Summer School (6.13)

[Carol the Dabbler]

The car looks dark gray to me -- however different computer monitors render colors differently to one degree or another. (Which is one reason that it's risky to order clothing online.)

Different types of film will also render colors differently -- and the developing process can vary as well. I was having trouble remembering what color the tiles in our former kitchen were, so I looked at some old photos. One showed them being clearly a nice avocado green. But another showed them just as clearly in a rich gold color.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

This is one of my favorite episodes. I thought R.J. was just adorable. He sure knew how to get into trouble. However, if he was 20 years old, what was he still doing in boarding school?

I enjoyed the episode but thought RJ was a psycho. Borderline creepy stalkerism. Made trouble for Magnum, disrespected Higgins, hit Rick over the head and knocked him out... easily one of my most disliked guest characters. Tate Donovan did a fine job tho.

Oh, and the car looks dark green to me...

KHale,
I think you said it just right.
I too thought Tate Donovan did such a good acting job that I wanted to reach thru the screen and give him a power wedgie.
However I think the writers let everyone down, this would have been far better with RJ an obnoxious but benign Magnum clone.
He is written, as you say, as a "psycho" and "borderline...stalker". The light tone doesn't match all the dangerous
actions of RJ, he could have gotten people killed. To smash a bottle on Rick's head, that is vicious and could have left him a vegetable.
Classic Hollywood BS of not respecting violence and unworthy of this great series, it's something you'd see in the current remake with
Mini Magnum.
After RJ did that to Magnum's blood brother Rick, and given what happened to people in the past who attacked either Magnum or
people he cared about, it doesn't make any sense that Magnum didn't retaliate. Chicago boy Rick couldn't have let it pass either.
As the writers wrote it, it was a cowardly attack by a punk that would have been the last straw for Higgins as well.
It ruined the episode for me.
However the babe Meredith MacRae from Petticoat Junction who along with the other two "Bradley" sisters helped me start noticing girls back when
makes this episode worth viewing. Her Dad was the star of the movie Oklahoma, and her Mom portrayed Alice Kramden in The Honeymooners
segment of the Jackie Gleason Show in the 1960's.

[nha trang]

I continue to be at odds with my prior reviews and the general sentiment,

Rewatched "Summer School" today 9 years after my earlier review and I feel generous to rate it a "7.5"

Nha Trang

[Bes]

I still rate this episode a 5 at best. The writing is uncharacteristically woeful. RJ is a psycho and the actions of the main characters don't ring true at all given RJ's behaviour, as has been pointed out by others. I really need to post on episodes I love though as there are only about 10 episodes out of the lot that I'm not keen on and only a few of those are irredeemable for me. Wouldn't want to come across as disliking the show as I think it's the greatest I've ever seen.

[Tobi]

Tate briefly talks about this on the “Welcome to the OC bitches” podcast - early on:

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cH ... IGRAN&ep=6

[Styles Bitchley]

Tate briefly talks about this on the “Welcome to the OC bitches” podcast - early on:

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cH ... IGRAN&ep=6

Well, imagine that! A podcast dedicated to The OC! The next thing you know, they'll have a website dedicated to Magnum PI!

Funny that I never made the connection between RJ Masters and Tate Donovan. He's one of those actors that you know really well, but don't know his name!

[Tobi]

[/quote]

Well, imagine that! A podcast dedicated to The OC! The next thing you know, they'll have a website dedicated to Magnum PI!

[/quote]

The world is a crazy place!

[ENSHealy]

In another show, there was discussion of TC's van driving by in the background when Magnum was inside a building... I think (think) the show may have done something similar this time. When RJ was being chased in his car by the hit men, there was a scene in which he makes a quick left, cutting off a vehicle that looked like Magnum was driving... Not sure if it WAS Magnum, but it sure looked a lot like him.

You are right, that did look like Magnum...or actually, like Magnum's stunt double, Tom Lupo. I wonder if they had him doing some stunt driving for this episode. (Is "stunt driving" a thing?)

[ENSHealy]

EPISODE: 6.13 Summer School

Famous guest stars:
Hawaiian shirts: 1

Tigers Cap: 1

Island Hopper shirts:
Shirtless Magnum:
OMG: 1
Higgins Organizations:
Higgins musings:
Negotiations:
Gun Play:
Bullet wounds:
Little Voice:
I know what you’re thinking:
When I write HTBAWCPI:
Investigator corrections:
4th wall breaks:
Magnumometer: 3
Magnumometer Moments: https://vimeo.com/627769703

With only a score of 3, the Magnumometer Moments seemed a bit thin, so I threw in some extra material.

There is a very odd, unusual hand-held camera shot at the 6:00 mark, following Higgins as he walks around R.J.

Where did R.J. get the scrapbook he’s looking at? He’s in a room in the main house, not the guest house. Surely Higgins doesn’t keep a scrapbook of Magnum’s accomplishments? Are we supposed to assume he’s already snuck in to the guest house, off-screen, and lifted Magnum’s scrapbook? Presumably he couldn’t have assembled those clippings himself from wherever he had been on the mainland.

