Ms. Jones (5.19)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fifth season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
1
1%
9.5 (One of the Best)
2
3%
9.0 (Excellent)
5
7%
8.5 (Very Good)
24
34%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
14
20%
7.5 (Decent)
16
23%
7.0 (Average at Best)
7
10%
6.5 (Not So Good)
1
1%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
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No votes
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Total votes: 71

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J.J. Walters
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Ms. Jones (5.19)

#1 Post by J.J. Walters »

This is the official MM thread for Ms. Jones (5.19). 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: 3/7/1985
After a tedious trip to the Hall of Records, Magnum is somewhat reluctant to help one of the impertinent clerks find her missing husband. But when he discovers that the missing man has top-secret artificial intelligence knowledge, he's on the case in record time.
Last edited by J.J. Walters on Fri Dec 28, 2007 5:53 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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N1095A
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#2 Post by N1095A »

Magnum's opening narrative at the hall of records is exactly the same as when we first met Ms. Jones in "Mr White Death" 3.9
"But Higgins, I can explain."

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#3 Post by J.J. Walters »

N1095A wrote:Magnum's opening narrative at the hall of records is exactly the same as when we first met Ms. Jones in "Mr White Death" 3.9
:shock:

Great spot there!

I really like this episode. I love the Ms. Jones character. I wish she was used more in the show. I love the fact that she can solve complex chess problems in the blink of an eye, yet doesn't know how the pieces move! And she classifies her husband's software code as "sexy data" LOL!

And for you Lost fans out there, Ms. Jones' husband Ray is played by Sam Anderson (Bernard).
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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lutherhgillis
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#4 Post by lutherhgillis »

James said, "I love the Ms. Jones character. I wish she was used more in the show." :shock: :shock: :shock:

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J.J. Walters
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#5 Post by J.J. Walters »

You don't like FORTRAN-loving, a$$-kicking, rude records clerks who drive around with a bumper sticker that says, "The Best Man For The Job is a Wo-Man"? ;)

More rock band posters/album covers can be found in this episode....

Image

I believe that is Asia on the left (w/ Steve Howe!) and The J. Geils Band on the right (w/ Peter Wolf!).
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lutherhgillis
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#6 Post by lutherhgillis »

Si, Asia and J Giles. Nice spot. Both were huge in the early to mid 80s.

Ms. Jones was a great foil for Magnum. I wouldn't want her around me but she was cool for a few good scenes.

I always wondered though. If she was so darned smart and had a photographic memory, why was she working as a file clerk? Enough said... :wink: :wink: :wink:

BTW, I was telling you about seeing concerts in Greenville, SC. We saw the last Lynyrd Skynyrd concert! They crashed after leaving Greenville back in 78.

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#7 Post by J.J. Walters »

Wow Luther, that's a very special show right there! Such a tragedy. What a great band. I think Ronnie's little brother Johnny has done an admirable job over the years "filling in".

Since you are such a big music fan, here's something you might enjoy....

http://magnum-mania.com/Audio/JJs_Live_Music_Vault.html

A little collection of some of my favorite live recordings. All are soundboard recordings. Enjoy! :)
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lutherhgillis
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#8 Post by lutherhgillis »

James,

As TC would say, that's bad, James baby, super bad!

I enjoyed the soundboard recordings. Thanks for sharing.

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#9 Post by Mark R.Y. »

James, I don't think "Flub #2" is a flub. Ms. Jones doesn't say she doesn't know HOW to play chess, only that she has never played it before. A significant difference! :o

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#10 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

A shorter review on this one – just didn’t have as much to say as on some other episodes.

[rating=8.5]

Ms. Jones, the Hall of Records clerk who often infuriates Magnum with red tape, asks him to find her missing husband Ray, who has been working on an artificial intelligence formula that could be dangerous in the wrong hands. A slightly better fifth season ep…

-----

This review contains spoilers.

Although not outstanding, and not one of the most memorable (I’d very much forgotten the plot until I came to re-watch it to review), ‘Ms. Jones’ stands as one of the dodgy fifth season’s slightly better episodes in my opinion.

Ms. Jones, played by Margie Impert, had been seen on and off over several season, first appearing in the third season’s ‘Mr. White Death’ and then earlier this season in ‘Blind Justice’, as well as several off-screen mentions. Here, she finally gets her own story, and we finally get to meet Ray – her on/off partner with whom she always seems to break up with over the phone when Magnum pays her a visit at the Hall of Records.

