Innocence... A Broad (8.3)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the eighth season

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9.0 (Excellent)
12
16%
8.5 (Very Good)
16
21%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
23
30%
7.5 (Decent)
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9%
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7%
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J.J. Walters
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Innocence... A Broad (8.3)

#1 Post by J.J. Walters »

This is the official MM thread for Innocence... A Broad (8.3). All discussions and reviews for this episode should go here. If you wish to rate the episode, please do so with the poll. The avg. score will be the official 'community rating', which will be used on the episode page (updated monthly).

This thread is also linked in the episode page of the Episode Guide.


Original Air Date: 10/28/1987
Magnum gains an unlikely but valuable assistant when he agrees to entertain the wife of the president of a waste management company.
Last edited by J.J. Walters on Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:49 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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eegorr
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#2 Post by eegorr »

Flub #1: In the scene where Magnum and Rita are leaving the grocery store while tailing the suspect, they can be seen placing groceries into the back of the Ferrari. This Ferrari is rear engined, so in reality they are placing the groceries into the engine bay!

The Ferrari 308GTS is mid-engined, not rear-engined -- I knew somebody who owned one. There is a small compartment aft of the engine that is just big enough for a few bags of groceries. So this is not a flub at all! :D

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J.J. Walters
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#3 Post by J.J. Walters »

Hey, good to see you again eegorr!

Thanks for the corrections. I appreciate it. I've updated the episode guide.
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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#4 Post by J.J. Walters »

Hmmm..... I know I should dislike this episode, but I just don't. It's delightfully offbeat and wonderfully blithesome.

I find it interesting that Janis Ward (Rita) has very few acting credits to her name. She's in A LOT of scenes in this episode. It's rare that someone would get such a large amount of screen time (at this stage of the series) with so little acting experience.

LOVE the bug mask scene at Rick's house! He has a pool. And it looks like they have created a new indoor set for his house.

Poor rubber chicken, he still has the tape around his neck!

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Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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#5 Post by Shermy »

Two things make this episode noteworthy for me. The first is Magnum's newfound respect for all living things- a change triggered by his near death experience.

The second is Higgins' reaction at the end, when Joe callously begins talking about Higgins' role at the estate. It appears to be a rare instance of Higgins letting his guard down, and briefly suggesting (to the viewer) that he is in fact Robin Masters. (I could be misinterpreting the scene, although it seems logical in a season where the theory was repeatedly touched upon.)

James J. Walters wrote:LOVE the bug mask scene at Rick's house! He has a pool. And it looks like they have created a new indoor set for his house.
This was a great scene, and a nice callback to Rick's bug phobia in Operation: Silent Night.

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#6 Post by Doc Ibold »

James J. Walters wrote:Hmmm..... I know I should dislike this episode, but I just don't. It's delightfully offbeat and wonderfully blithesome.

I find it interesting that Janis Ward (Rita) has very few acting credits to her name. She's in A LOT of scenes in this episode. It's rare that someone would get such a large amount of screen time (at this stage of the series) with so little acting experience.

LOVE the bug mask scene at Rick's house! He has a pool. And it looks like they have created a new indoor set for his house.

Poor rubber chicken, he still has the tape around his neck!

Image
I agree, there's a lot of good things of this episode.

What I like about it is that it's kind of flushed all the "serious" themes from the past few episodes and threw them in the trash, so to speak, and we're back to general Magnum zaniness!

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#7 Post by maggiepoole »

I LOVE this episode. Have watched it 3 times in the past week, and can't stop laughing! So many memorable lines!

My favorite is voice over about "meeting your maker" and renewed sense of the value of life and every creatures right to meeting it's full potential. That garden snail going onto reaching it's full garden snail potential. :D

The dogs not recognizing Magnum unless Higgins "designates" him as prey.

"Because that is the order of the universe!!"

Magnum being a "lone wolf" out on investigations.

The top off was the bug mask. Poor Rick.
Trying to reach my full snail potential.
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#8 Post by golfmobile »

I agree that this is a real "fun" episode. I particularly liked the way TM took up for Rita and FINALLY realized she was good at it, not just very lucky.