This shot had me flashing back to the pilot episode:

From the pilot:


Have we ever seen a keypad for the gate on that side of the driveway before? It seems like the gate has always just been open when anyone needs to leave. If memory serves, in the pilot, Higgins uses a button by the front door of the estate to closes it as Magnum is trying to leave with the Ferrari (and of course, infamously catching one of the lads in it). https://vimeo.com/627775731

“Local hitmen”? So there are “local” and “travelling” hitmen? Are they so common, there is a sub-group of “locals”?

It’s pretty cool watching the tide come in behind Higgins in the final scene. It looks like it really comes in fast! https://vimeo.com/627778776

[Pahonu]

EPISODE: 6.13 Summer School

Famous guest stars:
Hawaiian shirts: 1

Tigers Cap: 1

Island Hopper shirts:
Shirtless Magnum:
OMG: 1
Higgins Organizations:
Higgins musings:
Negotiations:
Gun Play:
Bullet wounds:
Little Voice:
I know what you’re thinking:
When I write HTBAWCPI:
Investigator corrections:
4th wall breaks:
Magnumometer: 3
Magnumometer Moments: https://vimeo.com/627769703

With only a score of 3, the Magnumometer Moments seemed a bit thin, so I threw in some extra material.

There is a very odd, unusual hand-held camera shot at the 6:00 mark, following Higgins as he walks around R.J.

Where did R.J. get the scrapbook he’s looking at? He’s in a room in the main house, not the guest house. Surely Higgins doesn’t keep a scrapbook of Magnum’s accomplishments? Are we supposed to assume he’s already snuck in to the guest house, off-screen, and lifted Magnum’s scrapbook? Presumably he couldn’t have assembled those clippings himself from wherever he had been on the mainland.

This shot had me flashing back to the pilot episode:

From the pilot:


Have we ever seen a keypad for the gate on that side of the driveway before? It seems like the gate has always just been open when anyone needs to leave. If memory serves, in the pilot, Higgins uses a button by the front door of the estate to closes it as Magnum is trying to leave with the Ferrari (and of course, infamously catching one of the lads in it). https://vimeo.com/627775731

“Local hitmen”? So there are “local” and “travelling” hitmen? Are they so common, there is a sub-group of “locals”?

It’s pretty cool watching the tide come in behind Higgins in the final scene. It looks like it really comes in fast! https://vimeo.com/627778776

I think the term “local hitman” is used to differentiate them from someone who came into town just for the hit, which is not uncommon as it provides fewer local leads as the perpetrator is unknown to everyone. So I suppose that scenario would be a traveling hitman.

[charybdis1966]

My trawl through season 6 throws up more episodes I'd never seen before and this is another.

First off, Tate Donovan is a master stroke of casting as he has the face/mannerisms of a spoilt brat and his character proves that old saying, the more well off the parents (benefactor in this case), the more of a spoilt brat the child is. Tate Dononvan simply had the sort of face that was ripe for a dam good slapping.

Initially the story seemed to be hinting that he was a younger TM and would flourish with a bit of guidance, but the denouement showed he was still looking for short cuts and the easy way - working hard and grafting were for suckers; he was too special for doing what the ordinary riff-raff had to.

I did like the very '80s hairdo Meredith MacRae was sporting, a hint of a mullet there that would not look amiss on the lead singer of a glam metal band of the time.

Finally the big question, what colour was the Robin 23 ?

I'll have to cop out and say it's green/grey.

[Pahonu]

My trawl through season 6 throws up more episodes I'd never seen before and this is another.

First off, Tate Donovan is a master stroke of casting as he has the face/mannerisms of a spoilt brat and his character proves that old saying, the more well off the parents (benefactor in this case), the more of a spoilt brat the child is. Tate Dononvan simply had the sort of face that was ripe for a dam good slapping.

Initially the story seemed to be hinting that he was a younger TM and would flourish with a bit of guidance, but the denouement showed he was still looking for short cuts and the easy way - working hard and grafting were for suckers; he was too special for doing what the ordinary riff-raff had to.

I did like the very '80s hairdo Meredith MacRae was sporting, a hint of a mullet there that would not look amiss on the lead singer of a glam metal band of the time.

Finally the big question, what colour was the Robin 23 ?

I'll have to cop out and say it's green/grey.

There’s a whole thread somewhere here about the color of the Ferrari in this episode. I honestly don’t remember if it was ever agreed upon. I’m definitely not the one to ask with mild color blindness.

[80s Big Hair]

The 1984 308 was available in what Ferrari called Verde Scuro which is a dark green.

[charybdis1966]

My trawl through season 6 throws up more episodes I'd never seen before and this is another.....Finally the big question, what colour was the Robin 23 ?

I'll have to cop out and say it's green/grey.

There’s a whole thread somewhere here about the color of the Ferrari in this episode. I honestly don’t remember if it was ever agreed upon. I’m definitely not the one to ask with mild color blindness.

There was a fair amount of discussion on the colour in this episode thread too - the odd thing is most of the time Robin 23 looked dark grey to me but every now and then it looked almost olive green.

They say that women are better at colour differentiation than men (due to something about the colour recognition cones in female eyes being more numerous than males) so I would have to say I also am not too great at discerning subtle shade differences.

[Aloha Friday]

I just watched this one...and thought I had something no one would have caught, but Doc Fred mentioned it. I think that is Tom Selleck in the White Jeep. That is what he drove when in Hawaii during MPI...I read that somewhere.

Also always liked Meredith MacRae since her Petticoat Junction days.