Death and Taxes (7.6)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the seventh season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
53
35%
9.5 (One of the Best)
58
39%
9.0 (Excellent)
23
15%
8.5 (Very Good)
7
5%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
4
3%
7.5 (Decent)
3
2%
7.0 (Average at Best)
0
No votes
6.5 (Not So Good)
0
No votes
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
1
1%
5.0 (Just Awful)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 150

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lutherhgillis
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#51 Post by lutherhgillis »

Lt. Cook,

I chased around all of the episodes over time and I am sure the 'flashbacks' of the Half Moon Bay Park car chase and chasing the dog around the corner into the alley were created for this episode. Laura and the wine are mentioned from the episode Fragments. You already know about Philipe from the pilot movie.

LHG
Who's Dot Matrix, and what has she got to do with this?

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Jay-Firestorm
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#52 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

What else can I say… an excellent episode!

[rating=10]

With the rest of the gang away, Magnum plans to spend the 4th of July break doing his tax audit, but a crazed serial killer with a knowledge of Magnum’s past starts taunting him over the phone with riddles of who his next victim will be. A top notch episode..

-----

This review contains spoilers.

‘Death and Taxes’ is one of the most polished and most memorable episodes from the latter end of ‘Magnum, p.i.’s run. As many have already noted, it is pretty much “MPI does ‘Miami Vice’” – and thankfully, it works, coming off as an excellent story.

The influential ‘Miami Vice’ had been around for a couple of years by this point, and had overtaken MPI in the ratings, so the producers seemingly decided to try and emulate it in this episode. Thankfully though, it doesn’t come across as a straight rip-off of ‘Miami Vice’, instead taking some of the hallmarks from that show and working them into the MPI mix.

As soon as the episode begins, the style of filming, and particularly the incidental music, tells us that this episode is different from the standard MPI fare.
Also notable at several points in the story is the use of the Genesis song ‘Mama’, which really works in setting the tone. (Phil Collins of (later) Genesis was a memorable guest star on MV, as well as having a lot of his music used in that show, creating yet another parallel).

The rest of the gang – Higgins, T.C. and Rick – are away for this episode, appearing only at the very start of the story. But making her return to the series after a long gap, is Jean Bruce Scott as Lt. Maggie Poole, last season in season four’s ‘The Look’ – in the meantime, she had played Caitlin O’Shannessy in Bellisario’s ‘Airwolf’, which had finished (in it’s original version) a couple of months before this episode; with the end of ‘Airwolf’, JBS made a few return appearances in MPI.

Also of note in this episode is the first appearance of Joe Santos as Detective Nolan Page. Santos played Detective Dennis Becker in ‘The Rockford Files’, and would go on to make several more appearances as Page; personally, I always preferred Lt. Tanaka.

Anyway, the plot itself is a very good one. It starts off a little silly, with Mangum struggling, Arthur Fonzarelli-style, to say “tax audit” out loud, but thankfully, soon after, the main plot kicks in. It is gritty yet stylistic, and ‘The Ripper’ (played by Kenneth Tigar) really comes across as an unhinged madman.
And then, there is the red herring – how many of us expected the Ripper to be revealed as the reporter, Jeff Spangler? I certainly did. The ending is also very good too – very sombre, and with a lot of questions left unanswered.

The story has a very mature feel to it, and also, in my view, has a feel that they knew the end of the show was in sight (the series was originally to have ended at the end of this season, with Magnum being killed) and were willing to try new things before the end came.

All-in-all, this is a great episode, and one of the episodes that marks that the series, after losing its way for a couple of seasons, really found its feet again in season seven. I give this one a solid 10 out of 10.

-----

Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* As with previous episodes with no opening trailer, I wonder if they originally had no trailer or it is just the DVD that misses it off (some other releases, such as ‘Knight Rider’ and ‘The A-Team’, have missing opening trailers but had them on original TV versions). When Five ran the series in 2002-3, all of the trailers were edited off, so I can’t compare to those versions.

* Higgins only appears in one scene in this story, as do T.C. and Rick.

* When Five broadcast this episode in 2003, they edited out some of the shots of the Ripper’s knife – which was a bit pointless, as it could be clearly seen in some other shots. They didn’t edit out the word “whore”, which they would do on other occasions.
JAY FIRESTORM

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Little Garwood
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#53 Post by Little Garwood »

This will sound strange, but "Death and Taxes" was the episode that got me away from MPI during its original run. I was 15 when the episode aired and I vividly recall being seriously bothered by it! At the time, I hated it; it was more Miami Vice than Magnum.
Looking back on it now, it's still a dark, disturbing story but in 1986 I don't think there was too much on mainstream network TV that had such disturbing content. I only saw the episode once until two years ago, yet its imagery was burned into my memory. Though I had become accustomed to Hotel Street as a location in past episodes, it never seemed so scummy and unsafe as it did in "Death and Taxes."

