Forty (7.17)

[Rutledal]

Also just sort of a "fun fact" James Hong, who plays Han in this episode, also starred in the movie Black Widow where one of the main characters was named; Catherine Petersen. Sure it's not spelled the same way as Magnum's mom's, but still worth a mentioning.

[Jaybird]

I thought it was great! The surfski race was especially interesting as it is this series that got me into surfski and ultimately outrigger racing.
All in all, it was a good episode.

[Jay-Firestorm]

The first of two reviews from me today…

[rating=8.5]

Magnum is in Chinatown with Rick and T.C. to celebrate his forthcoming fortieth birthday, when he by chance meets a beautiful woman, whom he quickly falls in love with – but she is entwined with the protection racket he’s hired to break. Not bad…

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This review contains spoilers.

Aging and maturing, and facing up to ones responsibilities, is a recurring theme through the run of ‘Magnum, p.i.’, even from the very earliest episodes, but season seven in particular seems to concentrate on this (for one prime example, see the previous episode, ‘Solo Flight’). Here, Magnum prepares for his fortieth birthday, and once again tackles the issue of getting older.

As with a number of other episodes, Magnum’s exact date (and age of birth) is contradicted, but to me it didn’t stand out enough as to spoil the story.

Patrice Martinez puts in a pretty good performance as Linda Lee Ellison, the woman who Magnum quickly falls in love with (almost, I have to say, to stalker-ish levels!). I wouldn’t say her performance is on the same level as say, Marta DuBois (Magnum’s long-lost wife Michelle), but Martinez is good enough for what the episode requires.

One actor I do particularly like in this episode is James Hong (as Han Quing). A distinguished Asian-American actor Hong has been a guest role performer for many years (he’s still going at time of writing) and did the typical guest part rounds in the 1980s (‘The Dukes of Hazzard’, ‘T.J. Hooker’, ‘The A-Team’, ‘Airwolf’, etc.). It is great that he finally gets showcased in a MPI episode, and I really like his character here – it’s just a shame that he wasn’t given more to do, or bought back for another story.

Anyway, the plot itself… it is typical of many later episodes in that most of it is very more drama-driven that stories from the earlier seasons. I confess that when I first saw this episode, many years ago now, I wasn’t too enamoured with it, but re-watching it now I am older, I actually like it quite a bit more than I did originally. Maybe in keeping with the maturing theme of this episode, my viewing habits themselves have indeed matured.

Hawaiian Chinatown is also featured well in this episode, complete with night-time carnival parade. It is the scenery and settings which add a lot to MPI’s appeal, even all these years later.

Although far from one of my all-time favourites from the show’s run, I’ll admit that this one is better than I remembered it.
And it’s not the last time we see Linda – as the threads are sown to begin to tie up the series, she returns in the show’s finale, ‘Resolutions’, next season.

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Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* Not much to note, other than I wish the DVD version would stop abridging act breaks!

* By the way, I too am pleased that T.C. didn’t want to go to the strip club!

[Italian Ice]

Everytime I see James Hong, all I can think about is when he was the owner of the Chinese Restaurant on Seinfeld.

Seinfeld?? Four !!

[J.J. Walters]

In "Resolutions part 2" you noted that shots of an exposed breast can be seen twice. I'm not a hundred percent sure, because the image quality was kinda poor, but I believe that is the case in this episode too. Except it's only one shot.
When they first enter the strip club there is a shot of a big breasted dancer with a clear tan line, just making sure you know which one I'm talking about, then there is a shot of the guys and then we return to the dancer, who in this shot pulls down her bra, or top, I'm not completly sure if it actually qualifies as a bra. Well anyways I'm fairly sure that she reveals enough of her breast for it to be a "no-no" on a syndicated show.

Also could you put some Han quotes in the quote section, preferably his wolf speech??

Rutledal, I looked at the bar scene several times. The, ah, well-endowed exotic dancer never reveals her breasts, at least not the parts that are not allowed to be seen on television.

