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| How Would You Rate This Episode? |
| 10 (Perfect!) |
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26% |
[ 20 ] |
| 9.5 (One of the Best) |
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48% |
[ 36 ] |
| 9.0 (Excellent) |
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6% |
[ 5 ] |
| 8.5 (Very Good) |
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10% |
[ 8 ] |
| 8.0 (Pretty Good) |
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6% |
[ 5 ] |
| 7.5 (Decent) |
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1% |
[ 1 ] |
| 7.0 (Average at Best) |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| 6.5 (Not So Good) |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| 6.0 (Pretty Bad) |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| 5.0 (Just Awful) |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
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| Total Votes : 75 |
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maggiepoole
Captain
Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 58
Location: Harrisburg, PA, USA
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 Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 3:31 am Post subject: |
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This is such a powerful episode. Very heavy! I remembered it (from seeing it when it was originally on), after I watched it again last week. But, the videotape scene was still a surprise. I knew what was coming, but still didn't prepare me for it. Even watching it again, I jump! It is such a compelling episode, but hard to watch at the same time. Your heart just aches for Magnum, can't imagine going through that. Have to say that Tom Selleck is one of the most incredible actors. No one can cry like he can!
Just a few things I am puzzled about though. The report Magnum finds in Buck's house says transport to Ile Debonnevie. I am assuming that is in France? Is it? I tried to google it to find the area, but nothing came up. My French and French geography are lacking, but I am wondering if that is a real place? If it was France, Magnum took a boat from Hawaii to France?? Was he in Hawaii when he got the boat? That area didn't quite look like Hawaiian geography?
I was also wondering what Magnum was writing on the ammo box.
I guess he was trying to figure out the maximum capability of his gun? Not a weapons expert either.  _________________ Trying to reach my full snail potential.
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Shermy
Resident Clutterbuck
Joined: 12 Jan 2007
Posts: 322
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eeyore
Admiral
Joined: 10 Nov 2006
Posts: 186
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| Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:02 pm Post subject: |
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| There was a discussion over at VM02 about this location some time ago. As I recall it is not a real place, but someone figured out it was supposed to be a south pacific island near Hawaii.
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IslandHopper
Master Flub Spotter
Joined: 30 Mar 2007
Posts: 729
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:44 am Post subject: |
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Magnum goes rogue.  Awesome. This is a great episode, one of my top 3. It had been some time since I had seen this episode, and I forgot that this was the episode where Magnum learns that Michelle and presumably Lily are blown up.
After Magnum views Quang Ki's video tape, he transforms from all around good guy to predator with a single mission. He even looked like he was going to put a beat-down on Maggie when he met her on the deserted road.
One of the things I like best about this episode was Magnum's transformation and how he was not necessarily careless, but just daring someone to spot him, such as when he had infiltrated the compound on the French base on Ile Debonnevie. Magnum steps into the hallway after the two French soldiers run by with their rifles at port-arms. After they pass, Magnum comes out into view and cavalierly walks down the hallway and un-hitches his holster. It seemed to me that he didn't care if he was spotted, and if he was, he would gun them down. He seemed to be looking for a fight.
| eeyore wrote: | OK here is what I don't understand, Quwon Ki is set free--but at the end of the show he obviously has been held in captivity so they can exhange the men. Was his leaving the courthouse with his entourage staged by the military? just a way to make it look like he was a free man and the military was waiting in the wings to take him into captivity? And I'm not sure what his value was to the Vietnamese? It didn't appear to me he was running from them. What am I missing?  |
I believe the entourage that took Quang Ki after he was set free were U.S. Marines in civilian clothes. During the trial, Magnum looks back behind him and sees a Vietnamese man in a suit. This guy was a member of Quang Ki's entourage who whisked him away. This same guy is a Marine Captain and is seen sitting next to Quang Ki in the Jeep when he is driven to the field before the exchange, on Ile Debonnevie. So, I would imagine the entire entourage were U.S. Marines.
| maggiepoole wrote: | Just a few things I am puzzled about though. The report Magnum finds in Buck's house says transport to Ile Debonnevie. I am assuming that is in France? Is it? I tried to google it to find the area, but nothing came up. My French and French geography are lacking, but I am wondering if that is a real place? If it was France, Magnum took a boat from Hawaii to France?? Was he in Hawaii when he got the boat? That area didn't quite look like Hawaiian geography?
