Limbo (7.22)

[ConchRepublican]

This show is one of my all time favorite episodes in TV history. My sister and I watched it without realizing it was the series finale. I was spending less time home watching TV and more time out with "the guys".

Well, we watched, and as the shock of what was happening wore off we realized that they were killing Thomas off! We ran downstairs tears in our eyes telling our parents "put on Magnum! put on Magnum! They killed him! they killed him!" I was upset man, he was my hero (still is).

I am lucky enough to have taped that episode on rerun and have watched numerous times since then. I also took a very valuable lesson from this episode which helped me through very difficult time in my real life.

My wife was pregnant in 2003 and having a very difficult pregnancy. Finally, things went bad (of course when we thought we had turned the corner). We fought and struggled to keep the baby but it was not meant to be. After 12 hours in the hospital trying everything to hold off premature labor (inversion, an experimental drug which burned her skin, whatever we could), the doctors said there was no change, things would not get better.

Another 12 hours later, my wife still was there . . . 24 total hours first fighting, then waiting for the inevitable. It sounds silly, but then I thought of Thomas talking to Michelle "I love you . . . and I'm letting you go". I realized my wife wasn't letting go. As a mother she was fighting to save our boy. I asked everyone to leave the room and I spoke to her, and told her it was OK to let go. She can love him and let him go. It was the right thing to do, she did all she could.

15 minutes later she went into labor and it was over. He was here for 42 minutes, then he was gone.

That show, that episode helped me through the most difficult time in my life and helped me understand what had to be done.

I will always be thankful for that episode and the lesson it taught me.

[SelleckLover]

Please accept my condolences and I am sorry for your loss, Conch...I don't think one ever gets over the loss of a child. I lost my daughter in a car accident, but I still have my son that gives me comfort. Thank you for sharing your story... it may help someone in the future.

[ConchRepublican]

Thank you SelleckLover, and my condolences to you as well.

You are right, I don't think you ever get over it, you just learn to live with it. It's a different process for everyone.

Sorry to be a downer for this thread, but I don't think I ever really shared that story with anyone before and it just came out last night. I guess my "little voice" needed an outlet and felt that MPI fans would appreciate it.

[J.J. Walters]

Conch/SL..... You have my deepest sympathies. I'm so sorry for you loss. As a father of three, I couldn't begin to imagine what you went through.

[MPS]

Conch and SL my condolences to both of you. I have three kids and can't begin to imagine what it would be like to lose one.

I think this episode brings out lots of emotions we keep buried, so Conch, you didn't make the thread a downer.....we all have more to think about now.

This episode was almost too real. I woke up the morning after watching it and had that nasty feeling...you guys know...the "What horrible thing am I going to remember in the next second?" feeling. It wasn't real for me, at least not this time. It was just the show, and for that, I am thankful.

[George]

I just watched "Limbo" on DVD and I was trying to remember when it was announced that MPI would return for an 8th season? Does anyone know?


I recall watching "Limbo" when it first aired, but can't remember if we all mourned the end of the series and TM's "demise" or whether we knew there would be one final season after all.


In any case, "Limbo" was an impressive episode.

George

[Italian Ice]

Only saw this episode once before. Can't wait too see it again when I get to it...

This episode aired on my 9th birthday, and I didn't even know about the show until nearly twice that age.

"Looking For Space" is a great song. It definitely reminds me of my life and all the obstacles I face.......

[IKnowWhatYoureThinking]

I watched this again over my Chirstmas break with the wife. I had to fill her in on the detail about this was supposed to be the last Magnum. She found it very interesting.

[Seaver41]

before I ask my question.......it is great to read your posts about how Magnum affects you. It is my favorite show of all-time and that is in large part due to the fact it makes you think and draws out your emotions......ALL of them. That, IMO, is what great writing is all about.

