Magnum Mania!

Limbo

Episode Number: 149
Season Number: 7.22
Air Date: 4/15/1987
Writers: Jay Huguely, Bruce Cervi, Chris Abbott
Story: Tom Selleck, Chas. Floyd Johnson
Director: Jackie Cooper
Producer: Tom Selleck
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Recurring Characters

Marta DuBois (Michelle Hue), Jeff MacKay (Lt. "Mac" MacReynolds), Lance LeGault (Col. Buck Greene), Jean Bruce Scott (Lt. Maggie Poole), Kathleen Lloyd (Carol Baldwin), Gillian Dobb (Agatha Chumley), Kwan Hi Lim (Lt. Tanaka), Glenn Cannon (Doc Ibold), Kristin Carreira (Lily Catherine Hue), Andrew Dupree (Buck Greene's Aide)

Guest Stars

John Beck (Edward T. Durant)

Episode Brief

When Magnum is trapped in a state between life and death, he struggles to save his ex-wife Michelle and break through to his friends before it's too late.

Rating

9.4

(46 votes)

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Notes

¹ This is the second episode to be produced by Tom Selleck, following "Death and Taxes" (7.6).

² "Limbo" was originally intended to be the series finale (with Magnum seemingly walking off to heaven). When they filmed this episode everyone on the crew thought it was the last one, including Tom Selleck. Not long before the air date in April of 1987, Tom agreed to do one final (short) season (Season Eight). After Season Eight was greenlighted, "Limbo" underwent some minor edits to reenforce the idea that Magnum is not really dead (Michelle's visit to the hospital). Still, some scenes couldn't be re-done or re-edited, namely the scene were everybody is at Robin's Nest dressed in black, and talking about Magnum in the past tense.

³ This episode has one of the most memorable (and shocking) opening scenes of the entire series. Opening In medias res, we find Magnum in the middle of a fierce one-on-three gunfight in a crate-filled warehouse. We don't why he is there, or who he is fighting.

⁴ The only major recurring character to not appear in this episode is Icepick; Tanaka, Agatha, Doc Ibold, Carol, Maggie Poole, Buck Greene, Lt. MacReynolds, Jim "Mac" Bonnick... they're all here. Most episodes only feature one or two major recurring characters.

⁵ "Looking For Space" by John Denver is featured several times in this episode and is used to great effect in the final scene as Magnum is "walking off to heaven".

⁶ Magnum is shot for the last time in the series. He was shot a total of ten times over the years. The episodes in which he was shot:

• "Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii (2)" (1.2)
• "Skin Deep" (1.6)
• "Memories Are Forever (2)" (2.6)
• "Forty Years From Sand Island" (3.18)
• "Luther Gillis: File #521" (4.2)
• "On Face Value" (4.19)
• "Fragments" (5.6)
• "Way of the Stalking Horse" (6.17)
• "Limbo" (7.22) - shot twice

⁷ This is one of the few episodes to not feature any narration from Magnum.

⁸ For the first time in the series, we get a direct look at the entire King Kamehameha Club "Beach Bar" set at Waialae Beach Park on the South Shore of Oahu.

⁹ The aerial shot of the bad guys' car going over the cliff and crashing is stock footage from "Paradise Blues" (4.15).

¹⁰ A couple of scenic filming locations were used for this episode. Round Top Drive, in the hills above Honolulu, is used for the scene where Michelle and Edward secretly meet. The location was previously used in "Tran Quoc Jones" (5.9). The scene where Magnum says goodbye to Michelle, towards the end, was filmed on a high hillside, between Makapuu Point and Sea Life Park. Waimanalo and Rabbit Island can be seen in the background.

¹¹ At some point during Higgins' military career, a soldier under his care, Private Channing, spent five days in a coma. Ten minutes after all hope was given up and a priest sent for, Channing opened his eyes and started asking for a pint of stout.

Quotes

¹
Lt. MacReynolds: Time has little to do with infinity and jelly doughnuts.

²
Higgins: I think you should consider that if you ... leave like this you'll never know the truth of who Robin Masters is. (opens memoirs) If you would ... indulge me in one more story. I think, perhaps, you will find this useful. "After five days, the medical unit had given up hope and a runner was sent for Father Kirkpatrick. The runner had only been gone a scant ten minutes when the most miraculous event occurred. Private Channing, whom for everyone had given up for dead, opened his eyes, looked around, and asked for a pint of stout".

³
(to Michelle)
Magnum: I love this place ... I don't know how you knew to come here, but maybe I know why ... I've always liked to be up here alone. (deep breath) You can breathe better here. Slow down a little bit. Try to get things into focus. Try to figure out what it is you need to do ... I love you Michelle. More than anyone I've ever known ... and I'm letting you go.
(cue up John Denver's "Looking For Space")

Flubs

¹ Andy Dupree is incorrectly credited as 'Lt. Green's Aide'. Buck's last name is 'Greene', not 'Green', and he is a Colonel, not a Lieutenant!

² In the scene where Maggie talks to Col. Greene in his office, Buck's Eagle Insignia is upside down! (Noted by Lewis Hill)

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