The Woman on the Beach (2.3)

[EZiller]

Hadn't seen this in ages, good mystery episode. Excellent scenes with TM and Higgins. I thought TM and TC may have been a tad brutal to Rick about his romantic failures. Great job by Judith Chapman. They certainly get some nice women dropping by the KKC.

9

[Little Garwood]

Can't remember what I voted for this one, but it's worth an 8.0 (Pretty Good) .

I watched The Woman on the Beach again last night--I'm viewing the entire series in order--and I'm sticking with the above rating, if that's in fact what I selected initially.

I couldn't help but be (negatively) distracted after seeing Judith Chapman so soon after The Black Orchid just five episodes ago and in sort of a similar role, with her once again affecting the mannered "retrocentric" character she plays in both episodes. Still, she's a delight to watch as always and I wouldn't have minded her appearing a third time much later on in MPI's run.

Two "Thomas-Rick"-oriented episodes in a row makes me wonder if the producers and writers were tinkering with the chemistry as to who, if anyone, would be TM's best friend; at least that's how I see it. Higgins is once again relegated to sub-plot laughing boy and that makes me think they didn't know what to do with him. JH continues his mocking laughter routine that would thankfully go away once he "found" the Higgins character.

Found a DVD Flub: The episode description states that Kenneth Mars plays Henry Ellison. Of course, the Great Mars played Joseph the Caretaker, not murderer Henry Ellison. Speaking of Kenneth Mars, he uses his "Joseph accent" in the role of a traveling magician in the 1992 Woody Allen film, Shadows and Fog.

The King Kamehameha Club is seen at night and for some reason it adds a strange ambiance to the episode. How often do we see the club at night?

Watching these early episodes begs the question: in what order were these episodes filmed? Does anyone here know?

[Milton Collins]

I hadn't seen this one in some time and loved it, 9.0 for me. First of all I like all the spooky, creepy, supernatural episodes but this also had some great humor as well!

- The beginning where poor poor Orville has his heart broken is hilarious. There are a couple great quotes here from Rick "Thomas, I want more from life than cheap thrills and Booze" and then when he finds out his new "love" has headed off to get married a dejected Rick says "Yeah, that's the nuts". I laugh at these two lines every time and the ensuing scene where TM and TC rush to dig into the fancy dinner he had prepared. Priceless!

- The ensuing scene where Rick heads out to the beach bar and says "Kimo give me a scotch, and make it a double! And give me a cigerette too!"

- Love the scene with Higgins practicing his Shakespeare and pointing the sword at TM, hilarious! And then TM pushes it away and gets criticized by Higgins as if he wouldn't know Shakespeare. And not long after when Magnum is sitting on Higgins desk trying to grab a cigar and some info, Higgins comes around and pushes him off and takes the cigar. It's comical how much contempt (mostly undeserved in my opinion!) Higgins had for Magnum especially in the early episodes. This scene just cracks me up as that's something you'd do to a kid, not a grown man lol.

- Love that awesome house that they use yet again! What a cool place.

- Sad, depressed Rick literally "crying in his beer" while Thomas peels hard boiled eggs is pretty hilarious. Love hearing him go on and on about how he never get's anything out of love. I always have found it interesting that other than Rick marrying Cleo in the end none of them have a significant lasting relationship (Michelle doesn't count cause she and Thomas never end up together).

- The scenes at the old estate are fantastic, very well done and gave off a creepy aura. Especially at night when Rick is digging.

- The "vulgarian visigoth" quote is literally hilarious! That whole closing scene at the beach bar at night with TM seeing the ghost at the end is just great as a whole.


This is a totally fun episode and helps cement season 2 as one of the very best!

[KingKC]

I liked this Rick-Centric episode. It really set Rick's character as flighty when it came to women. I liked the mystery and supernatural aspect as well as seeing Tom and TC help a buddy.

KingKC

[marlboro]

I'm not positive, but I think Judith Chapman may have co starred in Orson Welles' infamous Paul Masson wine commercial.

You can watch it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFevH5vP32s

So is that the ghost of Sara enjoying a bottle of California sparkling wine with the voice of Robin Masters?

[KingKC]

I'm not positive, but I think Judith Chapman may have co starred in Orson Welles' infamous Paul Masson wine commercial.

You can watch it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFevH5vP32s

So is that the ghost of Sara enjoying a bottle of California sparkling wine with the voice of Robin Masters?

I think it is clearly Judith Chapman.

KingKC

[308GUY]

I think it is clearly Judith Chapman.

KingKC

Agreed.

