Paradise Blues (4.15)

[J.J. Walters]

This is the official MM thread for Paradise Blues (4.15). 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: 2/9/1984
Love is truly blind when T.C. drags Magnum to a meeting with a gorgeous jazz singer, Alexis Carter, whom T.C. fell in love with years ago in Vietnam. Magnum warns that trouble follows Alexis wherever she goes, and sure enough, she reveals she's on the run from dangerous Detroit drug dealers.

[Frodoleader]

This episode is in my top 5 MPI episodes. I always just loved this, even with Chuck Mangione in it. He can't act, but he certainly can play that horn!!!
I loved Leslie Uggams too, especially the Viet Nam concert scene. This epsiode also had one of those suprise endings, where everything did not turn out okay.

[J.J. Walters]

I like this episode more than I probably should. I love all the flashback scenes. The ending was unexpected to say the least! After the car crashes, there is a great aerial "zoom out" shot of T.C. and Magnum standing on the edge of the cliff. Roger and Tom must not be afraid of heights, because they were right on the edge of a small "shelf"! That would have freaked me out big time!

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

[Tuan Vu]

At the beginning of this episode, the scene where Leslie Uggams runs through a church to escape her pursuer, is filmed at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Fort Street Mall in downtown Honolulu. It looks pretty much the same today, with statues and the pews having been rearranged.

It is the oldest Catholic cathedral in Hawaii (built 1843) and Father Damien was ordained there in 1863. You can go here to see what it looks like today:

http://www.vthawaii.com/OAHU/Churches/Curches18f.htm

[rubber chicken]

Great find Tuan Vu! Thank you for sharing that.

Here it is in google maps, and it has an informative, in depth wiki page too. Very cool.

[Magnums Little Voice]

Not a great episode this one for me. Just couldnt get into it like normal, perhaps it's just me... roll on the next episode.

[J.J. Walters]

The scene with Higgins and Alexis discussing blues singer Alberta Hunter.... great stuff. I love the story she tells from her childhood:

"In our neighborhood when I was growing up, there was this record store right on the way home from school. I'd stop in there every afternoon, pretending I was going to buy something, and I'd take Alberta Hunter albums into their listening room. I memorized every album, every song. I really thought I was puttin' one over on them. Can you see this skinny little ten-year old, "I can't decide between "Downhearted Blues" and "Bring Back the Joys". I'll just have to come back." Trottin' out of that store like I had two pennies to rub together. When we had our first gold album, I went back there to see if they carried it, but the store wasn't there. They turned it into a parking lot."

The guy who kidnaps Alexis at the end...



Today he is Chief of Security (Malik Farrakan) for the legendary Hip Hop group Public Enemy!



I'm not really a Hip Hop fan (I'm more of a Rock guy), but man do I still really love It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)! A landmark, masterpiece recording.

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

[Steve]

I'm betting that Mike Judge got some of his inspiration for the running Chuck Mangione joke on King of the Hill watching this episode........
Anyone else crack up when Chuck enters the Dressing Room playing his Flugelhorn.........

[Frodoleader]

[Jay-Firestorm]

A slightly shorter review for this one; one of my least favourite episodes, I’m afraid.

[rating=6.0]

T.C. drags Magnum to see Alexis Carter, a jazz singer whom T.C. fell in love with in Vietnam. Magnum is not keen, insisting that Alexis always leads to trouble – and sure enough, she is mixed up with some Detroit drug dealers. One of the dullest episodes…

-----

This review contains spoilers.

I am surprised that some fans seem to hold this episode in high regard, as personally, I find it to be one of the dullest and weakest of the entire series; certainly one of the weakest from the first four seasons.

I know I’ve said this for several episodes around this point, but I really didn’t remember this one until I came to watch it to review recently. Although I’ve had recordings of all of the episodes for some years now, it has to be one of my least watched episodes of the show’s run.

T.C. is a good character, and I generally like stories based around him, but even he can’t save this one. The story is drawn out and long-winded, and I’m afraid I cared very little about Alexis and what happened to her.

The story is lacking any remote touches of humour that is one of the series’ trademarks, and also is low on action, two more points that mark this episode down in my view.

This episode also marks the first of several appearances of James Grant Benton as Kika, a local pedicab driver who Magnum goes to for information. He would make three appearances in total, and not become as recognised as some of the show’s other recurring characters.

The ending, with Alexis and the bad guys plummeting over the cliff in the car, is tragic and unexpected, but sadly, the story beforehand led me to care very little about Alexis, leaving the ending rather lacking the emotional punch that it should have.

All-in-all, one of my least favourite episodes of the entire eight seasons.

-----

Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* Once again, the Region 1 DVD version has no opening trailer. I’ll probably get the R2 version to check if there is one.

* At the beginning, when the bad guy is chasing Alexis across the road, a car grinds to a halt so not to hit him. The car is only travelling slowly, and the long skidding sound does not match the speed that the car was travelling at.

* During the flashback to Alexis’ concert in ‘Nam, there is an obvious pre-existing stock footage shot of soldiers enjoying the performance. Notice the difference in film quality.

* The main page for this episode says that the Ferrari was updated with this story; I’m not sure (and I’m no car expert), but I’m sure that there have been a few shots of the later model for a few episodes previously. I may be wrong.

* The DVD version of this episode has all of the commercial breaks abridged (i.e. no gap between the acts).

* When the knife-conscious Five broadcast this episode in 2002, they edited the two sequences where the bad guys have a flick-knife, but in odd ways. They deleted shots of where the knife was flicked out, and some of the surrounding dialogue, but it could still clearly be seen in surrounding shots. Presumably they couldn’t edit it much more without leaving huge holes in the story.

_________________
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!!