Mac's Back (5.3)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fifth season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
14
12%
9.5 (One of the Best)
18
15%
9.0 (Excellent)
49
42%
8.5 (Very Good)
17
15%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
8
7%
7.5 (Decent)
5
4%
7.0 (Average at Best)
2
2%
6.5 (Not So Good)
3
3%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
0
No votes
5.0 (Just Awful)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 117

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rubber chicken
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Re: Location?

#21 Post by rubber chicken »

Estate resident wrote:Anyone know the location of where magnum had lunch the morning after his binge while looking for Mack?
That's the C. Brewer Building, built in 1929 and located here on Fort Street Mall.

Image

From my google earth popup (included in the next release):
C. Brewer & Co. was one of the Big Five group of Territory of Hawaii sugarcane corporations founded in the 1800s, which grew to hold vast political and economic power in the islands. C. Brewer & Co. was the oldest of these, being founded in Massachusetts in 1826, originally trading sandalwood with China, then supplying whaling ships, and later turning to Hawaiian sugarcane in 1863. Shareholders voted to liquidate the company in 2001, including 70,000 acres of land in the state of Hawaii.

The C. Brewer Building was also seen in Novel Connection (7.9), from across the street:
Image
Last edited by rubber chicken on Sat Aug 29, 2009 5:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Italian Ice
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#22 Post by Italian Ice »

Possible Flub, as discovered by Agatha

Thought this should be mentioned here, but Agatha put it in another thread

In the credits, the guy who played a "sailor", it's spelled "salior"

Shall we give one flub spot to Agatha?
Higgins: " Dispatch the pig!!! "

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Doc Ibold
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#23 Post by Doc Ibold »

I personally wouldn't call it a "flub".... but its definitely an error.

Oh heck... lets call it a flub!

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Tom_Magnum
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#24 Post by Tom_Magnum »

Good episode. I really enjoyed it.

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Zudobug
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#25 Post by Zudobug »

A nice episode and one I watched first time around as a bonus episode on the season 4 boxset. It's nice to see that Magnum is just a normal human being and not an invincible television PI when he is first seen wasting away his life after witnessing the death of somebody he loved. Him seeing Mac again also makes his friends believe that he has finally flipped as well and this makes him wake up from his depression just to prove everybody wrong.

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Jay-Firestorm
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#26 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

I’ve been looking forward to covering this one; my favourite episode after ‘Home From The Sea’.

[rating=10]

Magnum is a near wreck after Diane’s suicide, until he spots a man who looks exactly like his deceased friend, “Mac” MacReynolds. Everyone else is concerned that he’s going mad, but Magnum is determined to prove what he saw. My second favourite episode…

-----

This review contains spoilers.

After the fourth season’s classic ‘Home From The Sea’, ‘Mac’s Back’ is my second most favourite episode from the entire series. It has it all – drama, comedy, mystery… the perfect ‘Magnum, p.i.’ package.

Even before we get on to the story itself, one thing to note is that the regular theme tune is replaced by a rare alternative version. Playing both on the opening and (in a slight variant) on the closing episodes, this is the only time in the entire series that this particular version is used. Whether they were considering using this for the fifth season, or if it was just used to mark such a notable episode, is anyone’s guess.

Anyway, the story itself continues on from the previous two-part ‘Echoes of the Mind’, with Magnum suffering depression over the suicide of Diane. The story can be viewed ‘stand alone’, but for best effect is viewed directly after ‘Echoes of the Mind’.
It is the first time in the show’s run that a story continues on from the previous episode; something that would go on to occur more in the eighth, final season.

I love the opening music of this episode. It starts off peaceful, turns – as we pan across the beach of empty beer bottles – to sad, and as we see what a wreck Magnum has become, turns quite dark and worrying.

It also contains some nice name checks of previous episode – beyond Diane and Mac, we have mention of Michelle; Rick’s little sister (from the fourth season’s ‘Distant Relative’), Dan Cook (from the Pilot), Magnum’s father (seen in flashback in aforementioned ‘Home From The Sea’), as well as a “little Vietnamese kid” who doesn’t seem to come form a particular episode.

I believe that the first act, with Magnum on the edge of sanity, and everyone believing he has gone mad after claiming to have seen Mac, to be one of the show’s all-time greatest sequences.

The reason Mac makes a return (of sorts) is down to Jeff MacKay returning to the series after appearing as Corky in another Bellisario show, ‘Tales of the Gold Monkey’, which only lasted one season (1982-83); so the producers had to come up with a way to be able to write ‘Mac’ back into MPI!

When Five here in the U.K. broadcast this episode in 2002, I hadn’t seen this far down the series before. I was signed off work ill and suffering depression (something I could relate to Magnum with), videotaped this episode when it was on, and ended up watching it for the first time at about four in the morning! I had no idea if Magnum had really seen a ghost, or what it was; I was gripped, and it immediately became my second most favourite episode of the show’s run.

