Professor Jonathan Higgins (5.13)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fifth season

Moderator: Styles Bitchley

Post Reply

How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
2
2%
9.5 (One of the Best)
2
2%
9.0 (Excellent)
8
10%
8.5 (Very Good)
15
18%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
14
17%
7.5 (Decent)
21
25%
7.0 (Average at Best)
11
13%
6.5 (Not So Good)
5
6%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
3
4%
5.0 (Just Awful)
2
2%
 
Total votes: 83

Message
Author
User avatar
Tobi
Captain
Posts: 52
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2012 9:48 am

Re: Professor Jonathan Higgins (5.13)

#71 Post by Tobi »

One thing this episode has going for it are some rather nice shots of the 308

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

Re: Professor Jonathan Higgins (5.13)

#72 Post by K Hale »

TSMIV wrote:Potential candidate for worst 1980’s fashion excess – take a look at the guy playing the organ in the church during Sally/Timothy’s wedding. What on earth is he wearing ??????? :shock: :!: :shock:
A toga!! WHY.
I didn't realize you were so addicted to pool.
It's not pool.
Billiards.
Snooker!
Snucker.
SNOOKER!

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

Re: Professor Jonathan Higgins (5.13)

#73 Post by K Hale »

Watched this one last night. Fun and enjoyable even if Sally was a little irritating at times.
SignGuyHPW wrote:I thought this one was rather silly. If I'm not mistaken, it was the only time that Agatha formally hired Magnum for a case and ended up being more concerned that a distant relative of Higgins be helped in becoming "proper" for a family that she doesn't even know.
Women of Agatha's generation were raised to put their own needs aside in favor of the men in their lives. Agatha is a nice person but if you ask me, she didn't do it for Sally, she did it because Higgins needed her. He can't get this girl ready for a wedding no matter how hard he tries to teach her how to speak, there is too much that's totally out of his purview. This part of the story would have flopped without Agatha on hand.
I also didn't really care for the whole "reforming" the girl into Higgins image thing. If the finace was fine with her then why was Higgins so focused on changing her to please him?
I see two reasons...

1. It may seem judgmental on Higgins' part but when you get right down to it, this is the world he lives in. Sally wanted to join that world and was totally unprepared for it. She would have been disliked, mocked and ostracized even IF the apparently all-powerful Mrs. Finch even allowed the wedding to go forward. At heart Higgie Baby is a bit of a romantic and I think he honestly wanted to see her and Finch get what they wanted out of life and thought he knew the best way to make that happen. Plus how many chances is he likely to have to play father-of-the-bride? :wink:

2. And this is less flattering, but he was probably also a little embarrassed about a family member being from, shall we say, a different class of society. Although at least he was not unkind to her about it.
It was also odd that Magnum ended up tripling his fee after he and Agatha had agreed to it. The pizza contest was kind of a cool sub plot and good comedy. I especially liked how they ended up winning an "upgraded" trip to Hawaii.
Magnum jacking up the cost of his services was pretty uncool. Agatha was expected to pay for an additional ticket and Higgins had to pay for the third one. Although, since the contest ended up being a "trip" to Waikiki, maybe neither of them had to pay anything!
I didn't realize you were so addicted to pool.
It's not pool.
Billiards.
Snooker!
Snucker.
SNOOKER!

User avatar
KingKC
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 571
Joined: Mon Feb 29, 2016 10:16 pm
Location: Third World Country of Arkansas

Re: Professor Jonathan Higgins (5.13)

#74 Post by KingKC »

Just watched the rerun. It was fun but pretty average for a MPI lighthearted episode. Sally/Jillian Mack was way over the top as a cockney girl. HIggins was his usual honorable (and somewhat overbearing) self. This was close to being an Agatha-centric episode. TC was pretty much a dork as an IRS agent. Strange plot ending with the fiance being the bad guy. The last scene was priceless, in the context of the show, but somewhat predictable. Heck, even these mediocre original episodes out rank anything the new MPI has put forth. One thing comes to mind. If TM was a Navy Seal....shouldn't he have had better hand to hand combat skills than were displayed in the original MPI?? He seemed to lose a lot of fights for a well trained military man. Of course, if he had won all of those fights, the light-hearted aspect of the show would not have been as much fun to watch.

brianw
Rear Admiral
Posts: 94
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2018 4:36 pm

Re: Professor Jonathan Higgins (5.13)

#75 Post by brianw »

Pretty terrible episode, did not hold my interest at all.

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

Re: Professor Jonathan Higgins (5.13)

#76 Post by thechickinthemiddle »

I'll give credit to the writers for making Mrs. Finch a pretty reasonable person in the end (even if some of that was off-screen) regarding Sally and being sad for her when Timothy runs off.

