No More Mr. Nice Guy (4.13)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fourth season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
3
4%
9.5 (One of the Best)
3
4%
9.0 (Excellent)
11
13%
8.5 (Very Good)
22
26%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
24
28%
7.5 (Decent)
9
11%
7.0 (Average at Best)
3
4%
6.5 (Not So Good)
6
7%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
3
4%
5.0 (Just Awful)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 85

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J.J. Walters
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No More Mr. Nice Guy (4.13)

#1 Post by J.J. Walters »

This is the official MM thread for No More Mr. Nice Guy (4.13). 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: 1/26/1984
The con is on when Higgins and Magnum's friend, Carol, tricks them into helping her with an undercover sting operation on a drug distributor. When Carol is mysteriously kidnapped, Magnum and the group must decide whether to put aside their suspicions that they're being used in order to save her.
Last edited by J.J. Walters on Fri Dec 28, 2007 5:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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J.J. Walters
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#2 Post by J.J. Walters »

A pretty good episode with lots of scenes with Carol. If you look closely when Magnum & Carol jump off the roof into a garbage truck, you can see Carol's stunt double hit her left heal on the edge of the truck. Ouch! You can see her shoe shoot up into the air after she hits! One thing that really bugs me about this episode, however, is the end. For the whole episode, Magnum has been trying to watch the Army-Navy game -- the Army-Navy .... Rose Bowl game!!?? WTH!? Army & Navy have never played each other in the Rose Bowl game! Why they didn't just make it the annual Army-Navy game is beyond me.
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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N1095A
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#3 Post by N1095A »

The 1983 Army-Navy Game was played at the Rose Bowl, and the score was 42-13 as Higgins stated before TM threw the popcorn in the air and chased him up the stairs.
"But Higgins, I can explain."

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J.J. Walters
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#4 Post by J.J. Walters »

Yeah, I embarrassingly found this out a couple of months ago. I shoulda checked the facts first! :oops:
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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N1095A
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#5 Post by N1095A »

Kind of like me with the yacht huh? Happens to the best of us.
"But Higgins, I can explain."

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Shermy
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#6 Post by Shermy »

This one has three highlights that stand out for me. The first is Higgins' explanation of why he had to use chicken in his recipe: "When you have to explain to the butcher what a partridge is, there's little chance of obtaining one." :lol:

The second is Magnum's pursuit of Fenady (aka "The Cat"), and his accompanying narration. I suppose it could've been worked into the story a bit more, but it's still a satisfying resolution to the 'lost youth' subplot.

And finally:
N1095A wrote:the score was 42-13 as Higgins stated before TM threw the popcorn in the air and chased him up the stairs.
Yet another classic Magnum P.I. ending. This is one that always stuck with me, long after I had forgotten the actual plot of the episode.

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IslandHopper
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#7 Post by IslandHopper »

Shermy wrote:
N1095A wrote:the score was 42-13 as Higgins stated before TM threw the popcorn in the air and chased him up the stairs.
Yet another classic Magnum P.I. ending. This is one that always stuck with me, long after I had forgotten the actual plot of the episode.
I agree Shermy, that was a great ending. :)
The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)

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rubber chicken
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#8 Post by rubber chicken »

This episode shows Carol's house address as 4907 C and sure enough, after a little of what I prefer to call "private investigating," I found that there is a 4907 C in Oahu and it's on Kahala Avenue. The Murder She Wrote crossover episodes' house is on the same street, just 12 houses down the road from Carol's.

Google maps confirms it's the place, although there appears to have been some changes to the immediate area. Most notably the parking area from the Magnum P.I. days seems to have been built over somewhat, adding a pool and small building, etc. Also, Carol's house and the adjacent buildings got new roofs and were renovated somewhat (or rebuilt?).

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#9 Post by Sam »

Brah..It makes sense to me,I can see it........Now,keep moving up the block...seven or so houses and you'll find the Blind Justice house.

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#10 Post by J.J. Walters »

Very cool rubber chicken! Once again, good sleuth work! :)
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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rubber chicken
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#11 Post by rubber chicken »

I think you're right Sam, good find, although in the show the house appears to be closer to the canal. I'm not sure why.

I'm almost wondering if someone went down the street and left flyers in peoples' doors asking them if their house could be used for the show. Curious to know how that was gone about.

