Of Sound Mind (3.13)

[ENSHealy]

OF SOUND MIND
Hawaiian shirts: 1
Island Hopper shirts: 0
Body Count: 1
Shirtless: 0
Little Voice: 0
I know what you’re thinking: 1
When I write HTBAWCPI: 0
Investigator corrections: 0
Magnum injuries: 1
Higgins musings: 1 broken right foot
4th wall breaks: 2
Negotiations: 0
Famous guest stars: 1 – half point each for Roscoe Lee Brown and Donnelly Rhodes.
Magnumometer: 8

Potential magnumania usernames: Carlton, Hiroshi Taka, Hungarian Acrobat

A truly enjoyable episode. Roscoe Lee Browne absolutely steals the show, and Donnelly Rhodes gives a Kim-Richards worthy-performance. But I suppose he's not bad, he's just written that way, to paraphrase Jessica Rabbit.

CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS

Magnum: I know what you're thinking. Wilson MacLeish leaving me $50 million was a practical joke. I had the feeling the real reason was on the tape that he left me. I hoped it wasn't so funny that I was gonna be left in stitches.

Magnum: All you have to prove your worth, is the friends you leave behind.

Anybody else think the lighting changes in the climactic scene were odd? It looks like half the scene was shot in a sound stage and half outdoors. Maybe I just don't know enough about stage lighting? In the first three shots below, the lighting looks like sound stage. The shot where you can see the house appears to be at the Walker estate, but the lighting is totally sound stage. And then the final two shots look totally outdoors, real light (the screen caps are not in the same order as they appeared in the episode, it was more back-and-forth live). In fact in the live shot of Carlton close up with the gun, you can see the leaves blowing on the trees. Perhaps it was nearing dark when they shot it and that's gives it the variability?

[K Hale]

Why was Higgins so blatantly rude towards Carlton?

In the scene where Carlton is packing Magnum's clothes, he verbally identifies himself as a manservant, and is told that Higgins is the majordomo of Robin's Nest. He then asks Higgins to help him carry Magnum's bags, as if Higgins were his social equal, i.e. another servant, and he says it in a politely condescending tone of voice to boot. I can't imagine any other reason why Carlton would do this except that he seems to like Magnum's lack of pretentiousness and is purposely insulting Higgins because he doesn't approve of the way Higgins was mocking Magnum. For a servant to speak to someone of Higgins' upper class background in this way ("Give us a hand with the bags, Higgins, there's a good chap"!!) is very out of line. Which of course is just the way Carlton intended it to be taken.

I think you are on the right track here, with one minor quibble: no doubt Higgins is offended because Carlton is treating him as an equal, but I can totally see where Carlton is coming from. I don't think you can make the leap from TM introducing Higgins as "sort of the majordomo around here" to Carlton understanding Higgins isn't your regular majordomo, i.e. the peerage, et. al. Therefore Higgins mocking Magnum would be totally out of line, so I think Carlton's approach is understandable given what he knew.

Certainly it is understandable, which I was trying to convey by saying Carlton's fondness for Magnum led him to do it. But he doesn't need to know anything about Higgins other than he is the majordomo of the estate. Google defines this as "the chief steward of a large household." Carlton is aware that this is someone who gives orders to others. I don't think a person typically goes to someone's place of business and expects the people in charge to fetch and carry, even if you throw in a "there's a good chap" pat on the head as incentive.

[ENSHealy]

OF SOUND MIND
Hawaiian shirts: 1
Island Hopper shirts: 0
Body Count: 1
Shirtless: 0
Little Voice: 0
I know what you’re thinking: 1
When I write HTBAWCPI: 0
Investigator corrections: 0
Magnum injuries: 1
Higgins musings: 1 broken right foot
4th wall breaks: 2
Negotiations: 0
Famous guest stars: 1 – half point each for Roscoe Lee Brown and Donnelly Rhodes.
Magnumometer: 8

