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The People vs. Orville Wright

Episode Screen Caps Episode Number: 148
Season Number: 7.21
Air Date: 4/1/1987
Writer: Bruce Cervi
Director: Burt Brinkerhoff
Producer: Rick Weaver
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Recurring Characters
Kathleen Lloyd (Carol Baldwin), Elisha Cook Jr. (Icepick), Kwan Hi Lim (Lt. Tanaka), Carmella Barut (Carmella), Esmond Chung (Sgt. Kenny Chung)
Guest Stars
Lyman Ward (Frank Foley), John Lansing (Det. Reggert), John Zarchen (Rick's Attorney), Maria O'Brien (Manager Applicant #2), Leo Gordon (Mobster), Kirk Matthews (Mr. Finch), George Fisher (Henchman - uncredited)
Episode Brief
Rick insists that Magnum search for Icepick when he suddenly vanishes, seemingly pulling a disappearing act to avoid some information that could land him in very hot water. But when Rick is arrested for allegedly killing a hitman that was contracted to murder Icepick, Thomas finds himself in the midst of an even more tangled investigation, especially when Rick doesn't deny any of the charges and gives a full confession.
Rating
8.0(30 votes)Rate Episode
Notes
1 This is the seventh and final "Rick-centric" episode of the series, following "The Curse of the King Kamehameha Club" (1.11), "The Woman on the Beach" (2.3), "Smaller Than Life" (4.3), "Distant Relative" (4.4), "The Love-For-Sale Boat" (5.17), "A Little Bit of Luck... A Little Bit of Grief" (6.20). Icepick (Elisha Cook Jr.) also receives a considerable amount of screen time.

2 As with the previous episode, Kwan Hi Lim (Tanaka) is billed with the opening guest stars; more typically, he is billed with the additional guest performers on the closing credits. (Noted by Jay-Firestorm)

3 Rick mentions his younger sister Wendy again. She was murdered in "Distant Relative" (4.4). He also mentions New York Mets pitcher Sid Fernandez (who was born and raised in Oahu - Kaiser High School).

4 Legendary tough guy actor and screenplay writer Leo Gordon has a small role as a mobster friend of Icepick. An ex-con, Leo specialized in playing brutish bad guys in a career that spanned more than forty years in film and television (Maverick, The Andy Griffith Show, McLintock!, The Rockford Files).

5 Kirk Matthews (Mr. Finch) is a longtime Oahu newscaster (KHON-TV). He had brief parts in three Magnum P.I. episodes ("Forty", "Way of the Stalking Horse"). (Noted by Tim)

6 Lyman Ward (Frank Foley) played Ferris Bueller's father in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which was released the year before this episode aired (1986).

7 List of notable filming locations: 8 Magnum mentions a cousin named "Rainy". He had a pet bird who was named after the Canadian actor Walter Pidgeon. One summer, Walter had a chance to fly to freedom, but he couldn't find his way around a non-enclosed glass partition [see quote #4 below].

9 T.C.'s chopper is seen with a new registration number (N4943T).

10 Magnum says Rick spent three Tours of Duty in Vietnam, the same as him.

11 This episode has an unusual, unexpected, twist cliffhanger ending. After the murder charges against Rick are dropped, he is arrested on illegal weapons charges and sent to prison! Roll end credits.

* This is only the second time Icepick's house is seen. The one seen in "Death of the Flowers" (7.12) is a different house.
** Also known as the Kekuanaoa Building, it was built in 1926 and went on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. This establishing shot has been used in several other episodes, sometimes with different names (i.e. "Circuit Court" and "KEKUANAOA"). The address is always the same, "465" (which is different than the current address of "425" today).
*** Seven years into the show's run and we finally get to see what the outside of Rick's house looks like! It appears to be a ground-floor unit in a condo complex of some sort.
Quotes
1
Magnum: Hi, Higgins.
Higgins: (looks at Magnum) I see you have been beaten up again.

2
Magnum: And don't tell me you were momentarily confused! Just explain to me how you kept your head in three tours of Vietnam, got us threw "Bien Loc", and then got somehow momentarily confused into confessing murder!? Or don't you think the prosecution is smart enough to bring any of that up!?

3
Rick: Hey Thomas, you read about Sid Fernandez?
Magnum: No.
Rick: He did even better in spring training than he did in the series. Everybody's watchin'. You know, it makes you feel proud, eh, local boy makes good. The guys here look up to him, that's important.

4
Magnum: A cogent note about Walter Pidgeon, not the actor, my cousin Rainy's pet bird. One summer, Walter got out of the house, onto the deck. He would have flown away except there was a glass partition he couldn't get through. He kept trying and trying, but he kept hitting up against the glass. Now, two feet to the left, and two feet to the right, the partition ended, but he couldn't see the obvious, that there was a glass wall in front of him. The difference between me and Walter Pidgeon was I had finally seen the wall that Frank Foley had thrown up in front of me and I was taking two steps to the left to get around it ... (short time later) ... One last thought about Walter Pidgeon and the "glass wall". I'd always wondered what would have happened if "Old Walter" had gone around the partition and found his freedom. What would he have done with it? Maybe it was better that he never knew what was beyond the wall? (Narration)
Flubs
1 When Magnum and T.C. are speaking to Rick in the visitors room, Rick mentions that the food in the jail is better than what they had in Doc Wei (P.O.W. camp in Vietnam). Rick was never in Doc Wei, only T.C. and Magnum were (seen in flashbacks in Season Three's "Did You See the Sunrise?"). Rick joined the team shortly afterwards, and replaced "Cookie" who died in Doc Wei. (Noted by wilko)


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