day. One more and I'll...
Higgins: You'll what?
Magnum: I'll give up the tennis courts.
Higgins: You don't have the tennis courts!

Notes:
- team ring on the right hand
- Rick's Nissan is seen here for the second time, the first being outside the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium in 1.04 "Thank Heaven For Little Girls And Big Ones Too".
- T.C. is not in the episode.
- Ina Balin will play another character in the first part of "L.A." (7.1 & 7.2)
- As noted by Jay-Firestorm, the boat from the beginning and the one seen later are completely different. Flub?
- I don't know if this can be considered a flub: there is a scene where Magnum and Marion find out that someone searched the boat, making a big mess.
Afterwards Marion find a bunch of pictures and other stuff about her, kept by her father through the years. I wonder why they didn't find those things when everything was upside down.

Funny thing:(*) according to IMDB Wendy Girard is in the cast of one of my all-times favourite movies, Woody Allen's "Annie Hall" but I can't remember her.
She is in "The Incredible Hulk", "Simon & Simon" and "The Twilight Zone" too. I have all but "Simon & Simon", gotta keep my eyes peeled next time.

Rate: 8.5

P.S.: I think I remember her in "Annie Hall" now. She must be the girl wearing shorts in the lobsters scene.

[Sisophous]

What is with the women they choose for this series? Wendy Girard is another unlikeable girl. Her looks are decent, she is attractive, but the character these girls play on Magnum P.I. is always a turn off, pushy, opinionated and just not people who enhance viewing these episodes. At the opening of this episode, she is snobbish,making faces and rolling her eyes, and oversensitive when Magnum appears unprofessional with his Goat he is caring for. Why the attitude with all these Magnum P.I. women? Virtually all of them seem to show it. Was it the "In Thing" back in the early 80s for women to be standoffish in Hollywood? I am beginning to think so, a way to play to the feminist generation in the States.

I wonder if any of you know who called the shots in selecting actors/actresses for these episodes? Frankly, the main cast of Magnum P.I. was a hit, but their guest stars are deplorable at times and at best sub par.

[Croix de Lorraine]

Maybe it's just me but I find it funny how this character named Marion bears a passing resemblance to tennis player Marion Bartoli.

[Croix de Lorraine]

What is with the women they choose for this series? Wendy Girard is another unlikeable girl. Her looks are decent, she is attractive, but the character these girls play on Magnum P.I. is always a turn off, pushy, opinionated and just not people who enhance viewing these episodes. At the opening of this episode, she is snobbish,making faces and rolling her eyes, and oversensitive when Magnum appears unprofessional with his Goat he is caring for. Why the attitude with all these Magnum P.I. women? Virtually all of them seem to show it. Was it the "In Thing" back in the early 80s for women to be standoffish in Hollywood? I am beginning to think so, a way to play to the feminist generation in the States.

I wonder if any of you know who called the shots in selecting actors/actresses for these episodes? Frankly, the main cast of Magnum P.I. was a hit, but their guest stars are deplorable at times and at best sub par.

I don't think she's doing anything of the like. You would also be slightly surprised if the detective you've hired turns up to your rendez-vous driving a red Ferrari with a goat on the passenger seat. Perhaps it's a problem you have with women in general which makes you see every woman through bitter eyes.

Personally I find strong women an exciting challenge, although I can understand how other men may feel intimidated by them, especially if they've had a traumatic experience in the past.

[Magnum T.]

@Sisophous
Everyone has his own opinion.
Mine is Wendy Girard is one of the best guest-stars so far.
Besides, at first you criticize the character (i.e. the screenplay and/or the director) then you say you don't like the actors/actresses.
Maybe you are mixing two different things.
I don't see any snobbery in Marion (opposed to J. "Digger" Doyle, for example).
As CdL already pointed out, everybody would be a little surprised by a p.i. with a goat.

[steveadl]

My trivia contributiom for this episode

The diving scene at the 28:00 mark is filmed off the coast of the estate just along side Rabbit Island. At 28:35 we get to see a close up of the islands eastern shore I don't think we do in the series again (or any other Hawaii based show I've seen so far).

[SignGuyHPW]

I really liked this one. It had a lot of the classic elements such as drama, mystery, comedy. It combined them brilliantly I thought.

The only thing I didn't like was that it never explained what Rick was doing on the boat with those guys (one of whom was openly carrying a gun). It's like they meant to have it carry over to future episodes, but decided against it.