UPDATE - 3.13 OF SOUND MIND
Famous guest stars: 1 – half point each for Roscoe Lee Brown and Donnelly Rhodes
Hawaiian shirts: 1
Tigers Cap: 1
Island Hopper shirts:
Shirtless:
OMG/Extraordinarys:
Higgins Organizations:
Higgins musings: 1
Negotiations:
Body Count:
Bullet wounds:
Little Voice:
I know what you’re thinking: 1
When I write HTBAWCPI:
Investigator corrections:
4th wall breaks: 2
Magnumometer: 7

Potential magnumania usernames: Carlton, Hiroshi Takei, Hungarian Acrobat
Magnumometer Moments: https://vimeo.com/379640880

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

I gave this one a 9.0 (excellent) rating which is the same rating I gave the previous episode - "Heal Thyself".

This was a very entertaining "comedy" episode with a bit of mystery thrown in for good measure. Those who are nitpicking it (why didn't Magnum take off his armor when pursuing the Grim Reaper? why didn't the authorities look for the body when the airplane blew up?) are missing the point - this episode isn't trying to be very realistic. Just the opposite. It's surreal. It feels more like a dream. In a dream things almost never add up or make sense. Hey, if someone just told me that a total stranger gave me his entire fortune I'd be convinced that I'm dreaming too. No way! Things like this just don't happen in the real world. Not even in the world of MPI, unless it's the surreal world of MPI.

One thing that I don't quite get is the love for the ballroom scene. It seems to be everyone's favorite scene - especially Magnum in the suit of armor. Personally I could take it or leave it. They seemed to really be going for the yuk-yuks in that scene. Magnum trying to smash through the door in the armor wasn't all that funny the first time. Even less so the second and third time. Next please... It's like they were trying too hard with the humor there. I like my humor to be more subtle - usually involving a look that Magnum or Higgins give one another. But that's a minor quibble. Everything else was excellent - the reading of the will with MacLeish seemingly from his grave conversing with his family members and later with Magnum via the TV, the emasculating of a rodent/saxophone scene, the big spooky house at night, and every scene with Carlton (Roscoe Lee Browne was fantastic!). I really love when Carlton introduces himself to Higgins as Magnum's "manservant". That whole scene is a riot!!

Thinking between this episode and "Heal Thyself" I'm tempted to give a slight edge to the latter (probably because I prefer the more serious 'Nam-themed episodes and because it feels more like a typical MPI episode) but I rated both equally (9.0) and enjoyed both for different reasons. Season 3 is excellent ("Mixed Doubles" and "Two Birds of a Feather" notwithstanding).

Well, I just rewatched this episode for the first time since my initial viewing back in 2015 (hence my review above) and honestly I didn't enjoy it as much this time around. I found it kind of middling (certainly not bad, but not great either) so I came here to see what I rated it initially and was really surprised at my extremely favorable initial review as well as the 9.0 (excellent) score that I gave it! I definitely don't think that I can now call it among the best of season 3. I still like the idea of Magnum inheriting millions and the reading of the will and some of the mystery elements (there actually isn't enough of that here) and the sax scene is still great! As is Roscoe Lee Browne as Carlton! But overall I just don't feel it's a top-tier episode (even for a "comedy" MPI episode) so I'm not sure why I gave it a 9.0 score. Guess I liked it more the first time. At least I'm glad to see that even on my initial viewing of it I didn't care for the ballroom scene and the awfully forced attempt at humor with that dang clanging suit of armor. Ok, let's just agree that continually running into a closed door with a suit of armor on will not make it any funnier. Nor laying on the ground in said suit while wiggling your arms and legs like a dying cockroach. It's just too juvenile even for a "kid at heart" like TM. I think they took the "comedy" there a tad too far, especially since it wasn't funny to begin with. And does anyone really find dress-up balls comical or creative? Or Rick dressed as a woman?? Is that supposed to get cheap yucks out of me?? Sorry, lads. No dice.