What would have been really fun, to combine this episode with the things we didn't like about Resolutions 2, would have been for Magnum to have started his own detective -- oops, sorry, investigator!! -- agency and have Annie Potts' character and Rita be his partners, or partners in training sort of. Not exactly equals in the agency, but not go-fers either. Can you imagine the fun episodes that could have led to, with the three of them solving crimes? They could have had a real office in downtown Honolulu and maybe Magnum could have figured out a way to have Lily there in the afternoons after school -- a running joke of having to leave an investigation to go pick up his daughter from school, cajoling the women -- or Rick, TC, or Higgins -- to do it.

It could have kept the airy and humorous qualities of the show but shown a little more depth for TM in his responsibilities.

Much better, in my opinion, than going back into the Navy. That really leaves too much up in the air in terms of assignments, etc., not to mention what everyone else has (TM's reluctance and dislike for the politics and somewhat twisted "authority" of it all).

So what can we name Magnum and the ladies' new investigation agency? Lorraine Investigations? Then everyone would always be asking "Which one is Lorraine?" and implying they were TM's bosses which would drive him crazy . . . .

etc., etc.

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#9 Post by IslandHopper »

This is one of my favorite episodes of season 8. I thought Janis Ward was great. She has a great line when she learns that Magnum is going to let her tag along on his case; "This is so great. Do you supply a gun, or should I bring my own." I love it. For some reason it reminds me of "leave the gun and take the cannoli."

TC's helicopter (N4943T) is seen again (The People vs. Orville Wright), instead of N1095A.

I thought this episode offered some genuine authenticity by showing the "Safeway" grocery store. I liked the fact that they didn't have to come up with some fictional name like Day-n-Dark, etc.

Although I really like this episode, I thought it ended rather abruptly. We see Magnum and Rita running from the bad guys and being shot at. Then we see them jump into the garbage truck, and then we see Higgins and Joe in the final scene at Robin's nest.
Shermy wrote:The second is Higgins' reaction at the end, when Joe callously begins talking about Higgins' role at the estate. It appears to be a rare instance of Higgins letting his guard down, and briefly suggesting (to the viewer) that he is in fact Robin Masters. (I could be misinterpreting the scene, although it seems logical in a season where the theory was repeatedly touched upon.)
I had a different take Shermy. My take on this final scene was that Joe thought that Magnum owned the estate and Higgins let Joe believe that, and that Higgins merely worked for Magnum. Joe says to Higgins: "You know Higgins, Magnum's got one sweet layout here. You must enjoy working for him." Higgins replies, "It's an experience. As you can see Mr. Magnum takes inordinate pride in the his dedication to the horticultural arts." That final scene reminded me of the scene in "Compulsion" (season 5) when Magnum, Rick and TC helped Higgins fool his Sandhurst mates into believing that Higgins owned Robin's Nest.
The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)

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#10 Post by Shermy »

IslandHopper wrote:I had a different take Shermy. My take on this final scene was that Joe thought that Magnum owned the estate and Higgins let Joe believe that, and that Higgins merely worked for Magnum.
I'd say that's probably the correct interpretation. I should've rechecked it, since I merely assumed Joe had referred to the estate as belonging to Robin.

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#11 Post by J.J. Walters »

Magnum has apparently grown tired of "Coops" and "Old Dusseldorf". Here he enjoys a generic "Beer" beer (but again with a Coors-like label). ;)

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#12 Post by rubber chicken »

This is a great episode. We've got the lads, and Higgins with his hand signals, making them growl when he's irritated etc. Trying to bribe TC with macadamia nuts, pork rinds and potato chips. Magnum as TC's head of security (which is garbage). A rubber chicken sighting. Magnum appreciating garden snails, and then laughing like Goofy when the flopper gets hit by a car. Good voice overs by Magnum about baseball etc. Higgins being mistaken as a servant. Rick and his bug problem, and Magnum in the bug mask. Rita getting Rick to help her without Magnum's knowledge. A car chase, and then evading on foot. And jumping off the top of a parking garage into a garbage truck.