I also weigh in the fact that this was a departure for MPI, which made "Death and Taxes" all the more effective. This definitely wasn't the MPI of the forst four seasons! "Where was Tanaka?" I said to myself back then. Having Santos there and not any regular cast members made it clear that this episode was something intense. I had known about the Genesis song "Mama" from a few years prior and liked it, but its inclusion here "reinvented" the song and it really does help create a mood and tell the story.

Incidentally, Hawaii Five-O has a sixth season episode, "The Listener", which features a psychopath taunting McGarrett and co., and the major similarity with "Death and Taxes" is the filming of the villain in the same manner as Milton Collins is. That's the only stylistic comparison, but I had just watched the Five-O ep a day before, so I had two phone-abusing psychos in a short period of time! :lol: "The Listener" has some seriously twisted imagery and content as well, so perhaps that and "Death and Taxes" share a kinship.
"Popularity is the pocket change of history."

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Thomas_Magnum_IV
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My favorite episode

#54 Post by Thomas_Magnum_IV »

:) This is my favorite episode. The music playing with The Ripper's maniacal laugh is amazing

10! Perfect Episode!

MACattack
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#55 Post by MACattack »

Interesting episode. It has a great soundtrack, creepy plot considering Magnum goes head up against a modern day jack the ripper, and the villain has a very annoying voice. That was the only setback in an otherwise enjoyable episode!
I just don't give a damn!

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Carol the Dabbler
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#56 Post by Carol the Dabbler »

IslandHopper wrote:I also found the Ripper's voice very irritating. I understand the writers wanted this guy to sound demented, but it was very annoying to me
I fully agree with all of you who made this point. One thing that really bugs me about some movies (in particular) is that the villains are so darn creepy and disgusting. I believe it would not only be more watchable, but also more true-to-life, to have a villain who comes across as fairly normal -- just consider all those news items after they finally catch some heinous brute, and the guy's neighbors are all saying, well, I just thought he was a little shy.

lutherhgillis wrote:I still think that Milton Collins had to have known Magnum from Vietnam. He had a 'team ring', he knew about Felipe being Le Boule, and he knew that Magnum had worked the case that ended with La Boule being killed. How could he have known this and how did he get the ring?
I kept thinking the killer had to be someone from Magnum's "team" in Vietnam, because that handful of men were the only ones with The Ring. But the more I thought about it afterward, the more I figured that was just another manifestation of the killer's obsession with Magnum -- witness his driving a similar (maybe identical) car, dressing like Magnum, etc. We know that he had seen Magnum in person at least twice, and had an extensive collection of photos of Magnum -- so he could very easily have had a "team ring" made for himself.

As for knowing about Philipe, maybe he had been able, with his service connections, to talk with some members of the team, just swapping old war stories. They might not have had a clue that they were feeding the obsessions of a psychotic. And Philipe's death was probably in the newspaper.
Carol

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steveadl
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#57 Post by steveadl »

lutherhgillis wrote:Lt. Cook,

I chased around all of the episodes over time and I am sure the 'flashbacks' of the Half Moon Bay Park car chase and chasing the dog around the corner into the alley were created for this episode. Laura and the wine are mentioned from the episode Fragments. You already know about Philipe from the pilot movie.

LHG
I'm with you Luther - I'm positive that Half Moon Bay chase/crash flashback was from a prior episode, but can't recall which.

This is one of my favourite episodes, really resonated with me. Dark, intense, interesting and different story line. Really thought the producers nailed it by having Genesis 'Mama' song throughout the episode - really set the right mood/tone.

Also as LHG pointed out earlier - I really enjoyed seeing so many shots of the estate from different angles and view points. I think this episode and one a few earlier in Season 7 I watched the other day (or perhaps it was towards the end of Season 6 - maybe 'Who is Don Luis Higgins'?) really give us the best views of the guest/boathouse and it's immediate surroundings.

Cheers
Steve

MACattack
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#58 Post by MACattack »

Nice soundtrack.
I just don't give a damn!

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miltontheripper
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#59 Post by miltontheripper »

I love this episode, best ever in my opinion!

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J.J. Walters
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#60 Post by J.J. Walters »

For a gritty strip club, Hotel Street's legendary Swing Club sure has some strict rules...

