Try to Remember (2.15)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the second season

Moderator: Styles Bitchley

How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
6
6%
9.5 (One of the Best)
13
12%
9.0 (Excellent)
30
28%
8.5 (Very Good)
32
30%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
19
18%
7.5 (Decent)
3
3%
7.0 (Average at Best)
1
1%
6.5 (Not So Good)
1
1%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
0
No votes
5.0 (Just Awful)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 106

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Carol the Dabbler
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#11 Post by Carol the Dabbler »

Carol the Dabbler wrote:... suppose that his mother's name is Martha Katherine, and everyone calls her Katherine. .... But in this situation, he's so spacey that he gives a very literal answer -- because legally, her name *is* Martha.
Carmen wrote:... but maybe Tom Selleck just said "Martha" cause that`s his mothers name and nobody seemed to have a second thought about a name for Magnums Mom.
What you say makes perfect sense from a real-world point of view, Carmen, and is probably the actual explanation!

But I enjoy figuring out ways to explain apparent flubs in terms of the "Magnum universe" -- that is, so that things would make sense to the characters (rather than the actors). Call it my hobby!
Carol

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Carmen
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#12 Post by Carmen »

Carol, I know what you mean - sometimes I see it way too real :lol:
Maybe cause I am annoyed by the carelessness of the writers or producers with details like that. We, fans wouldn`t do that - a name is a name and a date of birth can`t differ from time to time - on the other hand - that´s only for men`s birthdays :wink:
Sometimes I get so lucky, even I don`t believe it (TSM)

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#13 Post by A P Leyland »

Brilliant beginning to this episode. At first we are led to believe this will be this week's excuse to involve Magnum in a case but then we see the Ferrari at the bottom of the cliff...

The Amnesia is handled well with Magnum never actually having it being an interesting plot twist but it's the character work that shines. Higgins and TC's concern for TM, the magnificent introduction of Lt Tanaka and Higgins hypnotising Magnum and blackmailing him at the end is wonderful. Stuff like this is why I still enjoy this show 25 years later.

Andy

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J.J. Walters
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#14 Post by J.J. Walters »

Yeah, this is a really good episode. It's become one of my favorite "early season" episodes. Tanaka is such a great character; the japanese "Columbo" (by way of Hawaii).

Some odd things happen in this episode if you look closely (thanks to "J.G." for pointing these out)....

In the previous episode "Computer Date", we briefly meet Higgins' old flame Lady Ashley and her "traveling companion" Paolo. Paolo is wearing a gold necklace with a large pendant. Well, in this episode, Higgins now has that exact same necklace, which he uses to hypnotize Magnum!

Image

The "Lady Ashley" from "Computer Date" (referred to by Higgins as "Penelope") is never seen again, neither is Paolo. A different "Lady Ashley" will appear in "Echoes of the Mind" (referred to by Higgins as "Elizabeth"). Higgins, what did you do!!? How did you get Paolo's gold necklace?? Is this why you were smiling and smoking a cigarette when you met the two at the estate?? :)

Secondly, a mysterious white Ford Torino station wagon seems to be following Magnum around in this episode, with no connection to the plot. It's at the scene of Magnum's car crash. It's at the Crouching Lion Inn. It's at the "Haloka Antiques" shop. And one other place, I believe. Pretty funny.

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Image

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Notice TM's parking job. Plenty of spaces, yet he parks on the front lawn! Typical. :)
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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Jay-Firestorm
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#15 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

A very good episode this one, although I had a hard time deciding exactly what rating to give. I feel asleep while watching this on DVD last night (I know, how can you fall asleep during MPI!) and dreamed about it all night.

[rating=9]

Late one night, Magnum is found badly injured after seemingly crashing the Ferrari over a cliff. Suffering amnesia, he soon finds himself prime suspect for a murder, and struggles to remember what happened on that fateful evening. A very good if over-talky episode…

-----

This review contains spoilers.

This episode opens with an emergency crew rushing to a call out; When the camera pans on to the wrecked Ferrari, it is a startling and almost haunting moment. What on Earth had happened to Magnum, how did he end up like this? It is the start of an intriguing story.