I recently saw 'Limbo' on the Sleuth channel. It may have been the first time I've seen it since the original air date and the repeat over the summer before season 8. What struck me funny was watching the episode and everyone acting as if he were already dead. The scene at the estate where they are gathered and speaking of him. They were dressed for a funeral.......but he wasn't dead yet. Was this a goof up? Was the scene showing Michelle at his bedside added in?

[IKnowWhatYoureThinking]

before I ask my question.......it is great to read your posts about how Magnum affects you. It is my favorite show of all-time and that is in large part due to the fact it makes you think and draws out your emotions......ALL of them. That, IMO, is what great writing is all about.

I recently saw 'Limbo' on the Sleuth channel. It may have been the first time I've seen it since the original air date and the repeat over the summer before season 8. What struck me funny was watching the episode and everyone acting as if he were already dead. The scene at the estate where they are gathered and speaking of him. They were dressed for a funeral.......but he wasn't dead yet. Was this a goof up? Was the scene showing Michelle at his bedside added in?

Seaver41 that is exactally what my wife thought as well. I am assuming they were made to think he was already dead because the show was not supposed to come back for an eighth season. I can only speculate as to this being why everyone was talking as if TM had already died.

[Seaver41]

that's the only logical conclusion I can draw.........Rick was the only one with an excuse not to be at the hospital......all the characters in the episode were off doing their thing..........but they all of a sudden show them all coming to the hospital later.

[Agatha]

It's time to send Limbo back to Netflix...and I'm not ready to let it go! But I can't keep watching it and crying, either, so I'm off to the Post Office. The only reason I can make myself take it is that the sooner I send it back, the sooner I'll get the first DVD in Season 8. Sigh.

Thanks for mentioning the title of the John Denver song, Italian Ice. I heard and loved that song in my youth but could never remember the name so haven't been able to find it again...not trying very hard, I guess. It makes me cry, too!!

And thanks for sharing your story, Conch. I had a similar experience when my Dad was in the hospital. He'd been having health issues for a year or so and then one evening his heart stopped. My Mom called the paramedics and they revived him but he wasn't himself and kept having emergency situations with his potassium levels and fluid build up, etc. The Chaplain came in one night and asked if I wanted her to pray for him. I said "Yes" and then she asked if I wanted her to pray for a speedy recovery or an easy transition. I didn't know what to tell her and then it hit me that what I wanted was what he wanted. So she prayed for him to know that we loved him and wanted him to do what he knew was best for him. He died the next morning. And the world is a differnt place without him.

Change of subject...I can't see the keyboard when I'm crying!

Does anyone think the stretch of road just before Thomas tells Michelle to slam on the brakes is the same stretch of road that he sees the car with the skirt attached in People versus Orville Wright? There's kind of an angular curb-type thing there that I think I see in both episodes.

It just might be that a linear perfectionist like my self could talk her self into buying Season 7 BEFORE she buys Season 6 because of this episode!

Oh!...My!...God!

Sigh...again!

[Jay-Firestorm]

A notable episode, both concerning the plot, and when I first watched it (read on)!...

[rating=9.5]

In a shootout in a warehouse, Thomas is hit and left in a coma. As his friends prepare to mourn his passing, Thomas finds himself in limbo, guided by the ghost of Mac, as he tries to save ex-wife Michelle from assassins. Thankfully not the finale…

-----

This review contains moderate spoilers.

After seven seasons, the producers of ‘Magnum, p.i.’ felt that the show had run its course and decided to bring it to an end. And there way to round it off, was to kill off our beloved hero. There was outcry from fans!

The episode starts only moments before Magnum is shot, leaving him to spend the rest of the episode walking around in limbo, guided by the ghost of (the original) Mac. No-one else can see him. I felt that these scenes were played well, with just the right amount of comedy thrown in, to give it amusing moments but as not to spoil the seriousness of the story.

The episode also features one of the biggest line-ups of recurring guest stars: Mac, Lt. Tanaka, Agatha, Doc. Ibold, Carol, Maggie, Buck Greene… they’re all here. The only regular guest who does not appear is Ice Pick. The only other episode that I can think of that features such a large recurring guest line-up is season six’s ‘The Treasure of Kalaniopu’u’.

