Let the Punishment Fit the Crime (4.17)

[J.J. Walters]

This is the official MM thread for Let the Punishment Fit the Crime (4.17). All discussions and reviews for this episode should go here. If you wish to rate the episode, please do so with the poll. The avg. score will be the official 'community rating', which will be used on the episode page (updated monthly).

This thread is also linked in the episode page of the Episode Guide.

Original Air Date: 02/23/1984
It's music and mayhem when Higgins plans a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado for a visiting British dignitary. Meanwhile, Magnum becomes involved with Sally DeForest, whose brother has disappeared under unusual circumstances.

[N1095A]

After Rick delivers an address to TM at the guest house, TM goes to check out the address. When he pulls up to the building there is a sign that reads Jan Kona Real Estate. Jan Kona was the character played by Jill St.John in "Three Minus Two".
Could Magnum's expression when he sees the sign be due to the fact that he remembers the name? Has Ms. Kona branched out from the fashion industry to the Real Estate business?

The location where Sir Cedric Brooke is having his meeting when Eric DeForrest shows up with the rifle is none other than Omega Station. The building that was Lazeronics in "J. Digger Doyle", from which TM (along with Digger), rescued Higgins by carrying him up the Haiku Stairs on his back.
Omega Station is now an abandoned, yet highly interesting structure that features reinforced concrete walls 6 feet thick, and roofs 9 feet thick. The building was also used in the filming if the television series "Lost". http://www.lostvirtualtour.com/lost/fil ... index.html

After killing Eric, Magnum is trying to find a ride back to the estate to stop Sally from killing Sir Cedric. Why does he need to hitch a ride when he followed Eric to the location in the Ferrari?

Magnum once again incorrectly picks a lock. You cannot pick a lock using only a pick. You also need a tension wrench, which is a small, flat piece of spring steel that is bent at a 90 degree angle. The tension wrench holds the tumbler pins that you've already picked in place while you pick the rest, and to turn the cylinder once the lock is picked. This is done incorrectly through out the series.

[J.J. Walters]

Wow, awesome observations there N1095A!

A sign in the background says "Jan Kona Real Estate", referring to a one-episode character who appeared two seasons earlier (a sign that indicates she has changed professions)!? How cool is that! Even today, how many other TV shows do subtle, self-referencing things like this? Not many!

The lock picking note is very interesting to me. Not knowing anything about picking locks, I have for my whole life naively believed that you can indeed pick a lock with just a ... pick! Now I know better. Thanks N1095A!

Maybe we can just chalk this up as, "Magnum's lock picking skills are far beyond anything ever achieved by any person, in the history of Earth. He's so good in fact, he doesn't need a piece of flat steel and a tension wrench to pick locks! All he needs is a pick!"

[J.J. Walters]

"I am the Pirate King! It is, it is, a wonderful thing, to be the Pirate King!"

With Higgins holding his hand to his temple and Magnum holding an ice bag to his head, while walking away laughing hysterically! One of the funniest denouements in the series. It gets me every time!

[Magnums Little Voice]

Really Enjoyed this episode, Higgins was at his pompus best until Agather puts him in his place, and the story has some great twists and turns!

Loved Rick as one of the maids, he was the looker of the 3!!! (YIKES)

[MPS]

I saw this one over the weekend. (Still on Season 4...fortunately, it's a while before I get to the end of the discs!) Really enjoyed seeing Agatha put Higgins in his place. Much as I love him, he does get a bit overbearing at times. Found the totally empty tea cups, during rehearsal tea time, to be funny. You can look right into them and (oops) no tea at all.

Learned a bit about lock picking by reading the previous posts. Who knew TM had been doing it wrong all along?

[A P Leyland]

I enjoyed this immensley. Very funny. Seeing Rick the the Mikado was priceless.

Andy

[J.J. Walters]

One thing to keep an eye out for the next time you watch this episode - During the great fight scene between Magnum and Eric, notice how Magnum suddenly becomes covered in mud from head to toe... seemingly out of nowhere. There must have been some additional fight footage that was cut out.

Surprised no one has mentioned Kay Lenz (Sally). I've always like her (Breezy anybody?). She has one of those unmistakable faces. Her IDMB credits show that she made an uncredited appearance in one of my favorite Andy Griffith Show episodes - "Opie's Group" (1967)! This is the one where Opie forms a rock band and starts tanking on his schoolwork. It's a classic.

[Jay-Firestorm]

My second review of Double Review Friday (TM). I’d forgotten just how much I like this episode!

[rating=10]

While Higgins struggles to direct a selection of pieces from Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘The Mikado’ for an upcoming performance, Thomas is hired by a young woman to find her missing brother, who has seemingly got caught up with a religious cult. A delightful episode…

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This review contains spoilers.