I've added Han's (James Hong) "Wolf" speech to the episode guide.

Thanks

[Carol the Dabbler]

In "Resolutions part 2" you noted that shots of an exposed breast can be seen twice. I'm not a hundred percent sure, because the image quality was kinda poor, but I believe that is the case in this episode too. Except it's only one shot.

I'm not sure we're talking about the same moment or even the same dancer, but yes, I thought I saw a flash of that too. It was when the guys are coming into the club, in a real tight shot of a dancer, and went by very quickly. And of course she would still have been wearing one of those glue-on things anyhow (I always get the spelling & pronunciation confused with the Cornish meat turnovers). But I sure did a double-take.

James, one detail you might want to add to Episode Note 2: In the surprise-party scene at the end, when Higgins "returns" Magnum's two-dollar bill, saying that he had found it in the cash register at Wo Fat's, Magnum examines the bill closely and starts to say something like, "This isn't ...." Then he stops himself and says something else. Clearly, the bill that Higgins had found was NOT Magnum's lucky bill -- it had a different serial number. But Magnum was touched that Higgins had gone to the effort of searching Chinatown for his keepsake, so allowed him to believe he had actually found it.

[firefly]

In "Resolutions part 2" you noted that shots of an exposed breast can be seen twice. I'm not a hundred percent sure, because the image quality was kinda poor, but I believe that is the case in this episode too. Except it's only one shot.
When they first enter the strip club there is a shot of a big breasted dancer with a clear tan line, just making sure you know which one I'm talking about, then there is a shot of the guys and then we return to the dancer, who in this shot pulls down her bra, or top, I'm not completly sure if it actually qualifies as a bra. Well anyways I'm fairly sure that she reveals enough of her breast for it to be a "no-no" on a syndicated show.

Also could you put some Han quotes in the quote section, preferably his wolf speech??

Rutledal, I looked at the bar scene several times. The, ah, well-endowed exotic dancer never reveals her breasts, at least not the parts that are not allowed to be seen on television.

I've added Han's (James Hong) "Wolf" speech to the episode guide.

Thanks

i just watched the episode last night and i could not see anything. usually i am very aware of that sort of thing, not much gets by me

as far as the episode itself; i loved the party scene as it, to me at least was a great way of showing the friendship that higgins and magnum have. as was mentioned earlier in this thread seeing higgins wearing a gorilla mask was too funny and as carol the dabbler just pointed out higgins return of the $2 bill was a scene that almost brought a tear to my eye. great work by the writers on that scene as it would have been easy to have it be the $2 bill, but it certainly would have lessened the emotional impact of the scene.

[steveadl]

Agree with others, I'd have to put Patrice Martinez up there with one of the all time hottest girls on MPI.

Just checked her IMDB bio - when this episode was made, she would have only been around 25yo. Magnum was definitely going through a mid life crises chasing her while turning 40!

[AmandaByNight]

I love, love, LOVE this episode. I watched about 6 months ago and as someone who also has the big 4-0 hanging over my head, I realized how I love the show in a different way now than I did, say 15 years ago.

I realized that now that I am the same age as the characters, everything resonates with me differently. I understand them differently and I see how well developed they are.

What I liked most about this episode was how 40 held this huge weight (as it does for many of us) and then at the end when he's on the phone with his mom he says something like, "It's no big deal. I just turned 40."

It had a lot impact on me the last time I watched it. I get all those anxious feelings, and I hope they sort of wash away when the moment comes. This episode captured so much of what I am feeling. Crazy and awesome all at the same time!

[nha trang]

While I enjoyed this episode, it was really enjoyment on an entertainment level rather than a real enduring favorite. I think having an episode centered on the Mag's 40th on what was (I read) supposed to be the final season of MPI was a really GREAT idea, and I think the plot was a pretty good MPI action plot, but I think they both should have been done separately.

I think Magnum's 40th should have been wackier - no need to cut away so soon from the gorilla mask party...it should have been more introspective like taking out the surfski July 4th style...just my opinion. They build up many episodes from thin air, but using Magnum's 40th bday should have been less about automatic weapons and more about gorilla masks and surfskis...

