Faith and Begorrah

Episode Number: 63
Season Number: 3.23
Air Date: 4/28/1983
Writer: Donald P. Bellisario
Director: Virgil W. Vogel
Producer: Chas. Floyd Johnson
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Recurring Characters

Richard Johnson (Brig. Allistair Ffolkes), Gillian Dobb (Agatha Chumley)

Guest Stars

Teri Ann Linn (Angie), Donald P. Bellisario (Desk Clerk), Lee Canalito (Clarence), Rebecca Kimble (Tour Guide)

Episode Brief

Magnum needs some luck o' the Irish when he's hired to determine if a man's wife is cheating, and during the investigation meets Higgins's half-brother, Fr. Paddy McGuiness, a priest from Northern Ireland who believes that an English relic was stolen during a search for I.R.A. weapons.

Rating

8.8

(57 votes)

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Notes

¹ This is the fifth "Higgins-centric" episode of the series, following "Tropical Madness" (2.7), "The Elmo Ziller Story" (2.21), "Black on White" (3.6) and "Foiled Again" (3.8).

² John Hillerman plays Fr. Paddy McGuiness, one of Higgins's illegitimate half-brothers. He previously played another half-brother, Texas cowboy Elmo Ziller, in "The Elmo Ziller Story" (2.21) and will later play another half-brother, Don Luis Mangueo, in "Who is Don Luis Higgins?" (6.19).

³ "Faith and Begorrah" is an Irish phrase meaning "By God" or "By Gosh". The term "Begorrah" originated from people being reluctant to say "By God.."; they would say "By Gor", pronouncing it "Be Gor", which in time became "Begorrah".

⁴ Magnum P.I. co-creator and executive producer Donald P. Bellisario has a small role as the desk clerk of the Low Surf Hotel. If you look closely, you'll notice he is drinking a Coop's beer!

⁵ This episode features an unusual and unexpected denouement. After the main events conclude and Paddy and Ffolkes say their goodbyes, the story shifts to Rick and T.C. who are helping Magnum out with the "Legs" case. While taking pictures of "Legs" and her secret boyfriend, Rick, to his horror, watches as "Legs" is tossed to her death from the top of a lighthouse! Roll end-credits. Wow!

⁶ Brig. Allistair Ffolkes (Richard Johnson) makes his second appearance on the show. He was previously seen in Season One's "No Need to Know" (1.5).

⁷ List of notable filming locations:

• Aqua Ocean Tower Hotel* (Paoakalani Ave), in Waikiki - "Low Surf Hotel" (ID'd by rubber chicken & Sam)
• Kualoa Ranch, Kaaawa Valley - "The Crozier of St Patrick" (Fr. Paddy's church) (ID'd by rubber chicken)
• Honolulu International Airport - "trailing Legs" & "goodbye Paddy!"
• Makapuu Lighthouse, Makapuu Point - "lighthouse toss"

⁸ Rick only appears in one scene, at the very end of the story (although he is mentioned earlier).

⁹ Stock aerial footage of the N58243 chopper is used in this episode. N58243 was the chopper that crashed (destroyed) into the ocean (killing cameraman Robert Van Der Kar) during the filming of Season One's "Skin Deep" (1.6).

¹⁰ As Paddy leaves at the end of this episode, he mentions wanting to have a family reunion with Higgins, Elmo and a sibling named Soo-Ling. Soo-Ling was sired in 1928. Albert Stanley Higgins was military attache to the embassy in Peking at the time, when he was asked to escort a contingent of Episcopal nuns to Hentiy (Mongolia) where they were to establish a mission. Along the way, they were ambushed by Mongolian bandits, lead by a beautiful raven-haired woman. She had never seen an Englishman before and found Albert fascinating, so fascinating that she was willing to let the nuns go in exchange for certain favors. She took Albert to a cliff overlooking the sea and...

¹¹ Higgins' family has been in the English peerage for almost 800 years. His great-aunt Matilda was lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria and claimed the family descended from Richard the Lionheart. His Father's great grandfather's aunt was the Duchess of Clyde, whose uncle on the mother's side was Earl of Throckmorton and nephew of Edward VI, son of Jane Seymour and Henry VIII.

¹² Magnum reveals that he doesn't believe in "Living in Sin".

¹³ The painting that covers the estate's safe in the study is Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the Queen Mother of the United Kingdom.

¹⁴ Dunguaire Castle, a 16th-century tower house in Galway, Ireland, is used as an establishing shot for Fr. Paddy's church. It is thought to be the most-photographed castle in Ireland. (ID'd by rubber chicken)

* The hotel has been renovated is now known as the Hotel Renew. During the "Low Surf Hotel" rooftop "beach bar" scene, the following Waikiki hotels can be seen in the background - Waikiki Banyan tower 2, Pacific Beach Hotel, Marriott Waikiki Beach Resort, and the Queen Kapiolani Hotel. (Noted by rubber chicken)

Quotes

¹
Magnum: Higgins, if Father Paddy is your half-brother, why isn't his name on here?
Higgins: Because he's.....illegitimate.
Magnum: You mean, like Elmo?
Higgins: No, not like Elmo! I mean, yes, like Elmo, but the circumstances were quite different, I can assure you.
Magnum: Well as I recall, it was during World War I. You're father was pulled from the trences. He was desperately ill with influenza. He was taken to a field hospital where Elmo's mother, a Red Cross nurse from Texas...
Higgins: Magnum...Some things are better left unsaid.
Magnum: Of course.
Higgins: It was just after the Great War. Father was a Major in the Prince of Wales Own Light Horse [The 10th Royal Hussars] when he was dispatched to Ireland to help quell the rebellion. Not the kind of officer to keep-to-table-and-heart, not even in a bitter Irish winter. Father was leading a patrol to deliver milk to an orphanage when he was ambushed by the IRA. Desperately wounded, he managed to hold off the rebels until his men could safely escape. Then he crawled into a bog and hid in a snowbank. Early the next morning, a young widower foraging for fuel found him. Those were hard times in Ireland and peat was scarce, especially to a woman with no husband. Father was near frozen to death! So, she did the only thing she could to get him warm.
Magnum: Of course.
Higgins: Being delerious, naturally father had no idea what she was doing to him. He told my mother later that only thing that kept him going through that terrible ordeal was thought of her.
Magnum: Of your mother?
Higgins: Yes! After he thawed out sufficiently, he found his way back to his regiment, and nine months later...
Magnum: Father Paddy was born!
Higgins: Well, he wasn't Father Paddy then!
Magnum: No, of course not. Look, I don't want to cast dispersions on your father, but considering how Elmo and Father Paddy were...uh, sired, did it ever occur to you that your father may be, well...
Higgins: No!
Magnum: I didn't think so.

Flubs

¹ When Magnum and T.C. go to the gym to meet Clarence (Magnum's boxer-client) to give him a report on his wife's infidelity, T.C. is standing next to Magnum without a hat on. There is no hat in sight, not in his hand, not in his back pocket, nowhere. The camera turns and focuses on the boxer and when they turn back to Magnum and T.C., T.C. has an Atlanta Falcons hat on. (Noted by IslandHopper)

² The plane that Father Paddy flies to Hawaii on changes decor in different shots. The side-on shot (which was also used in Season Two's "Double Jeopardy") is totally different from the plane coming in to land. (Noted by Jay-Firestorm)

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