Honorable Mentions
David Norman (Skin Deep, Season 1, Episode 6) and Edwin Clutterbuck (Black on White, Season 3, Episode 6)
These two bad guys make the list because they are played by Ian McShane, one of my favorite actors. I do wish that Ian McShane might have found a better villain to play in the series. I would’ve loved to have seen him as a big guy from Higgins’ background, who Higgins, more than Thomas, has to contend with. But Ian is such an intense actor (Deadwood anyone?) that I give him an honorable mention.
Elizabeth Barrett (Birdman of Budapest, Season 3, Episdoe 16)
This episode might not work as well as some of the other episodes. And it is a little much when the killer Macaw attacks Thomas. But Elizabeth makes my honorable mention list because she is the English teacher most of us all have had, and most of us all have hated. A ruthless villain who is unafraid to ruin your manuscript with excessive red ink. A villain with a ruthless eye for spelling, grammar and syntax. This villain is one of those characters who strike fear into any aspiring, and established, writer - so she makes my list.
The Catman (The Hotel Dick, Season 6, Episode 5)
The Catman who is stealing from the Hawaiian Gardens Hotel makes my list because we never see Thomas catching him during this show. So, the Catman, I guess, gets away from Thomas, making him one awesome burglar. Nice job, Catman! Welcome to my list of best bad guys.
The Top 10
10 - Colonel Buck Greene (Various Episodes)
A strange pick perhaps here at ten, but sometime’s it’s hard to think that there’s anyone Thomas Magnum dislikes more than Colonel Buck. And I don’t blame him, Colonel Buck sure doesn’t hesitate to put the people Thomas cares about in harm’s way for the sake of what he considers to be national security. Buck kept it a secret that Lilly survived the car bombing for far too long. He also traded the man responsible for Michelle’s death over during a prisoner swap. Buck Greene might in the end by on Thomas’ side, but man, do the two of them dislike one another. And I always found it really strange that Rick would invite Colonel Buck Greene to his wedding in Resolutions.
9 - Driscoll (Way of the Stalking Horse, Season 6, Episode 17)
This young-gun hit man outfoxes Thomas at the start, and I’ve always loved how this episode just flies through its intense action following the opening. Love how this bad guy sweats and growls. Driscoll’s a big villain who carries a big gun. Just a mean, growling kind of a guy that I would hate to run into in a dark alley, or in a well-lit street for that matter, or heck, even run into during church.
8 - David Bannister (The Jororo Kill, Season 2, Episode 13)
Creepy. This villain also kinda reminds me of a bond villain. There’s something way, way off with this master of disguise. Maybe he’s unbalanced, but this is one clever assassin. He has everyone on eggshells throughout the episode. For much of this episode, everyone seems pretty powerless to stop this guy.
7 - Milton “The Ripper” Collins (Death and Taxes, Season 7, Episode 6)
Milton was probably my favorite psychopath from the show. One of those villains messed up in the head that kinda foreshadows, to me, Hannibal in “Silence of the Lambs.” I think you can add another layer of complexity to this villain if you let your imagination drift to consider how Milton may have come to possess one of the team rings. Another villain that gives Magnum such a great cat and mouse chase.
6 - Kay Lenz (Let the Punishment Fit the Crime, Season 4, Episode 17)
Kay makes the list here because, let me be honest, I would be very dead if I ever came into her sights. Why? Because I fell head over heels for this gorgeous killer at the very start of the episode. Silent. Reserved. Sweet. And then, your dead. I also like the gravity that surrounds her as there are very tense negotiations ongoing between Britain and China over Hong Kong in this one. Really gives something to be at stake. Again, I’m dead at the first smile Kay throws my way.
5 - Colonel Ivan (Did you See the Sunrise, Parts 1 & 2, Season 4, Episodes 1 & 2)
I wonder if this villain might win a poll for overall fan favorite of Magnum. And he’s a great one. A Soviet intelligence over, who is scrupulous and cruel. This guy seems to just love tormenting and hurting others. I doubt he cares a bit for whatever uniform he might wear. He wants to destroy the mind and spirit as well as the body, and this guy is on the other end of Thomas’ gun in maybe the most powerful scene from the series. However, this guy doesn’t go beyond five because, honestly, I’m just not much of a fan of the bubble-gum chewing TC as “Manchurian” candidate plot in this two part episode.
4 - Quang Ki (Limbo, Season 7, Episode 22 & Unfinished Business, Season 8, Episode
Though he might not be on the top of my list, Quang Ki is the villain I hate the most from the whole series. He’s a cruel, rat. He’s got absolutely no morals or ethics holding him back in his search for revenge on Thomas, killing Michelle and nearly killing Lilly simply to strike at Thomas. He even sends the hit men who nearly kill Thomas at the end of season 7, rather than do his own dirty work. Honestly, this villain doesn’t rise any higher on my list because he’s such spineless snake - though this villain probably carries over more episodes than any other villain.
3 - Choi (China Doll, Season 1, Episode 3)
Was there a more lethal villain in the entire run of the series than this Tong assassin? Loved how the character added some Eastern influences to the show right out of the gate, and I loved how this villain put even TC and Rick at risk. AND who wouldn’t like to be able to have that lightning-quick “death strike” in the arsenal? Villain just oozes danger. Just remember that he blinks before he strikes.
2 - Morgan Lyden (Past Tense, Season 3, Episode 5)
In what I suspect many might find to be a surprising choice, I placed Morgan so high on my list because I love how his twisted sense of honor and vendetta fuels the fire taking place through this episode. Through Morgan, we learn of some of the action Thomas saw in Naval intelligence after the Vietnam War and before he goes into private investigation. I thought this guy had the brains to match Thomas. When I watch this episode, I think this cat might’ve been a great “Professor Moriarty” to Thomas.
1 - Philippe Trusseau (Pilot: Don’t Eat the Snow in Hawaii, Parts 1 & 2)
Philippe lands the top spot on my list. This is a villain that I find cut from a “James Bond” mold of bad guys, a villain who shares a past and a great deal in common with Thomas. This is a villain who even the Ice Queen and other unsavory character of the underground fear to name, a villain working in the shadows, who knows how to infiltrate the Navy, and who, of course, goes after the gold. Philippe just about finishes Thomas off in that bathroom scene before the series even has a chance to begin.
So, there you go. Maybe I left a character out that needs to be in there. Or, maybe you think one of my picks makes very little sense. But here are just some of the many great villains during the run.
