Missing Melody (7.11)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the seventh season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
0
No votes
9.5 (One of the Best)
4
6%
9.0 (Excellent)
8
12%
8.5 (Very Good)
8
12%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
20
29%
7.5 (Decent)
10
14%
7.0 (Average at Best)
12
17%
6.5 (Not So Good)
4
6%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
2
3%
5.0 (Just Awful)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 69

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golfmobile
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#11 Post by golfmobile »

RC,

Excellent job, as usual, thank you.

4. Thanks for posting the screenshot of the "bearded lady." I think it is pretty clear now that she really doesn't have a beard and it is the shading. I'm sorry, but that is one ugly lady . . . . And in watching "Autumn Warrior" later today, the painting that the beard was added to was the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II (I assume), which is the picture covering the wall safe, correct?

5. I see what you mean about the reflection, and though in the episode, he was told to what hotel and room number to go, I don't remember now the name (was it room 421?). So you located the "across the street" by the name of the hotel he was supposed to go to in the show? That makes sense. So TM's running "across the street" to get her, even if it was a building or so away from directly across the street, makes sense, sort of, time-wise. But the fact that he was just able to run in there and grab her -- there wasn't a fight to wrest her away from someone? No one was left to guard her?

That whole videotape thing sort of threw me, because it seemed, to me, to be implied that it was "real time," like webcams we have now, which, of course, they didn't have back then. But when he was telling TC, she was okay, just because he saw her with "today's" newspaper, well, technically, she could have been killed or moved after the VHS tape was shot and left for him to view in the hotel room where he saw it.

Picky, picky, picky.

As for the tidal pool beach getting "smaller," as it is today, I think I stand by my opinion on that one, at least for now, as several other episodes from the 7th season are now playing on Sleuth, and the beach appears to be significantly narrower in some seventh season episodes where the tidal pool is shown than it was in the early episodes.

I'll wait your report on the house where Tina was staying -- I'm sure you'll find it, if anyone can. But did we learn WHY she was staying there and not in a hotel? I'll try to view the DVR'ed episode again tomorrow night and hopefully find the answer to that one.

Again, thanks, RC, for your excellent analysis of the "kidnap" location!

golf
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Doc Ibold
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#12 Post by Doc Ibold »

Hey Golf,

1. When did TC start wearing an earring???? I want to say midway through season 6 - maybe season five (late)

2. I found it odd that Tina was always dressed to the nines with fancy costume jewelry, etc., while her daughter was missing? Would she go to all that trouble all the time? Maybe it was a "safety net" of doing what one is used to doing, but I found it rather callous. Agreed!

6. Okay, how did TM run out with Melody right after the fight in the street? Melody was there? I thought she was in a high rise hotel somewhere -- the reflection in the glass of the picture whereby TM ascertained where she was would have indicated a high up view. And it's awfully convenient that, by coincidence, Big Jim lands the helicopter and Higgins runs into the bad guys in their car RIGHT in front of the place where Melody was? And how did TM get there? He was at the other hotel, then suddenly he's there with everyone and dashing out of this unknown place where Melody was -- unguarded? This was a little too much "deus ex machina" right at the end of this episode to be logical.

Agreed,but I suspend my disbelief at the moment when TC gets Melody back. I admit it, it gets to me!

8. And, most importantly, when did Higgins COMPLETELY rebuild the River Kwai bridge???? When everyone is in the study getting ready to go do the ransom drop, the bridge is on the bookshelves behind them. It had just gotten blown up three episodes earlier in "Paper War," didn't it? It took him years to build, right? Now three weeks later (well, certainly not months or years), it's all complete? Golf, this is Higgins we're talking about here. (Although, I don't think it takes him THAT long to build it back up, as some of the pieces seem to be intact whenever it's blown up, smashed,etc...) Funny story... I call a co-worker of mine "Higgins", simply because he's British, which annoys him to no end (even though I try to convince him that it IS a sort of a compliment), so he's started to call me "Rick"... which actually, kinda fits.


9. And, oh, yes, one more thing: When Tina and TM are walking on the beach at the end, the beach seems much narrower than it was in the early episodes. Already the beach erosion is showing its effect? And when they walk in the gate, the foliage around the gate is much heavier, more like now, and they DON'T walk up stairs, so those are apparently already buried. Interesting, I thought! Global warming's fun!

I'm going to shoot all you people! You make me watch EVERY LITTLE DETAIL and then so much fails to make sense. It's very time-consuming to watch a show this way. I can't get anything else done while I'm watching (like writing MGI's blog of the trip . . . . )!!
:lol:

You're welcome!


:wink:

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rubber chicken
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#13 Post by rubber chicken »

4. And in watching "Autumn Warrior" later today, the painting that the beard was added to was the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II (I assume), which is the picture covering the wall safe, correct?