I was also wondering what Magnum was writing on the ammo box.
I guess he was trying to figure out the maximum capability of his gun? Not a weapons expert either. |
I always thought Ile Debonnevie was a fictional island supposed to be in French Polynesia, or somewhere in between. There are many French held islands in the pacific, such as Tahiti, Bora Bora, Moorea, etc. As far as Magnum writing on the ammo box, it is a crude way of zeroing his rifle.
The only flub I noticed was a repeat from "Solo Flight" regarding Magnum's rank insignia on his jungle-fatigue jacket. I believe it is the same fatigue jacket he wore in the Solo Flight episode, and has Lieutenant Commander rank insignia. As we know, Magnum was never a Lieutenant Commander.
_________________
The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)
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eeyore
Admiral
Joined: 10 Nov 2006
Posts: 186
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IslandHopper
Master Flub Spotter
Joined: 30 Mar 2007
Posts: 729
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:09 pm Post subject: |
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| eeyore wrote: | | Thanks IH on the explanation on the marines who took QK away. Makes sense, so you think Magnum recognized the marines and knew something else was up? It's coming together now. That's what I like about this site, I don't always "get it" but I can always count on help! |
No problem eeyore.
I don't think Magnum recognized the Marines in civilian clothes while in the Courtroom. If he had, I think he would have had a better idea of what was about to happen. He seemed genuinely puzzled when QK was set free.
Another part of this episode that I really like and forgot to mention earlier is Magnum's narration of his letters to Lily, especially the last one after he decided not to shoot QK. He said something to the effect that "I did something today that I think you would be proud of me for." What did he mean by that? That he spared the life of a fellow human being (QK), or by saving the lives of the remaining American POWs, by not killing QK even though he wanted to more than anything. I think it is the latter, that he saved the lives of the remaining POWs by not killing QK (even though he wasn't sure there were other POWs). What do you think?
The one thing that surprised me about this episode was the order in which it was shown (episode 8 of 13). To me, Michelle’s car being blown up is pretty significant, perhaps the most significant thing that has ever happened on the show in 8 years. Considering Magnum’s love for Michelle and Lily, it just seems unnatural to me to have this episode with its dramatic events precede the more lighthearted episodes (which I love of course, e.g. "The Great Hawaiian Adventure Company"; “The Legend Of The Lost Art”; “Transitions”). In my humble opinion, I would have preferred “Unfinished Business” to have been shown as episode 11, right before “Resolutions 1 & 2.“ After Diane Dupres died in “Echoes of the Mind (2)“ Magnum went into a major depression, and that was over a woman he had known for only a few days. Well, now that Magnum believes that both Michelle and Lily are dead, they just transition into the more lighthearted episodes. What I am trying to say, is that I am surprised he didn’t have a period of mourning before transitioning into the more lighthearted episodes. Regardless of where “Unfinished Business” is shown, it is a great episode.
_________________
The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)
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eeyore
Admiral
Joined: 10 Nov 2006
Posts: 186
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:31 pm Post subject: |
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Okay, what I think he meant in his letter was, by not following through, he was helping the chances of other POW's coming home, POW's who may have daughters they had maybe never met or were very young as well when they left, just as Rockwell's daughter. I think he realized how precious the father daughter relationship was, since he could now identify. Even though his daughter was now gone, he did not want to deny anyone else from having that chance, just as he once had.
I totally agree that the show never fully dealt with Magnum's grief. The run on the beach that ended with Magnum falling to the sand and sobbing was pretty much it. And I was a little puzzled at his reaction when he saw the car bombing tape. Maybe it was supposed to be total shock but I think they should have had Magnum show more emotion at that time. After all it was a long enduring, although sporatic, relationship with much more committment than any other he had ever had. And of course there was Lily whom he suspected was his child long before he confirmed it. I think they should have spent some time on his grief too particularily given that they spent so much time on the Diane Dupris thing. That whole episode(s) was so far fetched. Made me fell a little distraught to see Magnum allow himself to get caught up with Diane, I was almost relieved to see her so totally out of the picture.
