Past Tense (3.5)

[KingKC]

I distinctly remember the last scenes including Higgins "administering" to TC with his talking and TM walking up to the "pillbox/bunker" and wondering why the bad guy just didn't blow TM away. A lot of this episode was pretty convoluted as to a believable plot. It was mostly gratuitous action and suspense but generally enjoyable.

KingKC

[thechickinthemiddle]

Anyone else notice that Higgins' explanation for telling his stories to a shot T.C. was so T.C. wouldn't slip into a coma? In "Under World", Higgins' stories are exactly what rouses T.C. out of his coma. (Granted, it was because T.C. didn't want to hear said stories anymore, but it's heartwarming nonetheless.)

[Little Garwood]

I don't recall how I voted on "Past Tense", but it had to be an 8.5 or 9.0. I saw this episode first run--along with the rest of S3, which was the peak of my childhood MPI interest and still my favorite season.

It seems that the criticisms of this episode stem from the plot, but that never registered with me because I instead focused on the tremendous character bonding that goes on in it.

"Past Tense" is one of the earlier "characters banding together and looking out for each other" episodes and it is for that reason that I rate it so highly. I loved it how Higgins looked after TC and how TM and Rick worked together to find them. TM's voice over summation about their friendship and how fragile a thing it is, Higgins and TC "back to normal" as their arguing will attest, and best of all, Magnum's great smile, which says it all to me as to how he feels about those three guys.

That is why I rate "Past Tense" as highly as I do.

"Past Tense" is essentially a dry run for even better "Band of Brothers" episodes like "Home from the Sea" and "All for One", to name but two.

The next time you watch "Past Tense", watch it not for the well-worn prison escape-and-vengeance plot, but rather the four main characters' regard for one another.

[K Hale]

Anyone else notice that Higgins' explanation for telling his stories to a shot T.C. was so T.C. wouldn't slip into a coma? In "Under World", Higgins' stories are exactly what rouses T.C. out of his coma. (Granted, it was because T.C. didn't want to hear said stories anymore, but it's heartwarming nonetheless.)

And both times, the stories were unusually graphic for Higgins: in "Underworld" it's a child being tortured and in "Past Tense" it's about a guy who had his eyelids slit. Clearly he knows what grabs your attention in an emergency!

I liked this episode because Higgins/TC match ups are awesome. The plot was pretty complex and this thread, especially marlboro's post, helped answer the three major questions I had about what was going on, but I still am not clear on how Lyden knew so much about Higgins since Lyden was already in prison when Magnum moved in at Robin's Nest. I supposed it's one of those situations where information is smuggled in to prisoners by someone on the outside? The guy who played Lyden did a terrific job, too.

[karolis]

Maybe it's just that the events were too unbelievable beginning with TC's chopper landing in the middle of the prison yard and escaping with Lyden just after the prison riot begins. I am always reminded of this scene whenever I see Dr. Evil and Mini-Me asking their fellow inmates to start a riot so they can escape in “Goldmember.” Why would these inmates start a diversion and risk severe punishment and even death so that Lyden can escape? First, I find it hard to believe that the chopper wouldn't have been disabled by the guards firing at the engine before it took off.

I liked this episode, maybe "suspension of disbelief" is in my blood. I see your point about the riot. I mean it's possible that fellow inmates may start a riot for Morgan Lyden to escape for some benefits or threatening. But why then Tanaka would say that maybe Morgan Lyden made some enemies in prison, to explain why would he escape if he had only 6 months of sentence. Obviously he had more friends there than enemies.

Well, we've made fun the helicopter escape plotline; however, it was done this weekend -- for the SECOND time by the same convicts!

Helicopter Prison Break

golf

Wow, what a story! Unbelievable.

And the chopper was commandeered, with the pilot forced to fly to the prison, just like T.C. in this episode! It appears that they timed the "rescue" to when the two convicts were on their daily walk in the courtyard. Were they the only ones in the courtyard? If not, wouldn't you think other convicts (particularly "lifers") would try to get on the chopper? This is what is still so unbelievable about the "Past Tense" scene; The other convicts create a diversion and help shield Lydon onto the chopper (which in itself is a little farfetched), yet none of them also try to escape?

Just googled and was surprised how much such escapes was planned and done:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_h ... on_escapes


I believe i just found a flub. When T.C. is flying Higgins and the bad guys (before they pull the guns) T.C.'s chopper number starts with N5 and ends with 43:



During the escape in prison T.C.'s chopper number is N1095A:



During the flight from prison to island T.C. chopper number changes back to N59243 (it may be N98243 or N90243):



And when the chopper crashed - it doesn't have any number at all:




It's clearly visible that real Yacht name was covered with King Kamehameha II:




Notice the fly on Magnum's chin:




I believe it supposed to be a remote island where T.C.'s chopper with T.C., Higgins and bad guys crashed, but in the top right you can see some kind of factory:




Obvious Rick double:




Somebody left the bag:




Season 3 Top up to this episode:
1-2. Did You See the Sunrise?
3. The Eighth Part of the Village
4. Past Tense
5. Ki'i's Don't Lie

[K Hale]

Ha, that's the bag Rick was carrying. Good catch, I never noticed that.