The episode marks the first appearance of two characters that would become recurring. Glenn Cannon (who played another doctor in the first season’s ‘Never Again… Never Again’) plays Doc Ibold, and, more prominently, Kwan Hi Lim makes his first of a number of appearances as the dishevelled but strangely likable Lt. Tanaka.
Tanaka is a great character, and I’m surprised they didn’t spin him off into his own special of something.
(Oh, and one other ‘character’ makes his first appearance – Magnum’s rubber chicken, which will appear in many future episodes!!)

There are several contradictions in this story. When asked his mother’s name, Magnum says it is ‘Martha’ (Tom Selleck’s mother’s name), whereas later in the series it would be Katherine. Also, he gives his birthday as 8th August 1944 – previously in the season in ‘Memories Are Forever’, his driving license showed it to be 5th January 1946. I prefer the 5th January one as this is also my birthday – but either way, maybe he get these facts wrong as he was so concussed.

I was surprised that T.C. and Rick weren’t around more in this episode to help the badly injured Magnum on his quest to find out what had happened on that evening; but I suppose this was Magnum’s story and the writers didn’t feel that they were necessary.

Either way, the episode has some really nice Magnum / Higgins moments, some of the best of the season. As much as he tries to make out otherwise, Higgins really cares for Magnum.

With such a relatively small cast, it is quite easy to guess who the true villains of the piece are – the couple who had hired Magnum, and had cooked for him on that fateful night. The plot could have done with a few more red herrings, but I like the climatic scene where Magnum ‘poisons’ the pair to force them into confessing!

I’m not sure how to rate this episode. It is a very good one, with a terrific premise, but at the same time I do find it very slightly ‘padded’ and over-wordy in places. I’ll give it a reasonable but not quite perfect 9 out of 10.

-----

Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* Higgins’ cigarette count (see previous episode thread): Higgins asks Rick for a cigarette at the hospital, although we don’t actually see him smoking it (Just noticed Doc Ibold added this on the ‘Computer Date’ thread also)

* Nitpick: Badly injured and suffering concussion, would Magnum really be allowed to drive so soon after the accident?

* Higgins performs hypnosis for the second time in the series, after the first season’s ‘Missing In Action’.

* When this episode was shown on Channel 5 in the U.K. in 2002, there was a transmission problem and many areas (including mine) had a blank picture for quite a few minutes, missing a big chunk of the story. 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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#16 Post by MACattack »

I'm pretty sure Magnum's real birthdate revolves around the year 1945, as that's the year Tom Selleck was born.

Also, I was watching an episode of 'Knight Rider' and couldn't help noticing that KITT car's voice sounded alot like the voice of the actor who plays Doc Ibold on MPI. Hmmm...... very interesting
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robspace54
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#17 Post by robspace54 »

I watched this episode last night and enjoyed it. I have no memory od seeing it in 1982, but is was a long time ago.

I liked the subtle clue in the car which set TM on the right path.

Rob
Sometimes I get so lucky, even I don`t believe it.

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zebra3
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#18 Post by zebra3 »

What an amazing episode. I didn't see the amnesia turning out to be a roofie at ALL. I thought it was well done, and contrary to many amnesia stories, plays well. Especially considering there was very little light-hearted banter between the guys in this one.
"Burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me."

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MaiTaiMan
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#19 Post by MaiTaiMan »

This is one of my all-time favorites!! I love the beginning, where you see Magnum and the Ferrari have gone over the cliff...it immediately starts off with suspense and instantly captivates you to find out why and what happened!

Superb plot, with Magnum being more helpless (which is something you hardly ever see) but he's determined to find out what happened anyway. Much more emotion and seriousness than usual too...but it's done in a fascinating and mesmerizing way.

This is also Lt. Yoshi Tanaka's first appearance, and I love him! :) He's cool and really laid back...but intelligent at the same time! He's not a moronic "hot-head" like most other TV homicide cops on p.i. shows. Tanaka also always liked Magnum, and even though he "teased" him a lot, he respected Magnum and most of the time treated him as such.

Awesome episode and I rated it a 10! :D
"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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#20 Post by grambax »

A very good episode indeed.

