I am me. Very me.

A few minutes ago, I was out for a walk after dropping my child at school and I saw flashing lights in the school parking lot. As I broke out in a run, my immediate thoughts were of different ways to deal with a school shooter. I live in the United States, in a state that is well-renowned for its gun-loving culture even though I despise guns and have oscillated between wanting a complete repeal of the 2nd Amendment and just enacting every gun control measure possible. I got to my house and grabbed my bike (biking is actually faster than car because of how close we are to the school), and when I got into the school parking lot, I saw a couple of staff members walking around outside and was able to tell that the flashing lights were a fire truck and an ambulance. The vehicles didn't do anything to settle my fears of a school shooting, but the staff members walking around made it clear that the school wasn't locked down. That helped. As I got closer, several firefighters exited one of the buildings and strolled over to the fire truck, got in and turned off the lights as they drove away.

As I made my way home, and sitting here now, my question is: why are we tolerating this? Why? Why is my first thought upon seeing flashing lights in the school parking lot that I might have to deal with a school shooter? This is NOT all right. I AM NOT all right with this.

I love how amazing it is that Thomas and Juliet are going into this relationship completely.  They already know each other well, and have been working well together for a couple of years, and their flirting and interaction is just so incredibly well done.  And when they don’t have a case, they choose to start the day off with some coffee and some sex?  They are INTO this relationship and I am for it. 

Rick is...well, Rick is very much himself.  And the conversation between him, T.C. and Kumu at the bar has some friends speculating and maybe hoping that they’re right about Thomas and Juliet.  Rick even says they’ve been rooting for this for years, but they don’t REALLY know.  Even with finding Juliet’s necklace under Thomas’ bed. 

Did Juliet just toss a $10k bundle on Thomas’ lap?  I’m not sure if that was a disagreement that Thomas and Juliet then agreed on...or a professional argument that ended when they weren’t sure where they ended up, but had a way forward?  Either way, Juliet’s frown when she’s not sure if they agreed or not is cute because she realizes they really do play so well off each other.  So they’re looking into Jack Hill? 

Gordon’s hearing is today.  And I like how supporting Dennis is of his dad.  You did a good job, Katsumoto.  You’re a good father.

Higgy closes the laptop.  The foot is down, the FOOT is DOWN!  Jack Hill was a police officer.  Hmm...this just got all kinds of interesting.  Unknown client, money stack up front from the unknown client, ex-cop as the target of the investigation and still no reason for why...oh yes, you have my attention.  And Magnum and Higgins still disagree on how to proceed, so they’re going to work the case from the ends they think best: Higgins will try and track down the unknown client, and Magnum will look into Jack Hill.  Though she doesn’t look too pleased that he’s doing that.  And she has good reason, because as Jack Hill (in the truck I presume) drives away he apparently misses the bright fire-engine-red Ferrari parked in the street with the driver watching him, and Magnum immediately goes to break into the home of an ex-cop.  Oh smooth, Magnum.  I don’t know if this is one of your smartest plans...

But he got enough clues to help when Higgy checks in with him with her results.  So we find the anonymous client is the anesthesiologist that just helped with Jack Hill’s operation.  Higgy has such a great smug smirk.  After the talk with the Doc, we have a brief interaction, you can’t even call it a tiff because they don’t disagree they just banter flirtatiously. 

I love that we check in on Gordie to see how he’s doing before his hearing, but did we have to phrase it that we’re asking a favor.  They could literally have left that whole sentence out and just asked if Gordon remembers Hill from HPD.  Magnum you, sir, are a bit of an ass. 

Rick is really having some trouble about the Miggy relationship.  Kumu and T.C. look at him funny because it does seem like he is REALLY going hard to try and figure out what’s up.

Oh the escort!  Juliet goes from slight shock to nervous laughter to flattered in about 7 seconds, but we didn’t get much reaction from Thomas at the suggestion of a three-way from the escort.  But the mention of Jack Hill and she gives some critical details that make Thomas and Juliet suspect he was using Amber (escort) to stand in for his deceased wife, and he might have found a replacement...

The ideas just bounce back and forth between Thomas and Juliet quite well.  And we find a missing persons report that the victim, Jenny, has some overlaps with Jack Hill in just the right time frame.  I’m really hoping this is going to get ugly. 

Gordie!  You got this, dude!  Dennis, you’re cool.  Gordon, you’ll be fine. 

And we go to the diner where Jenny worked and it’s owned by her father.  Oh man, please tell me this guy is going to get closure.  So the police found her car burned but never found a body...hmmm.  And then Jenny’s mother left because she couldn’t stand to be around Abe.  Damn, this is sad. 

Get yours, Gordon!  He takes out the speech and words he had prepared and then puts them back in.  He speaks from the heart.  That matters.  It MATTERS.  Because however this disciplinary board votes, Gordon needed them to know how much the job MATTERS to him.  Yes, he’s extremely good at it, but why he does it?  That’s huge. 

