Season 1 General Discussion

[charybdis1966]

I think Higgins is very much laughing in mockery of Magnum in that scene, which seems less jolly and more mean spirited to me. Magnum’s look in response shows his displeasure with being laughed at. True, Higgins showed no such laughter in the pilot and remained stern, but the China Doll scene seems to fit with his not wanting TM to be there.

I couldn’t see the pilot Higgins laughing as warmly as the China Doll one - there appeared to me a frigid disdain in Higgins attitude to TM that would find nothing to laugh about when he thought of TM.
Mind you that’s just how it looked to me. In a way perhaps I secretly like the hostile/antagonistic Higgins of the pilot. Sure, he was a bit like that for a number of seasons but I often wonder how the stories would have panned out if Higgins tried harder-and for longer- to get TM off Robin’s Nest.

[emenius]

I liked how the Magnum/Higgins dynamic evolved from the beginning to the end of the series. I liked the later seasons when Higgins was more helpful to Magnum.

Ed