- Yeah, I think that's who it is. It would be nice if someone were able to find that portrait online. The screencap is on the Autumn Warrior (7.13) screencap page.

5. I see what you mean about the reflection, and though in the episode, he was told to what hotel and room number to go, I don't remember now the name (was it room 421?).

- 401, but I'll let it slide this time. ;)

But the fact that he was just able to run in there and grab her -- there wasn't a fight to wrest her away from someone? No one was left to guard her?

- Yeah, it would have worked better if they showed what happened in the house. If she was left alone (maybe the kidnappers didn't have enough people to do everything) then they could have shown him finding her locked in a room for example. Just something to tell us what the situation was.

- It seems to me that the editors ran out of time at the end of the show and had to make tough decisions about what to cut. I think I remember that the editor who answered questions in these forums said they had (maybe?) 20 minutes or so of extra footage from each episode which couldn't make it into what the running time had to be. I'm guessing some parts which would have fleshed out the end of this episode had to be "left on the cutting room floor" and they did the best they could. I don't have much of a problem with the end, but it does move pretty quick.

I'll wait your report on the house where Tina was staying -- I'm sure you'll find it, if anyone can.

- I've looked some more for this house but it's giving me a tough time. If it hasn't been rebuilt, or remodeled beyond recognition I'll probably find it at some point and wonder why it took me long.

But did we learn WHY she was staying there and not in a hotel? I'll try to view the DVR'ed episode again tomorrow night and hopefully find the answer to that one.

- Before leaving the estate (16:30) Higgins offers for Tina and her husband to stay there, but she says "Thank you, we've made other arrangements." Seems reasonable to stay with family (her cousin Evelyn). I think if I were on Oahu I'd find it much easier mooch off of family than to pay an expensive hotel bill. :lol:

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rubber chicken
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#14 Post by rubber chicken »

golfmobile wrote:RC, where was the house or whatever it was where Tina et al. were staying while waiting to find out about Melody?
I'm glad to say I've finally found the house in question. It's been eating me up inside! The reason I wasn't able to find it before is that as a starting point I was looking for homes with a pool, and in the google maps image the pool isn't visible due to trees and shadows. Since I first started looking for this house I've been keeping an eye out for it, and in looking for another location today I was working with a satellite image from 1996, which turns out shows the pool quite nicely (in the upper right of the lower right image below).

This is yet another home in Kahala, although it's not on Kahala Avenue which is a rare thing.

Image
Last edited by rubber chicken on Sun Aug 30, 2009 11:41 am, edited 1 time in total.

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golfmobile
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#15 Post by golfmobile »

RC,

Again -- amazing!!! But now that you've found it, have you added it to your GE place-marked map (kmz)?

I would see it would be nearly impossible to find without being able to see the kidney pool. The really amazing thing is how you were able to find that house with that particular roof line where it runs the length of the pool, with that little outwardly extended gable about the width of a hall for some other architectural element of the house and roofline. Whoa! SUCH detail you can find!! You REALLY have to look for that to see it, even when we know it's the house!

golf
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#16 Post by Sam »

Simply amazing RC,
Check out maps live search.If I'm seeing this correctly,the trees are now gone.

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rubber chicken
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#17 Post by rubber chicken »

Thanks guys. I have made a placemark in the GE project, the next version should be ready around the end of this month. 30+ new placemarks right now.

I did use live maps in part, I'm using that side by side with google maps now. For those here who don't know, live maps provides 45 degree aerial views of certain areas of Oahu (not Robin's Nest btw) - here's this house as an example. The feature has been available for a few months now. I feel spoiled by it though, and a little guilty, like I've been eating too many Oreos lately.

You're right Sam, the trees are now gone. The home was remodeled in 2001, that's probably when the trees were taken out. They also added a hot tub next to the pool and took out the patio around the pool and replaced it with grass. Also, the building immediately south east of the pool has changed, it used to be square. Fascinating! :)

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#18 Post by Tom_Magnum »

This is another "T.C." episode, where he deals with his problems and with his wife. I thought it was good to see another T.C. episode for a change.

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#19 Post by Jaybird »

Higgins shows himself to be a stand up guy when the chips are down.
However, the whole episode seemed to be "sleep walking." Even the actors didn't seem to be into the episode. Oh well, it was still enjoyable to watch.

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#20 Post by SelleckLover »

I watched this episode recently, and I liked the GPS-like thing that Rick was operating when they were trying to track the car that had the $$$. It was as big as a laptop and my husband remarked that they usually had state-of-the-art stuff in TV shows. It's amazing how primitive it looked!

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#21 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

Wednesday / Thursday’s review. A hard one to rate IMO.

[rating=7.0]

T.C. is excited about his two children, Melody and Bryant, paying a visit. But arriving at the airport, Melody is kidnapped, and Magnum must join T.C. in trying to track down the abductor. A middle of the road episode…

-----

This review contains spoilers.

