Double Jeopardy (2.19)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the second season

Moderator: Styles Bitchley

How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
0
No votes
9.5 (One of the Best)
3
3%
9.0 (Excellent)
7
7%
8.5 (Very Good)
24
25%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
33
34%
7.5 (Decent)
16
16%
7.0 (Average at Best)
6
6%
6.5 (Not So Good)
5
5%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
2
2%
5.0 (Just Awful)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 97

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Jay-Firestorm
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#16 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

Wednesdays review. This ep always felt like it should have been far better than it was IMO.

[rating=6.5]

Magnum returns from a case to find that the Estate is being used the location for a movie. Soon he finds himself collared into being a stunt double, but then one of the actors is shot dead when a prop gun is replaced with a real one. Should be good but just doesn’t work

-----

This review contains spoilers.

This episode should have been a series great, but in my opinion a number of things render it quite weak. I know some probably love this episode, but for me it just didn’t work.

Things start off with some promise, with Magnum being collared into working as a stunt double. This could have been fun, if the episode has been played as a comedy, but instead it tries to be a serious drama, which ends up quite boring in places.

The stars and director of the film feel very stilted and are unengaging, none more so than Dana Wynter as Olivia Ross. She is unconvincing as the huge star that Ross supposedly is, and is one of the key things wrong with this episode.
From the start, I guessed that Ross was behind the fatal shooting, but we still have to churn through the motions for Magnum to deduct that she was behind it.

The episode is also another that desperately could have done with a b-plot, and this is where Rick and T.C. could have been utilised more. Rick is trying to become an actor, much to the distain with T.C., and much more fun could have been had with this.

Not much more to say on this one, other than to say once again that it could have been a really good episode but sadly didn’t come off as such.

-----

Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* Just a small note, but the opening trailer music for this episode is a different edit from standard, and plays on into a different piece.

* One Good Friday in the early 1990s, ITV southern region Meridian broadcast this episode, in a very heavily edited form. It had no trailer, NO opening credits, and the story was cut down in several places. They were the only region to carry this heavily edited version. …Just thought I’d mention it! :)
JAY FIRESTORM

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My A-Team site - http://thea-team.org aiming to be the most detailed A-Team site on the Net - if I ever get around to updating it!!

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J.J. Walters
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#17 Post by J.J. Walters »

Jay-Firestorm wrote: the opening trailer music for this episode is a different edit from standard, and plays on into a different piece.
Nice catch!

Thanks again for all of your great episodes reviews Jay! They are really, really well done. :)
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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Jay-Firestorm
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#18 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

James J. Walters wrote:
Jay-Firestorm wrote: the opening trailer music for this episode is a different edit from standard, and plays on into a different piece.
Nice catch!

Thanks again for all of your great episodes reviews Jay! They are really, really well done. :)
Glad they're appreciated. I can't believe I'm up to the third season already! :)
JAY FIRESTORM

Facebook: Jay Gathergood / Twitter: Jay_Firestorm NEW BLOG: http://thea-teamcaptured.blogspot.com/

My A-Team site - http://thea-team.org aiming to be the most detailed A-Team site on the Net - if I ever get around to updating it!!

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Jaybird
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#19 Post by Jaybird »

Watched this just the other night. It was "pretty good" No complaints, entertaining as expected. Honestly, though, if Olivia really wanted to kill her husband, she could have figured out a better way to go about it.
Another thing, how could TM have any free time? It occurred to me that when the charges were filed and the case against Olivia went to trial, TM would be a major prosecution witness. And, this would be the case in just about all the other episodes. What a horrible fate! I was a technical expert witness in civil case years ago. Drove me crazy! I sat in court for two days just doing nothing. Finally on the 3rd day I got my 5 minutes of expert testimony. Can't see TM going through this torture.

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J.J. Walters
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#20 Post by J.J. Walters »

Another one from Giuseppe...

A boom mic is visible:

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

Kimbosan
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#21 Post by Kimbosan »

Hi Guys,
Yes the taxi is going the wrong direction but amazingly it turns up at the estate travelling the right way…


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#22 Post by Tuan Vu »

This episode was just okay. But it was so eerie how the shooting incident resembled what happened to Brandon Lee, Bruce Lee's son, in real life about 11 years later, on the set of his movie, where he was shot and killed by a prop gun.

