The Look (4.9)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fourth season

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10 (Perfect!)
0
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9.5 (One of the Best)
4
4%
9.0 (Excellent)
6
7%
8.5 (Very Good)
27
30%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
22
25%
7.5 (Decent)
16
18%
7.0 (Average at Best)
12
13%
6.5 (Not So Good)
0
No votes
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
1
1%
5.0 (Just Awful)
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Total votes: 89

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J.J. Walters
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The Look (4.9)

#1 Post by J.J. Walters »

This is the official MM thread for The Look (4.9). All discussions and reviews for this episode should go here. If you wish to rate the episode, please do so with the poll. The avg. score will be the official 'community rating', which will be used on the episode page (updated monthly).

This thread is also linked in the episode page of the Episode Guide.


Original Air Date: 12/8/1983
A familiar voice on the radio leads Magnum to Holly Hudson, a popular Saigon disc jockey. Magnum discovers that Holly's been the recent victim of some very vocal death threats, but she's more concerned about the whereabouts of her missing fiance.
Last edited by J.J. Walters on Fri Dec 28, 2007 5:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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eegorr
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#2 Post by eegorr »

I watched this episode again today, recorded on my DVR from WGN when it ran this morning. Interestingly, Maggie Poole does not appear at all in the episode as shown, though T.C. does make mention of the fact that he had been to see her to ask about Don Cassidy. Jean Bruce Scott's name does appear in the leading credits, but, according to IMDB, she was credited as playing the travel agent! That is clearly a mistake -- I submitted a correction to them to change it.

In fact, I believe that the actress who played the travel agent was actually Nevada Woodward. If so, she was incorrectly credited as "Joanie" in the trailing credits. Holly referred to her as her friend "Julie Meade" in dialog and there is no other reference to her name, spoken or written, in the show. This is either a flub in the credits or in Gretchen Corbett's delivery of dialog. Is this how it appears on the DVD version as well?

As for T.C. being a Captain, remember that, unlike Magnum and Rick, he has been in the reserves since he left active duty. In fact, if he was wearing a jacket, it was probably from his reserve uniform. So he may have received promotions to Captain as a reservist.

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#3 Post by IslandHopper »

eegorr wrote:As for T.C. being a Captain, remember that, unlike Magnum and Rick, he has been in the reserves since he left active duty. In fact, if he was wearing a jacket, it was probably from his reserve uniform. So he may have received promotions to Captain as a reservist.
Was TC referred to as a Captain in this episode? I don't recall. :? However, I do recall that when Magnum flashed back to his Vietnam days when he drove up on TC, Rick and Griff, TC's rank was that of a Warrant Officer, which is common for helicopter pilots. Warrant Officers are not actually commissioned officers, but they are specialists in a given field, such has helicopter pilots.

The only other episodes I remember TC wearing a uniform is "Don't Eat The Snow In Hawaii", "Memories Are Forever", Did You See The Sunrise", "The Look", and "Paradise Blues." It will be interesting to see if TC's rank is consistent from episode to episode.
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#4 Post by eegorr »

I was referring to note 4 from the episode guide page:

"When T.C. goes to visit Lt. Maggie Poole, he wears his old Marine jacket which says 'Capt. Theodore Calvin, USMC'. We knew he was in the Marines, but this is the first reference to him being a Captain and contradicts what, ironically, Lt. Maggie Poole says in Did You See the Sunrise? (2) (3.2), where she refers to T.C. as having been a Warrant Officer."

Do you have season 4 on DVD?

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#5 Post by IslandHopper »

Thanks eegorr. Yes, I have season 4 on DVD. I will check that out. I never noticed that before. It will be interesting to see what rank TC was in season 3's Did You See The Sunrise.
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#6 Post by J.J. Walters »

eegorr, you saw the syndicated version of this episode. Syndicated episodes are missing ~ 5 minutes of footage (to increase time for commercials). It appears that the syndicated version of this episode removed the entire scene with T.C. and Maggie.

IslandHopper, In Sunrise, Maggie calls out T.C.'s rank as "Warrant Officer".

Another solid Magnum episode. Rockford Files alum Gretchen Corbett is always great and I love her character in this episode. Lots of great music can be heard in the background. And how about T.C.'s "disappearing sign" magic trick - the birthday sign's on the skid, now it's gone, now it's back! Heh.
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#7 Post by IslandHopper »

James J. Walters wrote: IslandHopper, In Sunrise, Maggie calls out T.C.'s rank as "Warrant Officer".
Thanks James. I recently watched the episode "Did You See The Sunrise" and did notice that Maggie referred to TC as Warrant Officer. However, when TC and Nuzo were driving Rick's Mercedes to commandeer the Marine helicopter, the Marine sentry who stopped the car referred to TC as "Lieutenant Calvin." It is conceivable that TC could have received a commission to Second Lieutenant since leaving Vietnam. If he did receive a commission, then he may have risen to the rank of Captain as depicted in "The Look."

James, do you think the fact that TC is referred to as Warrant Officer and Lieutenant in the same episode qualifies as a flub?
The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)

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#8 Post by Doc Ibold »

Although I don't have final say so, and its James ultimate call I would think it would be.