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Doc Ibold
Vulgarian Visigoth
Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Posts: 1209
Location: Detroit
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:38 pm Post subject: |
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| IslandHopper wrote: |
Another part of this episode that I really like and forgot to mention earlier is Magnum's narration of his letters to Lily, especially the last one after he decided not to shoot QK. He said something to the effect that "I did something today that I think you would be proud of me for." What did he mean by that? That he spared the life of a fellow human being (QK), or by saving the lives of the remaining American POWs, by not killing QK even though he wanted to more than anything. I think it is the latter, that he saved the lives of the remaining POWs by not killing QK (even though he wasn't sure there were other POWs). What do you think? |
Hey IH,
"I did something today that I think you would be proud of me for."
I believe that he meant that even though he COULD have taken out QK, the daughter never would have seen her father again. Magnum knows that he can never have his daughter back, but that the woman could have her father back as long as QK was still alive. By taking QKs life, he wouldn't have accomplished anything except for sating his sense of justice, and preventing the reunion between father and daughter.
Make sense?
(At least thats the way I took it).
In terms of this being a precursor to the "lighter" episodes, I'm in agreement that it's weird that he just goes back to his normal self and doesn't seem to be affected by it. However, if he didn't it would have made 2/3 of Season 8 a complete and utter downer. Part of the magic of the series (for me) were the one-off "No bad guys/ridiculous plot" episodes that were sprinkled in from time to time. If Magnum was just "action, action, action" it probably wouldn't have lasted that long, ala The A-Team.
Phenomenal episode, though!
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Doc Ibold
Vulgarian Visigoth
Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Posts: 1209
Location: Detroit
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:45 pm Post subject: |
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| eeyore wrote: | Okay, what I think he meant in his letter was, by not following through, he was helping the chances of other POW's coming home, POW's who may have daughters they had maybe never met or were very young as well when they left, just as Rockwell's daughter. I think he realized how precious the father daughter relationship was, since he could now identify. Even though his daughter was now gone, he did not want to deny anyone else from having that chance, just as he once had.
I totally agree that the show never fully dealt with Magnum's grief. The run on the beach that ended with Magnum falling to the sand and sobbing was pretty much it. And I was a little puzzled at his reaction when he saw the car bombing tape. Maybe it was supposed to be total shock but I think they should have had Magnum show more emotion at that time. After all it was a long enduring, although sporatic, relationship with much more committment than any other he had ever had. And of course there was Lily whom he suspected was his child long before he confirmed it. I think they should have spent some time on his grief too particularily given that they spent so much time on the Diane Dupris thing. That whole episode(s) was so far fetched. Made me fell a little distraught to see Magnum allow himself to get caught up with Diane, I was almost relieved to see her so totally out of the picture. |
I really should go to the END of threads before I respond, as you pretty much said what I was thinking eeyore!
I thought the reaction/beach run was pretty well done. If you get a video from some random person showing your wife and child being blown up, your (well, MY) first reaction would be "What the HELL was that?" and you wouldn't even process anything. Then the realization would probably hit you. I liked how they DIDN'T show the process between the watching of the video and how he ends up running on the beach to escape the problem.
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Shermy
Resident Clutterbuck
Joined: 12 Jan 2007
Posts: 322
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:46 pm Post subject: |
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| IslandHopper wrote: | | What did he mean by that? That he spared the life of a fellow human being (QK), or by saving the lives of the remaining American POWs, by not killing QK even though he wanted to more than anything. I think it is the latter, that he saved the lives of the remaining POWs by not killing QK (even though he wasn't sure there were other POWs). What do you think? |
Yeah, I love that final line, which I think refers to a combination of things. He spares QK, and he may have potentially spared some pows. But Magnum seems most affected by the father/daughter reunion, and I think that is ultimately why he decides not to interfere (and what he thinks Lily would value as well). This also reveals what affect the events of season 7 (ie. Lily; coma; etc.) have had on Magnum. It makes an interesting contrast to the finale of Did You See The Sunrise.
The episode definitely feels out of place in the lineup, and would be a more logical choice as the lead-in to Resolutions. I can only assume that they didn't want to overwhelm fans at the end, and wanted to space out the more serious episodes. It is kind've a relief to get those lighter episodes before the last farewell.
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