‘Missing Melody’ is the first and only TV script (co)written by Roger E. Mosley, and maybe it is little surprise that the story revolves around T.C.

This episode introduces T.C.’s two children, Bryant and Melody, as well as his ex-wife Tina. It does stick out a bit that T.C. having a family was never previously mentioned in the series – why were they never mentioned before? We also get little explanation as to why T.C. and Tina split up, other than one line from Tina about T.C.’s “nightmares and moods”, seemingly caused by post-traumatic stress from T.C.’s time in Vietnam.
Either way, Bryant (played by Shavar Ross, who played the much recurring Dudley in long-running sitcom ‘Diff’rent Strokes’, which had ended a few months before this ep) returns in several subsequent season seven and eight episodes; Tina and Melody also make a return appearance in the series finale, ‘Resolutions’.

Also making a brief appearance in this story is Alfonso Ribeiro as Kenny, who had previously appeared at the start of the season in the feature-length / two-part ‘L.A.’. In its last couple of seasons, MPI started to add much more continuity with recurring characters and such.

Anyway, the story itself… I find it quite a hard one to rate. It is hardly one of the best, but at the same time has some good moments. The characters do seem to have a run of bad luck in the series – I mean, something as innocent as T.C.’s children visiting, and one of them gets abducted, leading to a whole new adventure! But I suppose we need these occurrences else there would be very few stories to make up the series!

There is a good red herring about three quarters of the way through – how many of us thought that Tina’s new partner was the culprit, only to be proven wrong?! This one really caught me out.

I’d probably sum this one up as ‘middle of the road’, as it is neither outstandingly good nor bad; it doesn’t stand out from the season, but at the same time I can think of a number of far worse episodes from the show’s run.
Its main flaw is that it feels rather dragged out, with the story stretched to fill the episode’s run time. And although I would have loved to have seen the show continue for a few more seasons, I have to say that with an episode such as this, it does at times feel like the show had started to run its course.

-----

Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* Am I the only one who got confused with this? – watching the episode for the first time (a few years ago now), I thought that the woman who arrived with Melody and Bryant at the airport was their mother. It wasn’t until Tina actually appeared later on that I realised it wasn’t!

* Part of Magnum’s voiceover dialogue early in the episode, about being scared of monsters under his bed when he was six, is very similar to that heard in the fourth season’s ‘Home From the Sea’.
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Carol the Dabbler
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#22 Post by Carol the Dabbler »

golfmobile wrote: 5. I've always wondered why the bad guys never figured out that a helicopter flying over them and following them WAS after them.

9. And, oh, yes, one more thing: When Tina and TM are walking on the beach at the end, the beach seems much narrower than it was in the early episodes. Already the beach erosion is showing its effect?
A helicopter flying directly over or slightly behind a car cannot be seen from the car. True, it will still make a good bit of noise, but as you already pointed out, helicopters are pretty common around Honolulu.

As for the skinny beach -- high tide?

And several people are wondering why we've never heard TC talk about visiting (or even phoning) his kids. Child custody used to be a much more cut-and-dried thing than nowadays. Usually, the mother got sole custody, and the father got to visit every couple of weeks. But if Tina presented evidence that TC was not a fit father (due to post-traumatic stress), then he might well have been denied ANY contact with his kids.
Carol

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#23 Post by J.J. Walters »

Carol the Dabbler wrote:And several people are wondering why we've never heard TC talk about visiting (or even phoning) his kids. Child custody used to be a much more cut-and-dried thing than nowadays. Usually, the mother got sole custody, and the father got to visit every couple of weeks. But if Tina presented evidence that TC was not a fit father (due to post-traumatic stress), then he might well have been denied ANY contact with his kids.
That's true, but certainly we should have seen T.C. talking to Magnum or Rick about them once or twice? A picture of them from his wallet. Something.

By the way, welcome back Carol! It's great to have you around again.
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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Carol the Dabbler
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#24 Post by Carol the Dabbler »

Thanks for the welcome-back, James! I suspect things are about to get pretty busy here again, so you may not be hearing much more from me for a while. But I'll be back eventually!

Back to TC's kids, I'm thinking that -- under the circumstances I conjectured above -- maybe it just hurt him too much to talk about them, or even think about them. That's why he moved to Hawaii, so he wouldn't risk running into them (only to have them hustled away by Tina), or keep being reminded, oh, that's the playground where I used to take the kids, there's their school ....

As he said, he did what he had to do.
Carol

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#25 Post by snp389 »

I like this ep. Another one where we find out about the 'guys' past, and how it is impacting on them in the present.
I loved the use of another Hughes 500.
And I especially love the way that we, the audience, are teased again of the possibility that JQH is really Robin Masters.

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