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Paradise Blues

Episode Screen Caps Episode Number: 78
Season Number: 4.15
Air Date: 2/9/1984
Writer: Chris Abbott
Story: Chris Abbott, Chas. Floyd Johnson
Director: Bernard L. Kowalski
Producer: Reuben Leder
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Recurring Characters
James Grant Benton (Kika), Patrick Bishop (Keoki)
Guest Stars
Leslie Uggams (Alexis Carter), Chuck Mangione (Jimmy Norlan), Nick Dimitri (Archie), Rick Marlow (Dave Mitchell), Tony King (Man), Buddy Van Horn (Jack), Ed Kaahea (Frank)
Episode Brief
Love is truly blind when T.C. drags Magnum to a meeting with a gorgeous jazz singer, Alexis Carter, whom T.C. fell in love with years ago in Vietnam. Magnum warns that trouble follows Alexis wherever she goes, and sure enough, she reveals she's on the run from dangerous Detroit drug dealers.
Rating
7.2(42 votes)Rate Episode
Notes
1 This is the fourth "T.C.-centric" episode of the series, following "Thicker than Blood" (1.12), "Past Tense" (3.5) and "A Sense of Debt" (4.8).

2 The Region 1 DVD version of this episode does not feature an opening trailer and all of the commercial breaks are abridged (i.e. no gap between the acts).

3 Legendary flugelhorn player and composer Chuck Mangione guest stars as jazz trumpeter Jimmy Norlan. He performs "Here's That Rainy Day" on stage with Leslie Uggams (on vocals) and has a scene with Tom Selleck. This was his first credited acting role and one of the few he's done in his career.

4 Local Oahu-based comedian James Grant Benton makes his second appearance on the show and his first as Kika the pedicab driver. James was one of the founding members of the famous Hawaiian comedy troupe Booga Booga with Rap Reiplinger and Edward Kaahea (who also appears in this episode as "Frank") that popularized ethnic Hawaiian humor and Pidgin. In 1974, he wrote, starred in and co-directed Twelf Nite O Wateva, a Pidgin version of Shakespeare's play. For this work, he made it into the Library of Congress as being the first person to translate Shakespeare into a creole language. James will appear as Kika in two more episodes, "Round and Around" (6.6) and "The Treasure of Kalaniopu'u" (6.9).

5 List of notable filming locations: 6 We learn for the first time that T.C. was married at some point in his life. T.C.'s house is seen for only the second time in the show, following "Did You See the Sunrise?" (3.1 & 3.2). The house will be seen again in "Missing Melody" (7.11).

7 Leslie Uggams (Alexis Carter) appeared with Tom Selleck in an episode of Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969-1976) back in 1974.

8 T.C.'s military luggage chest displays his rank as "1st Lt.". Previous episodes have shown his rank as "Captain" and "Warrant Officer". T.C. was married while he was in Vietnam, something that will later be confirmed in "Missing Melody" (7.11), when we meet his former wife. No one ever mentions if this romance with Alexis Carter led to the demise of his marriage. T.C.'s house is also seen again for only the second time.

9 Higgins and Alexis Carter are big fans of celebrated African-American blues singer/songwriter Alberta Hunter. Higgins owns a vinyl copy of her seminal recording The Legendary Alberta Hunter: '34 London Sessions (which is briefly seen in the episode). He also once saw her perform live at the Dorchester Hotel in London. The classic Alberta Hunter songs "Miss Otis Regrets", "Two Cigarettes In The Dark", "Downhearted Blues", and "Bring Back The Joys" are mentioned by Alexis.

10 The song that Alexis sings in the Vietnam flashback is "Nowhere to Run", a song made famous by Martha & the Vandellas. The song foreshadows events to come for her character. The song that she sings at the nightclub (with Chuck Mangione on flugelhorn) is "Here's That Rainy Day" by James Van Heusen. The song has been recorded by many artists, most notably Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. Leslie Uggams does her own singing for both songs.

11 The audio recording that T.C. makes for his Island Hoppers "Honeymoon Sunrise Tour" consists of several lines of James Weldon Johnson's 1917 poem "The Glory of the Day Was in Her Face". The author and the poem receive credit at the end of the end credits.

12 The shocking, dramatic scene at the end with the sedan going off a cliff (with Alexis in it), and crashing in flames, will be used again as stock footage in Season Seven's "Limbo" (7.22). The car actually erupts in smoke (with a very audible "click" sound) before hitting the rocks below.
Quotes
1
Magnum: Ms. Wagner, my 11th grade English teacher, created a scandal in my hometown when she put All the King's Men on our mandatory reading list. She said she wanted us to understand the fatal attraction some men have for the very thing that will destroy them. Her love for the book got her fired and I never quite understood the attraction she was talking about, until the first day I saw Alex Carter and the way T.C. was looking at her. (Narration)

2
Rick: Hey, if you want, I should call Icepick and he'll have him a two-inch neck!

3
Alexis: (to Higgins) In our neighborhood when I was growing up, there was this record store right on the way home from school. I'd stop in there every afternoon, pretending I was going to buy something, and I'd take Alberta Hunter albums into their listening room. I memorized every album, every song. I really thought I was puttin' one over on them. Can you see this skinny little ten-year old, "I can't decide between "Downhearted Blues" and "Bring Back the Joys". I'll just have to come back." Trottin' out of that store like I had two pennies to rub together. When we had our first gold album, I went back there to see if they carried it, but the store wasn't there. They turned it into a parking lot.

4
(Jimmy Norlan walks in and starts playing his flugelhorn)
Jimmy Norlan: Charts. Those are the charts I left for Alex...
(more flugelhorn playing)
...You know you're snooping around her dressing room.
(more flugelhorn playing)
Magnum: Look... ah, Mr. Norlan, I...
(more flugelhorn playing)
Jimmy Norlan: I don't know what the two of you were fighting about yesterday. It's really none of my business, but I think that lady has had more than her share of trouble. As long as I'm around, I'm going to make sure nobody bothers her.
(more flugelhorn playing)
Flubs
1 At the beginning of the episode, when the bad guy is chasing Alexis across the road, a car grinds to a halt so not to hit him. The car is only travelling slowly, and the long skidding sound does not match the speed that the car was travelling at. (Noted by Jay-Firestorm)

2 When trumpeter Jimmy Norlan (Chuck Mangione) is playing in the changing room, a cameraman is clearly visible in the reflection in the trumpet. (Noted by Timmer33)



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