Murder 101 (5.8)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fifth season

Moderator: Styles Bitchley

How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
4
5%
9.5 (One of the Best)
5
7%
9.0 (Excellent)
6
8%
8.5 (Very Good)
15
20%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
24
32%
7.5 (Decent)
16
21%
7.0 (Average at Best)
1
1%
6.5 (Not So Good)
1
1%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
2
3%
5.0 (Just Awful)
2
3%
 
Total votes: 76

Message
Author
User avatar
SelleckLover
RENLEDUN, Protectrix of the Realm
Posts: 1017
Joined: Sat Feb 10, 2007 5:56 pm
Location: Sunny Southern California
Contact:

#11 Post by SelleckLover »

You don't get it. Magnum saved both their lives multiple times in Vietnam. They all owe each other far more than could ever possibly be repaid.
You are right. According to my husband Jim, who spent 4 horrific years in Viet Nam, even if a buddy doesn't save your life, physically, if they help get you through the experience, in a sense they've saved your emotional life. He has a buddy that he still keeps in touch with that he credits with getting him through the horrors of war more than 40 years ago. This guy periodically shows up unannounced at our home, "borrows" money, and generally takes advantage of Jim, but Jim will gladly accommodate him because he feels that he "owes him one". He never expects anything in return from this guy. I have accepted this, because there is no way I could ever understand the bond that they share. So Magnum's relationship with Rick and TC isn't such a mystery to me.

User avatar
sophia
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 254
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:16 am
Location: Carolina

#12 Post by sophia »

I agree with Tralfaz

Also another reason Rick, Higgins, and TC were always there to help,even
when compaining was, they all wanted to be like TM.
At least a little.
They wanted to get in the game, wanted some excitment in there own lives.
Also, they had to help him out, otherwise how could they ever hope to be
paid what TM owed them.

User avatar
Magnums Little Voice
Lieutenant Commander
Posts: 30
Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2008 1:24 pm
Location: England

#13 Post by Magnums Little Voice »

I liked this one. So it was a bit of a "as if" episode, and a real change for Magnum, but hey it was funny all the same. Not enough Higgin's in this episode tho, or the last (Blind Justice), im begining to miss him, still a nice change for Magnum and a fun episode!! :D

User avatar
IslandHopper
Master Flub Spotter
Posts: 729
Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 5:08 am

#14 Post by IslandHopper »

Another flub can be seen when we first see Magnum speaking with Mr. Gaylord in Mr. Gaylord's office. The flub can be seen right after we hear Mr. Gaylord say "your class will probably be cancelled after today." Magnum appears to be standing on the right side of Mr. Gaylord's desk. Mr. Gaylord is sitting in his chair facing Magnum. The camera is situated in the front left of Gaylord's desk. As Magnum is speaking with Gaylord and points to the class "prospectus" you can see the shadow of a crew member move on the front of the desk (left part of the screen).
The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)

Tuan Vu
Captain
Posts: 56
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 7:06 am

#15 Post by Tuan Vu »

I'm surprised that this episode received such low ratings. I really enjoyed it because it was really funny and lighthearted, which was a nice relief after a heavy "Blind Justice" episode.

The discussion on this episode revolving around TM's character flaws and his tendency at times to take advantage of his friends was interesting. My take is that friends don't really keep score as to who did more for whom. Sure, they all make little deals and negotiatians, and at times can be manipulative, but when it comes down to helping each other out in the other's time of need, they always came through for each other.

Besides, no one is perfect, and that is how you know that they were all true friends. In spite of each one's faults (and yes, TM had many faults), they remained true friends. They all knew each other's faults (and reminded each other often! :lol: ), but still remained friends anyway. If we were friends only with people who had no faults, then what does that say about us? Only that we are fair weather friends.