Maggie is obviously on top of her game, and the sentry was probably familiar with T.C. from him coming and going.

If he didn't know T.C., he probably would have called him "sir" or "lieutanant", instead of adding the surname

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#9 Post by eegorr »

James J. Walters wrote:And how about T.C.'s "disappearing sign" magic trick - the birthday sign's on the skid, now it's gone, now it's back! Heh.
Yeah, I looked out for that after I saw it on your site... they probably used stock footage of the copter flying and completely forgot about the sign!

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#10 Post by eegorr »

IslandHopper wrote:James, do you think the fact that TC is referred to as Warrant Officer and Lieutenant in the same episode qualifies as a flub?
Sorry to butt in here, but I still think it may be a matter of timing... he may have left active duty as a Warrant Officer, but remember that he has been in the reserves since the day he left active duty, unlike Rick and Thomas. He could have received a commission when he entered the reserves, so he might have been a Lieutenant in the reserves at the beginning of season 3 and a Captain by mid-season 4, when this episode came out.

Maggie might be referring to his active duty rank and not his rank in the reserves.

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#11 Post by Doc Ibold »

That's a really good point eegorr!

(Just a question as I am completely unfamiliar with military practices)

Wouldn't the armed forces share records of reservists?

I guess its all a moot point, as it may or may not be a flub.

OR even though it WAS a flub, since we believe so much in the integrity of the writing we think the writers had it all planned out all along.

:lol:

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#12 Post by IslandHopper »

Doc Ibold wrote:Wouldn't the armed forces share records of reservists?
Doc, you are right. TC as a member of the Marine Reserves would be in the same data base as active duty Marines. Like active duty Marines, Reservists also have DD214's and are paid by the Federal Treasury, just like their active duty counterparts.

Although this debate could easily go either way, my instinct is that the dual reference to TC as a Warrant Officer and a Lieutenant is a flub, becasue how did Maggie even know TC was a Warrant Officer in the Marines? I don't know of any social friendship between Maggie and TC, so she must have looked at his DD214, which would include his rank of Warrant Officer (or Lieutenant).

If in fact TC did receive a commission to 2nd Lieutenant, and so on, then that rank would also be included on his DD214. The DD214 is the most important record(s) a member of the military can have. DD214's contain the history of the particular member's service in the military, i.e., rank, pay grade (current and past), medals, ribbons, and other awards received, military schools attended, duty stations, etc. Therefore, if Maggie had access to TC's DD214, she would have known TC's correct rank and presumably would have referred to him as the appropriate rank (warrant officer or Lieutenant).

Anyway, this one is anybody's guess. :?

Regarding the writing of the episodes, there are many instances where the writing has been very inconsistent. In season 6, I believe, there are two episodes which were run very near each other, where in one episode, Higgins is going into a long explanation to Magnum how the Dewey Decimal System is antiquated and useless, and how he devised a better system. In another episode of the same year (Rapture, I think), he yells at Magnum for making a mess of the library and lectures Magnum on the usefullness of the Dewey Decimal System.

Antoher example of inconsistent writing is Magnum's explanation of why he resigned from the Navy. In the Pilot episode, he tells Dan Cook's sister that one day he woke up 33 and realized that he'd never been 23. Well, in "Legacy from a Friend" (season 3), Magnum gives a similar explanation, but says he woke up 32 and realized he'd never been 22. So, it wouldn't surprise me if the writer(s) made a mistake. Since there are different writers writing various episodes, I'm not sure it is even their mistake, it may be more of an editing mistake.
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#13 Post by J.J. Walters »

Wow, interesting discussion!

It's gotta be a flub, and a big one at that. Maggie is all about information and files. The files say T.C. is a "Warrant Officer". T.C. was never a Lieutenant.

Now, back to The Look - His old active duty uniform clearly says "Capt. Theodore Calvin, USMC". He's not a Captain in the reserves. As far as I understand it, it's not very common for a Warrant Officer (and a Huey pilot) to become a commissioned officer (i.e. a Captain). Most Warrant Officers come from senior non-commissioned ranks. So, this is probably a flub, too. But what do I know. ;)
Last edited by J.J. Walters on Fri Jul 06, 2007 1:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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#14 Post by Frodoleader »

The Look, another one of my favorites.

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#15 Post by N1095A »

James J. Walters wrote:Wow, interesting discussion!

It's gotta be a flub, and a big one at that. Maggie is all about information and files. The files say T.C. is a "Warrant Officer". T.C. was never a Lieutenant.

Now, back to The Look - His old active duty uniform clearly says "Capt. Theodore Calvin, USMC". He's not a Captain in the reserves. As far as I understand it, it's not very common for a Warrant Officer (and a Huey pilot) to become a commissioned officer (i.e. a Captain). Most Warrant Officers come from senior non-commissioned ranks. So, this is probably a flub, too. But what do I know. ;)
I'd say it's more plausable for TC to have received a Lieutenant comission than it is to have him rise through the ranks fron 2nd Lt. to Captain in 3 years. Especially for a reservist.
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