Legacy From a Friend (3.19)

[karolis]

* When Magnum is being beaten up by the two women, there are a number of shots where it is clearly Tom Selleck’s stunt double.

Evidence:

Great info Henry! Thanks! I wondered who those others guys were.

That tall guy looks like Selleck's double Tom Lupo (see above):

This is the only episode where TC wears a Penn State visor. I had forgotten all about this and just caught it as I was watching this one today. As someone who grew up in PA and bleeds blue and white, I give it a 10 for this alone!

Evidence:

Magnum is seen driving the Ferrari with the top on, a rare sight!

- from Episode Guide

Evidence:




Coops present: check:




Chronosport Sea Quartz 30:




Season 3 Top up to this episode:

1. Black on White
2-3. Did You See the Sunrise?
4. Flashback
5. Off Sound Mind
6. The Eighth Part of the Village
7. Forty Years From Sand Island
8. Legacy From a Friend
9. The Arrow That is Not Aimed
10. Past Tense
11. Almost Home
12. Heal Thyself
13. Birdman of Budapest
14. Basket Case
15. Ki'i's Don't Lie
16. Mixed Doubles
17. Mr. White Death
18. I Do?
19. Foiled Again

[KingKC]

I caught this episode just by happenstance last night and still was not impressed. Annie Potts really saved this episode if you ask me. But it was still better than either of the first two new Magnum episodes. I clearly noticed how TM's narration really added to the show in comparison to the poor narration from J. Hernandez.

[ENSHealy]

3.19 LEGACY FROM A FRIEND
Famous guest stars: 2 Annie Potts, Sinjin Smith
Hawaiian shirts: 2
Tigers Cap: 1
Island Hopper shirts:
Shirtless: 2
OMG/Extraordinarys:
Higgins Organizations: 1 Aloha Architectural Society
Higgins musings: 1
Negotiations: 1
Body Count:
Bullet wounds:
Little Voice: 2
I know what you’re thinking: 3
When I write HTBAWCPI: 1
Investigator corrections:
4th wall breaks:
Magnumometer: 16
Magnumometer Moments: https://vimeo.com/381731628

Potential magnumania usernames: It’s Not Oliver

Can’t say I’m particularly enamored of this episode. I’m in the group with those who found Annie Potts more annoying than charming, and Sinjin Smith literally drives off after only 4 minutes and is never seen again, so it’s hard to care about his character. Ms. Chase can’t quite pull off "haughty”, and she needs some instruction in how to fake smoking a cigarette. And for some reason, I just can’t buy the two henchwomen, perhaps it’s their pants, which although period authentic, are just ridiculous. Add in a byzantine plot that is almost impenetrable, and it makes for a less than stellar episode.

Even in the biggest Magnum dogs, however, there are always just enough character interactions between the main players to get you through the rough spots, and this episode is no different.

Not sure this rises to flub level, but when looking at the parking stub, Tracy says it is from Rose’s Discount Warehouse, but the sign on the building says Rose’s Cut Rate Warehouse. More to the point, Rose is handing out parking stubs at his warehouse?

Very odd unexplained occurrence: why is Thomas playing with a crossbow?

Is this a stage light in the guest house?

OK, guys, I think I have this plot straight in my head, but please check me out here.

Mrs. Chase just wanted a fling with Marcus, but he got serious about her and figured she'd love him if he was rich, so he started hawking hot goods for Rose. She took him out in her boat to break up with him in private, but he flew off the handle. One way or another (she claims she was defending herself), he ended up drowning. Rose figured this out and blackmailed her. Magnum knew too much, so Rose was going to bump him off, but Tracy the metermaid saved him and cracked the whole case wide open, possibly winning herself a spot on the police force.

Right? Or what?

That's pretty much about it, Carol. A typical case for Magnum, don't you think.

As another magnummaniac pointed out, the blackmailing started over the affair, and Rose is now just continuing it with murder in the mix.

And last but not least, what is the legacy from the friend? Seems like the original title of A Darker Side of Paradise was a better fit, as I am having a hard time picking out what exactly the legacy was supposed to be?

[K Hale]

This isn’t much of an episode but I just wanted to be another vote on the plus side of the Annie Potts ledger. She was fun and hilarious.

[Gearhard]

///T.C. wears a Penn State baseball cap for the first and only time.


Belisario is a Penn State alumnus and has an academic school at the university named after him.  I suspect the Penn State cap is a nod to Belisaro and the Nittany Lions National Championship in college football in January of 1983 (when this episode might have been filmed).

[80s Big Hair]

///T.C. wears a Penn State baseball cap for the first and only time.


Belisario is a Penn State alumnus and has an academic school at the university named after him.  I suspect the Penn State cap is a nod to Belisaro and the Nittany Lions National Championship in college football in January of 1983 (when this episode might have been filmed).