(edit) - I happened to find this youtube news clip about creating artificial reefs off Kahala beach.

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#12 Post by Sam »

Hi RC...That house was fairly easy to find,I knew of the general location so I drove by it 3-5 years ago.It actually does appear closer to the canal.from the side of the house to the canal I would guess is only 70 feet.

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#13 Post by J.J. Walters »

Noticed something funny when I watched this one again recently. The "rescue Carol" car chase (with Magnum and T.C. in the Vanagon) ends at Waialae Beach Park, the filming location for the King Kamehameha Club "beach bar" setting! The ensuing beach foot chase (Magnum vs. Fenady) also takes place there. They don't show the beach bar, or imply that they are at "the club", but I find it funny that they wound up there!

Entering the park

Image

The "beach bar" would be just to the left in this shot

Image

Magnum takes out Fenady

Image

Also, came across a "new" bit of Higgins history in this one. Higgins "was once trampled by a herd of wild South American capybaras. It was in Peru, perhaps Bolivia." LOL! Trampled by a herd of giant rodents! How terrifying! :shock:

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

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#14 Post by Jay-Firestorm »

My first review of the week. It’s nice to have an episode based around Carol, but the plot itself doesn’t do much for me. I know some will like it, but personally it is one of my lesser favourite episodes.

[rating=7.5]

Thomas is forced to miss his much anticipated trip to the Army-Navy game and reunion, when he finds that Carol has lost her job as D.A. after she tried to nab one of the islands biggest drug suppliers. Some nice moments, but one of the weakest plots of the season…

-----

This review contains spoilers.

This episode (working title: ‘What Are Friends For?’) is the first of just several in the show’s run based around Magnum’s District Attorney friend Carol Baldwin (Kathleen Lloyd). And for that, I like it, and Lloyd has a great rapport with Tom Selleck. Sadly, the plot itself is one of the weakest and most unengaging of the season.

The episode has a number of great lines and amusing moments, and that saves it from being totally bottom of the barrel. But the actual plot, of Carol duping Magnum into helping her nail one of the island’s biggest drug barons, just comes across as very dull to me, and has little of the usual MPI flair or quirks.

The scene with Carol supposedly drunk (we later find out that she was putting it on) is awkward, and I didn’t feel that the usually reliable Lloyd really pulled it off that well.

As the story progresses, we find that she has lied to Magnum and co. about being fired, and is trying to dupe them into helping her to further her career. She reminds Thomas that he himself often cons his friends into helping him, which is true. But although Magnum and Carol often conned each other in a good humoured way, I found that such a severe lie from Carol was out of character, and worked against the episode.

Thankfully, the episode does have some good action to save it (Magnum and Carol leaping from the building into the garbage truck; and several good car chases), but on the whole, this one definitely ranks as one of my lesser favourites of the fourth season.

The final scene, with Magnum desperately trying to catch his game on the television, only for Higgins to spoil the score for him, is very amusing, and does sum up how the episode, for all it’s faults, does have some good humour.

Although I have had every episode of the series for some years now (firstly from off air recordings, and in more recent times on DVD), and have seen each one through a number of times, I couldn’t really recall this one until I came to watch it again to review. Given the unmemorable plot, maybe it’s not surprising.

-----

Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* In the scene where Magnum and T.C. are in the Ferrari following the Limo, there is a shot taken from the first season episode ‘All Roads Lead to Floyd’. T.C can clearly been seen wearing his tennis gear, including his headband, and the Ferrari pulls in front of Floyd’s car.

* When the gang are in jail, the Police Officer tells them that someone has bailed them out. Magnum appears to ask “Carol Douglas?”, getting Carol’s surname wrong. I’ve listened to it a number times, wondering if he said something like “Carol bailed us?”, but it definitely sounds like Douglas. The DVD subtitles also state it as “Carol Douglas?” – although that’s not saying much, as they have been wrong in a number of other episodes.

* On the DVD version of this episode, the third commercial break is abridged.
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#15 Post by Rutledal »

This episode is not only featured in The Sopranos, but also in the Italian movie Sotto il vestito niente a.k.a Nothing Underneath.
So I made a Topic Page about Magnum, P.I. Check it out here.

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