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

Re:

#77 Post by K Hale »

Bes wrote:I think this is the worst episode ever thanks to Jillie Mack's gratingly awful 'English' accent; it really is unbearable!
Mack actually is English. Has anyone heard her speak? What is her natural accent like?
I didn't realize you were so addicted to pool.
It's not pool.
Billiards.
Snooker!
Snucker.
SNOOKER!

User avatar
Luther's nephew Dobie
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 1244
Joined: Thu May 30, 2013 4:16 am
Location: Swamps of Jersey

Re: Re:

#78 Post by Luther's nephew Dobie »

K Hale wrote:
Bes wrote:I think this is the worst episode ever thanks to Jillie Mack's gratingly awful 'English' accent; it really is unbearable!
Mack actually is English. Has anyone heard her speak? What is her natural accent like?
Hi KHale,
I saw her on a BBC show and she had a regular English accent. As for her Cockney accent, I suspect it was exaggerated on purpose. The English - for generations! -
have had a field day mocking and mining for laughs Dick Van Dyke's Cockney accent in Mary Poppins. It is invariably mentioned when the subject of Americans arises, along with - the horror - of Hawaiian shirted Yankee tourists in shorts.
Right, Hawaiian shirts are just not "on" when on holiday but it's okay for visiting British soccer hooligans to beat hell out of the fans of other nation's soccer teams when the British supporters travel over the Channel to away matches.
It's a safe bet Jillie was slightly making fun of us with her over the top (wink wink) accent which the British Magnum fans would appreciate when they saw the episode.
Similar to the great American character actor Clifton James way over the top Bayou southern sheriff "JW Pepper" in the British production The Man With the Golden Gun
(he almost stole the movie from Roger Moore).
It's tongue in cheek and hilarious to us but no doubt some bloke in Blackpool thinks that's the way Louisianans really speak and behave.

---------------------------------------------
"Some guy called me a snitch just because I turned him in to the Secret Police"....ALF
Last edited by Luther's nephew Dobie on Sat May 15, 2021 6:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
LZeitgeist
Vice Admiral
Posts: 109
Joined: Sat Nov 24, 2018 3:25 am

Re:

#79 Post by LZeitgeist »

SelleckLover wrote:Italian Ice wrote:
Speaking of cars, who pops popcorn in their car???
Oh come on! I pop popcorn in my car all the time! I use my Orville Redenbacher A/C Air Popper adapter that fits in my cigarette lighter. You never know when you're going to chance upon a drive-in theater -- and you know how they soak you for poporn in those places! I can use my adapter for my cappuccino maker also -- who needs Starbucks anymore??

And if you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you! I guess that's where the phrase "suspension of disbelief" comes in! :D :D
Even more unbelievable is that it was supposedly battery-powered. Magnum asks that very question to the scam artist that gave it to him as a free gift.

User avatar
Pahonu
Robin's Nest Expert Extraordinaire
Posts: 2618
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:19 am
Location: Long Beach CA

Re: Re:

#80 Post by Pahonu »

Luther's nephew Dobie wrote:
K Hale wrote:
Bes wrote:I think this is the worst episode ever thanks to Jillie Mack's gratingly awful 'English' accent; it really is unbearable!
Mack actually is English. Has anyone heard her speak? What is her natural accent like?
Similar to the great American character actor Clifton James way over the top Bayou southern sheriff "JW Pepper" in the British production The Man With the Golden Gun
(he almost stole the movie from Roger Moore).
It's tongue in cheek and hilarious to us but no doubt some bloke in Blackpool thinks that's the way Louisianans really are.

---------------------------------------------
"Some guy called me a snitch just because I turned him in to the Secret Police"....ALF

James died just a few years ago... in his 90’s. When I was reading his obituary I was surprised to learn he was from the west coast. I sought out a few films and watched a TV series he was in called City of Angels set in depression-era LA also starring Wayne Rogers. He was very talented and the short-lived show was well done.

User avatar
ENSHealy
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 639
Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2018 10:00 pm
Location: Madison, WI

Re:

#81 Post by ENSHealy »

A couple corrections, first, from the Episode Guide: "Kengi the workman and Keo the maid are seen briefly at the estate. This is Keo's first appearance (although with no lines)."

