Is Jonathan Higgins Robin Masters?

[K Hale]

Watching 'J Digger Doyle' tonight.

Higgins taping his resignation while in the Audi.
Why would he do this if he was Masters?

I have an answer for this.

I am of the camp that believes Higgins and Robin cannot possibly be the same person. However, the question is not "Is Higgins Robin?" but rather "What is the nature of the arrangement between Higgins and Robin?" There are three possibilities:
1) Masters writes the novels, and Higgins is the caretaker of the estate. No more, no less.
2) Higgins writes the novels, and the man we see as Robin is some guy Higgins hires to play the role. This was Magnum's original theory in "Paper War."
3) Higgins writes the novels or at least contributes most of the writing, although Robin comes up with the ideas and sends them to Higgins via cassette tapes, which we are told get conveniently destroyed later.

I believe in possibility #3. I've yet to find a situation that I can't explain away and "J. Digger Doyle" is no exception. (Caveat: of course I realize the writers did not come up with the ghostwriting thing until later in the series, but let's have fun with it.)

To understand what Higgins was doing when he taped his resignation in the car, you have to look at what he actually said. Quote: "Perhaps I have reached the age when my experience and techniques have been outdated by recent technological advancements in the field. I assure you, my decision in no way affects... [he sees the accident] Look out!"

The underlying theme here is that Higgins keeps getting shown up by Doyle (unfairly IMO) as being unable to maintain estate security. At one point she says the security system is "as behind the times as a World War 2 soldier" with him standing right there. So in the resignation tape, he's telling Robin he is quitting as majordomo so this hotshot security firm can take over and keep the estate safe. And then he adds "I assure you, my decision in no way affects..." and then never finishes the sentence. What he was going to say was that it in no way affects their other business arrangements, i.e. he's not saying the novels are affected, just his being head of security at Robin's Nest.

[☨magnum.t]

Yes K Hale I also share this theory. I often think that for all of Higgins prude acting and judgmental dialog he deep down had an admiration for Magnums aloofness and Robins eccentricities. Vicariously he got to live those lives through them and never even had to admit it. He could be as brash as he wanted .

[K Hale]

Also, in the episode “The Great Hawaiian Adventure Company”, Higgins is talking to the lads, while working on the typewriter, about a letter he is expecting from his publisher. Magnum is NOT in the room. And Higgins says, “Naturally, I would like to be published. Who wouldn’t?”. Now, if Higgins was Robin, a wildly successful author with countless successful books already published - that line makes no sense whatsoever. No way that a fabulously successful author would say a line about yearning to be published. He would have said “I like to be published”, and not “I WOULD like to be published”.

He's talking about his memoirs for which he just got a rejection letter from the publisher saying something like it's not emotionally involved enough. He gets mad about this and asks rhetorically how he would have survived such a long military career if he got emotionally involved in everything. He wants his own story published under his own name so he says "I would like to be published. Who wouldn't?" being sort of ironic about it.

[K Hale]

Yes K Hale I also share this theory. I often think that for all of Higgins prude acting and judgmental dialog he deep down had an admiration for Magnums aloofness and Robins eccentricities. Vicariously he got to live those lives through them and never even had to admit it. He could be as brash as he wanted .

The events of "The Red-Faced Thespian," where he hints that he was faking the Fearing Pangborn thing, makes it obvious that Higgy Baby has a very strong dramatic streak and enjoys taking the Mickey Bliss out of people, especially Magnum. Writing lurid, ridiculous novels would be a fun way to release that part of himself. Plus he got super personally offended in "Paper War" when Magnum called Robin's novels "cheap."

[kamith]

Through out the series I always wondered about that myself but deep down inside I knew he wasn't Robin Masters. Yes, I know that in the final episode when Rick gets married, Higgins tells him that h is Robin Masters, but at the end of the show, he told Magnum that he had lied and that he really wasn't Robin Masters. You be the judge.

3 The mystery of Robin Masters' identity is never really resolved. In response to Magnum's questions, Higgins (finally) implies that he is Robin Masters, but then later, at Rick's wedding, he enigmatically tells Magnum, "I lied". By saying "I lied", does he mean he lied about saying he was Robin Masters? Or does he mean, "I pretended to be Robin Masters all these years" (i.e. "I lied" the whole time you were here)?

[MaximRecoil]

The early character development clearly notes Higgins not wanting him there. If it was a setup from the get go the writers would have set a different tone in the early episodes.

In the very first season (1.12 - Thicker Than Blood) we find out that "Higgins not wanting him there" was just an act, i.e., when Magnum had finally agreed to leave, Higgins used stalling tactics to get him to stay. So the early character development actually notes the opposite of what you said.

[☨magnum.t]

I tend to agree, Higgins acted like he didn't want TM there but he actually enjoyed the nuisance. He lived vicariously through him. I have watched the series several times through and I still think Higgins was the one writing the novels for Robin.