I know some like it, but personally I find this one a disappointing final Higgins ‘half-brother’ episode; some okay moments, but mostly a letdown IMO.
[rating=7.0]
Magnum is hired to root out the would-be assassin of an important visiting dignitary. But then he meets yet another of Higgins’ estranged half-brothers, Don Luis Mongueo, who is the prime suspect. The weakest of the ‘Higgins’ half-brothers’ episodes…
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This review contains spoilers.
‘Who Is Don Luis Higgins… …and Why Is He Doing These Terrible Things To Me?’ (which wins the prize for longest episode title in the series – it’s so long that it appears over two separate captions on-screen)… is the third and final in the line episodes revolving around Higgins’ estranged half-brothers.
We had previously met Texan rodeo owner Elmo in season two’s ‘The Elmo Ziller Story’, and Father Paddy McGuiness in season three’s ‘Faith and Begorrah’ (Paddy also made a cameo in part two of season five’s ‘Echoes of the Mind’). Of these stories, I find ‘What Is Don Luis Higgins…’ to be by far the weakest of the episodes.
This is also the third of three episodes in the show’s run in which Roger E. Mosley does not appear as T.C. (He had previously missed season two’s ‘Dead Man’s Channel’, and neither he, Higgins or Rick appeared in ‘Going Home’ earlier this season).
Rick does appear, but is little more than set dressing in this one, having very little to do.
Some seem to find this episode hilarious, but although there are a few okay moments, personally I found this one to be quite a disappointment in comparison with the first two half-brother stories. The “Is it really Higgins putting on an act?” plot seemed a little worn and tired by now (and, unusually, it is given away that it is not actually Higgins, in the opening trailer).
John Hillerman is a fine actor, and made good work of Elmo and Paddy and their accents. But here, faced with Don Luis’ more exotic accent, he seems to struggle a little more, and at a couple of points, Don Luis’ accent goes all over the place.
Magnum’s limp is strange – we get some vague hint that he injured his leg playing some game, presumably with Rick and T.C., but it is never fully explained; there is unconfirmed rumour that it was written in when Tom Selleck injured himself in reality.
This is certainly not bottom-of-the barrel – there are several humorous touches, and I like how the story later on has you guessing who is Higgins and who is Don Luis – but compared to the previous half-brother tales, this one never feels to fully hit its stride in my opinion. It is also very talky – something that affected many episodes in the later seasons of the series – and even drags a little in places.
It does pick up a bit towards the end, and the final scene is a nice one (have Higgins and Don Luis swapped places?), but all-in-all, this is a far more average tale when compared to the first two excellent half-brothers stories. And we didn’t even get some amusing story from Higgins about how his half-brother came about this time ‘round!
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Other notes, bloopers and misc.:
* Magnum smokes his thirteenth cigar of the series in this episode. He goes to get one to celebrate beating Higgins at chess, but never actually gets it. A little later though, he has one – and shuts it in the study doors!
* Magnum comments that Higgins never drives the Ferrari – Yes he does, in a number of other episodes. The third season’s ‘Forty Years from Sand Island’ springs readily to mind.
* We see in this episode that the dark room is located off of Higgins’ study; I never realised this – for some reason, I always imagined it to be on the next floor up.
* In the final scene, we get a good shot of Agatha’s car parked in front of the main house (see earlier threads discussing Agatha’s car).
* As with ‘Round and Around’ and ‘This Island Isn’t Big Enough…’ previously this season, this episode has a feature-length-style version of the closing credits theme.
…Well, that’s me done. I’m away for the week next week; I won’t have an internet connection where I’m staying, but I’m taking my laptop to watch next week’s batch of episodes and to write my reviews, and will post them when I get back.
