Texas Lightning (2.18)

[IslandHopper]

James, I agree with Doc, I think Magnum was saying "visit to your..."

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The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)

[J.J. Walters]

Yeah, it must be "visit to your". I initially thought that, but the way he pronounces it, it really sounded like something different, like a word I've never heard, maybe military jargon, or maybe even something in French. Weird!

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

[Jay-Firestorm]

First review of the week from me; another really good episode IMO.

[rating=9.5]

On his birthday, Magnum is hired by a Texas widow to be her bodyguard at a high stakes game of poker. But the event is far from what she claims, and he gradually finds out that there’s more to her than meets the eye. A good episode, but so nearly a classic…

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This review contains spoilers.

‘Texas Lightning’ is a great (and often overlooked) later second season episode, which with just a bit of tweaking could easily have become a solid series classic.

The episode takes place on Magnum’s birthday, the first of two episodes written around it (the other being the seventh season’s ‘Forty’). Although some episodes are closely set to their original U.S. airdate, Magnum’s birthday here doesn’t seem to have any relation to the date of the original broadcast.

Julie Sommars as supposed card shark Jeannie Lowrie… I couldn’t quite make up my mind about her. When she was posing as the poker ace, I found it hard to buy, but then it turned out she wasn’t really a poker ace at all, so it kind of excused that a bit. She does have some good rapport with Magnum, and winds up being an interesting character with far more to her than is first let on.
I wasn’t sure about the later stages, stuck on the island, when she and Magnum obligatorily got kissy-kissy; I felt they definitely had a relationship of sorts going, but found this romance a bit forced and sudden.

Later stages of the story could have made the episode a solid 10, but I found the actual poker stages of the episode to be a bit average, and they pull the episode down from its potentially perfect rating.
Other than the poker scenes, I really like the story, and Magnum and Jeannie being stuck out at sea on the small boat, and ending up on the island, are some of the second season’s best scenes in my opinion.

And then there are the aerial shots, of T.C.’s chopper, and the bad guys’ Bell 206 JetRanger. The climatic scenes are some of the best featured in the entire series, and no-doubt helped inspire Donald P. Bellisario for his other popular series, ‘Airwolf’.

The closing stages of the story are a real twist, in a story that has already had a number of twists and turns. One thing I like about the series is that a story can start at one point, and end at somewhere completely different, in a place that you’d never expect.

Overall, I really like this story, which is, as I say in my opening, often overlooked. If only those earlier stages were better, this would be a series classic.

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Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* Unless I missed one, Magnum smokes his fourth cigar of the series in this story (yes, I’m keeping count!)

* When Channel 5 (U.K.) broadcast this story in 2002,they made two edits: At the beginning when the fake Policeman have the agent in the back of the squad car, shots of the knife they are about to kill him with are edited out. Similarly, on the scene on Thompson’s boat when he is shooting live pigeons, the shot of his henchman about to be killed with the same knife are removed. Knife crime has been quite an issue in the U.K. in recent years, so I suppose they felt need to remove these shots.

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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!!

[J.J. Walters]

Here's another amusing flub, sent to me by my friend "J.G."...

"While Higgins, T.C., and Rick are lamenting Magnum's apparent death on the leather sofa in Higgin's office, Rick stands, places his glass (cheap rye whiskey) on the end table, and then passes out intoxicated. As Rick stands to put down his drink, his shirt is clearly dry. Then, after he falls back on the sofa, his shirt is wet."

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

[Higgy_baby]

Great episode. 9.5 for me. As solid as it gets. This to me is pure classic MPI. Guns, babes, nasty villians, chopper dogfights, commie threats, the boys banding together....

Magnum bringing down the other chopper with one lucky shot from a flare gun, while the opponent has gone through about 8 mags on his M16 seems a little far fetched, but it's TV.

James, regarding cars in Miami, I see a lot of 70s cars. '73 Cougar and I think a '74 Pontiac at least. The red sports car at the top almost looks like an '80 Celica but I'm not positive. The footage doesn't look as far out of date as the 60s.

Lastly regarding the cheap rye whiskey, I have a cultural question. In Canada we call Rye what you yanks call 'Canadian Whisky'...CC, Crown Royal etc., definitely not the cheap stuff. I know better when I travel south than to ask for Rye, because it makes you sound like a hick. So what's with Higgins' comment? Also some old movies and songs like Don McClean's American Pie reference Rye. I've seen the odd bottle of Beam labelled Rye. So, what is the American connnotation of RYE?

And any Brits can weight in if it means anything in Old Blighty.

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Of course this changes nothing between us. I still expect you to respect the rules and regulations pertaining to your stay on the estate. There will be no wild parties, no outragous liberties, no unauthorized overnight guests...

[Styles Bitchley]

[IKnowWhatYoureThinking]

In the Southern United States it is Bourbon. To be considered a Rye Whiskey it must be distilled from at least 51% Rye. I hope this helps, and I'm not sure that I really understand it. I just consider it my job to drink it.

[J.J. Walters]

Bourbon is mostly corn-based. Whiskey is mostly rye.

When Higgins is referring to "cheap rye whiskey", he's referring to the old American "straight rye whiskey" of yesteryear, probably ones that havn't been aged appropriately (i.e. "the cheap stuff" on the lower shelf). In the old days, rye was king.

Magnum: My underwear!? What happened to my underwear?!
Higgins: Probably another lost and sordid night with a chorus girl from the Kit Kat Club. Please stand down wind, I'm sure you simply reek of cheap rye whiskey!

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

[Coops]

I have to agree with the earlier post about this episode. Up until the bittersweet ending I thought this was no more than an average episode. When Selleck gets into the ending monologue, he says the words with such conviction it hits you squarely in the gut. And that, as they say, is the hell of it.

The ending alone raised this one from an average episode to a damned good one.

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[Doc Ibold]

Drunk Rick is always entertaining.