[karolis]

I believe i just found a flub. When T.C. is flying Higgins and the bad guys (before they pull the guns) T.C.'s chopper number starts with N5 and ends with 43:



During the escape in prison T.C.'s chopper number is N1095A:



During the flight from prison to island T.C. chopper number changes back to N59243 (it may be N98243 or N90243):



And when the chopper crashed - it doesn't have any number at all:

I believe i just found both of the helicopters (N58243 (the same one that Robert Van Der Kar died on) and N1095A) in FAA Registry mentioned in this flub:

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry ... rtxt=58243

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry ... rtxt=1095A

Probably someone in some other topic has already have a list with all the helicopter sused in the series with their registries checked.

[Sam]

I believe i just found a flub. When T.C. is flying Higgins and the bad guys (before they pull the guns) T.C.'s chopper number starts with N5 and ends with 43:



During the escape in prison T.C.'s chopper number is N1095A:



During the flight from prison to island T.C. chopper number changes back to N59243 (it may be N98243 or N90243):



And when the chopper crashed - it doesn't have any number at all:

I believe i just found both of the helicopters (N58243 (the same one that Robert Van Der Kar died on) and N1095A) in FAA Registry mentioned in this flub:

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry ... rtxt=58243

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry ... rtxt=1095A

Probably someone in some other topic has already have a list with all the helicopter sused in the series with their registries checked.

Hi Karolis...
Here is some info on the choppers.

http://magnum-mania.com/Articles/The_Chopper.html

[ENSHealy]

A few corrections are needed to the Episode Guide:

1. Icepick's sister is Dolores, not Delores. She later went on to date Jerry Seinfeld, but Jerry couldn't remember her name.
2. Tanaka says "Right now I am on the mound" not "Right now, I'm on mound."
3. It's Major Hawley, not Major Horling.

[ENSHealy]

PAST TENSE
Hawaiian shirts: 1 classic jungle bird
Island Hopper shirts: 1 yellow with white logo
Body Count: 2 mainland muscle
Shirtless: 0
Little Voice: 0
I know what you’re thinking: 0
When I write HTBAWCPI: 0
Investigator corrections: 0
Magnum injuries: 0
Higgins musings: 7.5 (there are two separate references to the Suez, so I'm only giving a half to the second one.)
4th wall breaks: 1
Negotiations: 0
Famous guest stars: 0
Magnumometer: 12.5

In this episode, we learn that Higgins belongs to the Anglo-Polynesian Botanical Society. He has hired TC to take him to locations where he can shoot pictures for their magazine.

One thing that bothered me at the end. Thomas leaves Lyden and goes to help Rick before Lyden is fully subdued. Thomas has roughed him up a bit, but he is still conscious and can only be feet away from the two pistols that he made Magnum drop when he approached the bunker. Lyden could easily have gotten the pistols and killed them all!

Higgins refers to a father of a New Guinea native girl having "slit" Lieutenant Hilton-Thorpe's eyelids, however, in the closing scene (which I very much enjoyed, BTW, for its "all is back to normal again" 4th wall break by TM) TC refers to Higgins having told him stories about "peeled" eyelids. I suppose we have to spot TC that one, suffering from blood loss as he was. Speaking of which, Higgins keeps insisting on changing TC's bandage so that he doesn't bleed to death....however, if that were truly the concern, changing the bandage would just pull the clot from the wound, causing any bleeding to recommence afresh. So perhaps that is a "medical flub."

CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS

TC: You ought to try running your own business sometimes, Higgins.
Higgins: l have. lt was Geneva, 1957. The Arlington Arms. lt was a quiet hotel, nothing ostentatious, yet we used to cater to some of the most discriminating clientele in all of Europe: dukes, earls, an occasional viscount.

Higgins: l can remember it as if it were only yesterday. The Burmese death march. Our brave lads were dropping like flies and so were our captors. The oppressive heat, the humidity, sapping every ounce of moisture from our bodies.

Higgins: l would recommend removing those loafers and going without. But then, of course, you'd be vulnerable to the snakes and tarantulas.

TC: Hey, we gotta do something about this.
Higgins: l agree.
TC: Yeah, l got a plan.
Higgins: Since it was one of your ill-conceived schemes that got us into this predicament in the first place, l suggest we ignore it. l have a plan.
TC: Yeah, another one of your oldies but goodies.
Higgins: The Suez, actually, 1956. The Egyptians had us completely surrounded.

