The Curse of the King Kamehameha Club (1.11)

[J.J. Walters]

This is the official MM thread for The Curse of the King Kamehameha Club (1.11). 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: 2/19/1981
A Kahuna appears to have placed a "curse" on the King Kamehameha Club, where Rick is organizing a surf-ski competition. Magnum and others are skeptical, but the locals take the curse very seriously. When one of the competitors suddenly collapses and dies, fire breaks out in the kitchen and Rick falls ill. They have no choice but to believe there may be some truth to the curse.

[Shermy]

I tend to regard this as one of the better "Rick" episodes, even if it's really more about the club. It's also a pretty decent mystery for season one.

I love Magnum's admission that being able to afford his ferrari would somehow take the fun out of driving it.

[J.J. Walters]

I enjoyed this episode for the same reasons. Great ending, too. I love that final scene with the "ruby flash" in Charlie's eye, indicating that he is a real Kahuna! I always thought Charlie would have made a great minor recurring character. A laid back Hawaiian Kahuna who loves to swim. Magnum could periodically "bump into him" during his surf ski excursions. He would be leery of him because he knows he's a Kahuna, but Charlie, who admires Magnum, would simply engage him in some lighthearted banter. Well, I thought it would be pretty cool, anyway.

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

[IslandHopper]

I agree with you both, Shermy and James. This was a very good episode for many reasons. One of my favorite scenes was when Magnum and TC are driving out to find Makua, and they drive up to the convenience store and standing on the front porch is this leggy local girl (I think) in red shorts. I saw this episode on T.V. recently and that was one of the scenes they edited.

One of the things I found interesting from that episode was the dialogue of Mr. Dollinger when Magnum went to see Mr. Dollinger for the first time. During the dialogue, Mr. Dollinger states that he only gets $2,000.00 a month for the lease of the land, and tears up and says something to the effect that he did not want to make money off of the land the Club (KKC) is situated on because it is for the people he loves, the people of Hawaii. How can that be, the KKC is a very exclusive club, not open to just anyone?

[N1095A]

[IslandHopper]

Early in the episode Rick is being interviewed and talks about the "Surf Ski" race. Later, after Rick began to take ill, he was lying on the lounge chair near the pool and was complaining to Magnum about his symptoms and he referred to the "Surf Ski" race as the "Ski Surf" race.

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

[J.J. Walters]

Interesting little anecdote about this episode - the guy who plays Makua, Sol K. Bright, is a legendary Hawaiian singer/songwriter/entertainer and a member of the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame. He wrote "Hawaiian Cowboy"! The guy started in the late '20s!

http://www.squareone.org/Hapa/bright.html
http://www.hawaiimusicmuseum.org/honorees/1995/bright.html

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

[Carol the Dabbler]

Comment on Note 7: Rick was actually slipped a diuretic (which had the effect of dangerously lowering the amount of potassium in his blood), rather than a "potassium-based drug".

I have a number of quibbles with that aspect of the plot. True, diuretics can wreak havoc with one's electrolyte levels. But they accomplish this by increasing urination, thereby flushing electrolytes (including potassium) out of the body at an abnormally-high rate.

I find it hard to believe that the one fellow could have gone from doing handstands to collapsing within a few minutes (apparently without even hitting the restroom in the interim). And when an apparently healthy person collapses after exertion in the hot sun, electrolyte levels would be just about the *first* thing a doctor or coroner would check.

Rick's case is more believable -- he was shown progressing from mild to moderate to severe symptoms -- but even this would have been more believable if we had seen him having drinks with Christine on several occasions during that time, so that she could have slipped him several doses of the diuretic.

Comment on Note 11: It sure sounds to me like Rick actually refers to his club as "Rick's Cafe Americana." How quickly they forget!

[J.J. Walters]

Hi Carol! Welcome to the site! Love the username.

And thanks for the corrections. I'll update the episode guide soon.

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

[CVA-19]

It's interesting to see long time Rockford Files "Beth" as Christine here. She's just so mean here compared to her character Beth.

It's also interesting to think about the other Rockford Files connections ... Tom Selleck (as Lance White) and Larry Manetti in the same episode of Rockford Files which was later referenced in the beginning of "Tiger's Fan" episode featuring Joe Santos (Det. Becker in RF) as Lt. Page.