That makes sense. I was wondering why he was wearing it when his character played for Grambling State.

[MandyIsA10]

Ok guys, it’s probably been discussed before...but I will bring it up anyway. I’ve watched all the episodes many times but this one episode I still do not get. How did his friend die? Can someone please elaborate? I just can’t get a grasp on it. Help.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Ok guys, it’s probably been discussed before...but I will bring it up anyway. I’ve watched all the episodes many times but this one episode I still do not get. How did his friend die? Can someone please elaborate? I just can’t get a grasp on it. Help.

Yeah unfortunately I never got it either. Something about them being on the boat together (I think the woman and TM's friend?) and having a fight but then we find out she didn't kill him. It was Rosie, the black dude. So was he on the boat with them? Or did this drowning/killing happen after the boat ride? It's never explained. But then didn't the woman say he fell overboard during their argument? Confusing.

[MandyIsA10]

Thank goodness I am not the only one who does not know what the heck happened. I watched this epitaph many times and still have no idea what happened. I thought even suicide maybe? He couldn’t have the woman so he just ended it???? Lol thanks for replying!

[MandyIsA10]

Oops. Episode not epitaph. My bad.

[Gorilla Mask]

Thank goodness I am not the only one who does not know what the heck happened. I watched this epitaph many times and still have no idea what happened. I thought even suicide maybe? He couldn’t have the woman so he just ended it???? Lol thanks for replying!

In my humble opinion, this is what I thought I understood:

Margaret Chase and Marcus Phillips were lovers. To impress her, Marcus sets up a trafficking/redealing business with Rose. Margaret wants to end the relationship and invites Marcus on her yacht. There, things are less clear: either Marcus and Margaret had a fight and, while defending herself, Margaret hit Marcus (who subsequently fell overboard), or, perhaps drunk and/or angry, he threw himself into the water... This last point is not consistent with the fact that he is a perfect athlete.

In any case, it is on this last point that Rose was blackmailing Mrs. Chase: otherwise, 'her husband would have learned the news in the morning papers'.

It's for this rather shaky scenario that I didn't give this opus a very good grade.

[502-to-right]

My inference is that Marcus committed suicide. He jumped overboard and allowed/forced himself to drown because he was devastated that Margaret didn't want to be with him any longer.

Rose was blackmailing Margaret for the affair, not murder. Even with Marcus dead, news of the affair would still have jeopardized Margaret's marriage.

If Thomas thought that Margaret had killed Marcus he would not have allowed her to go unpunished.

Overall I thought this was a decent episode. Not great, not terrible. I like Annie Potts so her character didn't bother me, in fact I enjoyed it.

Also, with respect to the St. John/Sinjin discussion, I first learned of the British tradition of saying "Sinjin" instead of "St. John" in James Bond - A View to a Kill. Bond (Roger Moore) goes undercover as James St. John Smythe, but he says "Sinjin" when he introduces himself.*

*James Bond is another TV/movie franchise I very much enjoy.

[Pahonu]

A forum member wrote earlier that the St. John/Sinjin pronunciation also seems to apply to St. Clair/Sinclair in Britain. So to add to the complexity, my son had a friend in high school named St. Clare and pronounced it Sinclare (spelling?) and she was female. She told my son that it was from the French pronunciation of an Italian saint, which I think would be more like Sanclare? but closer than the literal English pronunciation would be. I can confirm that there is an Italian saint named Santa Clara, sometimes spelled Santa Clare, from Assisi. It’s also the name of a city in the Silicon Valley taken from the old Spanish Mission established there and named in her honor. So there you go… some English, French, Italian, and a little Spanish. It makes perfect sense now!

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Also, with respect to the St. John/Sinjin discussion, I first learned of the British tradition of saying "Sinjin" instead of "St. John" in James Bond - A View to a Kill. Bond (Roger Moore) goes undercover as James St. John Smythe, but he says "Sinjin" when he introduces himself.*

*James Bond is another TV/movie franchise I very much enjoy.

Yes I recall Bond undercover as James St. John Smythe (of the London Financial Times I believe) in A VIEW TO A KILL. Huge Bond fan here as well, especially of the Cubby Broccoli era (1962-1989) and especially of Connery and Moore. Always loved AVTAK (despite what many think of it) and still consider Christopher Walken's Max Zorin the best Bond villain of them all! And Roger Moore (bless his heart) even when showing his age and being long in the tooth (as he put it) is always such a welcome presence in these films. His playful manner and the way he carried himself is completely lost on today's generation and today's incarnation of 007. It's not even close. Watching the always dour looking Daniel Craig and then switching to Roger Moore is like a breath of fresh air. Same with today's television vs. television from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. That's why we're here on this forum and why we still watch MPI and other 80s favorites.