I really liked the false amnesia angle. My only real criticism is that I agree with Carol the Dabbler; the villains really do pose no surprise, they are so obviously suspicious.

But great moments between Magnum and Higgins, an interesting twist, and the introduction of Tanaka.

I gave this an 8.5; could have been even higher with any other posibilities as suspects, although perhaps I'm asking just too much of an under 50 minutes show.

A couple of points no one seems to have mentioned -

Structuraly, for me, this episode more than any other bares distinct similarities to the intended final episode, Limbo,

and probably purely coincidental, but the prominent repeated reference to "The Tigers" plus the introduction of the character of Tanaka can't help but remind me of a prominent character in the James Bond book and film "You Only Live Twice", where Bond's ally, head of the Japanese Secret service and ex-kamikazi pilot is "Tiger" Tanaka.

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#21 Post by Frodoleader »

Back in the '80's when I went through a period of being unemployed and going to school, I occasionaly watched some soap operas. Nancy Grahn played in a few of them and I always kind of liked her.
Maybe this is something only I would notice, but Nancy Grahn looks a bit like Jill Wagner, the Mercury car spokesperson and Wipeout host (for now). Maybe someone can do a side by side photo comparison?
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#22 Post by Croix de Lorraine »

One of my favorites in the whole run of the show. When you see the Ferrari totalled and Magnum badly injured you know you're up to something special. I like episodes like this one where Magnum's private and professional lives get entangled.

It also features the first appearance by the annoying yet lovable Lt. Tanaka. Some have rightly pointed Colombo's influence on the character, but I think he also owes a lot to Captain Renault from Casablanca. You can say he's Renault to TS's Rick.

I find it a bit silly how easily TS convinces Higgins to let him drive by saying "What would Robin think if he found out you forced one of his guests to hitch-hike", or something to that efect. Well, what would he think if he knew he let one of his guests drive while crippled? And anyway asa a last resort he could have driven TS around.

One of my favorite comedy moments comes during the hypnosis scene, when Higgins redirects the conversation to the stolen bottle of wine, taking advantage of TS's state.

Is it me or there's a pattern with milquetoast elbow-patch wearing professoral type husbands turning out to be murderers (see Ted Danson in season 1)? Maybe someone like that stole Bellisario's woman in real life? :D

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#23 Post by Visiting Stewardess »

This is a 9.5 for me.

I loved the opening scene with Magnum in the wrecked Ferrari. This builds up the suspense from the first 30 seconds.

Interesting how TC stopped Rick from smoking in the hospital at a time when it was still quite normal in real life for people to smoke, especially in situations like that. Unbelievable these days that smoking wasn't always prohibited in hospitals.

Unfortunately the Gilberts were just too obviously guilty to rate this a 10 from the moment they turned up at the hospital. In the later dinner scene noticed straight away that they never drank the wine (schooled MPI eye) and then got the confirmation for what I assumed all along.

What I find strange is that he was out of hospital the next day after the accident. Considering he was in a coma and had some serious injuries... ok, it's Hollywood. But still.

I absolutely loved the way Higgins was waiting for him at the door when he came back in the Audi. He had this absolutely worried look on his face when he stepped out of the door. But no... he didn't care! :wink:

Here we see him use his hypnotic skills for the second time. A funny moment (not too many in this rather serious episode) was when Higgy used the hypnotism to find out what Thomas got from the wine cellar.

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#24 Post by Seaver41 »

very good episode. Someone mentioned in the thread about not remembering everything or episodes.....and I can agree. I'm finding some I must not have seen in the early days, but then must have seen in syndication around that same time..........like the season 1 episode with the blinking assasin. Always remembered that part. Same for this episode, I always remembered the hat at the end and was surprised to see Tanaka comes in season 2.

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#25 Post by snp389 »

This is another great episode that continues the reality of veterans suffering PTSD or as it commonly spoken of in the show as 'delayed stress'.

I love the ending with TSM lying in the hammock, and after Lt Tanaka leaves with his 'new' Tigers cap, JQH approaches. "Are you starting some sort of fan club?"
TSM " Why?...Would you like to join?...."

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