Mac's Back (5.3)

[J.J. Walters]

This is the official MM thread for Mac's Back (5.3). 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: 10/11/1984
Diane's suicide triggers memories of others that Magnum has loved who have been killed, sending him into a spiral of depression. Magnum's sanity comes into question when he thinks he has seen his old friend Lt. Mac MacReynolds walking down the street. But Mac is dead, so who did he see?

[N1095A]

Ah, the 80's. Nowadays, if Magnum stopped in traffic looking the way he did, and (had to be) smelling of beer, he'd have been arrested for DUI. Lucky he knew the cop who came up to him.

At the end, when Mac's ghost is lighting Magnum's cigar, we very briefly see the medals on his uniform. Although it is a super quick look, you can see a Vietnam campaign ribbon. According to Magnum in "Did You See The Sunrise?" Mac "wasn't in 'Nam"

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"But Higgins, I can explain."

[Tuan Vu]

Yahoo! I saw this episode for the first time and loved it! It was great to see Mac back. I know it was Mac coming back to get back at Magnum for all the times Magnum conned him.

It was also fun to see downtown scenes shot right outside from what is today Murphy's bar and grill. The Taquito's Mexican restaurant we see in the episode, I believe, was a real restaurant at the time, but today O'Toole's Irish pub occupies that spot.

Also, the alley where Magnum first confronts Mac (alias Father Jim) is where I used to walk past every day to and from work for many years when I worked at the Bank of Hawaii on Merchant Street. "Lost" recently has filmed there now and then, and I would have to walk all the way around the block whenever they were filming.

Finally, I think that is Jade Moon playing one of the ladies at the poker game. She's been a well-known news reporter in Hawaii for many years now and she also writes a weekly column for one of the local newspapers here.

[J.J. Walters]

Yeah, this is truly a great episode. It has it all. The complete package.

[Tuan Vu]

Jade Moon is the one on the top photo.

She's gained a few pounds, but she's still very pretty.

[Magnums Little Voice]

This one was just OK, found Mac or not Mac a bit annoying, but it had some funny parts too.
Thought the carry over from the previous episode was good, tho Magnums stick on beard looked a touch moody.

[VM02]

I watched this yesterday after both echoes of the mind eps, and enjoyed it more than I expected. I love the littering scene on the beach between TM & Higgins. I thought Hillerman did a good job conveying his characters concern for TM, all the while making it clear that neither of these guys is comfortable directly talking about feelings and the issues that occured in EotM.

I think this episode works to bring back Jeff Mackay. I wish they had retired the Jim Bonnick character after this episode though. A lighthearted con-man character wasn't a bad addition, but bringing back Mackay to play him and having TM call him "mac" was always one of the -very few- things I didn't like about the series.

[Doc Ibold]

Has anyone ever noticed that the opening credits seem a little sped up in this one?

(Music track)

Maybe its just me, but it seems like they tried to remix it or something like thaat

[J.J. Walters]

Yep, it's an alternate version of the theme song. The drums and guitar are very different and the horns sound more up front in the mix.

That's the kind of show MPI was. A guy like Mike Post will throw in a different version of the theme song, for one episode only, just to mix things up a bit, just for fun!

http://magnum-mania.com/Audio/Theme_Song_Standard_Alternate.html

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

[Coops]