The Aunt Who Came to Dinner (7.20)

[Styles Bitchley]

I do not quite see how the 'hot glances' exchanged by Magnum and Lani should have invariably led to a kissing scene, but rather enjoy the attention to detail in this production ...

It kind of sets you up for that if you're a regular watcher of the show, because it never happens. If it were, say, Mike Hammer it would be normal because that happens all the time. But despite his sex symbol status off the set Magnum was never really portrayed as a ladies' man on the show.

[Waterbug Blue]

Exactly!

[Croix de Lorraine]

On reflection, I was somewhat surprised that Higgins did not reprimand Lani for showing Dennis Parker all the way into the house when they were having tea without checking first to see if Phoebe wanted to see him.

Well, Lani was Phoebe's employee, not Higgins'. It would have been out of character for him to reprimand her.

[Croix de Lorraine]

As for Magnum's family tree, he clearly says she's married to his uncle. He says something to the effect that everyone in the family was shocked when proper, staid Uncle Sully married an eccentric like Phoebe.

One thing that dawns on us in this episode is how carelessly Magnum makes his friends break the law on an ongoing basis by doing unlicenced detective work, although I'm not sure if you're technically breaking the law if no one is really paying you.

[MaximRecoil]

I think it's funny that Magnum's father married a woman whose last name matched his own middle name, and his father's and grandfather's middle name:

"Sullivan" is Magnum's mother's side of the family (established in "Forever in Time"), which means that his mother's maiden name is Sullivan.

Magnum's name is Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV. So Magnum's mother—maiden name: Katherine Sullivan—married Thomas Sullivan Magnum III.

[Doc Fred]

My favorite moment occurs when Magnum notices that Phoebe has rearranged the furniture in the study. We then see Higgins sitting at his backwards desk, having resigned himself to simply accept the change. This also leads to a great exchange between Selleck and Hillerman, where they manage to convey understanding using nothing more than a cigar box. When those two guys were 'on', it was really hard for anyone else on the show to compete.

Yes, the more I watch the shows, the more I realize there was a great connection between Magnum and Higgins, despite the bickering that occurs... There's mutual respect, mutual admiration, although they don't always like to show it. But, when the need is there, they're there for each other.... a friend in need....

[Doc Fred]

They should have had Katherine Kelly Lang on more often. It looked as if she and Magnum had some "chemistry" there. LOL

I know I'd have very hard to have some chemistry with her... she was awesome.

[Doc Fred]

Yea, Ms. Jones must have gone out for an annoyance break and a make me want to grit my teeth and hope to die refill...

hahahahahahahahaha

[Doc Fred]

Katherine Kelly Lang plays the hot maid, Lani, in this episode. She is a soap star these days and as hot as ever.

I am disappointed that, after all the "come hither" glances she and TM exchanged there was no kissing scene. I guess it wouldn't have been in TM's character.

Well, we don't know what happened once the show ended...

[Doc Fred]

If Sully had been Magnum's father's brother, his last name would presumably have been Magnum, so apparently he was not. He could have been Katherine's brother (was her maiden name ever mentioned?), but not necessarily.

I might be mistaken, but I believe I remember Magnum's mother's maiden name being mentioned as Sullivan. And, yes, Phoebe would have been married to Magnum's mother's brother. I think that's pretty clear to me.

[Doc Fred]

I have updated my profile to show that I live in Honolulu. I have often wanted to just go and take photos of the exact locations (with the same camera angles if possible) of the scenes in the episodes just to show what it looks like now. But for the most part, things haven't changed all that much and would not be of much interest to anyone. Besides, the new Hawaii Five-O program uses many of the same places for filming.

Tuan, my wife and I will be taking a cruise to Hawaii in October and will spend a day on Oahu... I'd appreciate it if you'd arrange that the weather be perfect for us... thank you.

And, you talked about taking some photos, which is exactly what I plan to do our one day on Oahu... much to my wife's lack of happiness about it, we'll be renting a car and visiting some of the places I've seen on the show.... primarily the estate and beach in the back..

What a beautiful place to live! I've looked at houses online, but realize I just don't have the means to live up to the standard I'm accustomed to... such an expensive place to live. Sure wish I could.

Again, don't forget to arrange perfect weather for the first three weeks in October.

[Doc Fred]

This show caused opposite reactions in me... Honestly, most of it, to me, wasn't great. Yeah, I loved Lani, loved Mag's time trying to renew his license, and of course the interactions with Higgins and TC. But, the main body of the story was just so-so to me. What really got to me was the dealing with Phoebe's Alzheimer's onset... very tragic, and very personal to me, since my wife's mother was taken at an early age by this horrible disease. Unless you've witnessed it up close, you have no idea how devastating it is to the victim, and even more to the family members. For close to 10 years, my wife was in tears and pain, as was her dad and brother; those of us related by marriage suffered, too, but clearly not to the same extent. When she died, it was a relief, though with the expected trauma, for everyone. At least we all knew she went to a far better place.

I thought Tom Selleck was excellent playing Pheobe's nephew; his emotions of pain and sadness were so well played... maybe the best acting I saw from him in the entire series.

I gave the show a 9 because of the handling of Alzheimers.....

Barbara Rush, as has been said by others, was superb in her role. And, I couldn't help saying to myself as I watched the show, that she was a beautiful women, even at the age she was when the show was filmed... around 60 I believe. She must've been a real looker as a young woman.

[marlboro]

I thought he acting was very good. And I thought the twist was well done. But I still didn't love the episode. Since Aunt Pheobe only popped in for one episode a lot of the emotional impact was lost for me.And, truthfully, I found her kind of annoying for most of the episode.

If they were going to make an episode about Alzheimer's disease I think it would have had a lot more emotional impact if they had centered it around Magnum's mother.

[EZiller]

Recently caught this on ENC, the only thing I had remembered was TSM's frustrations with the civil servants renewing his PI license. I think they had done this in another episode. It's not a typical episode, no big fights, shootouts, car chases, etc. It deals with Alzheimer's, although they don't beat you over the head with it and really doesn't even come up till the final 3rd of the episode. I lost my father to dementia, although he had a long life and it didn't really hit till quite late in his life. But you come away with a couple things...it's difficult and it just keeps getting progressively worse. In any case, I give it a 9. Good scenes between TSM and Higgins. Excellent performance by Barbara Rush but for me the highlight, other than Katherine Kelly Lang in the maid outfit!!!! [top ten MPI babe]
was Agatha doing the Blanche DuBois bit. Very well delivered!

[Milton Collins]

I wasn't a big fan of this episode. It was a touching story in a sense showing how TM and his aunt had a special relationship and her illness was of course very sad. With that being said, the whole episode just felt out of character for Magnum PI. Barbara Rush did a fantastic job of playing the role of an alzheimers patient but I just found this episode to be more like a soap opera than anything. I did enjoy the interactions between TM and the hot maid, that was quite hilarious lol.