Just as I am trying to remember why I like this series so much, in the middle of a dull patch of episodes (see previous few reviews), suddenly this wonderful story comes along and reminds me of all that I love about MPI!

Although I love strong detective / adventure plots in the series, one of the reasons that I love this episode so much, is that a lot of it revolves around something much more down to Earth – Higgins’ staging of a selection of pieces from ‘The Mikado’. I like episodes that showcase ‘life on the Estate’, and this one does it perfectly. The episode is well balanced between this running thread, and Magnum’s investigation, hitting the perfect balance.
I also am involved with the theatre, which is also another reason that I am so fond of this instalment.

The story plays out perfectly, and doesn’t let up for a moment. Each scene is well performed and polished – a welcome relief after some of the episodes that have gone before it this end of the season.
There are some wonderful character moments, and gives Agatha a bit more to do than usual (so much so that Gillian Dobb is promoted to the in-episode guest credits; normally she would appear on the closing credits). It is nice to see her stand up to the overbearing Higgins for once!

I like the ‘red herring’ in the episode’s opening trailer of Eric taking aim at the stage – actually two different shots from different points in the story, leading you to believe that he is the sole villain of the story.

Kay Lenz gives a decent performance as Sally, the woman who Magnum hires, playing her as the standard ‘woman in need’ of the episode – when it is revealed that she is the (other) real villain of the piece … well, I truly didn’t see that one coming!

All-in-all, this is one of my favourite episodes of the fourth season, and one that I can watch over and over again without getting bored with it.

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Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* To comment on N1095A’s point on why would Magnum need to hitch a ride after he followed Eric in the Ferrari, I agree this is a bit strange. Two possible factors could be that a) he was injured in the fight and wouldn’t be able to drive well, and b) he only followed Eric to the general area and had to track him down on foot; even if he was able to drive, the Ferrari might have been too far away to reach if he was wounded.

* I’m curious why T.C. isn’t forced to join Rick in performing the ‘The Little Maids From School’. We initially see them going through the motions, but after that, it is only Rick who is roped into performing it, even though Higgins is still missing two performers. I wonder if Roger E. Mosley objected to it or something? Just a thought.

* The DVD version of this episode has all of the commercial breaks abridged.

* When Five broadcast this episode in 2002, the made slight edits to the two uses of knives (when Magnum enters the cult building, and when he is fighting with Eric). However, the knifes can still be seen in odd shots.

[Italian Ice]

I did have trouble understanding the plot of the story, probably because of the time it took place. I don't know why they were out to kill Sir Cedric, and what their connection was, as well as the dragon gang Eric belonged to. Just like Past Tense, I couldn't follow the plot.

[Jay-Firestorm]

I did have trouble understanding the plot of the story, probably because of the time it took place. I don't know why they were out to kill Sir Cedric, and what their connection was, as well as the dragon gang Eric belonged to. Just like Past Tense, I couldn't follow the plot.

As I understood it, Sir Cedric was involved with some peace talks, which Eric and Sally (presumably belonging to some terrorist group) were determined to stop. Sally used the cover that Eric had got mixed up with a religuous cult, allowing her to get close to Magnum and stay on the Estate while he searched for Eric.
Sally was the backup - if Eric failed to kill Sir Cedric, she would do it on the Estate.

[Rutledal]

Sir Cedric was involved in talks surrounding the, at the time, future exchange of Hong Kong between England and China. Eric and Sally was part of a group who preferably saw that Hong Kong remained under the British crown.

* I’m curious why T.C. isn’t forced to join Rick in performing the ‘The Little Maids From School’. We initially see them going through the motions, but after that, it is only Rick who is roped into performing it, even though Higgins is still missing two performers. I wonder if Roger E. Mosley objected to it or something? Just a thought.

T.C. tells Rick he made an arrangement with Higgins to cover security in Magnum's absence instead of appearing in the play.

Also a great little detail, when Magnum jumps in the water you can see the apple that one of the men threw in the water earlier.

[J.J. Walters]

Paging MaximRecoil, paging MaximRecoil...

Someone sent me an email saying that Magnum didn't use a Walter PPK in this episode. He said it was a "Detonics Pocket 9", "a gun that was built in the 80's but the company went out of business and the design was never picked up by anyone else."

What do you think?



Thanks

[Rutledal]

I actually think he is correct, when you bring it up the gun is much "squarer" than a Walter PPK, much like this Detonics Pocket 9.

[rubber chicken]

Here's a few more pics if that helps any:



I'm not a handgun expert, but it looks to me like a Detonics Pocket 9. The trigger guard and curve below the muzzle (if that's the correct term) are distinctive.

Detonics Pocket 9s were used in Miami Vice. There certainly were a lot of guns in that show, it's internet movie firearms database page is huge, and that's just for the second season! Crocket used a Detonics Pocket 9 in the first season.