Torah, Torah, Torah (5.21)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fifth season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
0
No votes
9.5 (One of the Best)
6
10%
9.0 (Excellent)
7
11%
8.5 (Very Good)
10
16%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
13
21%
7.5 (Decent)
11
18%
7.0 (Average at Best)
11
18%
6.5 (Not So Good)
1
2%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
0
No votes
5.0 (Just Awful)
3
5%
 
Total votes: 62

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RamblerReb
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#16 Post by RamblerReb »

Some notes:

The city of Shanghai, where the Torah was buried, was the only city in the world, other than Franco's Spain (whose grandmother was Jewish), unconditionally open to Jewish immigration in the years leading up to WWII. After Japanese occupation, the Nazis pressured the Japanese to exterminate the city's Jewish population, but the Japanese merely placed them in a ghetto. A delegation of Jewish community leaders was summoned by the Japanese military governor, who asked them why the Nazis hated them so much. One of the delegation replied (through a translator) "Tell him it is because we are Orientals." The governor reportedly smiled at this after having been very stern up until this point in the meeting. The meeting is historical, but the reply is probably apocryphal. However, the Jews were never killed or handed over.

Allied bombing raids by the 7th Air Force began on earnest in 1944 and continued right up until the bombing of Hiroshima. Many refugees were killed and wounded in the raids.

The stock footage at the beginning shows B-25 Mitchells bombing Shanghai. This indicates that this is a raid by the 41st Bombardment Group, one of the 7th's units which flew combat operations over China.

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miltontheripper
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#17 Post by miltontheripper »

rubber chicken wrote:You are correct about Mr. Shelby's house Tralfaz, nice find! A few pictures:

The features of the roof can be recognized in google earth here.
Image

And Magnum walked around this area in The Sixth Position. What a place to live.
Image

Good spot on recognizing the house from the previous episode, I noticed it right away as well. And yes, what an awesome place to live!! I really like this episode. The character of the Rabbi Asher Soloman was great! And I loved the back story with him and Higgins. This one had an unusual but good plot, great action, and was very entertaining in my opinion, better than I remembered. I wonder how TC's Bayou Blaster chili turned out lol!

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Doc Fred
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#18 Post by Doc Fred »

I very much enjoyed this episode... What was a major thing to me was a further insight into Higgins and his noble character.

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J.J. Walters
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#19 Post by J.J. Walters »

Spotted another "new" Estate painting. I don't recall seeing this one in any other episode. Anybody recognize this painting?

Image
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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Doc Fred
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#20 Post by Doc Fred »

IslandHopper wrote:
James J. Walters wrote:"There will always be a little piece of Higgins in the Torah".
This episode has one of my favorite scenes of any episode (along with the Magnum/Butler scene in "Compulsion"). I believe it takes place just before Rabbi Solomon says the line quoted above, when the Rabbi is telling Magnum of the first time he actually met Higgins. It was in London and the Rabbi recognized Higgins as the British Sentry who abruptly turned to allow the Rabbi and his friends to escape into the night. They discussed this situation and the strict orders the British soldiers were under not to permit this type of activity. The Rabbi said something like "you disobeyed a direct order" (in allowing the Rabbi and his friends to pass). Higgins replied by saying something like "I was obeying a higher order which doesn't permit me to shoot unarmed refugees looking for a home." That scene gets me every time.
I agree with you totally about that... one of the best lines in the entire series..

We see, once again, that Higgins is most definitely a man of honor.
Woof, woof... thirty years uglier!... woof, woof...

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Doc Fred
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Re:

#21 Post by Doc Fred »

rubber chicken wrote:What a place to live.
Can you imagine how expensive those places down there by the water are!
Woof, woof... thirty years uglier!... woof, woof...

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Re: Torah, Torah, Torah (5.21)

#22 Post by Tuan Vu »

This was a so-so episode for me. I rated it as average (7.0).

One thing we know about the location of Robin's Nest: It must be about two miles from Diamond Head. Magnum says to the Rabbi that to walk back to the estate from where they were after driving out of Diamond Head tunnel, would be "more than two miles."

Today, the spot where they get out of the car before it explodes, has been paved over and is a popular scenic lookout: Image.

Here is the scenic lookout today looking Eastward: Image. It is the same view at 33:27 on the YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH2VxWuFvac.

As you can see, since the filming of this episode, they have built a rail for safety.

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Milton Collins
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Re: Torah, Torah, Torah (5.21)

#23 Post by Milton Collins »

Another solid episode, 8.0 for me. Not overly memorable and certainly not one of the best but a good one for season 5 which was one of the most lackluster seasons in my opinion.

- Love the backstory of Asher Solomon and Higgins that is told while Magnum is changing the tire. As always, Higgins is as honorable as they come!

- TC's bayou blaster chili was hilarious! "It must be stirred constantly or you'll have bayou cement" ha ha, loved it! And watching TM try it and burst out
into FLAMES and needing to pound a beer to cool off made this scene even better.

- Tanaka is one of my fav of the recurring characters and loved his role and interaction with Asher.

Just a good fun episode in my book!

