Autumn Warrior (7.13)

[J.J. Walters]

The guy playing the young Higgins in world war 2 at the beginning looks incredibly like Val Kilmer, anyone else agree on that?

Yep.

A little bit. Or even Cary Elwes! He kind of looks more like that redshirt crew member that was killed in that Star Trek episode (original series). "The Changeling" I think it was. In all seriousness though, that's stuntman Bernie Pock. He was in Die Hard! Major props for that!

[T.Q.]

One of my favourite endings.

[K Hale]

I want to know how that girl wound up wearing his safari jacket. Because you know he hangs up his clothes in the closet where they belong. Was she playing dress up with Rick in Higgins' room? Or what?!

[T.Q.]

I want to know how that girl wound up wearing his safari jacket. Because you know he hangs up his clothes in the closet where they belong. Was she playing dress up with Rick in Higgins' room? Or what?!

Some mysteries of the Universe will always remain mysteries.

[ENSHealy]

EPISODE: 7.13 Autumn Warrior

Famous guest stars: .5 for future Saved By The Bell fame for Mr. Belding

Hawaiian shirts: 1

Tigers Cap:
Island Hopper shirts: 1

Shirtless Magnum:
OMG: 2
Higgins Organizations:
Higgins musings: 3
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: 8.5
Magnumometer Moments: https://vimeo.com/682525554

The Episode Guide says that Thomas plays “Somewhere in the Night” on his sax…I don’t think that’s correct. It sure sounds like Strangers in the Night to me. TM playing Manilow? No. TM playing Sinatra? Yes.

The chopper that lands on the island has a different tail number: N4943T. Thought I’d spotted something new (I should know better by now) but the T.C.’s Chopper page mentions the tail number (but not its use in this particular episode).

Plot point quibbles:
1. Why would Mr. Belding put the rabbit gun together before they actually needed it. Seemed like a dumb move to me. Of course, the real dumb move was to even bring it, as they could easily have survived with no food for one weekend. Of course, it is needed to advance the plot I guess.
2. When Higgins is dragging Moki into the forest, why doesn’t Doug just grab the gun from Clint and go after them? Would have been pretty easy to catch up with Higgy having to drag a wounded teenager through the jungle.
3. Mr. Belding brought 5 boxes of shells? How many rabbits was he planning on shooting? (It had to be Mr. Belding that brought the shells, as they mention that the kids gear got searched but the “Counselor’s” does not.)
4. Someone else already mentioned the improbability of how quickly the kids stripped the chopper, but more importantly, how did they have the knowledge? They try to explain it away by saying Doug was in for stripping cars, and maybe there’s some comparison between disabling a car radio and a chopper radio, but how the hell does the kid know where the igniter is? And does it just pop off, with no tools? And it was Clint who stripped the chopper and Doug who was in for stripping cars, so they sent the wrong kid out to the chopper.

I feel the need to say once again that calling out all those quibbles didn’t really affect my enjoyment of the episode (although I didn’t think the young actors were very good) they’re just things that pop out at you and are hard to ignore. But as with most Magnum episodes, the rough spots are balanced out by the great moments, like the nymph in the safari jacket and the beard on the Queen. (Or is it the Queen Mother?) But one more tiny quibble…the scratches on Higgins face looked just a little too much like whiskers to me. Maybe it was a quiet tip of the cap by the makeup department to the role that introduced Jillie Mack to Tom Selleck...but I doubt it.

[charybdis1966]

I saw this one last night and from the ratings it appears I gave it a rather lowly score of 6.5; perhaps harsh in retrospect.

A couple of observations.

It would have been nice if the prisoners on an excursion were made a bit less cut and dry in their motivations, I mean they were not just out to break the law again although the one with the dad in the VA hospital was the most interesting of the three for that reason.

Higgins volunteering his time to help reform young offenders does show his charitable works are not all about high brow cultural events for the privileged in luxurious environs. It does show the quality of man - I love Higgy !

The title of the episode threw me initially as I thought as it's an American series surely they should call this "Fall Warrior" ? I put it down to it the episode saying that as an English character he was in the autumn of his fighting career.

[CanadianP1]

Higgins volunteering his time to help reform young offenders does show his charitable works are not all about high brow cultural events for the privileged in luxurious environs. It does show the quality of man - I love Higgy !

The title of the episode threw me initially as I thought as it's an American series surely they should call this "Fall Warrior" ? I put it down to it the episode saying that as an English character he was in the autumn of his fighting career.

I agree about Higgins. In many respects, despite his classism, he is among the most noble characters on the show. This is not the first time we have seen him involved in charitable work.

Yes indeed, I thought the same thing about Fall vs. Autumn and think you're right about the Britishness of it.

[charybdis1966]

I agree about Higgins. In many respects, despite his classism, he is among the most noble characters on the show. This is not the first time we have seen him involved in charitable work.

Yes indeed, I thought the same thing about Fall vs. Autumn and think you're right about the Britishness of it.

Absolutely; it's little details like that which make us all love this series after all these years.