Detective Childs.  Oh I do not know that he imagined he’d be seeing so much of Higgins and Magnum when he got to HPD.  But he’s getting used to it!  And Higgins and Magnum are learning how to work with him, too. 

Rick’s in limbo?  Huh, parts of his life that he wants to be certain ways are not, and they’re kind of in limbo.  And the relationship between Juliet and Thomas, whether intimate or not, has been going for years now and is in limbo, but might be more certain.  And if they can do it, why not Rick?  T.C. hits it: Rick has hope.  And that can really be something.

Oh Detective Childs is good.  Is he making up a story to gain sympathy points with Jack?  When Jack gets nervous, Childs also immediately goes hard. 

How the crap did Jack die...wait, he had a peanut allergy...but his cabinet was full of peanut butter...could Jenny be alive?!?!?!  We can see Magnum’s wheels turning.  And we’re at Jack’s house and the wheels are still turning.  They’re really going.  Holy balls, Jenny’s alive!  And that SOB had her in there for 5 f’in years?!?!?!  There is a whole long string of expletives that I want to say right now, but Jenny’s family has her physically back.  Mentally, it’s going to take a LONG time though.  But it’s a start. 

Gordon and Dennis, enjoying dinner.  And Dennis is there to support his dad, but one thing kids are also great at is keeping a parent’s ego in check.  Nicely delivered in jest, Dennis. 

Congratulatory party for Gordon!  So HPD is keeping him!  Yeah, Gordy!  And Magnum can’t have anymore favors, but Higgins?  Not a problem.

T.C. and Rick pull Thomas aside for a minute.  The necklace...T.C. asks if Thomas and Higgy are together.  Thomas response?  After stuttering/spluttering for a few seconds, the smile and “I can’t keep it from you guys anymore, it’s too important.  And honestly, I’m too happy!”  FANTASTIC RESPONSE.  And then the loving look he gives toward the table.  Fade?  We’re fading?  Why the hell are we fading?  Oh okay, we’re going outside. 

Juliet approaches Thomas outside.  The touching!  They are so tactile, they just can’t keep their hands off each other!  PDA because she probably already suspects...yup, and they are so into this relationship.  Juliet, you are right: “It’s definitely working.”

I just finished throwing in my thoughts on the previous episode last night, and mentioned that NBC’s treatment of this series is just...great.  It seems like the network is giving this series a really good shot.  And I’m here for it! 

This was another great episode!  The writing, the pacing, the relationships, the acting, we are just hitting it so well in every aspect.  I don’t know if this episode had an actual weak spot.  Editing this recap, it does seem somewhat erratic, yet follows the show.  Hopefully anyone reading this will have watched or will be watching the episode because it’s really good. 

Okay, so we start with a random family enjoying a vacation on the beach.  During some night fireworks, Dave (husband and Dad) goes to get a drink at the bar and disappears...

So, Dana (mother and wife to Dave, missing guy), calls hotel security and they call Gordon. 

Magnum meanwhile is reviewing the report from HPD on Greene’s autopsy and death.  Suspicious stuff all over the place: Greene’s boat was wiped completely clean of fingerprints and DNA, sneaky harbormaster is missing, etc., etc., etc. 

But Gordon is in the guest house, waiting for them and evaluating Rick and his pillow-fort.  This whole conversation is quirky and hilarious and Rick heads off to get his day going.  Gordon explains the case.  My favorite line from Magnum to Gordon, “You always said you wanted to do what we do, right?” and Gordon’s deer-in-the-headlights look and “I never said that.”  Intro break and then we get weird...

Because the case Juliet and Thomas were going to work and is now mostly Juliet’s, starts at a dog’s funeral, complete with eulogy.  Well okay then, this is happening.  And this older, rich woman’s dog was possibly poisoned...well, I don’t know if this is going to amount to anything, but if she’s paying the fees for Higgins (and Magnum?), then sure, let’s look into it.  Maybe it’ll at least give her piece of mind. 

Quick conversation between Magnum and Katsumoto.  They go through the hotel security footage, the family’s financials and find out ‘David’ has no history prior to 2010 and the real David Carter died in 1999.  This is getting interesting!

We’re at a reeeeeeally nice dog park with Kumu and the Lads.  I want to see Juliet drive more of the Ferraris!

Gordon and Thomas are hitting the case of the missing spouse hard and it leads to Gordon calling in favors from someone on HPD and apparently he knows the bouncer from the strip club our missing spouse used for an ATM withdrawal.  Hmmm, this is sounding like Magnum calling in favors, isn’t it. 

Rick is feeding Roberto II some mini pancakes when he turns around to grab the syrup and suddenly Roberto is gone...NOOOOOOO.  Call in T.C.! 

Back to the dog park.  Everyone Kumu and Higgy talk to really don’t like the dog (Hank) or Patty (Hank’s owner), but the main complaint is that Patty let Hank misbehave and he did.  A LOT.  But Kumu doesn’t think any of the pet owners would kill him.  Turns out, Hank WAS poisoned.  He last ate a lemon bar laced with rat poison.  So Higgy is thinking the client, Patty, was the target, not Hank.

