Magnum Mania!

The Big Blow

Episode ID: 62
Episode Number: 3.22
Air Date: 4/7/1983
Writer: Reuben Leder
Director: Alan J. Levi
Producer: Chas. Floyd Johnson
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Recurring Characters

Orson Welles (Robin Masters - voice only)

Guest Stars

Barry Van Dyke (Duke Davis), Sondra Currie (Princess Wanda Martine), John McCook (Prince Roland Martine), James Doohan (Archie MacPherson), Richard Cox (Randy), Kelly Ward (Lou Blassingame), Lori Lethin (Gail Blassingame), Linda Ryan (Candice Wingate)

Plot Outline

Robin Masters spring equinox party is threatened by bad weather, a young guest about to give birth, and two greedy ex-cons.

Rating

8.5 (15 votes) MM Episode Forum Thread & Poll

Notes

1 This episode echoes the classic 1948 film Key Largo (mentioned by name in the episode) and is unique for two reasons - 1) It takes place entirely inside the main house of the estate, and 2) There's no narration from Magnum at any point in the story.

2 Robin Masters makes a rare appearance in this episode, voiced by the legendary Orson Welles.

3 The estate's location on Oahu is mentioned for only the second time. During the storm, a radio newscast says that the "phones are out on the North Shore". In "Italian Ice" (2.16), Magnum stated that the estate is on "Kalakaua Drive, North Shore".

4 Higgins accidentally destroys the River Kwai Bridge model that we see him making in "Did You See the Sunrise?" (3.1 & 3.2). The bridge will be destroyed several more times in future episodes.

5 Several rarely seen rooms at Robin's Nest are seen in this episode: The kitchen, the dining room, and the wine cellar. (Noted by Mike Barnes)

6 Sondra Currie (Princess Wanda Martine) is the wife of episode director Alan J. Levi.

7 John McCook (Prince Roland Martine) will guest star in "The Case of the Red Faced Thespian" (4.12).

8 Duke Davis (Barry Van Dyke), the fictional Detroit Tigers slugger, had a monster year in the Majors. According to Magnum, he had the following stats: .326, 34 HR, 116 RBI, 105 R, 36 2B, 9 T, 47 SB, 6 E. He also won the Gold Glove Award. He plays 3B and hails from Donora, PA, Stan Musial's hometown.

9 The Hungarian acrobats are referenced again. They were previously mentioned in "Of Sound Mind" (3.13) and "Birdman of Budapest" (3.16).

10 Per Magnum, the gun that he pulls out of his ankle holster is a Walther PPK.

11 For six months in 1942, Higgins was in Turbia (fictional), a picturesque principality high in the Pyrenees, with monks who had a vow of silence. He drove one to cursing him.

12 In 1947, Higgins graduated from University of Cambridge as a Doctor of Mathematics.

13 In the spring of 1948, General Chiang Kai-Shek gave Higgins a Ming vase. At the time, Higgins was a military advisor attached the Indian 5th Infantry Division. The general who refused his advice is now a dishwasher in a mediocre Mandarin restaurant in Stockton, California.

14 In 1951, Higgins was deep sea fishing in the Florida Keys with Ernest Hemingway in his ketch when the shortwave warned them of an approaching hurricane. Jonathan later helped Ernest rewrite The Old Man and the Sea.

15 Higgins was in Persia (date unknown) where he was midwife to a young Kurdistani peasant girl who spoke no English. He had to render her unconscious.

Quotes

1
Higgins: My God Magnum, the look on your face is reminiscent of that of an adolescent who's just received his first kiss.

2
Magnum: Doc?
Higgins: Cambridge, 1947 - Doctor of Mathematics, actually.
Magnum: Higgins, what did you do with your life?! Is there anything you havn't done?! - Anywhere you havn't been? Cambridge...Mathematics!
Higgins: We don't have time now for your rhetorical irrelevances. Who is your prime suspect?
Magnum: I don't have one!
Higgins: Brilliant. Typically, you've failed to do your homework. How Robin could've entrusted you with this is beyond my comprehension.

Flubs

1 In the scene where Higgins is in the wine cellar using the shortwave radio to call for help, there is a glimpse of a crew member's arms behind the wine barrel. Just after the thug shoots the barrel containing "a quite immature Chateau Marsel 1977", you can see arms behind the barrel attempting to stabilize it as Higgins is looking toward the thug. (Noted by Wally)

2 The bad guy Randy shoots Higgins' shortwave radio with a double barreled shotgun (he probably only used one barrel since he had previously shot a barrel of wine with the other barrel). After the shot, the camera cuts to a close-up of the radio, smoking, with a big hole in it from the shotgun blast. Directly in front of the radio, and just a few inches from the hole created by the shotgun, is the radio-mike, and a candle in a glass candle holder (again, just inches from the smoking hole in the radio). The flub is that a shotgun blast, even using only one barrel, would have blown the radio, mike and candle/glass holder to bits! At the very least, the blast would have knocked them off the table, or caused them to be knocked askew. However, after the blast, the mike, candle and glass candle holder are in perfect condition and undisturbed! (Noted by IslandHopper)

3 Unbelievably, there is a third flub involving the shortwave radio! Higgins uses a California call sign prefix (W6) instead of the correct Hawaii prefix (KH6). (Noted by Fabrizio Valdirosa)

Wish to add something? Got a correction? Shoot me an email.

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