Let the Punishment Fit the Crime (4.17)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fourth season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
3
3%
9.5 (One of the Best)
9
10%
9.0 (Excellent)
15
17%
8.5 (Very Good)
25
29%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
26
30%
7.5 (Decent)
3
3%
7.0 (Average at Best)
3
3%
6.5 (Not So Good)
0
No votes
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
2
2%
5.0 (Just Awful)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 87

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Sisophous
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#31 Post by Sisophous »

Wow, thanks, that 80s music is haunting. I was only age 19 when that song came out. If you hadn't told me that is Kay Lenz I would never have known.

It's kind of odd how they made Kay Lenz out to be a sexual goddess as she entered the 80s. That is not how she came across early in her career. She was portrayed more as cheery and bubbly but not at all a sex symbol at the time. Unlike a Farrah Fawcett who personified the sex symbol of the 70s.

I enjoyed the simple 1973 romantic film Breezy which stars Kay Lenz (age 19 at the time playing the role of a 17 year-old) and William Holden (age 54). It's worth checking out.

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snp389
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#32 Post by snp389 »

Cool episode!!
Very clever plot. The fight scene between TSM and Eric is one of the best in the whole series.

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MagnumILWU
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#33 Post by MagnumILWU »

You do that that the actor who plays Eric, is Robert Mitchum's son Christopher!
"pickled egg please"

Seaver41
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Re: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime (4.17)

#34 Post by Seaver41 »

back to rotation viewing............regarding the whole sniper on the hill and fight........why didn't he go back to the Ferrari? that wasn't written/edited well the fact he walked and hitchhiked. Yeah I get he had the concussion, but even going slow was a better alternative to the one they fed us.

Watching shows from this era and before, you can see the lack of quality control of detail. The internet has led to the improvement of the product over the years........sites like this picking apart flubs/flaws of movies and tv. Also, you would have to include the technological improvements in filming that make scenes easier to edit.

marlboro
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Re: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime (4.17)

#35 Post by marlboro »

Definitively something a bit different this time out. The fourth season seems a little more experimental than the first three.

I agree with the posters above that the explanation as to why magnum coudn't just drive his own car back was poorly handled. A simple line of dialog such as "I could barely see straight, so there was no way I was getting behind the wheel of a Ferrari" would have been sufficient.

The highlight of the episode was the fight scene. Very well done. I am a big fan of the The Wild Wild West television series, and it has spoiled me for exciting fight choreography. This was the best fight scene in Magnum so far. I wonder why there haven't been more? Selleck was clearly athletic enough to pull it off.


Rutledal wrote:Sir Cedric was involved in talks surrounding the, at the time, future exchange of Hong Kong between England and China. Eric and Sally was part of a group who preferably saw that Hong Kong remained under the British crown.
A minor point, but I think the terrorist group actually wanted to make sure the handover took place.


One confusing aspect for me: what the heck did the kid playing on TC's Pop Warner football team have to do with the terrorists? Magnum made a big deal of that clue, but they never explained anything about it at all.

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Pahonu
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Re: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime (4.17)

#36 Post by Pahonu »

marlboro wrote: I am a big fan of the The Wild Wild West television series, and it has spoiled me for exciting fight choreography.
I'm a big fan of The Wild, Wild West also. I have the DVD box set and a good book about the series signed by the author, Susan Kesler. I think it's still available on Amazon. It was written in the 80's. I used to watch the reruns as a kid in the 70's with my father, who was also a big fan.

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Re: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime (4.17)

#37 Post by marlboro »

Pahonu wrote:
marlboro wrote: I am a big fan of the The Wild Wild West television series, and it has spoiled me for exciting fight choreography.
I'm a big fan of The Wild, Wild West also. I have the DVD box set and a good book about the series signed by the author, Susan Kesler. I think it's still available on Amazon. It was written in the 80's. I used to watch the reruns as a kid in the 70's with my father, who was also a big fan.

Yeah, it's a classic alright. I don't think I've ever seen a show as consistently entertaining as the WWW. I, too, grew up watching the show with my father. I own the box set as well, but I've never gotten around to checking out the book. I've heard a lot of good things about it. Maybe I'll order a copy for my old man for Christmas.

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Pahonu
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Re: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime (4.17)

#38 Post by Pahonu »

marlboro wrote:
Pahonu wrote:
marlboro wrote: I am a big fan of the The Wild Wild West television series, and it has spoiled me for exciting fight choreography.
I'm a big fan of The Wild, Wild West also. I have the DVD box set and a good book about the series signed by the author, Susan Kesler. I think it's still available on Amazon. It was written in the 80's. I used to watch the reruns as a kid in the 70's with my father, who was also a big fan.

Yeah, it's a classic alright. I don't think I've ever seen a show as consistently entertaining as the WWW. I, too, grew up watching the show with my father. I own the box set as well, but I've never gotten around to checking out the book. I've heard a lot of good things about it. Maybe I'll order a copy for my old man for Christmas.
He'd definitely enjoy it. The show went through alot of problems early on with multiple producers who didn't understand the premise all to well. And there was the tragic death of the show's creator Michael Garrison.