User avatar
Carmen
MPI
Posts: 695
Joined: Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:39 am
Location: Germany

#16 Post by Carmen »

Hey I found a flub (my first one)
While looking thru`the garbage Magnum is wearing a white shirt and a light blue jeans. Next scene he is sitting on his sofa, dirty dark blue jeans and some different dirty shirt and Higgins is telling him to take a shower and put on new clothes. 8)
Sometimes I get so lucky, even I don`t believe it (TSM)

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

#17 Post by J.J. Walters »

Hey, nice flub spot Carmen!
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

User avatar
lutherhgillis
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 528
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:54 pm

#18 Post by lutherhgillis »

I appreciate what SL said about Vietnam and the value of friends. That would explain a great deal and TM, TC, and Rick.

I love this campy episode. We get to laugh at Magnum's flaws. The book he wants to write gets another mention. His inability to teach a class is amusing. The sterotypical class members are hilarious.

A P Leyland
Captain
Posts: 52
Joined: Sun May 25, 2008 8:36 pm
Location: England, UK

#19 Post by A P Leyland »

I thought this one was campy fun as well.

"Gnarly" made me laugh an insane amount.

Andy

User avatar
Jay-Firestorm
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 387
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:01 am
Location: Berkshire, United Kingdom
Contact:

#20 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

I started off really liking this episode, but sadly it loses its way in the middle.

[rating=8.0]

Magnum has got a job teaching a course on private investigation, but when the students insist on a real case to work on, they end up investigating the strange disappearance of the fiancée of one of class members. Starts off fun but sadly goes downhill…

-----

This review contains spoilers.

This is one of those episodes that some viewers really dislike. Personally, I started off really liking it – it was a welcome light-hearted story after the serious ‘Blind Justice’ – but sadly, it loses its way and really nosedives midway through.

As I say, it starts off reasonably enough. Most of Magnum’s students may indeed be stereotypes (not least the ‘surfer dude’ Danny), but I found them to be a fun group, and it was amusing to see Magnum playing professor.

The investigation that the class vote on taking isn’t exactly interesting, but it starts off with potential, as Magnum and the class pile into Danny’s beaten up van and begin searching for Stacy’s missing fiancée. But unfortunately, soon after, the plot really loses its direction.

I think it was a bad move script-wise to have the P.I. class cancelled halfway through the story. It causes the plot to lose its focus, and surely it would have been more fun for the class’ investigation to stumble through to the end of the episode before being cancelled.

With the class cancelled, all of the students other than Stacy disappear from the middle of the story, and it descends into a very average and generic investigation, and not a particularly interesting one at that.

Usually I am pretty good at following the twists and details of Magnum’s investigations, but I really lost the thread with the explanations of money laundering and suchlike – which was explained in a very awkward and unclear manner in my opinion.

The rest of the class return for the final ‘showdown’ with the villains of the piece, but after their sudden disappearance mid-episode, it doesn't work as well as it should.

In the end, Magnum’s struggling class becomes a huge success, from the publicity of solving the case of Stacy’s missing fiancée. Of course, the class is never mentioned again in the series, so presumably some other fate befell it.

I really want to like this episode, and parts of it I do indeed warm to. But it ultimately winds up so unfocused, not to mention the confusing explanation regarding the disappearance of Stacy’s fiancée, that it is just nowhere as could as might should have been. If it had come from an earlier season, I have a feeling it would have been much more focused and clever, but coming from the dodgy fifth season, it sadly falls down. At first I wanted to give it a higher score, but bearing in mind the problems mentioned above, I can only give it an 8.0 rating – which some will say is higher than it deserves anyway.

-----

Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* I’ll have to double check this one, but when the class are in Danny’s van, the shots looking out over the hood seem to be from a different van. The hood of Danny’s van is white, but this one seems to be blue. Also, Danny’s van seems to have a strip of yellow fabric across the dash, whereas this second van doesn’t appear to.