Higgins: You can at least have the decency not to tie his hands. He's almost unconscious now. Private Matlock, l served with briefly in North Africa, had a similar wound. Had to walk through the desert a day back to our lines. l had to write the letter to his family. You ain't gonna write my folks. They'd never forgive me.

Higgins: There's only two possibilities. He killed your friend or your friend killed him. l've been expecting it. Saw the same thing happen in Singapore.

Higgins: Yes, New Guinea, '51 . Or was it '52? No matter. Lieutenant Hilton-Thorpe had vanished from the compound. We searched for days. Finally we found him lying on the beach tied to four stakes. lt seemed he'd angered the father of one of the native girls, a mistake a green second lieutenant from Cambridge is wont to make. Anyway, the irate father had slit poor Hilton-Thorpe's eyelids and covered his body with honey. Fortunately, we arrived in the nick of time. Of course Hilton-Thorpe had to wear sunglasses for the rest of his life, not to mention the intense dislike for sweets he acquired. l say, T.C., are you listening? (Gunfire) Higgins: Hang in there, TC.

TC: lt seems pretty expensive knowing you!
Higgins: Quite. You remind me of a chap l once served with in the Sudan. Binky Sliverton. Binky had the most disgusting way of using people, like the time Binky brought us all a gift of freshly-killed chickens. We found ourselves surrounded by 300 furious Sudanese. lt seems that Binky had wandered into the hut of one of the local witch doctors...

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

I've already reviewed this episode earlier but just wanted to concur that there really isn't anything too complicated to understand here. The plot really isn't very convoluted. Pretty straight forward. Marlboro in an earlier post has done a great job of breaking down the plot and answering any possible lingering questions.

Also my take on the prison riot isn't that all the prisoners were in on it in order to allow Lydon to escape. You can clearly see that Lydon nods to 2 of the prisoners, giving them the go-ahead to start the fire in the dumpster. They start the fire and then roll the dumpster away from the area where TC's chopper landed moments later. As soon as the rest of the prisoners see the dumpster on fire and hear the panic from the 2 guys who started the fire they all join in. It's just typical prison riot scenario. While they're busy rioting TC lands the chopper, with only Lydon in that immediate area. The rest of the rioters are a ways off, hence why you don't see them trying to get on the chopper along with Lydon. That was the whole idea - move the prisoners away from this area and keep them distracted.

[MagnumILWU]

I noticed tonight's rerun episode of Blue Bloods, is titled "Past Tense"!

[Nifty911]

Hey N...

Just watched this one the other day, so its kind of fresh in my memory...

Here's my take... I guess this Lefevre guy was supposed to go to Robin's Nest to tell Magnum that Lyden had kidnapped TC and was waiting for him on the beach.

(Now, if someone had showed up at my house saying they kidnapped my friend... not sure how I would have taken that).

Since Lefevure was offed before he had a chance to talk to Magnum, that made him run late.....

Oh, I don't know!

This plot is full of more holes than Swiss cheese. AND, not knowing who Higgins is when the plane first gets hijacked, how does he come to know he's a Sgt Major?

However, the ending scene where eevryone starts gnging up on Magnum is really good

I'm watching all in order again and this one episode I never completely understood how 1 + 1 = 2. But this guess you have makes sense. They could have explained it a little better.

I was going to post a thing about the chopper crash - how TC's chopper crashes everywhere but when it does he's never got any wind screen.

[ENSHealy]

When the Ferrari was destroyed at the start of the season in ‘Did You See The Sunrise?’, it could be assumed that Robin Masters, being so rich simply replaced it with another one; quite how T.C. gets his helicopter back in subsequent episodes to this one, however, is harder to explain.

To note is, after it was destroyed in the feature-length / two-part ‘Did You See The Sunrise?’ previously, the Ferrari is suddenly back. I suppose it could be argued that Robin Masters is so rich, that he simply replaced it with another.

I always assumed that RM just bought another one.

I think RM replaced it. Thats what we can assume at least.

You guys have heard of car insurance, right?

As I said previously…you guys have heard of insurance, right? In fact, Higgins even mentions it himself!

I like this episode, with just focusing on T.C. and Higgins. But there's an error in the filming: the part where TM is beating up Gorwitz, one of the scenes shows a black man as a stunt double! I caught this scene by using slow motion, and its near the end. So ya.

I’m curious which shot exactly made you think this. I went through it on freeze frame and came up with the caps below, but I think it’s just an issue of lighting and shadows.

Higgins being worried about Mr. Master's cameras right after the crash landing was classic too.