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Re: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime (4.17)

#39 Post by charybdis1966 »

This was a pretty good episode with yet another twist I didn't quite see coming.

Seeing Agatha get so much more screen time reminded of who I thought she reminded me of but couldn't quite put my finger on who - it's one of the british comedy drag act hinge and bracket: http://www.hingeandbracket-official.co. ... llery.html.

OK, that's a bit cruel but Gillian Dobb does sometimes have the look of a drag act. :o

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Re: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime (4.17)

#40 Post by SignGuyHPW »

I enjoyed this one despite it have a few flaws that left me confused. It was really solid.

I didn't especially like Higgins being on the verge of being outright cruel to the ladies in the production. It seemed out of character for him. They never really explained why security was so important if all they were supposed to be doing was holding a small play starring a retired British military man. If they didn't know he was helping with the peace talks then why was it stressed that security was so important? They never went too far into why Magnum was so interested in the player on TC's team. I sort of took it as that he'd grown up to be one of the guys that attacked him, but they didn't say if it was that or they just knew he'd joined that group or if he'd been killed by that group or how it connected. They also built up Rick's poker game as being a huge deal only to just completely drop it. Rick was in the play rather than hosting this poker game at the club that he'd been planning for weeks.

Overall, it was a great mystery centered episode. Magnum was trying to get the brother out of the cult to return to his family, but the guy wouldn't leave. Then he figured out just in the nick of time that they had somehow known he was in charge of security at the estate and wanted to keep him too occupied to focus on protecting their target. I, also, was wondering about him hitchhiking instead of the driving himself, but he was describing the trouble with his head and was visually injured so I chalked it up to him not being physically able to drive. He was, likely, concussed and if he was feeling the symptoms then he probably was afraid that he'd fall black out while driving. He also complained that his legs felt heavy which would make working the pedals harder. I really liked how it ended up being Higgins and Rick for the closing scene. It gave things a nice change of pace.

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Re: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime (4.17)

#41 Post by Milton Collins »

I LOVE this episode, 9.5!

- Good overall mystery (although a little confusing at times:)) that kept me guessing.

- KAY LENZ WOW!

- Even though it was odd as to why the cult members at the docks made TM jump in the water (rather than just scaring him into driving away and leaving them alone), it was still very funny. And his sharing the story of the childhood bullies was great as always, added a lot of personal touch to the story that made it more realistic.

- The whole 3 little maids act with Higgins as the tyrannical director was good, but it reached a whole new level and became great when Rick and TC got involved. Rick actually joining in and playing one of the maids was hilarious!

- Great fight scene between Magnum and Eric, always like to see TM duke it out with a worthy rival.

I just think this is completely what Magnum is about, mystery, action, awesome estate, pretty girls, and some humor! I completely enjoy this episode every time I watch it.

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#42 Post by thechickinthemiddle »

Rutledal wrote:Sir Cedric was involved in talks surrounding the, at the time, future exchange of Hong Kong between England and China. Eric and Sally was part of a group who preferably saw that Hong Kong remained under the British crown.
I always thought that was a little weird. Not that pro-government or pro-colonialist groups don't exist, but most groups in the news in the 80s were those against the ruling government. Perhaps Eric and Sally had connections and special privileges there that would be taken away once the handover was completed.

That shot near the end with the fan being shot was possibly a hasty reshoot for whatever reason.

Also, I can't think of "Three Little Maids" without the Simpsons driving through cactus country with Sideshow Bob under their car. :lol:
Last edited by thechickinthemiddle on Thu Oct 13, 2016 12:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime (4.17)

#43 Post by thechickinthemiddle »

To add, for those who don't know, Olga Marr (Sylvia) also played Lady Ashley in season two's "Computer Date".

EDIT: Magnum says earlier that the terrorist group "[wants] Britain out [of Hong Kong]", even though the handover talks were going to make that happen anyway. Maybe Britain wasn't leaving fast enough for them. :P Of course Magnum could have meant they wanted Britain out of the talks themselves, but it's not made entirely clear.

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Re: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime (4.17)

#44 Post by KingKC »

This episode befuddles my memory. I can clearly remember Kay Lenz helping Higgins with his production and clearly remember the Three Little Maids routine with Rick involved but the investigative plot of this episode still totally escapes me for some reason. I guess I will just have to wait until another rerun comes on. There are several episodes like this where I get "flashes" of but cannot remember the whole plot. MPI may be the only show where a lot of it is still in my memory some 30+ years later and other shows just don't stick with me. Maybe that is the attraction of MPI.

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Re: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime (4.17)

#45 Post by K Hale »

SignGuyHPW wrote:I didn't especially like Higgins being on the verge of being outright cruel to the ladies in the production. It seemed out of character for him.
He told Agatha he was nervous about getting the play exactly right to impress Sir Cedric. JQH is always at his worst whenever he's nervous about something. Everything has to be JUST SO, nothing can be out of place or unexpected, it all has to be perfectly under his control and the worst side of him comes out! Bernice and Agatha were awesome, and Agatha was doubly awesome for coming to his rescue after he made a sincere apology.
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