And then, there is the classic final sequence, where the ghost of Mac lights Magnum’s cigar. It could have been a disaster, but is well handled and becomes a classic moment. (Mac’s ghost would go on to appear to Magnum several more times in the series).

All-in-all, although I know there are some that don’t care for this story, personally it is set in stone in second place on my Top 10 favourite episodes list. Like ‘Home From The Sea’, I can watch it over and over without getting bored.

-----

Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* On the DVD version of this episode, the final act break is abridged.

* The site’s main page for this episode lists six versions of the theme. In fact, there are quite a few more. I think the comprehensive list is:
- Original Ian Freebairn-Smith theme (Pilot opening credits, edited for the early episodes opening credits, and various edits on early closing credits)
- Pilot closing version of the Freebairn-Smith theme (only used on closing of Pilot)
- Extended ‘looped’ Mike Post & Pete Carpenter theme (first season’s ‘The Ugliest Dog In Hawaii’ and ‘Don’t Say Goodbye’)
- First season opening credits theme (also used on some first season closing credits)
- Second season opening credits theme
- Second season extended closing credits theme (used on ‘Billy Joe Bob’, ‘The Sixth Position’ and ‘Computer Date’)
- Second season shorter closing credits theme (sounds similar to second season opening, but in a shorter form)
- Seasons three-eight opening credits theme
- Seasons three-eight shorter closing credits theme (sounds similar to opening, but in a shorter form)
- Seasons three-eight extended closing theme (used in several different edits)
- ‘Mac’s Back’ opening credits theme variant
- ‘Mac’s Back’ closing credits theme variant (different guitar sections)
…okay, so I have way too much time on my hands! :)
JAY FIRESTORM

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J.J. Walters
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#27 Post by J.J. Walters »

Wow, nice job of documenting all of the different versions of the MPI theme songs! I totally missed a couple of those. Thanks!

I've been meaning to get the Season Two version up on the Audio page for what seems like forever.
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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Jay-Firestorm
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#28 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

James J. Walters wrote:Wow, nice job of documenting all of the different versions of the MPI theme songs! I totally missed a couple of those. Thanks!

I've been meaning to get the Season Two version up on the Audio page for what seems like forever.
Like I said, I have way too much time on my hands! :lol:

Anyway, one thing I forgot: in the classic "Mac's ghost" scene at the end, Magnum smokes his ninth cigar of the series. (I think - I have a feeling I may have missed one in the fourth season)
JAY FIRESTORM

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Little Garwood
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#29 Post by Little Garwood »

MACattack wrote:Higgins was right in telling Magnum 'to buck up and get on with his life!'
The weight of that statement is appropriate coming from Higgins, who's seen his share of death and lost more than a few friends in combat, The sad knowledge of that just hit me today when i watched this episode. Another layer of this fascinating onion known as Magnum, P.I.

I've never compiled a list of my top-ten all-time favorite episodes, but I *know* that "Mac's Back" will be on that list.
"Popularity is the pocket change of history."

~Tom Selleck

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J.J. Walters
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#30 Post by J.J. Walters »

Anybody recognize the guy on the right?

Image

Al Leong, martial arts actor/stuntman extraordinaire! Big Trouble in Little China, Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, and others. The guy is bad ass! I'd pick him in a fight over Jackie Chan and Jet Li (but not Bruce Lee). ;)
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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Styles Bitchley
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#31 Post by Styles Bitchley »

James J. Walters wrote:Anybody recognize the guy on the right?

Image

Al Leong, martial arts actor/stuntman extraordinaire! Big Trouble in Little China, Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, and others. The guy is bad ass! I'd pick him in a fight over Jackie Chan and Jet Li (but not Bruce Lee). ;)
I just watched this a few days ago and noticed him. Never knew his name, but I definitely know him as one of the henchmen in the original Die Hard movie - one of my favourites! With the wispy Asian goatee and long hair, Leong has an almost cartoon-like persona.
"How fiendishly deceptive of you Magnum. I could have sworn I was hearing the emasculation of a large rodent."

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rubber chicken
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#32 Post by rubber chicken »

Thanks for pointing that out James. Another role he played was Genghis Khan in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. :)

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#33 Post by MACattack »

Doc Ibold rocks!!!! 8)
I just don't give a damn!

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Doc Ibold
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#34 Post by Doc Ibold »

Thanks????

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#35 Post by MACattack »

I had a dream last week that is parallel to this episode.

In my dream, I was walking down the street and ran into a friend who had in the real world had died in a fire 6 years ago. In my subconscious, he was living in an alternate reality where he still lived. It was bizarre to sit down and have a conversation with him.

At least it was only an illusion, and nobody thinks I'm crazy!
I just don't give a damn!

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