The Woman on the Beach (2.3)

[J.J. Walters]

IMDB is often wrong - and trying to get them to correct it is like trying to get Higgins to allow access to the wine celler!

LOL!

For many years the IMDB incorrectly had the Rolling Stones' Ron Wood listed as appearing in four MPI episodes. It was a different "Ron Wood". After several attempts, they finally corrected it.

[Jay-Firestorm]

Another week, another batch of episode reviews. I think this is a very good episode.

[TV.com rating=9.5; Fine example]

Late one night, a down-on-his-luck Rick meets a mysterious, beautiful woman who suddenly vanishes. Magnum is persuaded to investigate, and they find the woman supposedly died in mysterious circumstances 35 years previously. A very good episode…

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This review contains moderate spoilers.

‘The Woman on the Beach’ is a very good second season episode. While I found some of the season’s episodes to be a bit so-so, this one stands out, with an interesting story and being well performed.

This is the first ‘Rick-centric’ story of the series, and Larry Manetti delivers the goods quite well. (Some consider the first season’s ‘The Curse of the King Kamehameha Club’ to be the first Rick-centric story of the series, but personally I don’t, as most of the screen time was given over to Magnum and T.C.).

Early in the story, before Rick finds out that his latest ‘love’ is about to get married, we see an unusual side to Thomas and T.C., as they as they try to persuade Rick to accompany them to a red light bar and ask him what’s wrong with “booze and one-night stands”. This is a side of the characters that we seldom see, as neither of them drinks heavily (in fact, T.C. is teetotal) and generally show more respect for their women-friends.

Judith Chapman gives a great guest performance as Sara / Lisa. Chapman had previously played another eccentric in the first season’s ‘The Black Orchid’, and here again proves that she is great at playing such oddball characters. Sadly, this is the last time she appears in the series; I would have loved for her to turn up as another eccentric later in the show’s run.

In the library when T.M. is doing research, there is a strange moment as the librarian comments that “pretty (women) probably wouldn’t mean anything to you”. Presumably it is where she has been rearranging her hair and clothes during the conversation and he hasn't noticed, but it comes out sounding like she thinks T.M. is gay! Far from it.

Especially considering there is a scant guest cast, the story unfolds well. It takes a little while to really get going, but once it does, it develops into a very interesting tale.

The only character I wasn’t sure about was Kenneth Mars as gardener Josef. He plays the character over-the-top, like an extra from a pantomime. Thankfully, the rest of the episode is strong enough for it to not do any real damage.

The climax of the story is good, although it doesn’t come as a surprise much at all as to who the villain is (especially with such a small guest cast).
The excellent last scene, when Magnum leaves Lisa in the bar, only to see the ghost of Sara on the shore, is the first of a number of occasions in the series when Thomas will encounter the supernatural.

All-in-all, this is a very good episode. Although I didn’t quite realise it when I first watched / recorded it (many years ago now), on hindsight it probably stands out as one of the best of the second season.

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Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* I didn’t pick up on much extra from this story, but the main page for this episode is incorrect. It says that this is the first time Magnum enjoys a cigar in the series, but he had previously been seen with one in the first season’s ‘No Need to Know’.

* Just a small thing, but in the final scene, Rick says to Lisa “You’ve got to stop playing these games”. I wonder if this was an inside nod to Judith Chapman’s previous character in ‘The Black Orchid’?

[Jaybird]

The librarian, Rebecca Clemons, too bad we didn't get to see her in other episodes. That was one hot scene and poor TM, was so clueless. I would have like to see her character appear in other episodes as "The Hot Librarian."

This really was an entertaining episode, verging on classic status. The scene where Rick and TC are digging in the hothouse and get startled by TM certainly is a classic scene.

[308GTS]

Easily one of my favs of any season. I've already mentioned this in another post but the scene with TC and TM laughing at Rick, "when it's right, it's right" is just classic. Plus as others have mentioned, Judith Chapman is simply yummy. Great script, great ending.

10/10

[Higgy_baby]

The librarian, Rebecca Clemons, too bad we didn't get to see her in other episodes. That was one hot scene and poor TM, was so clueless. I would have like to see her character appear in other episodes as "The Hot Librarian."

Well, give TM credit for eyeing her up and down briefly at the end (similar to the Stone shower scene). He did miss most of her show though. I agree she would have been a great recurring character. Instead we got Carol and Agatha. What were they thinking?

[N1095A]

Looks like our old friend Judith Chapman is feeling nostalgic for her time on MPI.

[J.J. Walters]

Instead we got Carol and Agatha. What were they thinking?

Them's fightin' words partner! Tomorrow, town square, high noon... be there!

Looks like our old friend Judith Chapman is feeling nostalgic for her time on MPI.

Wow, that IS odd! It's VERY similar to the outfit she wore in this episode!

[Higgy_baby]

Instead we got Carol and Agatha. What were they thinking?

Them's fightin' words partner! Tomorrow, town square, high noon... be there!

OK James. The series starts off with two awesome Swedish stewardesses who like to skinny dip. We don't even care who played the part or what their names are! The early years are full of hotties such as the librarian mentioned above and Judith Chapman pictured above (man she is well preserved in that recent photo). Once Agatha and Carol show up the babe factor seems to be in decline.

