The Love-For-Sale Boat (5.17)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fifth season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
1
1%
9.5 (One of the Best)
2
2%
9.0 (Excellent)
10
11%
8.5 (Very Good)
13
15%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
19
22%
7.5 (Decent)
20
23%
7.0 (Average at Best)
11
13%
6.5 (Not So Good)
4
5%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
3
3%
5.0 (Just Awful)
4
5%
 
Total votes: 87

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ENSHealy
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Re: The Love-For-Sale Boat (5.17)

#61 Post by ENSHealy »

EPISODE: 5.17 The Love-For-Sale Boat

Famous guest stars:
Hawaiian shirts:
Tigers Cap:
Image
Island Hopper shirts: 1
Shirtless Magnum:
OMG: 1
Higgins Organizations:
Higgins musings:
Negotiations:
Body Count:
Bullet wounds:
Little Voice:
I know what you’re thinking:
When I write HTBAWCPI:
Investigator corrections:
4th wall breaks: 1
Magnumometer: 3
Magnumometer Moments: https://vimeo.com/567936325

The thought that ran through my mind when I started up this episode was, “Ah, the good old days, when human trafficking was still funny.”

I’m tired of fake-Mac’s shtick. Probably the biggest mistake of the series was killing off the real Mack, and then doubling down by creating this terrible character just to bring Jeff MacKay back. I mean, MacKay was good, but not that good.

Those girls on the boat would have been seriously cut up – they break bottles over the skinny enforcer’s head and then walk on and roll around in the broken glass shards. I know, I know…suspension of disbelief. But sometimes it’s hard.

I have to quibble with the second flub listed in the episode guide. Everyone, even the geisha girls, has changed clothes in that scene, and the light is noticeably different (although that may be coincidence, as they don’t always seem to worry about whether the light during filming matches when the scene is supposed to be taking place). I think the raffle ticket scene was occurring in the morning and the scene where fake-Mac cons Rick occurs in the late afternoon or evening (they are sipping cocktails, after all, it must be after 5) and Rick has obviously been home and changed clothes.
Ensign Healy
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The Institute for Advanced Magnum Studies

"I woke up one day at 53 and realized I'd never been 23."

Treadwell
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Re: The Love-For-Sale Boat (5.17)

#62 Post by Treadwell »

None of the main characters were accepting human trafficking nor taking it lightly. They were all quite clear in their disapproval, and Higgins was "deprogramming" them after all.

Spagnum
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Re: Re:

#63 Post by Spagnum »

K Hale wrote: Tue Mar 13, 2018 3:47 pm
Magnums Little Voice wrote:Not a bad one, but The Mac Character so so so gets on my nerves!!!
I mean Thomas, Rik and TC are all clever guys yet they keep getting had by MAC, I mean this is getting silly now!!!

Still some good bits in this episode, Love when Higgins talks Japanese!! Does anyone know what he said??? :?
I want to know this too. It bugs me the way they never give subtitles/translations when people aren't speaking English.
As my first post here, I'll take this one!

An English translation of what Higgins says would be: Sakiko, please forgive me. Think of yourselves as our guests here; furthermore, enjoy your time as my students. (Since he's going to school them in personal freedom.)

In Japanese, it would look like: サキ子さん、お許しください。あなたたちをここのお客様になって、そして、学生として大変楽しんでいただきます。

And in Romanized Japanese, would be: Sakiko-san, oyurushi kudasai. Anatatachi wo koko no okyakusama ni natte, soshite, gakusei to shite taihen tanoshinde itadakimasu.

As for the correctness (since they obviously had some sort of consultant write this for them), it's basically correct, but Japanese has different levels of speech depending on who is speaking and who is being spoken to, and a few of the words use the casual form when the polite form would be more appropriate. As for John Hillerman's pronunciation and delivery, it's very, very good! Probably one of, if not, the best examples of an actor speaking Japanese I've ever seen. Definitely the longest passage I've ever seen one recite. One or two of his pauses between words is a little unnatural, but otherwise great! I wonder how much coaching he needed, or whether he had had any prior experience with Japanese.

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Re: The Love-For-Sale Boat (5.17)

#64 Post by Spagnum »

PickledEggPlease wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2017 4:51 pm Interesting that the sisters are named Tamiko, Umeko and Shakiko in the credits, but Rick clearly introduces Umeko as "Shazuay" (sp?). Well, interesting to me as I write the DV - I had to go back and change all my descriptions - "Umeko hits him with a champagne bottle" etc. :)
Yes, he introduced Umeko as "Shizue" (she-zu-ay).