I notice the episode "Laura" comes next, kind of surprised me!

[RamblerReb]

The dancer does pull her top down, but covers her... what's a good word, "sweater puppy?" Anyhow, she covers it strategically with her hand as she slips the top down. Still pretty racy for 1987. Not to mention that T-back bottom she was wearing. Anybody recall seeing a T-back on prime-time before this?

[J.J. Walters]

The dancer does pull her top down, but covers her... what's a good word, "sweater puppy?" Anyhow, she covers it strategically with her hand as she slips the top down. Still pretty racy for 1987. Not to mention that T-back bottom she was wearing. Anybody recall seeing a T-back on prime-time before this?

Prior to 1987, I doubt it. Maybe.... maybe on a Miami Vice episode in the distant background. The lady in this episode is in clear view and, well, she's not wearing much! Definitely shocking for prime time 1987 television!

[Croix de Lorraine]

Magnum and Otis Redding - it doesn't get much better.

[MaximRecoil]

A flub of sorts takes place during the gun fight between the SWAT Team and the bad guys at the temple. One of the SWAT members fires his M-16 A1 twice (single shot each time) at the bad guys in the temple. It sounded more like a hunting rifle, but was definitely not an M-16.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. An M16 is a hunting rifle, or at least, it can be, it often is, and is one of the best rifles in existence for hunting varmints and predators (in semi-auto-only "AR-15" form of course, due to legalities). It is one of the most accurate semi-automatic rifle designs straight out of the box, and due to its modularity, doing things to improve its already good accuracy such as swapping the barrel, free-floating the barrel, and dropping in a match-grade trigger group, are all easy to do, even for a non-gunsmith. Additionally, it is very ergonomic and its finish and materials of construction make it well-suited to being exposed to the elements and banging about the woods as often happens when hunting.

As far as the sound goes, as a semi-auto, it sounds no different than any other rifle chambered for the same or similar cartridge. However, we don't hear the real sound of any gun being fired on this show, nor any other TV show or movie that I know of. In reality they are firing blanks, but we don't even hear the real sound of the blanks (because they sound pathetic), we hear sound effects that are dubbed in during post-production. This is why Magnum's "forty-five" has a deeper sound than the bad guys' handguns (which are usually .32s, 9mms, or .38s); it is done intentionally by the Foley artist to give the impression that the "forty-five" is more powerful. They did the same thing in countless other shows and movies (probably using the exact sound effects), such as Dirty Harry (his .44 Magnum got the deep sound effect) and Stallone's Cobra (his "forty-five" [which was actually a 9mm, the same as Magnum's prop "forty-five" was a 9mm in reality] got the deep sound effect).

The Foley artist did make a bit of a gaffe when he chose the sound effect for the M16 in the scene you mentioned (but only relative to how things were typically done by other Foley artists) in that he gave the M16 the deeper, more booming sound effect that was normally used for shotguns and higher-power rifles. The reason I say "only relative to how things were typically done by other Foley artists" is because all of the gunshot sound effects in pretty much any TV show or movie are wildly inaccurate relative to how an audio recording of a real gunshot sounds (countless examples of which can be found on YouTube). If they actually did use unaltered recordings of real gunshots, they would run into the Reality Is Unrealistic problem (see also: Bang, Bang, BANG), because real gunshots sound pathetic on an audio recording, and people would think it sounded fake because they are so used to hearing the "improved" TV and movie Foleys (see: The Coconut Effect).

[Doc Fred]

You know, the thing about this episode (other than Patrice Martinez... ) that really got my attention, was TC's behavior. When they wanted to go to the strip club, I had to admire TC and his desire to avoid such a place. While I am no prude, places like that never interested me. Good man TC!

I'm with you, Frodo... TC is portrayed as a very stable, conservative and moral guy, and I like that. Maybe I'm saying that because, like you, I never went to places like that...