Although it can be watched ‘stand alone’, this is one of the show’s (relatively few) episodes that is probably better with knowledge of previous stories, particularly those regarding Michelle (and daughter Lily) to get full effect.

This episode is also of particular note for me. I had seen re-runs of the earlier episodes on ITV in the early 1990s, and when Five came to run the whole series in 2002-3, I watched (and recorded) each and every day. However, I had never seen this far down the series and was looking forward to seeing this famous episode. Anyway, the morning that this was on, I started my video recorder (as I was still using then), sat down to watch… and about two minutes in, just before Magnum is shot, the street suffered a power cut! I couldn’t believe the bad luck!
Thankfully, a few weeks later, a friend of a friend provided me with a copy of their recording of the episode (albeit rather poor quality), so I was able to catch up.

This story is quite a hard one to watch – is it really the end for Magnum? Thankfully, the show was renewed for an eighth, final season, where things were tied up more satisfactorily. The moment at the end of this episode though, where Magnum finally strolls off into heaven (or so it seems) still is a sad moment.

Although I wouldn’t quite give this a perfect 10, I still like this episode enough to give it a very decent 9.5. I’m just glad it wasn’t the end!

-----

Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* The opening trailer of this episode is great in that it doesn’t give too much away. From it, we know that Magnum is shot, but it does not give away the whole limbo plot. Bearing this in mind, I am certain that some of the other opening trailers that are missing on the DVD versions were included on the original broadcasts.

* As well as producing, Tom Selleck worked with Chas. Floyd Johnson to come up with this story.

* This episode features no narration from Magnum.

* As mentioned in my review, I couldn’t believe my bad luck when, after waiting for this episode, the power blacked out in the street. So desperate was I to see the story, I threw my video recorder into my backpack, and hurriedly cycled up to my grandmothers, who lived a couple of miles away. I got there just in time to see Magnum disappear into heaven at the end!!

[Jay-Firestorm]

Forgot to include... (I do this at the end of each season)

-----
Seventh season overview

After two shaky seasons (although I’ve since come to decide that season six wasn’t THAT bad), the quality of ‘Magnum, p.i.’ returned for the show’s seventh season.
Saying that, it gets off to a start by what is by far the weakest of the show’s feature-length / two-part stories, ‘L.A’. It is saved from bombing even more than it might, thanks to the good chemistry between Tom Selleck and guest star Dana Delany.
But once past ‘L.A.’, the season not only returns to form, but offers up some series classics. ‘A.A.P.I’, which sees the return of many previous ‘one off’ guest stars, sets a trend, and solid classics ‘Death and Taxes’ (dubbed “MPI does ‘Miami Vice’” by many), ‘Little Girl Who’, and ‘Paper War’ follow in succession. A few episodes later, we get more great installments such as ‘Solo Flight’, and ‘Laura’ featuring Frank Sinatra.
The season isn’t ALL perfect – there are a couple more take-it-or-leave it examples, and terrible ‘Murder, She Wrote’ crossover ‘Novel Connection’, and later ‘Death of the Flowers’, are some of my least favourite installments of the show’s run.
But on the whole, the quality is very high, and brings MPI back to its former greatness.
The season finishes on a seemingly final note, as Magnum is killed off. Fear not though, as the show was thankfully renewed for one more season to round things off more pleasingly.

[Jay-Firestorm]

I've been thinking (yes, it does happen occaisonally!)...

One little touch I would have liked to have seen was as Magnum walks off into 'heaven' at the end. When Higgins calls him back, and Magnum looks behind him. It would have been great if he had done his famous 'double eyebrow wiggle'.

(It's hard to think that he actually only ever did this once (twice, if you count the re-used shot) in 'China Doll', but it was immortalised in the opening credits for the whole run)