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KingKC
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Re: Torah, Torah, Torah (5.21)

#24 Post by KingKC »

This episode was mostly forgettable for me. I can only remember TM going to the airport and the Torah being stolen but cannot remember why or how they got it back. It has been some 30+ years since the original showing but other shows stick in my mind much more than this one. I do clearly remember the Rabbi as a well known character actor and that is about the most I can say. Season 5 was clearly on the downhill slide for the show.

thechickinthemiddle
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Re: Torah, Torah, Torah (5.21)

#25 Post by thechickinthemiddle »

I love T.C.'s Island Hoppers apron too. :P Shame Universal never capitalized on that. :lol: Redbubble currently has several Island Hoppers designs but none on an apron as far as I can tell. Who wouldn't love that as a gift? :lol:

I liked Rabbi Asher Solomon a lot. It's too bad he never returned to team up with Father Paddy McGuinness! :lol:

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#26 Post by Mad Kudu Buck »

IslandHopper wrote:
James J. Walters wrote:"There will always be a little piece of Higgins in the Torah".
This episode has one of my favorite scenes of any episode (along with the Magnum/Butler scene in "Compulsion"). I believe it takes place just before Rabbi Solomon says the line quoted above, when the Rabbi is telling Magnum of the first time he actually met Higgins. It was in London and the Rabbi recognized Higgins as the British Sentry who abruptly turned to allow the Rabbi and his friends to escape into the night. They discussed this situation and the strict orders the British soldiers were under not to permit this type of activity. The Rabbi said something like "you disobeyed a direct order" (in allowing the Rabbi and his friends to pass). Higgins replied by saying something like "I was obeying a higher order which doesn't permit me to shoot unarmed refugees looking for a home." That scene gets me every time.
It sounds great... until you think about it. Does it make sense that Higgins would have direct orders to shoot unarmed refugees? He probably had orders to block access to certain areas or check for weapons - orders that would make perfect sense considering that Jewish terrorists had just blown up British headquarters in Palestine. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_David_Hotel_bombing)

How did he know they were unarmed if he just turned around without investigating? How did he know they were refugees? They could have been more terrorists on their way to blow up something else.

lotar1
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Re: Torah, Torah, Torah (5.21)

#27 Post by lotar1 »

One of my favorite episodes as well. It's not perfect, but it always gets me for some reason.

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K Hale
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#28 Post by K Hale »

Mad Kudu Buck wrote:
IslandHopper wrote:
James J. Walters wrote:"There will always be a little piece of Higgins in the Torah".
This episode has one of my favorite scenes of any episode (along with the Magnum/Butler scene in "Compulsion"). I believe it takes place just before Rabbi Solomon says the line quoted above, when the Rabbi is telling Magnum of the first time he actually met Higgins. It was in London and the Rabbi recognized Higgins as the British Sentry who abruptly turned to allow the Rabbi and his friends to escape into the night. They discussed this situation and the strict orders the British soldiers were under not to permit this type of activity. The Rabbi said something like "you disobeyed a direct order" (in allowing the Rabbi and his friends to pass). Higgins replied by saying something like "I was obeying a higher order which doesn't permit me to shoot unarmed refugees looking for a home." That scene gets me every time.
It sounds great... until you think about it. Does it make sense that Higgins would have direct orders to shoot unarmed refugees? He probably had orders to block access to certain areas or check for weapons - orders that would make perfect sense considering that Jewish terrorists had just blown up British headquarters in Palestine. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_David_Hotel_bombing)

How did he know they were unarmed if he just turned around without investigating? How did he know they were refugees? They could have been more terrorists on their way to blow up something else.
Perhaps the rabbi was only giving a summarized version of what happened that night and there was more to the story. The quote the rabbi uses was something Higgins said years later when they met up somewhere else, not something he said that exact night. Maybe on that original night, he did check them for weapons before allowing them to escape into the night. Maybe the British HQ had not been attacked yet (which would certainly have gotten his back up) so he felt he had little reason to be suspicious of people struggling ashore in a leaky boat and thrashing their exhausted way onto dry land. Maybe he had some martinet directly over him who hated Jews and encouraged his men to shoot refugees on the slimmest of pretexts. I just feel like a lot was left out of that story. Plus, back then, not everybody was so ready to view people as potential terrorists as we are today.
I didn't realize you were so addicted to pool.
It's not pool.
Billiards.
Snooker!
Snucker.
SNOOKER!

Mad Kudu Buck
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Re: Torah, Torah, Torah (5.21)

#29 Post by Mad Kudu Buck »

I keep thinking there should have been a sequel to this called "Talmud, Talmud, Talmud" where the Rabbi is a real a-hole who lies to everybody, tries to steal all Robin Masters' stuff, then blows up the Audi with Carol in it.

At the end, Higgins is pointing a gun at him and asks, "Did you see the sunset?", the Rabbi says, "Oy, well that is quite a question... it all depends on - " BANG!

On the plus side, Carol would be dead, but they'd probably have an episode called "Carol's Back".

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K Hale
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Re: Torah, Torah, Torah (5.21)

#30 Post by K Hale »

:shock:
I didn't realize you were so addicted to pool.
It's not pool.
Billiards.
Snooker!
Snucker.
SNOOKER!

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