Hmmm, Magnum and Katsumoto track Dave to a motel and Magnum goes to pick the lock when the door suddenly gets a few fresh bullet holes poked in it.  David used the cash from the strip club ATM to get a gun and a burner phone.  Pretty good.  But David gets out the bathroom window and then calls the room phone to tell Magnum to stop looking for him and leave his family alone.    

But we flash to somewhere for some fun.  T.C. and Rick are looking for Roberto in the greatest ways possible.  Sneaking quick looks into cabinets, pulling towels out, oh this is pure gold.  Especially when T.C. finds a necklace under Thomas’ bed and he and Rick start speculating. 

Speaking of speculating, Kumu and Higgins are trying to figure out how the rat poison got into the lemon bars.  Patty didn’t know it was in the lemon bars, and she’d just made them.  The sugar she had ordered was delivered with her groceries a few days prior and was outside the front door for some time.  When Patty says, “Everybody loves me!”, the look Kumu gives her is so fantastic and she doesn’t even need to say “Lady, are you serious?”  This lady is either incredibly naive or just oblivious.  I’m not sure which is better or worse, but if she thinks everything is great, then I guess that’s good on her?  I don’t know, but she points Higgy and Kumu in the direction of her ex-fiance. 

Thomas and Gordon are discussing possibilities when the fingerprint comes back and David was actually an accountant for the Detroit mob before disappearing in 2010.  Katsumoto figures out one of the old Detroit guys and David recognized each other in the bar at the hotel, so David ran to protect his wife and daughter.  But Magnum realizes the mobster might have put together David was there with people...with family.  And Dana’s phone went straight to voicemail, so we’re going to break some traffic laws and get to the resort as fast as we can. 

Higgy and Kumu meanwhile question Patty’s ex-fiance.  Not only has he not seen Patty in months, but he wasn’t after her money.  If he and Patty had gotten married, the apparently BIG alimony checks from her ex-husband would have stopped.   

And crap, the Detroit mobster has already gotten to the family’s hotel room.  Dana’s gone, but Mia was in the closet hiding.  Magnum gets her to talk about what happened.  What the hell?  A Detroit mobster and a former accountant can just get guns with no problem in Hawaii?  C’mon, this is getting frustrating.  Hawaii’s gun laws are TIGHT.  I’ve pointed this out A LOT and it’s really starting to irritate. 

Patty’s ex-husband tried to kill her.  Because of the alimony checks.  How much was he paying to not be married to her that he’d chance killing her to stop?  I don’t know what went on between them, but maybe he should have just gotten a pre-nup.  Sounds cold, but I really don’t know anything about their history. 

But our Detroit mobster has Dana!  And is probably trying to flush Dave out.  And he is successful.  Just as Thomas and Gordon show up, Dave drives up and we see that Detroit Mob guy has some colleagues now to help out since he found their lost accountant.  So Dave wants a trade: Dana’s life for the money he stole and has stashed in an account.  He’s typing away at a laptop as Gordon and Thomas are formulating a plan outside.  What’s Gordon thinking of doing...

So Gordon takes out the first guy at the door, then is the distraction for Magnum to knock out guy #2, and that leaves Detroit boss guy?  Who surrenders when it’s 2 v 1.  So HPD arrests Wells, (Detroit boss guy), and David, Dana and Mia might go into witness protection?  Maybe, that’s their issue to sort out with testimony and indictments...yeah, all them.  But good luck. 

And Magnum wanted to work the case with Gordon because he was trying to distract him from the pending HPD decision on Gordon’s future?  Would he do that? 

Kumu, Thomas and Juliet debriefing with the Lads NOT attacking Magnum?  Huh.  Kumu keeps looking back and forth as Thomas and Juliet are smiling at each other and telling each other about their days.  Thomas and Juliet could almost be called smooth when covering their relationship change and the effect on the dogs...but to the guest house! 

Where T.C. and Rick are looking rather down-trodden.  Rick has broken the washing machine at least once?  And has been clogging the toilets...a lot?  But back to Rick and T.C. explaining that Roberto is missing but then everybody looking at Magnum like he’s a little crazy when he starts smirking.  Rick sputtering through is freaking hilarious.  But Roberto is on the cage!  Eating his tiny mouse pancakes! 

Juliet spots the necklace on the counter and “Oh my god!  I’ve been looking for this for ages!”  The look that passes between T.C. and Rick?  Money.  Then their little sidebar.  “Game-changing!”  Damn, right! 

NSFW is true about the CEO, but dear God, man, did you have to be a serial cheater and womanizer?  Well, first sentence, and I’ve spoiled some already.

