The Look (4.9)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fourth season

Moderator: Styles Bitchley

How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
0
No votes
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)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 89

Message
Author
User avatar
Mark R.Y.
Captain
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:16 am
Location: Seattle

#41 Post by Mark R.Y. »

There's a nifty clever bit in this compelling episode which I don't think has yet been noted here: The song that is playing right before Magnum recognizes Holly's dedication from a day or two ago (and thus clues him in that she is not there live) is..."She's Not There"! :wink:

User avatar
J.J. Walters
Founding Father
Posts: 4196
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:54 pm
Location: Suburbia, USA
Contact:

#42 Post by J.J. Walters »

Mark R.Y. wrote:There's a nifty clever bit in this compelling episode which I don't think has yet been noted here: The song that is playing right before Magnum recognizes Holly's dedication from a day or two ago (and thus clues him in that she is not there live) is..."She's Not There"! :wink:
Oh, wow! I never noticed that before! Very clever indeed!

Great song, too. I've always loved The Zombies. Odessey and Oracle is still one of my favorites albums ever.
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

Seaver41
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 388
Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2008 4:46 pm

#43 Post by Seaver41 »

rated this average. Nothing terribly compelling about the episode. It reminded me too much of the earlier episode with Marcia Strassman who was a nurse they knew in Vietnam...........they held a similar kind of reverence for her. The climax takes place on a peak and of course the female lead is troubled. Sure some details are obviously different, but this was kind of formulaic to me.

User avatar
snp389
Captain
Posts: 57
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 11:02 am
Location: Australia

#44 Post by snp389 »

I like this episode. I love the whole business with JQH's birthday, and his attempts to find out what the construction really was.
The moment when TSM brings JQH out for the birthday announcement, we see TC's 500D hovering down with the huge sign attached to the skid with "Happy Birthday Higgy Baby" is a classic.

The end scene with TSM and Holly is a nice one too. Shows the effect of war and combat can have far reaching effects to many, not just military.

Croix de Lorraine
Admiral
Posts: 195
Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2011 6:49 pm

Re:

#45 Post by Croix de Lorraine »

[quote="burny"] not hugely fascinating....but, having coincidentally watched the 2 episodes
within the same few days....

the pretty brunette mag mistakes for holly fox when he initially visits the
station (i think her character name is Lori) was also the dancer Kendall
Chases's dressing room "roomate" in the "Sixth Position"....she discovers
the men in Kendall's dressing room.[/quote]


That's really frustrating, because she's one of the most fascinatingly beautiful actresses on the show but you never get to see much of her.

In "The Sixth Position" when she enters the dressing room and screams you think she's going to be the ballerina in distress, only to found out it's actually Andrea Marcovici.

Here in "The Look" you think she's going to be Holly but the find out Holly is actually a plain Jane with a poodle perm and the brunette is never to be seen again.

User avatar
charybdis1966
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 284
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 11:56 am
Location: Buckinghamshire, England
Contact:

Re: The Look (4.9)

#46 Post by charybdis1966 »

I watched this one today and rated it pretty good, mainly for the twist of Holly turning her gun on the supposed villan of the show - I didn't see that coming.

I also noticed something that really dated the episode, a picture of Boy George in the corridoor of the radio station. Being a teenager in the 80's boy George was one of the mainstream music medias darlings who I absolutely couldn't stand, and seeing his mug staring over Holly's shoulder made me shudder.

marlboro
Baron Of GIFs
Posts: 655
Joined: Mon Oct 28, 2013 2:31 pm

Re: The Look (4.9)

#47 Post by marlboro »

I liked this episode quite a bit. Probably my favorite since the season opener. I thought the plot was very good; I didn't see the twist coming at all.

The only slight complaint I have about the story is the huge coincidence of the psychotic kid choosing that particular moment to strike. It reminds me of the red herring in "One More Summer" involving the sniper. It's so improbable that it seems like the writers are cheating.

It was also nice to see Gretchen Corbett again. I think she was criminally underdeveloped on the Rockford Files (as was most of the other supporting cast). It was nice to see her play a part that gave her a little more range.

Random shot of Gretchen on Wonder Woman:

Image

User avatar
Milton Collins
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 262
Joined: Mon May 19, 2014 8:16 pm

Re: The Look (4.9)

#48 Post by Milton Collins »

I hadn't seen this one in quite some time and liked it! Anyone remember Holly "fox" from season ones "Curse of the King Kemehameha Club" where she was the reporter who kept grilling Magnum? Love the emphasis on their time in Vietnam and TC's speech to Maggie about what Holly meant to all of them during battle came off very well. And Higgins birthday bash was great!! Only to find out that it wasn't really his birthday and Robin had screwed it all up, hilarious

User avatar
Little Garwood
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 1261
Joined: Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:53 pm
Location: The Magnumverse

Re: The Look (4.9)

#49 Post by Little Garwood »

Wow, over two years since anyone commented on The Look! :shock:

This is an episode I vividly remember seeing the night of its first airing. I was already interested in pop music oldies, and The Look features several songs performed by what I call the "Universal Studios House Band." Most people dislike these cover versions of 1960s pop songs, but I've always found them charming. :D I sought out the original versions of those '60s songs after hearing them in The Look.