The actual plot isn’t exactly outstanding, but thankfully it has an important MPI ingredient, humour, that has noticeably been absent from a lot of the offerings in the fifth season. There are a lot of nice touches, and as a result, the story is a lot more bearable than some of the other from the 1984-85 season of the show.

The episode takes a while to really get going – as amusing as it is, the whole opening sequence with Magnum tracking down the supposedly kidnapped ‘Little Alice’, who turns out to be a fully-grown man eater, is nothing but story padding.

And although the plot isn’t quite one of the best, there are still several good twists, such as the murdered Ray turning out not to be the real Ray, and Buck Greene appearing from around every corner.

And that’s all I have to say on this episode pretty much. It’s never going to appear on my ‘Top 10 favourites’ list, but it is perfectly watchable and enjoyable.

-----

Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* Debatable flub: When Ms. Jones arrives at the Estate in her car, she skids to a halt by Higgins, and the tyres are heard to screech. But it is a dirt / gravel track – I’m not sure if the tyres would screech that much.

* When Magnum and Ms. Jones log in to Ray’s computer, a message on the screen says ‘2:25 PM 3 MAY 1985’. This date is actually after the date that this episode was first broadcast. In earlier seasons, dates given were often very close to the broadcast date.

* …Which also leads to a flub. The next message on the screen reads ‘GOOD MORNING RAY’. Morning? The previous message had said 2:25 PM!

* Rick and T.C. only appear in one scene each in this episode.

* Also, regarding the chess debate, I personally don’t regard it as a flub – I think Ms. Jones, who has been proven to have a very good memory, could easily have remembered a sequence of moves without (consciously) knowing the rules of the game.
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#11 Post by J.J. Walters »

Mark R.Y. wrote:James, I don't think "Flub #2" is a flub. Ms. Jones doesn't say she doesn't know HOW to play chess, only that she has never played it before. A significant difference! :o
Jay-Firestorm wrote:Also, regarding the chess debate, I personally don’t regard it as a flub – I think Ms. Jones, who has been proven to have a very good memory, could easily have remembered a sequence of moves without (consciously) knowing the rules of the game.
You've convinced me; I concur. I've removed the flub. She still would have needed a heck of a lot more time to analyze the position, but we'll give her the benefit of the doubt.

She should have hit the chess circuit instead of pushing paper at the "Hall of Records". ;)

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

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#12 Post by J.J. Walters »

Jay-Firestorm wrote:When Magnum and Ms. Jones log in to Ray’s computer, a message on the screen says ‘2:25 PM 3 MAY 1985’. This date is actually after the date that this episode was first broadcast. In earlier seasons, dates given were often very close to the broadcast date.

* …Which also leads to a flub. The next message on the screen reads ‘GOOD MORNING RAY’. Morning? The previous message had said 2:25 PM!
This is hilarious! Great spot Jay! :)
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#13 Post by Styles Bitchley »

This is a great episode. The strip club scenes with the dancers is hilarious! Does anybody know if male strippers actually wear those funny Halloween costumes???
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#14 Post by MaiTaiMan »

For the other episodes, I always thought Ms. Jones was one of those useless, supposed to be humorous, characters that only showed up for once scene once in a "blue moon". :wink:

However, I found this episode enjoyable and entertaining! :) Even though Ms. Jones was still somewhat irritating or annoying...the action and plot help make-up for that. Plus, she does come around somewhat and help Magnum find the ever-mysterious Ray! :lol:

My favorite part is the very end...where we learn that Ray really did have plans for some kind of artificial intelligence, but he tricked the "evil", loathsome Col. Buck Greene! :) I hated Buck and anytime he was "screwed" was fine with me! :wink: That's a character they should have had killed somewhere along the line.
"It was more ironic than a Robin Masters novel--she thought he was dead, he thought she was dead...and only the chauffeur knew the truth! He should have been the butler!" "Lest We Forget"

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#15 Post by RamblerReb »

Technical notes:

The plane model that Buck Greene toys with while expositing the plot to Magnum and Ms. Jones is an F8F Bearcat in Marine (naturally) livery.

The takedown sniper rifle is based on a large-ring Mauser 98 action. It does not appear to be a commercial weapon, though I could be wrong on that.

John W. Vessey, the person Ms. Jones plans to write a letter of complaint to, was at the time of the episode's broadcast the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is the only person ever to hold every rank the Army had to offer, and, at the time of his retirement in 1985, the last WWII four-star combat veteran on active duty.

Flub: Aside from Selleck and the guy at the opposite end of the firing line, none of the other "shooters" simulate recoil when they fire, giving the entire pan down the line a very unrealistic air.
Last edited by RamblerReb on Fri Jul 18, 2014 6:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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