This show has got everything! :lol:

Rita Parker says Magnum is a "detective in Hawaii" but Magnum doesn't correct her by saying "investigator." This is the only time I can think of right now when he lets someone call him a detective. Interestingly later when they're at dinner, Joe Hatten calls Magnum a "P.I." and Rita corrects him by saying "private investigator." Janis Ward is very good in her part. I'm going to netlfix The House on Sorority Row, costarring Janis Ward. 8)


And there's lots of good quotes too:

Higgins - "Because that is the order of the universe."

Joe Hatten - "Zeus and Apollo? Don't you think those names are a little poofy for attack dogs?"
Higgins - "POOFY!?"

Higgins - "Well, Magnum, I must say, while I appreciate your enthusiasm, having him sign a release would have been quite sufficient."

Joe Hatten - "What the hell is this?"
Magnum - "Joe, it's not what it looks like."
Joe Hatten - "Oh, it not. Well, it looks like you're trying to inhale my fiance."

Joe Hatten - "You know Higgins? Magnum's got himself one sweet layout here. You must enjoy working for him."
Higgins - "... It's an experience. ... As you can see, Mr. Magnum takes an inordinate pride in his dedication to the horticultural arts."
Joe Hatten - "Yeah. If he ever wants to sell, this'd make a hell of a landfill."

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#13 Post by J.J. Walters »

Great review rubber chicken!

This one has become one of my very favorite episodes, pretty much for everything you've just said.

One other thing that strikes me about this episode is how they somehow manage to make Joe Hatten a somewhat likable misogynist bigot! If that's even possible. :?

I think I found the Safeway that is featured in that extended indoor/outdoor scene. A street address of "377" can be seen above the main entrance. The only Safeway on Oahu that has a "377" street address is on Keahole St. in Hawaii Kai. The buildings and surrounding area seem to match up, as well.

Google Map

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rubber chicken wrote: I'm going to netlfix The House on Sorority Row, costarring Janis Ward. 8)
Lord help me, but I actually saw this movie when I was a teenager! Don't remember a thing about it, however. Let us know how it goes. See if you can get a couple of screens of Janis. ;)
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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#14 Post by rubber chicken »

True about Joe Hatten. The viewer isn't so sure about him at first, I was wondering if he was mafia himself. But in the end he's not so bad, definitely needs some work, but he seems to care enough to try.

Incidentally, Joe Hatten and his fiance are very, very similar to the couple in Born Yesterday. The movie stars Broderick Crawford as a self made garbage tycoon (with personality close to Hatten's), and Judy Holiday (very much like Rita Parker) as his mistress who starts off as not too bright, but with William Holden's help she learns all sorts of things, academically and otherwise during the course of the movie and comes to assert herself. It's a great movie, I love Judy Holiday. I would very highly doubt that this show was written without Born Yesterday in mind, or even close at hand. I think it would be right to consider it an homage. Many other details are in both the movie and show also.


Yep, the location hehe. It's nice when they give you an address! The exact location is in the center of the map here. In your picture you can count the roof extensions, and the Safeway sign and entrance is under the indintation as shown. In the far left you can see the mountains behind. Rick must have frequented this location often as it's near his condo. :wink:

I'm looking up to you James for seeing that movie as a kid. :lol: It might be hard getting a picture of her in something other than her birthday suit though - it is an 80s college horror movie after all. But wish me luck! :P

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#15 Post by J.J. Walters »

Very interesting regarding the Born Yesterday movie. And yet another William Holden connection in the show!
rubber chicken wrote:It's nice when they give you an address!
PARTIAL address! I did have to a little investigative work to find the location..... Ok, it was really easy, but still. ;)
rubber chicken wrote:I'm looking up to you James for seeing that movie as a kid.
Yeah, this was in the early 80s. The height of the Slasher films phenom. On Saturdays, my friends and I used to ride our bikes up to the cineplex (a pretty good hike) and sneak into "R" movies (mostly horror) after we purchased tickets for a "PG" movie. Looking back, I suspect that the damage those movies did to my young mind is irreparable! Still, those movies are pretty tame compared to the stuff out today.
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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