Ms. Jones

Episode Number: 103
Season Number: 5.19
Air Date: 3/7/1985
Writer: Phil Combest
Director: Ray Austin
Producer: Reuben Leder
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Recurring Characters

Margie Impert (Ms. Jones), Lance LeGault (Col. Buck Greene), Kwan Hi Lim (Lt. Tanaka)

Guest Stars

Marcia Wolf (Lt. Karen Summers), Sam Anderson (Ray Jones), Robert F. Hoy (Mark Phelps), Ray Austin (Nigel Hucksby), Harry Endo (Mr. Matsuda), Kim Bevers (Allison), Carolyn Shofner (Talent Coordinator)

Episode Brief

A reluctant Magnum is hired by Ms. Jones, the "Hall of Records" clerk who often aggravates him with excessive red tape, to help her find her husband, Ray, an expert computer programmer who has disappeared after completing work on a valuable new artificial intelligence formula.

Rating

8.1

(31 votes)

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Notes

¹ Similiar to Keoki in Season Four's "I Witness" (4.21), Ms. Jones (the "Hall of Records" clerk), a minor recurring character, is suddenly pushed center stage and receives a considerable amount of screen time. What's also interesting is that for both, this would be their last appearance on the show!

² Ms. Jones' first name is Madeline. Her boyfriend Ray was mentioned by Ms. Jones in the two previous episodes that she appeared in - "Mr. White Death" (3.9) & "Blind Justice" (5.7). He was the one who kept breaking up with her over the phone!

³ Episode director Ray Austin has a small role as Nigel Hucksby in this story. He can also be seen briefly in "The Black Orchid" (1.16), which he also directed.

⁴ Rick and T.C. only appear in one scene each in this episode.

⁵ Magnum's opening narrative at the "Hall of Records" is exactly the same as when we first met Ms. Jones in "Mr. White Death" 3.9. (Noted by N1095A)

⁶ The "staking out little Allison's kidnapper" scene was filmed at the New Town and Country Stables in Waimanalo. This location was previously used in "Adelaide" (1.14), "The Elmo Ziller Story" (2.21) and "Home From the Sea" (4.1).

⁷ Magnum mentions "Aunt Phoebe" for the first time. We will meet her in "The Aunt Who Came to Dinner" (7.20). (Noted by Mike Barnes)

⁸ The dark bookshelf to the right of the door in Col. Greene's office is the same bookshelf which was to the left of Steve McGarrett's office door in Hawaii Five-0. (Noted by Tim)

⁹ Harry Endo (Mr. Matsuda) was a Hawaii Five-O regular. He played crime lab technician Che Fong in over 100 episodes.

¹⁰ John W. Vessey, the person Ms. Jones plans to write a letter of complaint to, was at the time of the episode's broadcast the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is the only person ever to hold every rank the U.S. Army had to offer, and, at the time of his retirement in 1985, the last WWII four-star combat veteran on active duty. (Noted by RamblerReb)

¹¹ Stock cover versions of two hit songs from the 80s can be heard in the "ladies club" scene - "Run To You" (1984) by Bryan Adams and "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" (1980) by Pat Benatar. This is the first time in the series that a truly contemporary song (with vocals) has been used as in-episode music. All of the previous songs used were at least ten years or older. "Echoes of the Mind (1)" (5.1) used the "Blade Runner Theme" (1982) in the opening scene, but it is a soundtrack cut (with no vocals), not a "song". More and more, future episodes will use contemporary songs, some even by the original artists.

¹² The scenes at Ms. Jones' house were filmed at a private residence on Aukai Avenue in Kahala. (ID'd by rubber chicken)

¹³ The 1920's Russian chess grandmaster that Higgins mentions, "Roskilanovich" [sp], is fictional.

¹⁴ Briefly on a computer screen, and in a shot of a computer print out, you can clearly see some software code written in FORTRAN.

¹⁵ Kengi, the Robin's Nest workman, is seen assisting Higgins with trimming coconut trees. This is his last appearance in the show. He was previously seen in "No Need to Know" (1.5), "Computer Date" (2.14), "Echoes of the Mind (2)" (5.2), "Blind Justice" (5.7), "Little Games" (5.12), "Professor Jonathan Higgins" (5.13), & "All For One (2)" (5.16).

¹⁶ Twenty years after this episode first aired, Sam Anderson (Ray Jones) will appear as a semi-regular cast member of another popular TV show filmed in Hawaii, Lost. He plays one of the crash survivors, Bernard Nadler.

Quotes

¹
Magnum: Here in paradise there are at least three different ways of looking at time. There's the traditional mainland kind of time - people say "let's meet at eight o'clock", and that's more or less what they mean. Then there's Hawaiian time, which is a lot more... flexible; Eight o'clock may mean seven, or nine, or not at all, depending on an infinite variety of factors. However, even in paradise, there's also a time frame which seems to operate on a mysterious circadian rhythm all it's own - bureaucratic time. Roughly, that translates into "stand in line until we're ready for you, and then do it our way, or not at all". (Narration)

²
Magnum: ...You're not Madeline Jones. You're not Maddy Jones. You're Ms. Jones!
Madeline: That's what they call me at the office.
Magnum: Where, Higgins, where she keeps people standing in line for hours, takes personal phone calls while these same people are waiting for information, and then, Higgins, then, she yells at these same people for trying to be friendly and polite!
Higgins: "Those people" being you?
Magnum: Yes!

³
Madeline: This one over here. It's an experimental model, two years from production. Fortunately, Ray fed me the program information one night over dinner. It's very sexy data.
Magnum: Sexy?
Madeline: You have to know Ray.

Flubs

¹ The spelling of the last name of Lance LeGault's character in the on-screen credits ("Green") differs from the spelling on his name badge ("Greene"), which is the correct spelling.

² At the 7:24 mark, we see a polo player with the number "1" on his jersey, who is sitting on a white horse with the number "24". Only seconds later, we can identify the polo player as Higgins, but his horse suddently has the number "21"! (Noted by Bernd-Christian Schulze)

³ When Magnum is getting ready to shoot at the shooting range, the sniper is putting his gun together while wearing grey gloves. But when he aims at Ray Jones he is wearing black gloves. (Noted by seahawks1)

⁴ After Magnum and Ms. Jones leave Col. Greene's office they go for a ride out in his Ferrari. When Ms Jones is talking to Magnum he is not wearing sunglasses. Then the next time you see him, only one second later, he has his sunglasses on. (Noted by seahawks1)

⁵ When Magnum and Ms. Jones log in to Ray's computer, a message on the screen says '2:25 PM 3 MAY 1985'. This date is actually two full months after this episode was first broadcast. That in itself isn't necessarily a flub, although it is odd, but the next message on the screen reads 'GOOD MORNING RAY'. Morning? The previous message had said 2:25 PM! (Noted by Jay-Firestorm)

⁶ At 32:37, the computer screen shows the same bit of FORTRAN code (Lines 1-32) four times. (Noted by Sheedos)

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