Of course, he literally just finished telling TC that insurance would cover the chopper. Does he not think Robin has insurance on the camera?

The plot was pretty complex and this thread, especially marlboro's post, helped answer the three major questions I had about what was going on, but I still am not clear on how Lyden knew so much about Higgins since Lyden was already in prison when Magnum moved in at Robin's Nest. I supposed it's one of those situations where information is smuggled in to prisoners by someone on the outside?

If he can hire mainland muscle from inside the prison, I would imagine it wouldn’t be hard to have someone do some digging on Higgins. However, I don’t necessarily think he knows a lot about him. The first time he refers to him as Sergeant Major is after they’ve been walking through the jungle for a while and Higgins has been reminiscing about the Burma Death March, so he may have actually picked it up from Higgins. But that does leave open the question why Lyden says “Where did you get him anyway?” in the chopper. Clearly, Lyden knew exactly where they got him, so this line puzzles me, since he also makes a point of using TC’s last name to demonstrate he’s done his homework.

[ENSHealy]

PAST TENSE
Hawaiian shirts: 1 classic jungle bird
Island Hopper shirts: 1 yellow with white logo
Body Count: 2 mainland muscle
Shirtless: 0
Little Voice: 0
I know what you’re thinking: 0
When I write HTBAWCPI: 0
Investigator corrections: 0
Magnum injuries: 0
Higgins musings: 7.5 (there are two separate references to the Suez, so I'm only giving a half to the second one.)
4th wall breaks: 1
Negotiations: 0
Famous guest stars: 0
Magnumometer: 12.5

3.5 PAST TENSE
Hawaiian shirts: 1
Tigers Cap: 2
Island Hopper shirts: 1
Body Count:
Bullet wounds:
Shirtless:
Little Voice:
I know what you’re thinking:
When I write HTBAWCPI:
Investigator corrections:
Higgins musings: 8
4th wall breaks: 1
Negotiations:
OMG/Extraordinarys:
Higgins Organizations: 1 Anglo-Polynesian Botanical Society
Famous guest stars:
Magnumometer: 14

I must have missed one of Higgins’ musings on my first run through this episode. If you count both Suez references, there are actually 9: Geneva, Burma, Suez 1, Suez 2, North Africa, Singapore, Congo, New Guinea and Sudan. Since the two Suez references are both pretty quick and short, I’ve combined them into one and gone with a total of 8.

Potential magnumania usernames: Major Hawley, Private Matlock, Lieutenant Hilton-Thorpe, Binky Sliverton
Magnumometer Moments: https://vimeo.com/376892827

Anyone have a theory as to why T.C. has spangled tights in his desk drawer? A souvenir from the Hungarian acrobats, perhaps?

The shot in the preview of the chopper about to crash does not actually appear in the episode version of the chopper crash.

Higgins is sweating through his shirt and drawing parallels to the Burma Death March, but T.C. keeps his jacket on the whole time?

Flub/Not-Flub
From the Episode Guide: “When T.C. and Higgins are standing near the chopper after it has crashed, T.C. leans into the chopper without his David Clark pilot's headphones, but in the very next shot he has them on. (Noted by Pete Van Nort)”
I think this one may not actually be a flub. If you watch very closely as TC leans into the chopper, it looks as if he might be putting his headphones on. First you see the cable for the headphones move on T.C.’s right, then watch the left arm, it looks like he puts something on his head. Why he would put the headphones back on at this point, I do not know, but it looks like he does.

Leverage/Physics flub: Lyden is standing to the left of the gun. The way he flies against the wall implies he was thrown that way by Magnum swinging the gun. However, Magnum swings the barrel of the gun right, meaning the stock would move away from Lyden, not toward/pushing him. Unless we are to believe he was holding on to the gun so tight he was thrown with it when it moved, but this screencap would seem to bely that, as he would almost have to be hanging on the gun in order to be thrown in the manner shown.


Even I will admit this is a bit ticky-tack, but I think the muzzle flash we see out of the tunnel is not quite possible. First, just before we see Lyden shoot Curry, Curry is in the room with the ammo case, and Lyden is between him and the tunnel entrance. So to shoot Curry, Lyden would be shooting in the opposite direction the muzzle flash is shown. However, in theory let’s say Curry sees Lyden pulling the gun and runs past him making a break for the tunnel entrance. The muzzle flash is perfectly round, which would mean the gun is pointed right at us/the camera, right? So it can’t therefore also have hit Jack Curry, because if it did, his body would have had to have been between us/the camera and the gun and would have blocked the muzzle flash. If Jack was off to the side enough for us to see the flash, it wouldn’t be perfectly round? Talk amongst yourselves.

You can have Rick’s gun when you pry it from his cold dead hands….


Wade Boggs is back!


That’s not Lyden or Goorwitz!