[bjs]

As enjoyable as I find this episode, there is just no way that the airplane explosion would have fooled anybody. Planes don't blow up in the sky, and the NTSB would certainly have investigated it thoroughly. The fact that there was no trace of the body would prevent a declaration of death. McLeish would have had to blow up the plane with a bomb, which the NTSB and FBI would find immediately. There also may have been a witness to his parachuting out of the plane first. BTW, where was the parachute, or if there wasn't one, how did McLeish get out of the plane, a Star Trek transporter?

Also, this episode really adds up to nothing. There was no conspirator. Nothing was at stake. At the end Magnum say to McLeish "the point is, you are a worthless human being." Yeah, but who cares?

[K Hale]

As enjoyable as I find this episode, there is just no way that the airplane explosion would have fooled anybody. Planes don't blow up in the sky, and the NTSB would certainly have investigated it thoroughly. The fact that there was no trace of the body would prevent a declaration of death. McLeish would have had to blow up the plane with a bomb, which the NTSB and FBI would find immediately. There also may have been a witness to his parachuting out of the plane first. BTW, where was the parachute, or if there wasn't one, how did McLeish get out of the plane, a Star Trek transporter?

Also, this episode really adds up to nothing. There was no conspirator. Nothing was at stake. At the end Magnum say to McLeish "the point is, you are a worthless human being." Yeah, but who cares?

This just about sums it up.

[Italian Ice]

As I said before, Donnelly Rhodes was in a long time running serious here in Vancouver, where he plays a bad ass marine biologist.

The first link is the bad ass theme song, the second link is the first episode on youtube if you wanted to check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URQ2g4T8Jd8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLBSKxzt1wo

[charybdis1966]

Oh dear, I'm going to come across as frightfully curmudgeonly now because I didn't like this one at all.

On my first view of this in the 1980's I think I stopped watching half way through as it was so not what appealed to me in the programme and I lost interest, it felt like the writers were just taking the piss to me so I switched off.

So in this case teenage me agrees with fifty-something me as I still think this was one to avoid.
For me I like MPI's mix of drama and comedy, ideally in an 75:25 mix, in this episode it veers to 15:85 which made it rather cringe-worthy and "dumb" to watch - but only IMHO.
Granted there are a few moments of good comedy, mainly down to the skill of the actors, and not the "writing" however those moments don't include the masquerade ball scene. These would be the scenes stolen by Roscoe Lee Brown (I believe he voiced Darth Vader in the radio adaptation of Star Wars?) predominantly with Higgins.

Sorry, I've never seen the value/entertainment in drag acts so I just felt embarrassed for Rick and was left deeply unimpressed.

However for all you guys who love this episode, and the party scene in particular, good on you !

It just shows how this great show can appeal to so many different tastes for so much/nearly all of the time.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Sorry, I've never seen the value/entertainment in drag acts so I just felt embarrassed for Rick and was left deeply unimpressed.

However for all you guys who love this episode, and the party scene in particular, good on you !

Agreed 100%! Dress-up balls don't amuse me in the least and TM running into the door over and over with his suit of armor is more embarrassing than entertaining. This guy is a Navy Seal, right? Why is he doing some kind of Three Stooges act? I like comedy in MPI but it should never cross the line into Mel Brooks territory. This was just ridiculous! The ball scene is my least favorite part of this episode.

[Majordomo]

Did they ever determine who was trying to kill McLeish? I feel like when the big wow moment of McLeish being alive happened, they just left that as a loose end...idk, maybe I just missed it...

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Did they ever determine who was trying to kill McLeish? I feel like when the big wow moment of McLeish being alive happened, they just left that as a loose end...idk, maybe I just missed it...

He faked his own death so no one was trying to kill him. At least as far as we know.

[Wilson_MacLeish]

I love this episode. So much so, in fact, that it is my all-time favorite single episode of the entire series.

[jfkennedy54]

I loved the one off comedy aspect of this episode. Magnum has always been a character driven series, and the main cast interactions in this one were fun and on brand. Yes, this episode didn't really have any bearing on the series overall like some of the more dramatic episodes, but it is still one of my favorites. I mean, who hasn't dreamed of a huge surprise inheritance?!!