After our quick prologue/recap, we have Thomas and Gordon sitting, talking about Greene’s death and of course, Magnum doesn’t even ask and Gordon knows Magnum wants to know if he can get his hands on the homicide file.  That’s a HUGE ask, as Gordon points out, because Gordon is trying to get his badge back, and giving the report for a currently open HPD investigation to a civilian (I know Magnum is a Private Investigator, but that does NOT make him law enforcement and he definitely should NOT have access to the file) should lead to Gordon’s suspension if he wasn’t already standing by on his adjudication.  So it just seems pretty rude of Magnum to push it, then when Gordon says no, Magnum doesn’t ask how Gordy’s doing, or how the case review is going, or if he can help his FRIEND out in some way.  Thomas walks away.  Rick said it (somewhat jokingly?) in episode 1 of this season, that his friendship with Magnum was somewhat transactional and a little bit toxic, and trying to maintain a little objectivity, it seems that Magnum treats his friendship with Katsumoto a little bit like that as well.  

Rick...bring your baby to work day?  You own a bar, dude.  Sure, why not.  What could possibly be bad about this idea?  Although “Tammy is the worst” is a hilariously cruel line.  So Rick is meeting his little sister Ruthie at La Mariana, and he had a big hand in raising her...but she has a tendency to show up when she needs something.  Flash to T.C. talking to Magnum quickly, then T.C. putting up security cameras at Island Hoppers.  With Mahina joining him wearing his shirt and some sandals.  He really should go back to bed.  Good for them!  They missed out on a chance a few years ago, and now they’re making up for it.  I hope this works out for T.C. and Mahina, and Cade, too. 

I love Higgy’s nonchalant quip of “I hacked HPD again” like “Oh, today’s Thursday, I’m going to have a croissant and hack HPD.  It’ll be a good morning.”  The light touches between Thomas and Juliet are incredibly well done and subtle but definitely demonstrative of their feelings about each other.  Juliet cares, a lot, and she wants Thomas to know that. 

PLEASE don’t make a solar + battery startup go under or have it vanish from a hostile takeover from a fossil fuel-backed hedge fund.  The hint at Koch Brothers fingerprints are all over this episode.  My first clue that something was amiss was the combination of “She has no personal life, no boyfriend” and then he puts the picture (of him and her together) in FRONT of the picture of his family...

Nice, Juliet throws the ‘vastly superior people skills’ at Thomas and he catches it right away.  They both know she laid it on a bit thick, but the communication here is absolutely needed.  I like his little smile when she’s trying to protect him and then the “Wait, wait, wait” and she pulls him in for a KISS.  The end of this scene is fantastic.  The dialogue, the looks, the deep feels, dear God it’s perfect. 

Magnum finds a man’s shirt at the CFO’s house.  Her really nice house with a $100k Tesla SUV in the driveway.  Wow, I guess everyone in Hawaii is loaded because even basic rent on a studio apartment is not cheap.  But I digress, back to Higgy dumpster-diving and there’s a BODY in the TRASH CHUTE.  That can’t be comfortable.  It’s the CFO.  And the CEO, Jordan, points Magnum and Higgy to the hedge fund manager. 

Back to La Mariana and we meet Ruthie, Rick’s cool sister for a minute. Hmm, she’s implied to be looking for help, but she doesn’t need a place to stay...interesting.  She might be here for something else.

The hedge fund manager is supposed to come across as a little bit slimy, but he just comes across as a straight-forward, albeit somewhat ruthless businessperson.  Although calling Higgy ‘babe’ apparently just slipped through unnoticed.  So he’s a little smarmy, but that’s not illegal. 

And the CEO and CFO were sleeping together.  Which he neglected to tell Higgins and Magnum...and the CEO has a HUGE MANSION.  Did I not mention that rent in Hawaii is chart-toppingly high?  How do these people afford a beachfront mansion like this?!?!  Is this where the money from the startup is going?  To this CEO’s small palace?  Goddammit, c’mon! 

So the CEO was sleeping with his CFO for about a year.  When Higgins and Magnum confront him about how that looks, he fires them.  As Higgy and Magnum spitball pros and cons back and forth, there really isn’t a motivation for Jordan to kill Sandra, and there’s actually big downside for him to do it.  Interesting that the family’s security system camera footage has just been deleted...

Hmm, Rick and Ruthie.  Huh, so she’s getting married.  So apparently there’s not a ton of communication between Rick and his sisters.

Quick scene with T.C. and Mahina.  Cute, working on our communication, and they both think they have a good thing going.  Cool. 

I’m not a huge fan of making HPD look like boneheads a lot.  It kind of shakes the confidence in law enforcement when police officers are repeatedly wrong about suspects in something like a murder investigation.  I understand that Magnum and Higgins will ultimately find the real killer, but they don’t have to make HPD look bad.  They already kind of did that a bunch the last few years with Gordon.  Yeah, he ultimately got credit for helping solve a bunch of cases with Magnum and Higgins, but that doesn’t reflect fantastically well on HPD that their investigators repeatedly get things wrong.  That’s the long way of saying the janitor’s been arrested for the CFO’s murder because she owed him money.