Image

No Soliciting
No Weeds (plural?)
No Loitering
No Blocking Entrance
No Table Ho... (Hogging?)
No Loud Talking (??)
No Gambling
No Dancing

I guess you're just supposed to sit there quietly and enjoy the show.
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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Carol the Dabbler
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#61 Post by Carol the Dabbler »

J.J. Walters wrote:For a gritty strip club, Hotel Street's legendary Swing Club sure has some strict rules...

Image

No Soliciting
No Weeds (plural?)
No Loitering
No Blocking Entrance
No Table Ho... (Hogging?)
No Loud Talking (??)
No Gambling
No Dancing

I guess you're just supposed to sit there quietly and enjoy the show.
Talk about things we were never meant to notice!

OK, in real life, somebody was having fun.

In the Magnum universe, these are probably just the Official Rules, which the management can point to whenever the cops are hassling them. "Hey, we don't allow that sort of thing."

This otherwise pointless gesture reminds me of a sign that used to be (maybe still is) on the base of the war-memorial statue by the courthouse in Terre Haute: "No Spitting on Statue." Actually, spitting might have helped wash some of the pigeon poop off the statue's shoulders. My brother pointed out that perhaps they should change one letter of the sign and move it to the top of the statue's head, where the pigeons could see it.
Carol

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MagnumsLeftShoulder
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#62 Post by MagnumsLeftShoulder »

Excellent episode! Although I'm not a huge Genesis fan, their song "Mama" really added to the tension of this episode. We get some cool outdoor scenes of the estate, Thomas wears my favorite shirt (Academy Tee) of the series, and we see him on the ocean on his surf ski after not seeing that at all in season 6. I even like that we and TM don't get a full explanation of the killers motives. I see that this one originally aired on October 29, so I guess they wanted a creepy episode to air near Hallowen. One question though, where were Rick and TC going and what was that stuff they were loading in the van at the beginning?

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Carol the Dabbler
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#63 Post by Carol the Dabbler »

N1095A wrote:I noticed at the end when TM is getting on his surfski, he's not wearing the team ring or the bracelet. .... I wonder if that was an oversight, or maybe he was trying to disassociate himself with Collins for a little while.
Or maybe he took them off for fear of losing them in the ocean? I don't recall whether he wore them while on his surfski in any earlier episodes, but even if he did, he may have thought better of it this time (perhaps part of the "growing up" theme?).
Jay-Firestorm wrote:... this episode is the first appearance of Joe Santos as Detective Nolan Page. Santos played Detective Dennis Becker in ‘The Rockford Files’ ....
Little Garwood wrote:"Where was Tanaka?" ... Having Santos there and not any regular cast members made it clear that this episode was something intense.
I enjoy Joe Santos in other types of roles, but when he's playing a police detective, I can't help thinking "Dennis Becker." Little Garwood is probably correct, that "they" thought of Tanaka more in terms of comedy, but he was also in some very effective serious scenes. Perhaps Kwan Hi Lim wasn't available at the time, but I believe that they displayed a lack of judgment with this bit of casting -- I not only missed Tanaka, but also found the Becker connection distracting.
Jay-Firestorm wrote:And then, there is the red herring – how many of us expected the Ripper to be revealed as the reporter, Jeff Spangler? I certainly did.
Me too!
MagnumsLeftShoulder wrote:I see that this one originally aired on October 29, so I guess they wanted a creepy episode to air near Halloween.
Wow, not your typical "Halloween" episode! I would never have made that connection. But I bet you're right, MLS.

*********

This just occurred to me -- I've always felt sorry for Rockford, having Freddie Beamer stalking him and imitating him. But maybe Freddie's not so bad, considering the alternative!
Carol

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nha trang
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Great episode

#64 Post by nha trang »

Really great episode, kind of reminded me of Laura with Frank Sinatra and "Way of the Stalking Horse."

Did they all have songs from Genesis now that I think about it?

Anyway, I really like episodes like this with the Genesis soundtrack, I think it adds to the suspense and takes some pressure off of needless dialogue. At least it works well for the grittier, more mature episodes like this.

Include the fact that this episode references the Mag's 4th of July tradition and it's an easy bet for a 9.0 rating, I would have rated higher but to me 10.0 is a holy grail, and I think it could have been a 9.5 if it was a two parter.

Always great to be back watching MPI and talking about it with you all!

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#65 Post by miltontheripper »

Obviously by my screen name this is my favorite episode, clearly a 10! It had great action, a clever plot, and a great villain! Am I crazy or is Milton borderline hilarious with his stupid riddles and cackling laugh (and ridiculous appearance lol). I love his wise old owl comment as he's dying by that pool. I was surprised with the grittieness of this epsiode, very dark. Quite honestly it reminded me a lot more of Miami Vice than Magnum. I can watch this one again and again.

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