I Watch TV: Magnum PI (no not that one)

Magnum PI (2018-2024)

The last 10 episodes of the Magnum PI reboot came out and… well it’s the same show. Yes, Magnum and Higgins are dating, and thanks to some serendipitous cases and storylines, they are making some serious consideration of their future as a couple. Some relationships amongst the other characters are brought forward and moved to a clear place. A couple of dangling threads are tied up. But on balance this is just another ten episodes of the show.

Having said that there’s a couple of good characters; a hitman with a heart of gold, and a villainous legal marijuana financier, who lift their case-of-the-week episodes (and in one case come back for a second pop). Higgins ending up in a mental hospital was good, and sending Katsumoto, established as a keen cook, undercover into a top restaurant’s kitchen is fun, and that’s before it turns into a violent heist in the back half of the episode.

The most serious ongoing storyline is TC, who was shot at the end of the last half-season. He’s initially unable to walk. His frustration and occasional shame is good, in part because of Shammy, the wheel-chair using veteran that TC employs, getting him out of his downward spiral. Shammy is keen to help, to push TC, to repay what was given him, to offer advice to get TC to shortcut Shammy’s problems. But TC needs to get through his own problems. He of course messes up other relationships; trying to push away his previously-estranged mother (he fails) and not wanting to see his girlfriend (who is furious that she had to learn about it from his friends*.)

Katsumoto’s problems from the time he broke someone out of jail to save his ex-wife continue; on the witness stand a lawyer puts his testimony into doubt because of it. I would say it’s amazing he kept his job, but presumably the police union is very powerful, and this is officially in the same universe as the Hawai’i 5-O reboot so frankly Katsumoto is extremely law-abiding compared to other law enforcement on the island. Anyway when that problem comes up, he and Magnum are able to deal with it.

Should I complain that a show about a former military PI who gets his friends into trouble to solve problems with chases, stunts, fights and occasional actual detective work, ends up with the problems it’s posed being dealt with? I guess not. Here at the end what do we have? I’ve made the joke that Magnum runs a heavily armed mercenary group operating with impunity all over the island of Oahu leaving a trail of destruction – our hero everyone! But Magnum steps in when the police won’t and can’t, he’s on the side of the small guy, the victim. If he won’t condemn the US military for the harm it does, then he is willing to mitigate it, especially veterans who are struggling, but also refugees as well. He drags his friends into trouble, all the time. And he drags them back out as well, and if he’s flaky and doesn’t repay favours, he does come through when people absolutely need him. And there’s what had me come back. Magnum’s charming**, and he and his pals are fun, and when he screws up, he does his best to put them right. If this last ten episodes changes anything it’s that Magnum is more responsible. Clearly that can’t be allowed to last.

Watch This: Magnum and pals have fist fights, gun fights, investigate interesting settings, car chases, boat chases, foot chases, motorcycle chases, helicopter chases, wander through the forest, walk the streets of the city, help people in trouble, take down bad guys hard
Don’t Watch This: Guy with a gun mooches off his friends and causes problems

* Rick and Magnum, the dumbasses who got TC shot in the first place.

** TV writer and showrunner John Rogers has suggested that what American audiences want is good looking people solving moderately difficult problems, well here we are.