So Rick and Ruthie.  Ruthie’s gay, but in a hilariously awkward way, Rick seems to be completely fine with that.  He’s more bothered that she didn’t tell him one of the biggest, most important things in her life.  He viewed himself as partly a father figure to her and he didn’t know/she didn’t tell him.  Until now.

The janitor that’s been arrested for Sandra’s murder overheard an argument between two women in Sandra’s office while she was there late the night she was murdered.  So we head to Jordan’s wife.  Who apparently knew not only about Jordan sleeping with Sandra (who she described as ‘like family’ before), but he’s had a whole slew of affairs...

And we get to a part where I had to pause the episode.  Jordan’s wife thinks the because he’s a ‘powerful, driven man’ that she should be willing to compromise and be fine with affairs and him betraying her.  It wasn’t that they had an open marriage, it’s just he has affairs and she accepts that.  This is where I’m raising an ANGRY RED FLAG up to the top of the mast.  I’m a dude.  If you’ve read my screeds before, some of you might have guessed or been suspicious, but yes, I am a dude.  And I’m married.  And you know what I don’t do?  Sleep the fuck around.  Everybody’s relationship is not the same, true.  But I would not have MARRIED my spouse if I wanted to sleep with other people.  Maybe if the ‘powerful, driven man’ had some goddamn self-control, he wouldn’t be going to jail...but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Kumu and Rick talking.  This was a really good talk.  Rick is struggling to cope with Ruthie not telling him about her being gay, and feels that because of how important he thought he was in her life, that she could have told him and maybe should have.  Kumu has some great parental thoughts on the matter.  Since she didn’t have any kids of her own, Thomas, Rick, Juliet, and T.C. are all her children. 

We have Magnum and Higgins working the security footage angle from Jordan’s house.  Jordan, his wife and their daughter all have accounts, but the system doesn’t record who deleted the footage.  They figure out Zoe (Jordan’s daughter) just found out about her Dad and Sandra, and it might have been Zoe that killed Sandra. 

Just as Higgins and Magnum arrive at the mansion, they see Jordan handcuffed and being put in a squad car.  I like Childs’ reaction, “You know you’re exhausting, right?”

Okay, Jordan does NOT get to pull the “oh I feel terrible about being unfaithful to my wife and family” card.  You didn’t feel bad enough while you were being unfaithful to stop, so yeah, you’re looking up at the moral high ground from the bottom of the hill, man.  Stop being skeezy, you’re embarassing the rest of us.   

I do like the conversation between Magnum and Higgins on the way to the car from HPD.  I don’t know if that’s an actual building used by HPD in the background, but it is a really nice-looking building.  But the conversation, about it being up to the prosecutor about the way ahead and possible convictions, it shows that this really is a little more complicated moving forward legally than morally.  While they don’t mention it, because of the timeline and the actions taken by Jordan and his family, there might not be enough for a jury to convict on a murder charge for either Zoe or Jordan because there’s enough reasonable doubt about the other possibly committing the murder.  So with Jordan confessing and taking credit, it doesn’t mean a good defense attorney won’t try and place enough suspicion on Zoe that there’s doubt.  Same if Zoe is charged as an adult.  But then again, I’m not a lawyer, so that’s just speculation from me.

Magnum and Higgins take the win of the janitor being released!  (We’ll ignore the check fraud charges and just believe everything’s good). 

Couple of quick scenes: Gordon got Magnum the police file (I’m split about that because Gordon’s previous associations with Magnum should have been getting him suspended about every other week anyway), but he chooses to get the report, and possibly ending his career anyway.  How does he even have access if he’s suspended...

Anyhow, second quick scene as Mahina helps T.C. set up the motion detectors and cameras at Island Hoppers.  She’s ‘got plans’ for them.  I like it.  She better not be killed by whoever is after T.C., Rick and Magnum.  That would just be annoying. 

Every so often, a show breaks out a conversation between two characters that is so fantastic that there are few words to describe it.  Rick and Ruthie talk over pool.  Both of them are right, and those are some of the most difficult situations.  This might be the best scene in the episode (even the Miggy moments) because the writing is just raw and open.  People are human, and despite people’s best intentions, sometimes things happen that are beyond control and there are certainly ripple effects.  Ruthie and Rick move through this one really well. 

I like Rick’s toast.  And everyone’s reaction.  Suzy!  Yay!

No one notices how Thomas and Juliet are not only next to each other but always so close now.  Even MORE so than before.

And because we apparently haven’t gone for the feels enough, we get the moment between Thomas and Juliet about whoever/whatever is coming.  The looks!  Mwah!  GREAT EPISODE!!!! 