* When the class are searching through the garbage, and Mr. Gaylord puts his foot on a piece of paper, squashing out some unpleasant looking goo, in the surrounding shots, the piece of paper on the ground can be seen to be much smaller than in the close-up.

* I’m not certain about this one either, but on Magnum’s license (which reverts to stating his birthday as 5th January, which I love, as this is also my birthdate!), the photo of him to me looks like it was taken from the common early promotional shot of him kneeling down by one of the Ferrari’s wheels. I’ll have to try and find a scan of this shot and compare them.

* The DVD version of this episode has all of the act breaks abridged.
JAY FIRESTORM

Facebook: Jay Gathergood / Twitter: Jay_Firestorm NEW BLOG: http://thea-teamcaptured.blogspot.com/

My A-Team site - http://thea-team.org aiming to be the most detailed A-Team site on the Net - if I ever get around to updating it!!

User avatar
N1095A
World Class Private Investigator
Posts: 1574
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2007 7:03 pm
Location: A log cabin in the mountains.

#21 Post by N1095A »

Carmen wrote:Hey I found a flub (my first one)
While looking thru`the garbage Magnum is wearing a white shirt and a light blue jeans. Next scene he is sitting on his sofa, dirty dark blue jeans and some different dirty shirt and Higgins is telling him to take a shower and put on new clothes. 8)
TM isn't dirty from the garbage when he's sitting on the couch. This scene takes place some time later, after his class had been canceled. TM is dirty in this scene because he's just spread the ton of manure that Higgins "negotiated" with him earlier. He talks about this in his voice-over at the beginning of the scene.
"But Higgins, I can explain."

User avatar
lutherhgillis
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 528
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:54 pm

#22 Post by lutherhgillis »

N1095A is correct. Remember that TM agrees to spread the recycled vegetation for Higgns in order to borrow the recording deck for his lesson plan or 'idea vocabulary'. The gardener was called away for some reason that I cannot remember. TM comes home from the cancelled class and spreads manure is the implication.

I always liked this episode. It reminds me a little of the movie Summer School (1987) starring Mark Harmon as a beachbum PE coach who tries to teach a summer class. That's about where the similarities end, however.
Who's Dot Matrix, and what has she got to do with this?

User avatar
N1095A
World Class Private Investigator
Posts: 1574
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2007 7:03 pm
Location: A log cabin in the mountains.

#23 Post by N1095A »

That reminds me of the other time he dealt with "recycled vegetation". Although I don't remember the episode, I do remember him asking Higgins 'Recycled how?"
to which Higgins replied "Through a cow". At the end TM leads Higgins to think he's going to do it, but instead goes swimming because Higgins didn't come through with his part of the deal. I'm not positive, but I think this was "Billy Joe Bob", and higgins' part of the deal was keeping Billy Joe in the guest house "all day if necessary". Of course, Billy Joe escaped.
"But Higgins, I can explain."

User avatar
Doc Ibold
Maniac Emeritus
Posts: 1741
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2007 8:16 pm
Location: Detroit

#24 Post by Doc Ibold »

N1095A wrote:That reminds me of the other time he dealt with "recycled vegetation". Although I don't remember the episode, I do remember him asking Higgins 'Recycled how?"
to which Higgins replied "Through a cow". At the end TM leads Higgins to think he's going to do it, but instead goes swimming because Higgins didn't come through with his part of the deal. I'm not positive, but I think this was "Billy Joe Bob", and higgins' part of the deal was keeping Billy Joe in the guest house "all day if necessary". Of course, Billy Joe escaped.
Kee-rect. It was Billy Joe Bob. Also, I think the reason Kenji was called away in M101 was a death in the family or something like that.

User avatar
N1095A
World Class Private Investigator
Posts: 1574
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2007 7:03 pm
Location: A log cabin in the mountains.

#25 Post by N1095A »

Yes, I remember now, TM in his voice-over said there was something in the air, and it wasn't jasmine. Classic!
"But Higgins, I can explain."

Post Reply