Actually, Keo was seen briefly in Little Games:
Image

and it does appear to be the same person:

Image
Sisophous wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2013 9:14 pm
Danno wrote:
... but are there really that many British in Hawaii?!
It must be an Oahu thing why they have so many British people. After all, it is not that far from England, only 7,239 miles, or a 14 hour flight. The last time I was in Oahu I met more Brits than Hawaiians....NOT.
I suppose this isn't really a "correction" as such, as I have no idea how many British expats there ever were or are in the islands...but you have seen the Hawaiian flag, right? Note the upper left corner....
Image
Ensign Healy
Scholar in Residence
The Institute for Advanced Magnum Studies

"I woke up one day at 53 and realized I'd never been 23."

User avatar
ENSHealy
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 639
Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2018 10:00 pm
Location: Madison, WI

Re: Professor Jonathan Higgins (5.13)

#82 Post by ENSHealy »

EPISODE: Professor Jonathon Higgins

Famous guest stars: 1 – Begrudingly granted…she wasn’t famous at the time, but I guess you have to give her this one based on who she became….
Image
Hawaiian shirts: 1
Image
Tigers Cap: 1
Image
Island Hopper shirts:
Shirtless Magnum:
OMG: 1
Higgins Organizations:
Higgins musings:
Negotiations:
Body Count:
Bullet wounds:
Little Voice:
I know what you’re thinking:
When I write HTBAWCPI:
Investigator corrections:
4th wall breaks:
Magnumometer: 4
Magnumometer Moments: https://vimeo.com/552933176
Ensign Healy
Scholar in Residence
The Institute for Advanced Magnum Studies

"I woke up one day at 53 and realized I'd never been 23."

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

Re: Professor Jonathan Higgins (5.13)

#83 Post by charybdis1966 »

Having watched this one tonight a couple of accent points.
What voice was Timmy supposed to have - he seemed to start off trying to sound English and gave up just before he left his apartment with TM, Higgins, TC and Rick - very odd.
One of J Hillerman’s Americanisms slipped through when he said presentation.
He said it the American way as in “pree-sentation” whereas the English way would be “preh-sentation”.
I think it’s getting now that I’m picking up on these things far too much after Jenny Agutters changes in accent earlier this season.
As for the story - quite goofy and light hearted again and best of all NO CAROL BALDWIN !
However that changes in the next episode. 😔

Treadwell
Lieutenant Commander
Posts: 34
Joined: Thu May 26, 2022 6:46 am

Re: Professor Jonathan Higgins (5.13)

#84 Post by Treadwell »

I gave it a 7. I ended up liking it more than I thought I would from the teaser. This newb is still getting used to a ratings system with numbers running from 5 to 10.

TM breaking back into the office, where he knows they are trigger-happy... pretty careless. Sure, he risks his life all the time, but the stakes didn't seem high enough this time. And to risk TC's life for it, too! And to lie to him about there being "one lonely secretary" instead of an armed goon! Also, when he and TC are backing out in the Ferrari, the bad guy gets a clear shot from a few feet away while the car is stationary. One of them should be dead. The actor also WAY over-mimes the recoil of the handgun.

And I wish the authorities good luck in convicting anyone with TM's illegally-obtained evidence. And since he was breaking and entering every time the bad guys aimed a gun at him, they could claim self defense. I know I'm getting a little too real world here.

Goof: when TM opens his mail, he says he won a "weekend" at Disney World. Later, he tells TC it will be five days. Five days would be quite a long Disney trip for 1985, as there was just the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT at the time. Unless you want to do resort stuff like golf or ride horses or go to the water park...or go down the road to Sea World.

I'm about to indulge in the kind of over-analysis that ruins the fun: in any prize one wins, one can request the cash value instead. So he can get the money for a Waikiki vacation and use it to go to Orlando.

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

Re: Professor Jonathon Higgins

#85 Post by charybdis1966 »

ENSHealy wrote: Sat May 15, 2021 3:03 pm A couple corrections, first, from the Episode Guide: "Kengi the workman and Keo the maid are seen briefly at the estate. This is Keo's first appearance ]

It must be an Oahu thing why they have so many British people. After all, it is not that far from England, only 7,239 miles, or a 14 hour flight. The last time I was in Oahu I met more Brits than Hawaiians....NOT.
I suppose this isn't really a "correction" as such, as I have no idea how many British expats there ever were or are in the islands...but you have seen the Hawaiian flag, right? Note the upper left corner....
Image
[/quote]

I guess the British connection would be due to the Islands discovery by James Cook. I often have visits to Whitby, a fishing village in the North east of England which is where Cook would sail from on his many voyages of discovery.

There is a statue of him (and a replica whalebone arch memorial) on the way down into town I pass every I go to see the the twin piers of the harbour there - I'd post pictures but I'm not clever enough to do that. :D
Last edited by charybdis1966 on Tue Jun 14, 2022 10:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Post Reply