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Luther's nephew Dobie
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Re: Re:

#65 Post by Luther's nephew Dobie »

Spagnum wrote: Fri Oct 07, 2022 6:42 pm
K Hale wrote: Tue Mar 13, 2018 3:47 pm
Magnums Little Voice wrote:Not a bad one, but The Mac Character so so so gets on my nerves!!!
I mean Thomas, Rik and TC are all clever guys yet they keep getting had by MAC, I mean this is getting silly now!!!

Still some good bits in this episode, Love when Higgins talks Japanese!! Does anyone know what he said??? :?
I want to know this too. It bugs me the way they never give subtitles/translations when people aren't speaking English.
As my first post here, I'll take this one!

An English translation of what Higgins says would be: Sakiko, please forgive me. Think of yourselves as our guests here; furthermore, enjoy your time as my students. (Since he's going to school them in personal freedom.)

In Japanese, it would look like: サキ子さん、お許しください。あなたたちをここのお客様になって、そして、学生として大変楽しんでいただきます。

And in Romanized Japanese, would be: Sakiko-san, oyurushi kudasai. Anatatachi wo koko no okyakusama ni natte, soshite, gakusei to shite taihen tanoshinde itadakimasu.

As for the correctness (since they obviously had some sort of consultant write this for them), it's basically correct, but Japanese has different levels of speech depending on who is speaking and who is being spoken to, and a few of the words use the casual form when the polite form would be more appropriate. As for John Hillerman's pronunciation and delivery, it's very, very good! Probably one of, if not, the best examples of an actor speaking Japanese I've ever seen. Definitely the longest passage I've ever seen one recite. One or two of his pauses between words is a little unnatural, but otherwise great! I wonder how much coaching he needed, or whether he had had any prior experience with Japanese.
Interesting stuff, Spagnum.
I have a question for you, have you ever noticed that a character speaking Japanese on a TV series or a movie
is actually sneaking in some off color remarks, or saying something that has nothing to do with the scene?
For instance when I was a kid my buddy's Yiddish speaking father would relate how Louie in the Bowery Boys movies would slip in some very blue Yiddish slang words.
And there are Westerns where local Indians on location shoots were hired to speak in their native tongue to the cowboy hero and are actually commenting on
the stock market or telling the hero to get stuffed.

Welcome to Magnum Mania Spagnum.
If I may ask, what does "spagnum" mean, isn't that some kind of moss?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Jack Irish" (much heralded Australian murder/mystery series on ACORN network) -

Old school copper Barry Tregear(Shane Jacobson), relates to his mate Jack Irish the horrors of being clinically dead for 3 minutes:
"I've seen the other side, Jack.
Shit house. The beer's light.
Got no sport.
Got to wear white. Everyone's happy.
It's a ...it's a bloody nightmare."

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Re: The Love-For-Sale Boat (5.17)

#66 Post by Spagnum »

Thanks for the welcome, Dobie.

Nah, never noticed any shenanigans with Japanese words/phrases on shows.

The name "Spagnum" is what one of my college roommates and I, just to be stupid I guess, started calling the show. We'd often watch the re-runs in the afternoons. So for example, it would be, "Hurry up! We gotta get back by 4:00 for Spagnum!" This was in the fall of '86/spring of '87, so the first-run episodes were still being produced then, and even though we'd watch the daytime re-runs, I don't have any memories of watching the new episodes in prime time. This could possibly be explained by beer/partying now that I think about it...

As for the moss, I think you're thinking of sphagnum.

CanadianP1
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Re: The Love-For-Sale Boat (5.17)

#67 Post by CanadianP1 »

I don't recall ever having seen this episode before but I just couldn't get past the slavery aspect. I know Higgins was deprogramming them, but both Mac and Rick seemed a little too causal about the whole thing and it was played a bit for laughs. I'm watching these in order so perhaps seeing this on the heels of the 'freedom for all' episodes All for One made it even more jarring.

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Re: The Love-For-Sale Boat (5.17)

#68 Post by Wilson_MacLeish »

I rated the episode as "decent". I used to roll my eyes and skip it, but it's grown on me in the sense that I appreciate the balance it strikes between silliness, and flat-out insufferable stupidity. I think this one is self aware enough to be enjoyable whereas episodes like Legend Of The Lost Art, or Kiss Of The Sabre cross over into the insufferable stupidity category for me.

I feel that anyone taking the "slavery" aspect seriously should ask themselves why. Also, the woman in the photo that Rick has is definitely not Nancy DeCarl Manetti.

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