After the recap of the previous episodes, we go straight to a meeting between Magnum and Captain Greene from two years ago.  Magnum seems very forgiving about Greene sending him to die in the Triple Frontier incident, but hey, his way of dealing.  Interesting expression: “Until you’ve sacrificed everything, you haven’t sacrificed enough.”  I don’t particularly agree with it, because you always have to be aware of who you are in order to keep your actions in perspective.  You don’t need to sacrifice everything in order to feel what you’ve done is enough.  That kind of mentality is actually detrimental because is becomes self-defeating and counter-productive.  It’s also important to remember that there’s a difference between ‘sacrificing everything’ and being willing to ‘sacrifice everything’.   

Back to the present, which means the HPD Morgue with Magnum and T.C. confirming Greene’s identity.  Magnum pretty strongly makes the Medical Examiner start an autopsy, but HPD is right in this instance initially: Greene’s boat was found adrift, open liquor bottles, prescription drugs, there’s really no reason to suspect anything nefarious.  But as it turns out later, Magnum is, of course, right.  And as viewers, we know from the previous two episodes that there’s some stuff going on.  Did Magnum really need to pull the ‘fully commissioned officer in the US Navy’ card?  He was a Captain, and I respect him for his actions, but that doesn’t make him above anyone else.  Though the threat of getting the DOD involved would work.   

I was really not expecting the transition to a K-Pop music video, so that came as a pleasant surprise.  For a minute, I thought they were filming at Robin’s Nest.  So while awaiting HPD’s decision for his police future, Gordon will be doing a little freelance security/bodyguard duty.  Hope he’s getting paid well.

Higgy teaming up with Rick to look into something with him.  Cashing in one of the favors from Magnum/Higgins (he usually asks, but many times, he’s the one that asks for them), but Rick doesn’t notice that Higgins is happy and light-hearted (generally) while agreeing when Rick doesn’t really know much about what they’re getting into.  The nice segue into Thomas’ recent behavior (hasn’t been around as much, gets in late, goes out early) and Higgy’s look of ‘Oh god, does Rick know?’ and then ‘It’s so obvious, he’s seeing someone.  Has he said anything to you?’.  I like that he lays it on thick, and her contented little smile when Rick tells her whoever Magnum’s seeing he must really like.  Higgy’s nervous comment of ‘I look forward to meeting her'.  C’mon, is he really just laying it on a little thick and feeling her out, because both Juliet and Thomas have been happy and smiley, especially around each other.  

We meet Kona.  Or rather, Kona’s newly killed body.  And the gunmen are right behind Higgy and Rick.  Sweet, now Rick and Higgy are hostages?  How does EVERYONE HAVE GUNS?!?!?!  I’ve said this before, but the gun laws in Hawaii are really strict and they work!  So everyone and their brother and their cousin having guns is kind of annoying.

Gordon riding with K-pop musician Rae Song and getting to know each other some is fairly interesting.  Gordon is a good dude, and maybe Rae just needs someone besides her manager and security guards around.  I don’t see any family, so she just interacts with security and her manager.  Gordon may not be the friendliest dude ever, but he’s solid and reliable and a good person, so maybe Rae needs that.  But suddenly, Gordon has been stabbed by a stalker fan?

And now Higgy and Rick are going to dig in the jungle somewhere. 

But Magnum and T.C. are at Kona’s house and figure out someone bled out on the living room floor and was taken away with the shower curtain.  Higgy’s call is right on time, and the missing item is a case of whiskey?  Special Japanese whiskey worth 250k?  Nice.  So the deadline is 5 hours to find the whiskey or Rick and Higgy are going to be dead in the jungle.  And it took Magnum about 45 seconds to locate the person currently in possession of the whiskey, but it’s some influencer at a local hotspot.  To the Rainbow Drive-In!

I like Gordon’s son, Dennis, poking fun that Gordon was with HPD 20+ years and was just fine, and on his 1st day working private security, gets stabbed.  Rae and her manager come by and Dennis is playing it cool.  Right up until his phone goes off and his ringtone is Rae’s song from the stage soundcheck.  He excuses himself before Rae’s manager lets Gordon know the stabber has been handed to HPD and tonight’s concert is being cancelled.  Rae autographs a picture for Dennis and Rae offers Gordon a spot on her security detail in Korea, but he politely declines. 

Magnum and T.C. question the influencer while Rick and Higgy plot about a getaway, and Gordon drops by HPD.  I will admit trying to pack three main plot lines into one episode seems to make it a little too quick jumping back and forth.  Yes, the whiskey and hostage system are directly related, but we have to jump back and forth to keep updated on what’s going on because they’re not physically in the same spot.   But I digress.  Gordon at HPD.  He meets Detective Childs, and we learn the interesting fact that Gordy keeps excellent notes for all his cases.  We also learn that the stabbing suspect was never brought to HPD...hmmm, this is getting interesting.  When talking to the head of Rae’s security, the perpetrator was taken care of in-house.  The guy gives Gordon 10k and ‘appreciates his discretion’. 