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Steve
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#23 Post by Steve »

Perhaps I have a thing for Femme fatales, maybe it's a thing for middle aged women that speak the proper King's english, or maybe I am just getting older but, I find Dana Wynter extremely sexy in this episode. When she and Magnum are on the couch reading lines I sense as much chemistry as when J. Digger Doyle was on the same couch. Oh, the stories that couch could tell!

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#24 Post by AmandaByNight »

Steve wrote:Perhaps I have a thing for Femme fatales, maybe it's a thing for middle aged women that speak the proper King's english, or maybe I am just getting older but, I find Dana Wynter extremely sexy in this episode. When she and Magnum are on the couch reading lines I sense as much chemistry as when J. Digger Doyle was on the same couch. Oh, the stories that couch could tell!
I think your taste is just getting better!

Dana Wynter is one of those women who I fell in love with as an adult. I would watch her on Magnum and Love Boat and she's so damned refined and elegant. When I first saw this episode, I am sure I didn't give her an extra thought because she seemed so much older. Now I want to be her!

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MaiTaiMan
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#25 Post by MaiTaiMan »

I really like this episode! It has an awesome plot and performances by everyone! Dana Wynter, as always, was superb!

Even though the ending was kind of predictable about half way through, it still was captivating to watch it unfold...and how Magnum came to realize that one of his childhood idols was really made of wood...not gold. :P

But, I also like this episode because I can relate to Magnum in this one. Even though I do like several actresses the same age as I am, or thereabouts, I also like several that are older than I am--one even old enough to be my grandma! LOL! :lol: That's legendary actress Lauren Bacall, by the way. But, I love all the Angels (from "Charlie's Angels"), Lynda Carter, Mitzi Kapture (from "Silk Stalkings"), etc... I would love a chance to meet any of these actresses, and to be able to actually work with them on a movie would be a dream come true! :o

Anyway, excellent episode and one I enjoy watching from season 2! :)
"It was more ironic than a Robin Masters novel--she thought he was dead, he thought she was dead...and only the chauffeur knew the truth! He should have been the butler!" "Lest We Forget"

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#26 Post by grambax »

A pretty decent episode. It has some fun with the filming aspects (perhaps not quite as much as it could have), its nice to see the cre and equipment, and the double bluff twist is just enough to hold the attention. And Tanaka is really could here. The romance/attraction between Magnum and Olivia seemed a bit over-played though. It dragged a little and we just get too many doomed/tragic romances. They are far more effective if used spairingly, and this is the second episode in a row where a woman manipulates Magnum's affections.

A small gripe - there didn't appear to be any camera in a position to film the crucial "film within film" closeup, and even if there was, why would it be filming such a thing? The scene contained no dramatic pulling of the pistol so it seems highly unlikely that such a shot would be covered. Watching the dalies on video doesn't seem quite right to me either, although what do I know? And anyway, it was quicker, and cheaper to film, than I believe the real procedure for watching dailies would have been.

Incidentally, Charlton Heston in his Diaries book discusses the difficulty for an actor to play acting badly (if you see what I mean), something everybody pulls off well. I liked TC referring to Rick as Mickey Rooney.

And always nice to see the late Barry Nelson, the very first screen James Bond, even if he was American agent "Card Sharp" Jimmy Bond!

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#27 Post by Croix de Lorraine »

grambax wrote:It dragged a little and we just get too many doomed/tragic romances. They are far more effective if used spairingly, and this is the second episode in a row where a woman manipulates Magnum's affections.
Don't know about that - women manipulate my affections on a daily basis... :)

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Mark R.Y.
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#28 Post by Mark R.Y. »

J.J. Walters wrote:Another one from Giuseppe...

A boom mic is visible:

Image
This is interesting. Is this screen grab from a televised version? The mic-in-shot is nowhere to be found during this scene on the DVD. Was it digitally erased?

Seaver41
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#29 Post by Seaver41 »

decent idea......sloppily done.

The guy playing Jack goes back to the movie Midway......he and Tom shared a scene or two on Wake Island......so i wonder if this guest spot was a bone thrown his way.

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snp389
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#30 Post by snp389 »

I reckon they all would've had fun making this episode.

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