Limbo (7.22)

[Milton Collins]

I absolutely love this one a 9.0 for me. I've posted detailed thoughts above so I'll spare you all a repeat but this just has so much emotion packed into it and gets to me every time, awesome episode!

[Sperry]

I absolutely love this one a 9.0 for me. I've posted detailed thoughts above so I'll spare you all a repeat but this just has so much emotion packed into it and gets to me every time, awesome episode!

got to agree with some of your posts on this. i find it a difficult watch emotionally too.

[ConchRepublican]

Why was T.C. wearing a beret in the first scene he's in? It's where everyone is in Higgins' office. It seems so random.



Was it Thomas' beret and he was wearing it to "feel closer to him"?

Good catch, I need to compare that with what Thomas wore in Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii.

[☨magnum.t]

SOO many emotions wow great episode but I have to agree with those who say it just didn't have the completeness that we need in a series finale. The warehouse scene was superbly done, its as if we knew he was going to make it out the door, the audience is just as confident as TM is, and then BAM our jaws are left on the floor. Magnum says to Mac that it was a routine chore that he was picking up some chopper parts when he was ambushed. I think that's a classic situation for Magnum to be in, seems like everything that happed to him was sheer dumb luck, mostly good but sometimes bad. The beret thing has always puzzled me as its a black beret which at the time of this episode was worn by Army Rangers and an Army Special Forces crest "de oppresso liber" on a 1st Special Forces group flash. The symbolism there is crazy because 1st SF Group had the first and last Special Forces casualty of the Vietnam War.

[Magnus NP]

TC's Hats would be a cool thread.

[brianw]

I still cant decide if this should have been the end or not. There were some good eps in Season 8, and the happy ending was probably more fitting. But having him die was a pretty shocking sendoff.

[brianw]

Oh yea, also.... the way they got Rick out of prison.... really lazy writing, I mean, come on..... that is so fake.

[eagle]

Unpopular opinion time. I don't know how to rank this one: It is an excellent episode, but I truly dislike it. I dislike it because in my mind it didn't have the correct ending, and I would have hated CBS if this had been left as the series finale.

Now, there are parts of it that I like -- the Dickensian feel to it, and the appropriate-to-any-finale super long guest star list and the plot that went along with that (Magnum making up for years of juvenility) -- but I have never liked that it started in the middle of the case (the shootout at the warehouse) and ended with him dying.

Am I the only one? It's okay if I am, I just wonder.

[Pahonu]

Unpopular opinion time. I don't know how to rank this one: It is an excellent episode, but I truly dislike it. I dislike it because in my mind it didn't have the correct ending, and I would have hated CBS if this had been left as the series finale.

Now, there are parts of it that I like -- the Dickensian feel to it, and the appropriate-to-any-finale super long guest star list and the plot that went along with that (Magnum making up for years of juvenility) -- but I have never liked that it started in the middle of the case (the shootout at the warehouse) and ended with him dying.

Am I the only one? It's okay if I am, I just wonder.

I always felt the opening in medias res was very compelling and really fit with film noir precedent. Given Magnum’s Dash Hammett references, episodes like Murder by Night, the Luther Gillis character, and obviously him being a detective, I mean investigator , it seems fitting. The planned tragic ending is also unusual though not unique. I watched it live and it was truly jarring and, once again, compelling.

[SeamanWolfe]

This is definitely one of my favorites - I remember watching it live, it was in the time frame when magnum was on in syndication and still on CBS (it had moved to Wednesday night if I recall correctly). So I was logging 6 hours of magnum a week minimum. I thought it was the perfect wrap up to the show. From the shoot out, Mac, Michelle coming back - magnum letting her go.

I remember my dad saying the story was the same as an old movie "a guy named Joe" - which was remade a few years later by Spielberg (Always).

Anyways - It really captured my imagination and I wondered all summer show they would bring him back. I was glad they included it on the best if magnum DVD (because there were a lot of questionable episodes on that one).

[ensignwickes]

Funny how things come back to you. Without revealing too much (though plenty of you have shared openly) I was reminded of this thread while dealing with some personal issues. " I love you...and I'm letting you go." Actually quite a profound statement and even more so the emotional stance Thomas is taking. The application is different in my own life, but the logic makes perfect sense and I found it to be exactly what i needed. Thanks to all for the input over the years (begins in 2007 if memory is correct).

Merry Christmas to you all!

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

This show is one of my all time favorite episodes in TV history. My sister and I watched it without realizing it was the series finale. I was spending less time home watching TV and more time out with "the guys".

Well, we watched, and as the shock of what was happening wore off we realized that they were killing Thomas off! We ran downstairs tears in our eyes telling our parents "put on Magnum! put on Magnum! They killed him! they killed him!" I was upset man, he was my hero (still is).

I am lucky enough to have taped that episode on rerun and have watched numerous times since then. I also took a very valuable lesson from this episode which helped me through very difficult time in my real life.

My wife was pregnant in 2003 and having a very difficult pregnancy. Finally, things went bad (of course when we thought we had turned the corner). We fought and struggled to keep the baby but it was not meant to be. After 12 hours in the hospital trying everything to hold off premature labor (inversion, an experimental drug which burned her skin, whatever we could), the doctors said there was no change, things would not get better.

Another 12 hours later, my wife still was there . . . 24 total hours first fighting, then waiting for the inevitable. It sounds silly, but then I thought of Thomas talking to Michelle "I love you . . . and I'm letting you go". I realized my wife wasn't letting go. As a mother she was fighting to save our boy. I asked everyone to leave the room and I spoke to her, and told her it was OK to let go. She can love him and let him go. It was the right thing to do, she did all she could.

15 minutes later she went into labor and it was over. He was here for 42 minutes, then he was gone.

That show, that episode helped me through the most difficult time in my life and helped me understand what had to be done.

I will always be thankful for that episode and the lesson it taught me.

This is the most affecting thing I have ever read on these boards. Beautiful in a way. I showed it to my friend and she said
"he has soul, he gets it."
Thank you for sharing, Conch.

[Ivan]

I remember the original broadcast and how gutted everyone was after it aired. Stunned. People were upset! Thankfully the show didn't end here and we got one more year! Watching it again all these years later, it still packs an emotional punch. For me, the helicopter ride with TC was a moving and touching moment. Also love the transition into Higgins' study scene, too. And the John Denver song selection gets me every time!

[ENSHealy]

Anybody know what kind of patch T.C. is wearing on his beret here?

Not the same beret from the pilot at least.

[ENSHealy]

Anybody know what kind of patch T.C. is wearing on his beret here?

Not the same beret as in Try To Remember or Heal Thyself either.