I also liked the refreshing, non-traumatic take on our guys' remembrance of Vietnam though Holly Hudson was certainly traumatized by Don Cassidy leaving her at the altar all those years ago. It's the best performance I've ever seen from Gretchen Corbett, even with that dreadful '80s perm, which I hope was intentional, given that she is supposed to be unglamorous compared to her sultry radio voice.

As for the subplot, it's amusing how Higgins gives Thomas a rather long list of English "comfort products" so that he may properly fight off his nagging cold.

The Look, despite my "Excellent" rating, is an episode that did not make top ten Magnum episode, but it along with several other episodes, is a "nearly top ten" of all time episode.
"Popularity is the pocket change of history."

~Tom Selleck

User avatar
Little Garwood
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 1261
Joined: Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:53 pm
Location: The Magnumverse

Re: The Look (4.9)

#50 Post by Little Garwood »

I thought Gretchen Corbett's permed hairdo in The Look was supposed to be a way of deglamorizing her Holly Fox/Hudson character in order to disappoint her many Vietnam-era listeners, but Corbett sports the same kinky-curly hairdo in the Simon & Simon season five episode Burden of the Beast, which aired October 3 1985, over a year after The Look, which means that doing that to her hair was intentional.

*Sigh* The Eighties. :roll: :lol:
"Popularity is the pocket change of history."

~Tom Selleck

thechickinthemiddle
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 215
Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2016 3:38 am

Re: The Look (4.9)

#51 Post by thechickinthemiddle »

That's unfortunate. :lol: Everyone and their sister flirted with perms in the 80s!

Though perhaps Gretchen's didn't last a lot longer, as by her Murder, She Wrote appearance she seemed to revert back to her natural "Beth Davenport" hair.

Image

User avatar
Little Garwood
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 1261
Joined: Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:53 pm
Location: The Magnumverse

Re: The Look (4.9)

#52 Post by Little Garwood »

Seeking to escape the inevitable sadness of watching Home from the Sea, I instead put on The Look, which I mistakenly believed would provide some humorous value (Holly's hair, e.g.)

Instead, I felt nearly as down after having watched The Look:

I liked that the story tricked the viewer into believing Holly was searching for her lost love, when in fact she was just fomenting a vengeance plot for twelve years. Holly became consumed with hatred, yet in a sick and twisted way still wanted an idyllic wedding, except she was going to go through with it via a murder-suicide (aka a "Cuban Divorce") with nasty Don.

The scene at KTDE--anyone else hear that eerie buzzing outside the radio station?--with Holly Hudson seething with white-hot rage ("Do You know how humiliating that was?!?") at her weasily loser of an ex-fiance, the rubbery-faced Don Cassidy (Stephen Young).

It was surprisingly effective when the Universal House Band's rendition of The Beatles' "Yesterday" plays over the freeze frame at episode's end. Holly Hudson, too, "longs for yesterday." Depressing, really. Only the thought of Holly's perm prevents the viewer from wallowing in a total, abyss-like depression.
"Popularity is the pocket change of history."

~Tom Selleck

User avatar
K Hale
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 1117
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2018 6:52 pm

Re: The Look (4.9)

#53 Post by K Hale »

It's a downer for sure. I only like it for the gradual buildup where more and more gets revealed about what Magnum is building, as we are gradually let in on the secret of Higgins' unbirthday party.
I didn't realize you were so addicted to pool.
It's not pool.
Billiards.
Snooker!
Snucker.
SNOOKER!

User avatar
Little Garwood
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 1261
Joined: Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:53 pm
Location: The Magnumverse

Re: The Look (4.9)

#54 Post by Little Garwood »

K Hale wrote:It's a downer for sure. I only like it for the gradual buildup where more and more gets revealed about what Magnum is building, as we are gradually let in on the secret of Higgins' unbirthday party.
I also enjoyed the scene in the guest house when the guys and Holly are laughing over Holly's amusing 'Nam-era reminiscences.

After all these years and multiple viewings, I don't know how I missed TM's breaking the fourth wall and smile after Higgins incorrectly guessed what Magnum was building. :oops:
"Popularity is the pocket change of history."

~Tom Selleck

User avatar
K Hale
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 1117
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2018 6:52 pm

Re: The Look (4.9)

#55 Post by K Hale »

Little Garwood wrote:
K Hale wrote:It's a downer for sure. I only like it for the gradual buildup where more and more gets revealed about what Magnum is building, as we are gradually let in on the secret of Higgins' unbirthday party.
I also enjoyed the scene in the guest house when the guys and Holly are laughing over Holly's amusing 'Nam-era reminiscences.

After all these years and multiple viewings, I don't know how I missed TM's breaking the fourth wall and smile after Higgins incorrectly guessed what Magnum was building. :oops:
The Irrawaddy Bridge. And then the Mag grins slyly at us. LOL
I didn't realize you were so addicted to pool.
It's not pool.
Billiards.
Snooker!
Snucker.
SNOOKER!

Post Reply