The Hotel Dick (6.5)

[MaximRecoil]

Did anyone notice Higgins' light-up LED tie, or was that just on my copy?

[lutherhgillis]

Earlier, someone mentioned the bedroom set looked like the guesthouse bedroom but redecorated. I also noticed the kitchen set in the hotel room when they are waiting for the cat burgular looks alot like the kitchen in the guesthouse with different paint.

I love it when Magnum slugs Clyde near the end.

[J.J. Walters]

[wilko]

Here's what I think may be a screen extra anomaly

When Magnum and Leslie pull up to the hotel disguised as a couple to set the trap for Clyde Daltrey there are two uniformed guards standing on the pavement, one of whom is bearded. As Magnum and Leslie walk towards (what I presume is the entrance or check in area) the bearded guard is still standing at the entrance BEHIND them. The next shot shows Magnum and Leslie inside the hotel but the bearded guard is now in front of them on the steps.

[Jay-Firestorm]

This seems to be another one that others liked, yet I didn’t care for, for a number of reasons.

[rating=7.0]

Magnum has given up being a P.I. to take a “real” job as an in-house detective at a large, plush hotel, where he is on the trail of a cat burglar targeting guests, but winds up helping a hooker whose life seems to be in danger. A very tired feeling episode…

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This review contains spoilers.

When I think of later episodes of ‘Magnum, p.i.’, this one often springs to mind. And not in a good way. After the exciting, vibrant earlier seasons, this one just sums up to me how the series went through a patch of feeling really tired and worn out.

In fairness, part of the theme itself is about aging. Magnum has given up his luxurious lifestyle working as a private investigator from Robin’s Nest, to take a ‘steady’ job working as an in-house hotel detective. At the beginning, chasing the cat burglar, he doesn’t dare to make a large jump from one building to another, and comments that not so long ago, he would have taken the risk. Not only that, but now he has to wear glasses for reading – another sign that he is aging.
But beyond that, the series itself at this point feels rather aged and worn out.

The set of Magnum’s room in the hotel is intended to be small and dingy, but even so, I found it a very boring and dull set. Considering that a large percentage of the story takes place there, surely they could have done something more with it.

And talking of settings, the hotel itself is never really used to it’s full extent, in my opinion. They could have done so much more, introducing many more areas of the hotel, but the whole thing just comes off feeling limited and stuffy to me.

Leslie, the prostitute that Magnum winds up helping, played by Candy Clark, would go on to appear in a few more episodes, as would her friend Cleo (Phyllis Mitchell) – in fact, Cleo possibly marries Rick in the series finale! However, for recurring characters, I found these two to be nothing special, and played by run-of-the-mill guest actresses.

Probably the only good thing about the episode is the closing sequence, with Magnum once again in pursuit of the cat burglar – and this time, he dares to take the massive leap. Does he make it? Who knows, as the episode finishes there!

A plot involving Magnum working in a plush Hawaiian hotel possibly could have been interesting, if more of the local ‘colour’ had been used, but to me this episode comes off as one of my far lesser favourite episodes.

Thankfully, the series would recover from it’s tired feeling for much of seasons seven and eight, but at this point, the show felt as if it was at a real low. Which is a real shame, considering the greatness it could achieve at other times.


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Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* Magnum wears his glasses for the first of quite a few occasions in this story. However, he had actually previously worn glasses briefly in the early, first season episode ‘Thank Heavens For Little Girls and Big Ones Too’.

* The closing credits for this episode are unusual in that they feature the final few moments as Magnum chases the cat burglar (in a different take, as has been pointed out). Ordinarily, a selection of shots from the episode would be used.

* On the DVD version of this episode, all of the act breaks are abridged.

* Surprisingly, when Five broadcast this episode in 2002, they did not cut the shot of the meat cleaver being thrown and nearly hitting Magnum. On other occasions they would edit use of sharp implements. (For example, in the ‘Knight Rider’ third season story ‘Knight of the Drones’, they edited out a shot of a meat cleaver being thrown at Michael).

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JAY FIRESTORM

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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]

[Jay-Firestorm]

[J.J. Walters]

[Little Garwood]

[Carol the Dabbler]

A lot of you have commented on this being an atypical Magnum episode. It struck me that way, too. In fact, it seems more like a Rockford episode that Magnum wandered into by mistake.

For one thing, since when was Magnum ever all that worried about his finances? Sure, he'd like to have more cash, and sure it'd be nice to get Rick, TC, and Higgins off his back -- but those have never seemed to be major priorities. It's not like he has to pay rent or anything. Now, all of a sudden, he's willing to give up his flexible lifestyle for the foreseeable future, just to have a more reliable income. Huh?

Rockford, on the other hand, does have to make trailer payments and pay utility bills every month. He's chronically under threat of having his phone service cut off for nonpayment. Taking a "real" job at least long enough to get his back bills paid would be a believable move for him.

It's even possible that this script started out as an unused Rockford script, but I can't make nearly as strong a case for that as I can for the following season's "On the Fly."

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Carol