Black on White (3.6)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the third season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
22
16%
9.5 (One of the Best)
35
26%
9.0 (Excellent)
34
25%
8.5 (Very Good)
20
15%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
9
7%
7.5 (Decent)
6
4%
7.0 (Average at Best)
3
2%
6.5 (Not So Good)
2
1%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
2
1%
5.0 (Just Awful)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 134

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Italian Ice
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#21 Post by Italian Ice »

For some reason I have the urge to play Pac Man, I don't care who gets mad at the noises that game makes. I used to have the Frogger game like that...
Higgins: " Dispatch the pig!!! "

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Autumn Warrior
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#22 Post by Autumn Warrior »

I just watched this episode. I think it’s excellent. It has most of the features I enjoy about MPI (good plot, relationships, humor, Higgins’ history, scenery, etc.)

It’s a minor detail, but the title seems a little strange. I assume that it refers to race. If so, the purpose was to mislead viewers. That is, the story line had us believe that a Mau Mau (black) was after the Brits (white). The title helped set us up for that distortion.

Is there more to the title than that?
TM: Well, it's not that we're old; it's just that we're not young anymore.

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SelleckLover
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#23 Post by SelleckLover »

Autumn Warrior wrote:
Is there more to the title than that?
Perhaps knowing a little history will help explain the title. The Mau Mau Uprising of 1952 to 1960 was an insurgency by Kenyan rebels against the British colonialist rule. The core of the resistance was formed by members of the Kikuyu ethnic group, along with smaller numbers of Embu and Meru. The uprising failed militarily, though it may have hastened Kenyan independence. It created a rift between the white colonial community in Kenya and the Home Office in London that set the stage for Kenyan independence in 1963. It is sometimes called the Mau Mau Rebellion or the Mau Mau Revolt, and, in official documents, the Kenya Emergency.

I obtained the above information on Wikipedia. :D

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Tom_Magnum
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#24 Post by Tom_Magnum »

I loved this episode! Storyline, Magnum + Higgins relationship, and Pac-Man music! Great ep.

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Autumn Warrior
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#25 Post by Autumn Warrior »

SelleckLover, thank you for the brief history of the Mau Mau Uprising. I intended to look into it, but you saved me the trouble. Unlike my “namesake”, I wasn’t there. :)

Do you agree with my conclusion that the title is an attempt to mislead viewers about the situation in 1982 (i.e., three former British soldiers have been killed by methods reminiscent of the Mau Maus)? As it turns out, it was not black on white, it was white on white.[/i]
TM: Well, it's not that we're old; it's just that we're not young anymore.

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Rutledal
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#26 Post by Rutledal »

Carmen wrote:watched this one again last night and my husband noticed 2 "maybe-flubs" 1. Where did Higgins get that black tuxedo. He was dressed different when running into the guesthouse and wasn`t allowed to go out again, cause of the Quarantine sign.
Couldn't he just had Rick deliver it to him?

Also for your Higgins' Timeline. In this episode Higgins states that he was in the army for 37 years, since it's established in "The Case of the Red Faced Thespian" that he started working at Robin's Nest in 1972 this would meen that he joined the army in 1935, at the age of 17.
So I made a Topic Page about Magnum, P.I. Check it out here.

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Rutledal
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#27 Post by Rutledal »

Also actor Ian McShane was only 11 years old during the Mau Mau Uprising. He is only 3 years older than Tom Selleck, and 4 years younger than Roger E. Mosley.
So I made a Topic Page about Magnum, P.I. Check it out here.

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Jay-Firestorm
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#28 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

Well, my high rating of ‘Past Tense’ certainly split the vote. But that’s one of the qualities of the series IMO – so many different types of stories, to suit all tastes. :) But hopefully we can agree more on this ep – the classic ‘Black on White’.

[rating=10]

Higgins is quarantined in the guest house with Magnum, who has supposedly been exposed to a rare fever. But it is actually a ploy by Magnum to keep Higgins safe from Mau Maus seeking revenge for a massacre on their tribe years before. Another classic…

-----

This review contains spoilers.

‘Black on White’ is another Donald P. Bellisario classic, and one of the best episodes of the third season.

The episode opens with a very stereotypical and very mixed up shot of London. Horse and carts… people in suits smoking pipes… it was way off (I live a few miles from London). But many American shows seem to have such bizarre images of London, that I won’t single this one out too much!

Ian McShane (‘Lovejoy’) returns, after playing another character in the strong first season episode ‘Skin Deep’, and puts in another good performance, although I felt from the beginning that he would turn out to be the villain.

The episode also marks the first appearance of Higgins’ friend Agatha Chumley, played by Gillian Dobb (who had made several small appearances in other episodes previously). The character would reappear many times though the course of the series.

I love the idea of Higgins being quarantined with Magnum. Although it turns out to all be a ploy, Magnum goes out of his way to annoy Higgins as much as possible! …Actually, maybe he HAD to do that, else Higgins really would have been suspicious!!
With Magnum being deliberately slobbish (how can he stay in such good shape eating so much junk food?!), and playing his noisy Pac-Man game, Higgins really has his patience tested. But beyond the comedy, there are some great character moments, and this is a great showcase for both Hillerman and Selleck’s talents.

The only small niggle I have with this episode, is that I wish the whole quarantine ploy could have been kept going a bit longer. The ‘explanation’ scene in the study is slightly over-long, and I would have preferred to have seen the time used to continue the quarantine idea a little longer. But that’s only a small quibble in an otherwise terrific story.

