Part two of this mixed story; not much more to say than with Part I.
[rating=7.5]
As T.C., Higgins and Rick search for the missing Kenny, back in Los Angeles, Magnum and Cynthia grow closer as they investigate the string of murders. The conclusion to this, the weakest of the show's feature-length stories...
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This review contains spoilers.
As I said on my review for Part I of this story, I consider this to be by far the weakest of the show’s feature-length / two-parters. That said, re-watching it to review, it does have a couple of things going for it, not least Dana Delany’s interaction with Tom Selleck. The pair work well together, and I bought their budding relationship much more than some of Magnum’s other ‘romances of the week’. In fact, it is Delany who pretty much saves this story from bombing any more than it already does.
The story also has a more polished feel than some of the other episodes this end of the show’s run.
But it’s not all good – I find the b-plot about a member of T.C.’s youth baseball team being pursued by thugs to be tedious and uninteresting. It really feels as if the writers / producers stuck it in simply to give the other three stars something to do in the episode.
And this may well be my shortest MPI review – I haven’t really got much more to say about this story.
Magnum’s wedding proposal to Cynthia towards the end is an unexpected twist. Of course, it doesn’t work out, but Delany will return later in the season in ‘Out of Sync’.
(Alfonso Ribeiro also reprises his role of Kenny in ‘Missing Melody’ later this season.
All-in-all… the weakest of the two-hour stories, with a couple of elements saving it from falling totally flat.
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Other notes, bloopers and misc.:
* thing comments that she woke up one day and found that she was 28 and had never been 18. In the Pilot, Magnum commented that he woke up one day and found he was 23 and had never been 23, and in the third season’s ‘Legacy From a Friend’, he comments that he woke up one day and realised he was 32 and had never had a chance to be 22.
* Magnum is mistaken for Burt Reynolds – not the first time in the series that he has been compared to Reynolds.
* Rick only appears in one sequence in this half of the story.
* When Five broadcast this episode in 2003, they added a ‘home made’ recap of Part I, lasting 1:46, before continuing where Part I left off. Although I’ve only skimmed through, they did not seem to remove anything for timing reasons as was the case with most other feature-length stories.
* Dana Delany reminds me a lot of British TV presenter Suzi Perry. Here’s a picture to compare…
Okay, maybe not TOO alike, but she looks similar on-screen.