[308GTS]

I'm not positive, but I think Judith Chapman may have co starred in Orson Welles' infamous Paul Masson wine commercial.

You can watch it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFevH5vP32s

So is that the ghost of Sara enjoying a bottle of California sparkling wine with the voice of Robin Masters?

So beautiful, she was truly stunning!

I just watched this again, still one of my all time favourite episodes!

[rasgards]

Just re-watched this episode again, and it is still one of my least favorite episodes. For all the excitement over Judith Chapman, she is squarely the reason I don't like this episode. She definitely seems a soap opera actress. Plus it is a fairly hookie story line. The whole Rick thing, the charades, the "ghosts"...I just don't like it.

[marlboro]

^ I agree with you. Not one of my favorites. I'm pretty sure we're in the minority though.


I just don't like the supernatural and psychic stuff that occasionally slipped into MPI.

[Mad Kudu Buck]

I always liked supernatural/ghost/otherworldly-type episodes of TV shows in the 70's and early 80's. Of course, now we know it's all nonsense, but back then it was interesting to think that there were possibilities beyond the boring tedium of ordinary reality.

That's why this is probably one of my most remembered Magnum episodes back in the 80's. It's not as good as I remembered - probably because of Judith Chapman's soap-opera-style acting and the annoying fake elderly Jewish caretaker. But it's far from being one of the worst episodes.

[marlboro]

I always liked supernatural/ghost/otherworldly-type episodes of TV shows in the 70's and early 80's. Of course, now we know it's all nonsense, but back then it was interesting to think that there were possibilities beyond the boring tedium of ordinary reality.

That's why this is probably one of my most remembered Magnum episodes back in the 80's. It's not as good as I remembered - probably because of Judith Chapman's soap-opera-style acting and the annoying fake elderly Jewish caretaker. But it's far from being one of the worst episodes.

Kolchak fan?


The German caretaker was played by the late great Kenneth Mars of Young Frankenstein fame.



He was also in another supernatural themed MPI episode called "Fragments."

[Pahonu]

I always liked supernatural/ghost/otherworldly-type episodes of TV shows in the 70's and early 80's. Of course, now we know it's all nonsense, but back then it was interesting to think that there were possibilities beyond the boring tedium of ordinary reality.

That's why this is probably one of my most remembered Magnum episodes back in the 80's. It's not as good as I remembered - probably because of Judith Chapman's soap-opera-style acting and the annoying fake elderly Jewish caretaker. But it's far from being one of the worst episodes.

Kolchak fan?


The German caretaker was played by the late great Kenneth Mars of Young Frankenstein fame.



He was also in another supernatural themed MPI episode called "Fragments."

Loved Kolchack: The Night Stalker!

[Mad Kudu Buck]

Kolchak fan?


The German caretaker was played by the late great Kenneth Mars of Young Frankenstein fame.

[image]

He was also in another supernatural themed MPI episode called "Fragments."

I took a look at Kolchak recently, but couldn't get into it for some reason. Maybe I just watched the wrong episode.

Yes, I knew Kenneth Mars was in Fragments (another episode I liked), but I didn't know the (annoyingly fake) caretaker was also him.

[ENSHealy]

A couple notes:

There's an error on the Episode Summary from the full show DVD set. It says "Kenneth Mars appears as Henry Ellison." Mr. Mars is, of course, the overacting gardener, and Mr. Ellison is actually played by Jack Hogan.

The scene with the librarian and Thomas' "Why would she think that?": of course, no one has dared speak the obvious here...but perhaps it's a wink and a nod to all the rumors that Tom Selleck...how shall we say it? Bats for the other team, as it were.

Did anyone else notice the very obvious musical reference to the theme from the movie Halloween? During two "suspenseful" scenes at the Clifford estate, the music is a veritable paean to the movie theme. And fitting of course, since this episode first aired October 22, 1981. (One wonders why didn't switch it out with Moscow to Maui and run it on the 29th instead.)

And finally, a question: when Rick and Magnum go to Lisa's house, and Lisa discovers Thomas has found her white flowing gown, Lisa gets angry and tosses them out. Why? It's clear to all she's the one "haunting" the estate, and of course later she admits it. Why not come clean with them now and ask for their assistance in outing Henry? It would seem that Thomas and Rick would be less likely to publicly out her as the ghost (thereby ruining her whole effort) if she took them into her confidence. Especially since the next thing that happens is that Henry Ellison comes after her. Seems like she wouldn't mind a little protection at that point. Not a big deal, but it never seemed to fit to me.

All in all though, a great episode.