Paper War (7.8)

[Mad Kudu Buck]

I didn't like this episode. It felt artificial - the writer forcing the Magnum/Higgins fight to get back to the character conflicts of earlier seasons. Magnum was acting out of character.

Another thing - in the elevator, Magnum says he never heard Higgins have a "big belly laugh". That's not true. He laughed hard when Magnum phoned and said he was in Honolulu Lulu's and was riding on a bus ("Beauty Knows No Pain") and also when the "China Doll" said Magnum was her protector. I'm sure there were other times.

[Duke of Perth]

While trapped in the elevator, Magnum tells Higgins that he has an uncle Otis who was an elevator repairman. When he was young, TM used to go along with him on service calls. Higgins suspects him of making up the story. TM later admits he did have an uncle who repaired elevators, but his name wasn't Otis.

I always thought this was a funny story because one of the major elevator manufacturers is called "Otis Elevator Company".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otis_Elevator_Company

[Turkey]

Re-watched this yesterday and I loved the 'frozen' expressions from both Magnum and Higgins as they each taunt one another during their little false 'back-downs' where each are both well-aware that it ain't over.

Still, I do wonder if it pushed the limits of the characters re: what I would believe each was willing to do to one another... I dunno, maybe it just shows (really well) how even guys with mutual respect can compromise their own boundaries when competitiveness kicks in.

[Amian]

The guys really crossed some lines, didn't they? And the drama about pointing guns at each other, as though one might shoot the other, was absurd. But overall, lots of stuff coming to a head, so the high drama kind of makes sense.

Obata really did the deep dive for information, didn't he? Shouldn't he have been too busy to spy like that? I need to bone up on my research on gambling kingpins.

[K Hale]

The guys really crossed some lines, didn't they? And the drama about pointing guns at each other, as though one might shoot the other, was absurd. But overall, lots of stuff coming to a head, so the high drama kind of makes sense.

I thought it was quite obvious they were not going to shoot one another, so the gun waving was a little too much. Other than that, yes, they dug deep in that one. This is what happens when people start fighting at 2AM and then can't let it go.

[brianw]

I didn't like that TM and Higgins were being so cruel. I like them bonding much better. Higgins COULD have been Robin Maters, but I have never thought that was the case. I didn't like the end, where they just walked out of the rubble, with no explanation as to how they escaped.

[LZeitgeist]

The good thing about this episode is that Magnum and Higigns get to tell each other the things we actually think about them. Let's face it: Higgins can be a pompous fantasist and Magnum can be so irritatingly immature some times you feel like punching him. Things are close to get too nasty, but just them you see they still care for each other.

As for the Higgins/Masters debate, I don't subscribe to the "whatever you want to believe" approach some people here adopt. There is conclusive proof that Masters is really Masters. To add to what has already been mentioned, in previous episodes we see Robin Masters travelling through Europe in a Rolls Royce with chauffeur and fly on his private jet complete with private security. Not only that but he is dictating a new novel on his dictaphone, so that proves he really is a writer. The most plausible reality is that Higgins, besides taking care of his business, does a fair share of ghost writing for him on the side, but he is not Robin Masters.

Just rewatched this episode and I agree completely.

[ENSHealy]

EPISODE: 7.8 Paper War

Famous guest stars:
Hawaiian shirts: 1

Tigers Cap:
Island Hopper shirts:
Shirtless Magnum: .5

OMG: 1
Higgins Organizations:
Higgins musings:
Negotiations:
Gun Play:
Bullet wounds:
Body Count (by Magnum):
Little Voice:
I know what you’re thinking: 1
When I write HTBAWCPI:
Investigator corrections:
4th wall breaks:
Magnumometer: 3.5
Magnumometer Moments: https://vimeo.com/664003782

Great episode, nothing more to be said about that. I once again handed out a rare 9.5.

Higgins and Magnum spend almost half the episode in the elevator. Thomas enters at 22:39 and they pull the elevator doors apart at 41:42.

[Treadwell]

Enjoyed it. I rated 8.5 but probably should've been a notch higher.

If TM had spare keys, why didn't he use them in the first place?

I used to watch a lot of demolition videos, and it isn't uncommon for the elevator shaft to remain intact as the rest of the building collapses around it. They are their own, sturdy, self-contained structure. Getting out of it through the rubble is another matter, of course. Also, they often don't collapse as much as they hoped, which seemed to be the case here.

As for it falling, they were barely above the second floor at that point, so it's feasible not getting hurt, especially since they were already sitting on the floor. (Well spotted, though, the person who commented about the counterweight system that would prevent that from happening.)

I'm sure any real demolition team is more thorough in ensuring a building is clear before making it go boom.

It would be interesting to read behind the scenes info about the use of the real demolition. The production would've known it was coming up, along with anyone else on the island, of course, enabling them to get permission to have several cameras running. But did they write a script starting with just that event and built a story around it? Or just found a way to incorporate it into a story already in development?

oh, and for the record, of course JH is not RM.

[CanadianP1]

A great episode and it really seems they had "upped" their game as they knew they were coming to the end of the series.

I recall at the time not being surprised that Magnum confronted Higgins about being Robin Masters: there were rumors/fan theories about it long before the writers of the show decided to play with the idea.