Magnum P.I. - Farewell To Love & The Night Has Eyes - Double Review: Just Pretending
May 2, 2020
Magnum P.I. Reviews SOFarewell to Love
Magnum and Higgins began this episode undercovered on a tour for couples seeking to discover the infidelity of one of the attendees, hired by her husband, but ended up investigating the murder of another of the participants.
The case itself was more focused on what had happened and on finding out who the killer was among all those who were part of the outing, but the way in which it was solved and the motive for the crime that were revealed in the last minutes, made me not to find it that shocking. What I did find quite interesting was the chase of the murdered by Magnum, Higgins and Katsumoto, on the beach, in a maze of surfboards and with some quite creative and different shots, which gave it a touch of action to the end of the episode.
This time we had the opportunity to delve a little into TC's history and we discovered that one of the reasons he moved to Hawaii was because his girlfriend back then, Teresa, had moved on with her life, after thinking that he would never return home from the war. He ran into her right there on the island where she had gone to spend her honeymoon (such good timing). During a helicopter ride through the most beautiful landscapes of Hawaii, they confessed to each other that they still love each other and ended up kissing, which later made TC feel very bad, and despite the fact that she told him that she would leave his brand new husband, he let her go to be happy because he understood that it was no longer their time to be together, which made evident once again the great heart he has.
On the other hand, during the investigation in the couples' tour, Magnum and Higgins had some conversations in which they let us see a little more about their opposite personalities and ways of seeing romance. While she appears to be colder, he is more open, and this was reflected in how they handled themselves during their covert mission, because Thomas was trying to enjoy the situation they were in but it was clear that Juliet was not comfortable, because of all the barriers she's put around her, and I think that's what made Stan, the tour guide, to realize so quickly that they weren't a real couple. This brief chats they had in this episode and their acting as a fake couple were good preparations for the story arc that opened in the next hour, which I will talk about next.
The Night Has Eyes
Unlike the previous case, this one was more complicated and its development took a big part of the episode. The beginning was a bit funny with a confusion that started with a woman who hired Magnum and Higgins telling them that someone had taken her husband and therefore they thought it was a kidnapping, calling Katsumoto and his team to investigate, but in the end it turned that what they had taken was an urn with the ashes of Ms. Yang's late husband. Other moments that gave some comedy to the episode were Magnum and his traffic tickets and the incident of Andre Reed, the football player, and his "double" (both played by Andre Reed himself), posing as him in front of other people, although TC and Rick seemed not to notice any similarity.
Going back to the case, I liked how they tracked down the missing urn and realized that there was more to it than just Mr. Yang's ashes, in addition to discovering all the people who were involved in that affair. One of those involved was Father Brendan, who was presented as being true to his convictions and faith, regardless of the circumstances, and I liked that, even though at first Magnum and Higgins tried to pressure him into breaking his seal of confession, they ended up accepting and respecting his decision. Eventually, they continued the investigation to find out the truth by other means, and managed to give a closure to the case and return the Mr. Yang’s ashes to his wife.
Aside the case, I think the main situation, because it opened a story arc that will continue in the next episodes until the end of the season (and maybe more), was that Higgins' visa expired and after making every legal attempt through a lawyer, she ended up agreeing to do something not so legal in order to stay in Hawaii: marrying Magnum to get a green card. At first Juliet, always on the side of doing the right thing, was reluctant to accept her partner's proposal, but he insisted, without pushing her, knowing that it was the only way to help her, because she has supported him before, and it is clear that he considers her someone very important to him, beyond just being his colleague.
At this point, Thomas realized that rather than not wanting to resolve his immigration situation, Higgins had trouble asking for or accepting help from others because she thought it may be seen as a sign of weakness. This is a good example of what I mentioned earlier, about the barriers she has built around herself and how she pretends to be tough in front of others.
One thing that intrigues me a lot about this, is how their friends will react to this fake wedding, but especially, I want to see Katsumoto's reaction, considering he's a cop and obviously they won't tell him (and he wouldn't believe them if they did) their marriage will be real. Although I assume that, even if he won't agree at first because they’re basically committing a crime, he will somehow support them because he already considers them his friends.
How do you think this whole Magnum-Higgins fake wedding thing is gonna end? Is it actually going to take place? Share your comments below.