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Reviews
Magnum, P.I.: The Love That Lies (1987)
A very strange Magnum episode.
There's no car chase. No gun play. A short foot chase through a street market scene (later referenced, strangely as a "Mall fight") which seems awfully contrived - but that's about it for action here. A Magnum episode does not need action to be good - just look at "Solo Flight", for example (S07E15).. But this one falls rather flat.
This is about Carol, and a dirty family secret about her past. All is kinda resolved at the end of the episode, but even though I'm an avid Magnum fan this has to be one of the weakest, most directionless episodes in the series: the scriptwriters really phoned it in on this one. There was an awful lot of meat left on the potential bone with this episode. I enjoy the odd genteel, quiet Magnum, but this one was wont of substance.
Watch it, enjoy it - as I did. Just don't expect much.
Magnum, P.I.: The Aunt Who Came to Dinner (1987)
Blindsighted - a savage, yet sensitive twist.
This episode starts out as your typical Magnum. The administrivial mess of his own, chaotic making (with the requisite donnybrook in the queue at some nameless government office), The traditional repartee between Thomas and Higgins, the unexpected guest at Robin's Nest - fearful of her own safety - and the chaos of her unannounced celebrity arrival. All warm, comfortable Magnum fodder. There's even a car chase of sorts.
But two-thirds of the way through the story takes hard left into the tragedy of age-onset dementia.
The way that Magnum, Higgins and his Aunt realise, accommodate manage and, eventually embrace this is what makes this episode, amongst almost all others so special. There was quite a lump in one's throat, come time for the roll of the credits.
Quality Magnum.
Magnum, P.I.: Death of the Flowers (1986)
Possibly the best episode to date.
This one's an Icepick episode, and it's a doozey. If it's at all possible for Icepick, a subtly complex, tender one: the former Mafia don is forced to bare his human weakness, and sacrifices himself as a result. The hitherto hidden history between Rick and Icepick is explained. Corbin Bernsen's acting as Icepick is understated, yet masterful. Again.
Carol notices bizzarre, almost corrupt behaviour with a judge who mentored her through her legal career, and as is her wont enlists Magnum to get to the bottom of it all.
It doesn't take long for Magnum to get to the seat of the problem, and it involves a florist (of all things, and hence the title) and a failed love of Icepick. Rick's "surprise" birthday party for Icepick adds a bitter poignancy to the tale, and the ending is as startling as it is sad. Is this the end of Icepick? I don't know.
A quiet, gripping episode.