POLL: Magnum Finale

[T.Q.]

Should Magnum have ended up with someone?

Or did it ended perfectly?

If you think Magnum and Lily should have been accompanied by someone on the beach who would you have liked it to have been?

[Fr. Paddy McGuinness]

The ending was perfect. Magnum’s life seemed great when I was a teenager. Paradise, Ferrari, estate living, adventure, etc. Yet there was always an underlying restlessness in his nature. I’m writing about the more serious episodes. The writers did a great job of articulating this without saying it. As the series progressed they brought it a little closer to the surface. “The Hotel Dick” was the first really obvious episode about this. ‘40” would be another one. A lot of Higgins’ jibes were true. His life lacked substance. Pushing 60 myself I see now he was just passing time. He just didn’t know it. Magnum’s waters ran too deep for his life not to have purpose. Lost love was the formative experience of his life; his father and Michelle. In that little girl he found something that filled the hole in his heart. Lily connected him to Michelle forever and she allowed him to have the relationship with his child he always wanted with his father. I served with a guy in the Army who’s father was killed in Vietnam when he was very young. He was a tremendous parent. I learned more about parenting from him during idle conversation than all my own experiences combined. He had done a lot of thinking about the things I grew up taking for granted. Anyway, I think the Magnum character had a great story arc and that final scene was perfect. He always disowned the navy, but once he put his child first none of that mattered. Any woman that came into his life after that would be drawn to a loving father and his relationship with his daughter, not a man with a big hole left by lost love. There are moments in life when you cross a bridge and you leave everything on the other side behind. That’s how Magnum ended…perfect.

[Aloha Friday]

Pretty good post Paddy...I think I agree with you. Not sure about disowning the Navy...he still kept his things (commissioning certificate, t-shirts, hats, uniforms, bell, football helmet, etc.) and kept going back. Disillusioned maybe.