All-in-all, I love this episode, and it is another example of the high quality of the third season.

-----

Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* As mentioned above, the episode opens with a very mixed up image of London. It is nothing like that. Not to mention, that the sound of Big Ben is completely wrong – it is much louder and bolder than the tinny sound we hear in the episode.

* This is the first time in the series that we see Magnum’s gorilla mask. His Pac-Man game will also reappear a couple of times.

* After mentioning one of Magnum’s “tawdry divorce cases” in ‘The Eighth Part of the Village’ a few episodes previously, here Higgins mentions the more commonly used “sordid divorce case” for the first of many times.

* To pick up on the question of how Higgins suddenly was wearing a tuxedo, Doc. Ibold is able to come and go freely, and Rick delivers Magnum’s Pac-Man games from the top of the stairs, so it is quite feasible that one of them brought the tux over. Likewise, it can explain how the contents of the fridge change, as one of them could have bought food and drink more to Higgins’ taste.

* It seems as if Agatha isn’t overly familiar with Magnum in this episode, as when Higgins mentions Magnum, she asks “That sordid man who lives in the guest house? The one who causes all the trouble?”. However, we learn later in the series that Higgins has known Agatha since 1976 (or so; I’m going by memory here). Maybe the reason that we haven’t seen her since the start of the series, and that she doesn’t know Magnum, is that she knew Higgins from ’76, but left the area for a while, hence her not being seen previously.

* The DVD version of this episode has all of the commercial breaks abridged. It also crashes clumsily into the closing credits.

* When this episode was broadcast by Channel 5 in 2002, they edited out Clutterbuck’s three mentions of the “bloody wog”. I don’t know about in the States, but here in the U.K., wog is very offensive to black people, as bad as the n-word. Thankfully, it’s use seems to have faded somewhat in recent years.
5 also edited one of Clutterbuck’s flashbacks at the climax – shots of him struggling with the Mau Mau woman on the ground, supposedly to try and rape her, were removed (even though a similar shot was left in at the start of the episode), and a shot of the child picking up a machete was also removed – even though moments later he / she is seen running towards Clutterbuck brandishing it, before he shoots them.

* My favourite dialogue from this episode, as Higgins gives Rick instructions of how to prepare the lads’ steak:
Rick (over tannoy): “Tough.”
Higgins: “What?”
Rick: “Umm… that was Zeus, he said “ruff”.”
Higgins (to self): “Didn’t sound like Zeus. More like Apollo.”
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wilko
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#29 Post by wilko »

Are the contents of the fridge and the tuxedo really flubs (??) since they can be explained by Higgin's dialogue.

When Higgins comments about the contents of Magnum's fridge not being suitable for his palate he notes that the monthly shopping has already been done for the main house and he will arrange with Doc Ibold to have stuff sent...........and then he is interrupted.

It is logical to assume that since he was now in quarantine for 7 days in the guest house that he would ask Doc Ibold (who was previously exposed to the fever) to bring him various items from the main house.........such as personal toiletries, food, clothes, etc.

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lutherhgillis
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#30 Post by lutherhgillis »

VM02 wrote, "When Clutterbuck arrived at the estate to tell Magnum that Higgins life was in danger, (A scene we have described, but don't see) How did he get his spear in? Did he have a really long guitar case with him? Theres a good chance Magnum or Rick helped him with his luggage. Did they not notice a 6' long tubular package and ask "What is this?"

Good question. Also, how did he get the spear onboard the plane from London?

Good episode however. I enjoy this one each time I watch it.

Flub Spot: Notice how when Magnum looks out of his bedroom window to talk to Clutterbuck and Rick that he is looking across the broadside of the property. Compare this to the Distant Relative episode when TM looks out of the same window and sees Higgins near the seawall on the backside of the main house.
Who's Dot Matrix, and what has she got to do with this?

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Doc Ibold
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#31 Post by Doc Ibold »

lutherhgillis wrote:VM02 wrote, "When Clutterbuck arrived at the estate to tell Magnum that Higgins life was in danger, (A scene we have described, but don't see) How did he get his spear in? Did he have a really long guitar case with him? Theres a good chance Magnum or Rick helped him with his luggage. Did they not notice a 6' long tubular package and ask "What is this?"

Good question. Also, how did he get the spear onboard the plane from London?

Good episode however. I enjoy this one each time I watch it.

Flub Spot: Notice how when Magnum looks out of his bedroom window to talk to Clutterbuck and Rick that he is looking across the broadside of the property. Compare this to the Distant Relative episode when TM looks out of the same window and sees Higgins near the seawall on the backside of the main house.
Myabe the handle unscrews into separate pieces? If he kept it in his suitcase and checked it, could they do anything about it?

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Donuts ensucrats
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#32 Post by Donuts ensucrats »

The end is funny. It seems like Higgins is better in PACMAN than MAGNUM isn't?
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#33 Post by MACattack »

I didn't believe the half baked story about "hemorrhagic fever" for a minute! Still, it was hilarious to see Higgins and Magnum forced to bunk together for a week! I'm sure it was hell.
I just don't give a damn!

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#34 Post by MACattack »

I wonder why Magnum had the munchies throughout this episode. Maybe its because he's always running and surf-skiing.
I just don't give a damn!

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#35 Post by Sam »

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Last edited by Sam on Wed Apr 21, 2010 3:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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