The rest of it was great. Magnum's client and the professor had a clear dislike for each other from the start over ideology. That was a great story element since it later was revealed that the professor had killed the father. The natives and Magnum disagreeing about the channel was a great nod to how natives may have not liked the American military intruding in certain places. Magnum still promising parts of the treasure knowing that there was no treasure just because he still needed help was classic Magnum. I, personally, felt that the student assistant attacked Magnum because he was angry over Magnum having that blade. He expressed as such and then watched Magnum just casually tossing it into the car. Plus, he dressed in some kind of native costume which was probably symbolism as to why he was taking the blade. The sub plot with the goat was absolute classic Magnum comedy. From Magnum being overly anxious about running into Higgins to the point he was turning off his client from using him to Higgins thinking he may have had a whiskey too much that day was all great. The look on Magnum's face when he's told he doesn't "have" the tennis courts was fabulous. I can imagine him trying to remember which negotiation with Higgins cost him the courts and how long he "hadn't had them."

[steveadl]

I thought the epsilon did explain Rick and the boat?

He was using the boat as a venue for illegal gambling for some shady characters.

[Little Garwood]

I voted Dead Man's Channel a 7.5 (Decent)

While enjoyable (despite the absence of T.C.), there's something "off" about this episode, as if it were filmed in the first season and held back for the second though I doubt that since Wendy Girard's Marion Hammond character is dressed far too much like the early 1980s for it to have been filmed in early 1980--plus there's the aforementioned nod in this thread to Raiders of the Lost Ark's Marion Ravenwood and her missing father. Wendy Girard may be among the most underrated 'Peaches" in all of Magnum, P.I..

The best part of Dead Man's Channel is the abundance of Thomas-Rick interaction, with Rick getting the best of TM in the classic freeze-frame ending, which didn't often happen in later episodes when Thomas stuck his buddies with a tab or something. I also like the "at-sea" scenes, which would make Dead Man's Channel the most "seafaring" adventure up to this point in MPI's run.

The most memorable aspect of the episode is of course the brief underwater tussle between Thomas and Professor Martinez (Ina Balin), which would appear in MPI's opening credits and capture the adventuring imagination of young me.

[SignGuyHPW]

I thought the epsilon did explain Rick and the boat?

He was using the boat as a venue for illegal gambling for some shady characters.

I meant more along the lines of they didn't explain why Rick was doing that. They alluded to his betting on sports and having connections that could tell him about all of the shady characters that popped up in Hawaii, but they never made him the type that would be actively involving himself with shady characters to run such an illegal scheme. They just didn't give a reasoning behind what he was doing which made me wonder what was really happening. Then they just didn't go back to that aspect of the story.

[KingKC]

The most memorable part of this episode for me was simply the GOAT! The cursed channel and native's objections did add a little more Hawaii to the series. Remember that this was the second show of the second season. It was also the second one with curses in it. Every episode was watched with great anticipation back in the fall of 1981 (or at least they were by me!). Even if it wasn't great it was still good because we didn't have a lot to compare to yet! The show was still establishing its "motif" if you will. This was a little more serious than Billy Joe Bob but not quite as much fun. It was just good investigation with a little twist.

KingKC

[Big Kahuna]

As a keen diver, I couldn't believe I saw this! When Magnum and Rick first reach the site of the wreck and Thomas gets wet, Rick throws him a two-finger sign, which I assume is meant to mean "20 minutes" and then Magnum gives him a "thumbs up"! Someone with as much diving experience as Magnum given he was a SEAL would never make that mistake. It would be an "OK" sign. The thumbs up always means "surface" and he even uses it correctly later in the episode.

[Turkey]

I thought the epsilon did explain Rick and the boat?

He was using the boat as a venue for illegal gambling for some shady characters.

I meant more along the lines of they didn't explain why Rick was doing that. They alluded to his betting on sports and having connections that could tell him about all of the shady characters that popped up in Hawaii, but they never made him the type that would be actively involving himself with shady characters to run such an illegal scheme. They just didn't give a reasoning behind what he was doing which made me wonder what was really happening. Then they just didn't go back to that aspect of the story.

I wondered about this too. Maybe it was just being used it to establish Rick's background?

Or he was doing it as a favour (against his better judgement?) to whatever rich/shady figures he knew through the club? (maybe not the club, I'd have to re-watch the episode to see the players again)

[Milton Collins]

Decent episode but nothing more. The best part for me is:

Tm and Higgins "kudu buck/Horace interactions" highlighted "Would you join me in a brandy and soda?" Higgins "No I had a whiskey earlier perhaps I will retire." ha ha ha
I laugh at this every time I watch this episode:)

TM and Rick's Kamehameha 1 interactions including him being dumped in the drink at the end of the episode, love the sometimes childish relationship between TM and his buddies.