Echoes of the Mind (2) (5.2)

[Agatha]

LOVE your chicken dance, James!!

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Isn't the ocean beautiful at sunset? So soft....so peaceful...so romantic!

[Ski]

Another possible flub: when Magnum finally reads the diary, it looks like one of the entries says "This morning I hired Thomas..." That's all I had time to read before the camera cut away. But it makes no sense that she would have written that prior to meeting with Magnum the first time, as she had not actually hired him yet. And after that, Magnum had the diary the whole time. Furthermore, it did not appear that that particular entry was the last in the diary, either.

[lutherhgillis]

Nice spot, Ski!

I said this earlier but John Hillerman did an excellent job in this episode. When he played JQH playing Father Patty it was huge. I read somewhere where an actor said that the hardest thing to do in acting is to play someone who is playing someone else and do so convincingly. I think John did it! Notice how JQH plays Father Patty. It is very rough as you would expect for someone like JQH. If it had come off an an expert portrayal, it would have lacked believability. Hat's off to John Hillerman.

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Who's Dot Matrix, and what has she got to do with this?

[Zudobug]

Hillerman's portrayal of Higgins Irish half-brother is probably one of the best roles he has played in Magnum other than his main role as Higgins. The character may be a stereo-typical Irishman but it is the best of his 'other' roles in the series.

[308GTS]

I've gotta say that this two parter is a real turkey. I've tried and tried to find something that might redeem it but I just can't.

Firstly, why on earth would Magnum fall in love with a total psycho like Diane/Deidre when he knew for some time that they were one and the same. As much as I like Sharon Stone, she's a superb actress but in this she's just lame, sorry but I just cannot see why anyone would like this episode.

From the lame rip-off of Blade Runner's theme to the totally non-descript script, pardon the pun, and add to that TM's mullet hairdo it's just crap. There's essentially no story in this episode, just a loony chick running around claiming to be stalked and taunted by a make believe sister.

Even good old Higgie can't resurrect this one for me. The lady Ashley story is also weak. Just terrible and I remember being very dissapointed when it was first shown on TV way back in 1985. Easily at the bottom end of the list for me. Sorry guys, I know a lot of people like this one, for the life of me I don't know why.

If I could vote on this, I'd take 3 points off, thus sending it into a minus rating.

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Arun
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"The only thing that's going to touch you is a 10ft pole"

[Jay-Firestorm]

My review for Part I of this story. I’m very mixed about this one.

[rating=8.5]

As Higgins wonders how to tell Agatha that it’s not her that he intends to marry, Thomas meets Diane’s sister Deidre, who tells him some startling home truths about Diane. But the sisters share a dark secret. Conclusion of this so-so two-parter…

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This review contains spoilers.

I don’t have that much different to say about this instalment that I didn’t say on Part I.
It is a perfectly watchable story, and well acted, but the tone of the series was definitely shifting around this time.

I like Higgins’ throwaway line to Agatha about a Lt. Freebairn-Smith, who apparently was eaten by a tiger – a seeming name reference to Ian Freebairn-Smith, who composed the show’s original theme tune that was heard on the very early episodes.
In fact, Higgins very much makes this episode, a welcome contrast to the more series proceedings regarding Thomas / Diane / Deidre.

By this point, the series was becoming more character and drama driven, than the more adventure-set episodes of the earlier seasons. While in one way this was good, as I like watching the four main characters and how they react, I did start to miss the more adventurous stories, a feeling that would continue through much of this season.

Saying that, I like the scene where Rick and T.C. are hanging out as T.C. works on his helicopter – spilling oil down the back of Rick’s $300 cashmere sweater. By this point, the main characters were so well rounded that it was just fun to watch them interact with each other.

Sharon Stone puts in a good performance in this story, and even though it is explained that they are one and the same at the end, really makes Diane and Deidre feel like two separate characters.

The comedy highlight of the story – and one of the best of the whole season – comes as Father Paddy (from the third season’s ‘Faith and Begorrah’) pays a visit to put Lady Ashley off of marrying Higgins. All along we think it is Higgins putting on an act – until the real Higgins arrives in a dodgy disguise and even dodgier Irish accent, impersonating Paddy. …Okay, so you need to see it to fully get what I mean, but it is one of the most laugh out loud moments of the 1984-85 season.

I did pretty much work out the twist about Diane and Deidre being the same person before it was revealed, but even so, it plays out very well. The final scene, of Diane committing suicide in front of Thomas, is very shocking, and ranks up there with the end of the third season’s ‘Did You See The Sunrise?’ in my opinion.

Overall, I have very mixed feelings about this story. It is well acted, and coming from Donald P. Bellisario, you can always be assured of the quality. At the same time, it is a long way from one of the series’ classics, and just sums up for me the different direction (and not for the better) that the show would generally take in the fifth and sixth season.

The story continues in the next episode, ‘Mac’s Back’.

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Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* With the reappearance of Father Paddy in this episode, it is the only time that one of Higgins’ estranged relations appears in more than one episode.

* Listen to the sound quality on the closing credits – the theme ‘doubles back’ on itself, but the second time around, the quality really drops, being really tinny and weak.

* When Five broadcast this episode in 2002, as the episodes were being shown each weekday and Part I was only shown the day before, they removed Tom Selleck saying “Last week on Part I of ‘Echoes of the Mind’” on the opening recap, instead adding a ‘previously’ caption.

* …Also, much of Magnum being mauled by the Rottweilers in Part I was edited out, yet some of those very same shots were left in for the recap before Part II. It was this sort of contradictions that could be very frustrating sometimes!

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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!!

[Danno]

What begins as a somewhat OTT episode in part one, ends with darkness in part two... Sharon Stone's performance begins to take off towards the end. She sure plays the crazy lady well.

The house that Diane/Deidre stay at is beautiful!

Does anyone else find the ending scene that then cuts to the theme music for the credits abrupt? Going from such a dark scene to the cheery theme music is hard to go along with...

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Don't you ever knock?!

[robspace54]

Just unwrapped Season 5. This was both tough to watch and also in some ways silly. The double role was pretty obvious by the middle of episode 1 to me. But how do you play a disturbed person and make it look two totally different people? Tough to script and pull off.

JH has a great role here and his interaction with Agatha is great. Lady Ashley (ugh) quite the dry stick... what?

Flub near the end of episode 2. When Father Paddy arrives he reaches into the ashtray to "bum a butt" and picks up a used filter tip, yet when he puts it to his mouth and lights it, it is full length and has no filter.

We finally get to hear from TM his angst about Michelle's death and his fears that if he gets too close to another lady - she will die too. Dramatic - but the quiet moment between Magnum and Higgins is, I think, the core of this episode.

And I think the abrupt ending was the only way to do it... but I don't think they needed to show Diana putting the gun to her head.

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Sometimes I get so lucky, even I don`t believe it.

[Styles Bitchley]

[AmandaByNight]

I like this episode. I think it marks a real turning point for the show where it became a little esoteric and dealt with some really interesting issues regarding personal self and death (Mac's ghost is a good example). Magnum really starts to grow up after this episode and I think the character shift is explained here.

Plus, I admit it, I adore Sharon Stone. She's not really box office draw for me, but there's something about HER that I find really compelling, so it's easy for me to see why Magnum fell in love.