HA!  Gordon heads to HPD to talk to Childs.  Apparently Rae’s recording label is run by a Korean mob outfit and they’re trying to GTFO of the country fast so killed the assailant and are trying to peace out.  Is it just me or did Detective Childs seem reluctant to get Gordon’s shirt tested for the suspect’s blood?  From what we’ve seen of him for the first three episodes of this season, he seems to drag his feet on anything less than absolute concrete proof of a crime.

Back in the jungle, Rick and Higgy try an escape, but are unsuccessful.  And now Rick gets pistol-whipped for their efforts.  But the kidnappers decide not to kill them?  Which is good.  But T.C. and Magnum have found the ‘owner’ of the whiskey, who’s rather smarmy and will only lend them the whiskey if they leave the Ferrari as collateral until they bring the whiskey back.  I like Thomas’ counter-offer: the owner gets duck-taped to a chair and they take the whiskey anyway.  The guy still looks so smug that Magnum won’t be able to get into his phone but then Magnum suddenly brings the phone up, does something (I’m not sure if it was biometrically locked and he just used the facial recognition as a passkey), and he’s in.  T.C. thought it was rather funny.

Gordon and Childs talking gives us a little history of Childs.  Apparently he worked at Oakland PD’s 1st Precinct, which also just had a major police corruption scandal.  Gordon suspects Childs cooperated with IA and helped put away some of the other police officers, so that’s how he ended up with HPD.  But the lab results come back and the stabber was from the same gang as Rae’s security, so we’re not sure why they’re trying to kill her.  So we head to the airport to stop Rae from getting on the plane.  They confront the security guy with Rae and her manager there.  Rae was planning on leaving the label and re-recording her Masters so she had control over her own music, that the recording label was just going to have her killed.  Their copies of Rae’s Master recordings would be worthless, but the only person Rae confided in was her manager.  Gordy warns Rae that if she gets on the plane, they’re probably going to kill her before they land. 

Now, Magnum and T.C. arrive in the Rover at the site of the little kidnapping digging party.  Hmmm, and we have some intrigue.  Higgy figures out that the second gunman (the one that killed Kona because Kona apparently went to draw a weapon on him) is actually the one that sold the whiskey to the smarmy buyer after he stole it from Kona.  So originally, Gunman #2 and Gunman #1 leave the whiskey with Kona to find a buyer, but Gunman #2 must have found the buyer on his own, steals the whiskey from Kona and then when he and Gunman #1 come ‘back’ for the whiskey, he (#2) kills Kona to tie up that loose end.  Higgy and Rick just happened to show up to Kona’s place at an inconvenient time for everyone.  But back to the jungle dig site.  Higgy figures it out and Magnum follows her lead.  Damn she’s good.  So Magnum whips out the buyer’s phone, which has a text exchange between the seller and buyer without names.  Magnum suggests calling the seller, just to check.  And as Higgy deduced, it was Gunman #2.  And so Gunman #1 and Gunman #2 shoot each other as everyone dives away. 

Magnum IMMEDIATELY looks for Higgins and helps her out of the hole they dug.  The look between Juliet and Thomas is their first interaction we see during the episode, and though he only asks if she’s okay, the look that passes between them says a lot more.  I LOVE IT.

Dennis Katsumoto walks into his house to see Rae chopping tomatoes and Gordon greets him with ‘Son, meet your new sister’.  It’s freakin hilarious the banter between Gordon and Rae.  He plays the straight man so well with his humor and they play off each other well.  I just really enjoyed the whole domestic scene with Gordon, Dennis, and Rae.

To the lanai!  Thomas, Juliet, Rick and T.C. get to enjoy some of the Japanese whiskey.  As a reward for retrieving it, the distributor gives them a bottle for themselves.  The crew is enjoying it when Dr. Santos, the ME at HPD, calls Magnum back and apologizes.  Juliet immediately sees Thomas’ demeanor change during the phone call.  So Greene had no alcohol in his system, and had freshwater in his lungs.  From being waterboarded.  Magnum figures out the code on Greene’s watch refers to a mission they went on as a team to take a high-value target in Afghanistan.  Now they know they might be targets, because they’re not sure if the torturers actually got information out of Greene.  Which is, not to understate this, problematic.  And that is how we end the episode. 

I like Thomas cooking for Juliet but Rick temporarily staying in the guest house?  Uh, that’s going to add a WHOLE other layer to sneaking around for Thomas and Juliet.  Nobody notices the looks between Thomas and Juliet and their ever-more-frequent interactions and almost all their time together?...

Case, so lifeguard Carina (I’m guessing on the spelling), has OD’d and her brother wants some closure/answers.  I love Detective Childs reaction when they’re at HPD to see if they can look at the police report.  Higgy just asking him actually works.  And then the double meaning conversation about ‘communication’.  I like her saying, “Rick is family, he’s always going to be welcome” but it might create ‘inconveniences’ for happy times.  Their banter is now upping the ante with open flirting and double entendres all over the place.  And I am HERE for it!