If you really prefer Agatha and Carol to the Swedish tag team and still want to defend their honour, I suppose duty requires that I meet you at high noon tomorrow. Since you challenged, it's my choice of weapon. How about blank fire 9mm Gov't model lookalikes at 20 paces?

[J.J. Walters]

Surely there's room for great characters (Carol, Agatha, etc.) AND hot babes? Kathleen Lloyd fills both of those roles, if you ask me.

Also, I think the later seasons had just as many "beauties" as the early seasons. I offer up the following as evidence - Talia Balsam, Cindy Pickett, Sharon Stone, Jenny Agutter, Marilyn Tokuda, Francesca Annis, Lee Purcell, Candy Clark, Phyllis Davis, Nancy Stafford, Julia Montgomery, Stella Stevens, Dana Delany, Patrice Martinez, Margaret Colin, the "beach bar" extras, and others.

[robspace54]

This is a great episode, and seeing Kenneth Mars as the caretaker was a stitch. He has played many characters on film, including the police chief in "Young Frankenstein" and the off-the-wall playwright in "The Producers" just to mention a couple.

[wilko]

Here's a flub......

Ellison shoots Rick and is in turn shot by Magnum. Magnum goes over to check on Rick. Look closely and you will notice that Rick is lying on what appears to be some sort of carpet that has been placed upside down on the grass. Rick is lying on his back with his right leg pulled up under his left leg so that his right foot is under his left knee. After Magnum makes sure Rick is OK he moves on to check on Ellison. Now Rick is lying on dirt and there are dry brown leaves around him.......no green grass......and his right leg is no longer under his left but instead pointed away.

[zebra3]

The Pittsburgh RTN station played the complete original broadcast version of "The Woman On The Beach" yesterday. It had the opening teaser and the season 2 opening. There were only 3 commercial breaks.

I see that "Vulgarian Visigoth" is a ranking that posters here get after a certain number of posts. That's from this episode.

They never did an official Halloween episode, but in terms of the spirit of what the episode is about, I think this one was the closest. I know that "Of Sound Mind" had a costume party, but storywise, "The Woman On The Beach" is more Halloween themed.

I really love the weather in this episode too. More than any other episdoe, this one does the best job of consistently showing how great the weather in Hawaii is, in every single outside scene. I guess part of that is due to the fact that so many scenes that take place in the garden.

Hey grundle,

It's not necessarily a rank that you can attain through a certain number of posts (technically). When I reached Admiral, and noticed IH's "Master Flub Spotter" rank, I asked how he got it, James got generous, and then all of us Admirals had the choice to get a custom rank. My offbeat sense of humor chose "Vulgarian Visigoth", right after I saw that episode.

I kinda think it fits, given my posting style

I don't see any multi post button so I'll have to split this into two posts.

When exactly do you "hit admiral?"

I have only seen seasons 1-3 so far. Are there any holiday themed episodes at all? Most shows these days happen to be on during holidays and have one every year. The problem is, in re-runs, no one wants to see Christmas happening in the summer. I like what they did with psych, where they have a "Christmas Special" right before Christmas, and before the new season starts.

[zebra3]

One of my favorite episodes.....and Judith Chapman really is a looker!

Boy is(was?) she ever. I gotta admit, there were a couple times while I was watching this episode where my eyes went wide and I forgot how to blink.

I didn't know if I was going to like this one going in, the preview didn't do it justice even though the description on the DVD menu screen sounded intriguing. I can't wait to get to that two-parter coming up in a few episodes. Death be to anyone who ruins what happens in regards to the dead wife plot thing I read about on the preview screen.

[StarchedUndershirts]

I have only seen seasons 1-3 so far. Are there any holiday themed episodes at all? Most shows these days happen to be on during holidays and have one every year. The problem is, in re-runs, no one wants to see Christmas happening in the summer. I like what they did with psych, where they have a "Christmas Special" right before Christmas, and before the new season starts.

Thank Heaven For Little Girls (and big ones too) in Season 1 is a Christmas ep. I know there are others, but that's the only one I can think of.

[grambax]

First, I've got to say that, while I've been aware of this site for a while and consulted it occassionally (and working our way through Magnum chronologically after not seeing it for many years (and my other half seldom having seen it at all) it would have been perfect to be posting here from the start) this is my first post. So, sorry for that, and "Hello All".

Anyway, I liked the enigmatic portrayal of the supernatural here, something that would play an important role in the series later on, but I can only rate this episode an 8.00/8.5. Its very good, but is compromised by the only sense of mystery being the supernatural theme - given that there really is only one suspect, the whodunit aspect doesn't work at all - and by Kenneth Mars' somewhat over the top, and irrelevant, guest spot. I like Mars, but he seems out of place here. His character would have fitted if the story had a slightly more camp or tounge in cheek aspect, but it really doesn't.

I agree with others that the "hot librarian" character would have been good for an occassional guest spot. Her remark about Magnum, to me referring to the fact that he does look somewhat like a sterotypical 70's gay clone, is both funny and unexpected.