Pleasure Principle (8.2)

[J.J. Walters]

This is the official MM thread for Pleasure Principle (8.2). 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: 10/14/1987
Appearances can be confusing as Magnum begins to act and dress like Higgins.

[Doc Ibold]

So, in my 5 hour Magnum marathon last night, I watched this episode.

At first I thought a "Magnum/Higgins" role reversal - AWESOME.

Started watching the episode and I kind of felt it was lacking and not what I thought it was going to be and got pretty annoyed.

Exploding Macs, psychologists, made it kind of BLEH for me.

HOWEVER, the last 10 minutes were classic Magnum and to me, and epitomized what the show was about - true friendship.

Each of the gang was reacting differently to Magnum's coma.

Magnum -heeding the psychologists advice and "growing up"
Higgins - becoming Magnum
TC - Hovering about Magnum constantly (which I believe came from Ricks berating of him in "Infinity and Jelly Doughnuts")

But wait, there actually was a role reversal in that point, because in "IAJD", RICK was the hoverer and TC hung back. In "PP", TC hovered, and Rick hung back.

Fascinating....

OK, back to topic,

Rick - getting culture.

And FINALLY at the end, when the 4 of them are sitting around, they disclose that they all did it because they were worried/affected by Magnum's coma, and I think FINALLY get over the events in "Limbo" and went back to their normal selves.

Whats cool is that "Limbo", "Infinity and Jelly Doughnuts" and "Pleasure Principle are all like one 3 hour movie. I like how they had the coma scenario play across all three, and they didn't treat it like some one off incident but more like the events os "Echoes of the Mind"/"Macs Back").

I also liked how when Magnum finally banished the hallucination of Mac, Mac told him that was all he wanted.

I THEN watched it with the commentary and was psyched because what I took away from the episode was pretty much how the writers intended to be.

Some key takeaways for me (over the 3 episodes....

1) From "I.A.J.D.", my take of Frank Peterson as a "jackhole" still rings true.

2) Apparently "Conga" was the only Latin song in 1988 since they played it like 4 times throughout the episode.

3) Higgins can bust a move, and has added another weapon to his arsenal - "The Dropkick of Devastation".

4) Higgins was so happy when Magnum came out of the coma. I thought he would start skipping or something! (But clearly that shows JH's range as an actor)

[Shermy]

I was also expecting more from the Magnum-Higgins reversal, but I like the way they kept everything subtle (ie. Magnum's tan outfit and occasional accent).

Selleck does a good job of portraying Magnum as a little "off", which is a lot more logical than acting as if "Limbo" never happened. By the time he offers that final grin at Mac, the viewer gets to share his relief that everything is (finally) going to return to normal.

[J.J. Walters]

[Doc Ibold]

[maggiepoole]

[sophia]

Calling in sick to watch the rest of the season!
No, I couldn't, my boss would figure it out.
If fact she told me I better not stay up all night and I had better not be late. Oh well, there is always friday night.

[J.J. Walters]

This is an excellent episode IMHO, with some really good scenes. I love the "role reversal" setup here. Perfect timing for something like this.

I like the fact that Carol, Agatha and "Mac" are featured prominently. Each one is important to the development of the story. And Carol, with a jean jacket and new hairstyle, has never looked better!

The "tropical storm" narrations from Magnum are also really well done.

[Shermy]

[Doc Ibold]