At La Mariana, Rick and Kumu debating who would better pass as a lifeguard, “MI6 or Navy SEAL”, was such a fun little conversation between the four of them.  Magnum saying “Navy SEAL” quietly and Rick going with Higgy?  Juliet and Thomas playful and having a blast together.

And slow-motion hot people entrance at the beach?  Money.  What I wouldn’t give for abs like Higgy.  Robbie and Jade, nice.

Jin’s bidding for the storage unit is pure gold, but then he knew there was going to be a ton of stuff because he knew the storage unit was previously owned by a professional thief...hmmm, I’m kind of surprised T.C. is going along with this, but then the Purple Heart.  

Talk to the Metal Detectorist then the woman that needs sunscreen on the parts she can’t reach?  Really Magnum?  Really dumbass?  Although it was rather hilarious with Higgy trolling him.  We’re feeling our way through the early stages of this relationship with slight awkwardness and figuring out our communication.  I like Juliet’s ‘I trust you IMPLICITLY’ helping to diffuse the confusion?  Their looks while the other isn’t looking show how good Jay Hernandez and Perdita Weeks are and how much fun it looks like they’re having with this aspect of their characters.  Some discussion about suspects before a rescue is in order.  Lifeguard!  Can lifeguard be used as a verb?  ‘To lifeguard’?   Hmmm, regardless, Magnum spots a kid flailing and swoops in with Higgy for the rescue and treatment of the kid’s cut leg.  Nicely done.  

Magnum and dogs just don’t seem to agree.  Though I’m a fan of the angry surfer being a great pet owner with a fan in the roof of the van so ‘Ruffles’ can relax comfortably and safely in the van while he and his buddy surf.  So our surfers knew Carina but interacted in a sibling sort of way, and can prove they weren’t near the break that morning because they have a webcam set up...which means there’s footage!  Bam, Magnum heads to Higgy to update her and just the way she says “You have that look” with a coy smile...so mutual info updates and footage review points the duo to the guy Carina saved the morning she was killed.  And Magnum gives a good voice-over which makes me want more voice-overs and if Higgy would do some, too.  Drugs?  In the fish?  So we’re headed to ‘watch’ as HPD busts the drug smugglers.  

Jin and T.C. hustle the thief’s friend.  I don’t know if I would have done that.  If he didn’t give them the information I probably would have given him a small cut of the locker profits.  But I guess that worked by giving him the locker...the fact that is was already empty didn’t come up.  Though I’m guessing since the number of thieves on Oahu isn’t huge, word might get around about Jin pulling a fast one on the guy.  Guess we’ll see.

Of course Magnum and Higgins aren’t going to stay in the van!  They could have at least closed the door to an otherwise unoccupied police surveillance van when they ran after one of the suspects.  Clothesline! Hi there.  Post-arrest discussion, Higgy immediately notices the way Magnum is looking at the guy being put in the police car and knows his wheels are turning.  

The Lifeguard Captain?  Huh.  Just because he’s retiring?  It’s a little thin, but I guess it could work that he’s part of a drug smuggling operation.  Oahu and Hawaii in general are EXPENSIVE.  

Nice touching scene with the vet from the USS Arizona and his Purple Heart.  

We’re back baby!  YYYYYYYEEEEESSSS.  And we start off FANTASTICALLY.  Shower scene?  Oh yes, yes please.  Talking and handsy in shower scene?  Oh yes, more please. 

So it is quite evident from the morning banter and the shower discussion that Thomas and Juliet are vibing.  Vibing with early morning-after banter.  :-D  I be happy.  Quite happy.  I love that both appreciate the possible repercussions of a relationship, but they’re both also willing to risk it anyway because it might just work out. 

We had to have someone come in, so Kumu it is!  Funny scene, Kumu wondering where Juliet could be...

Anyway, client time.  So possible cheating spouse, but from a quick search of his office by the duo we find some stuff, but we’re not quite sure what it means contextually.  And because we’re 15 minutes into a new season, we’re going to get arrested!  Woo-hoo misdemeanors early!  And we’re introduced to Gordon’s (not sure temporary or permanent) replacement.  When the word ‘boyfriend’ is dropped, the hilarious ‘Oh we’re not/He’s not...’ reaction as the Det. just watched, amused.  And he won’t be charging them?  Breaking and Entering as well as Impersonating an Officer?  Not going to bother because it’s paperwork?  Huh? 

Nice car seat.  Thought we had stopped or at least slowed to a trickle with the running jokes of ‘Thomas Magnum the mooch’ and ‘I need a favor’.  Guess not.  Higgy pays for the car seat and Thomas is already asking for favors.  Lovely. 

I like the attention to detail that Magnum memorized Detective Childs’ badge number and uses it to impersonate him.  So, misdemeanor #3? 

Hmm, Captain Greene.  I thought he was married...I remember his son dying with the Triple Frontier episode where he betrays Magnum to Ivan...We’ll see where this storyline goes.

Magnum and Higgins find the acrylic nail in the SUV.  Did we need the reference to Magnum’s dating history?  He dated 2 manicurists?  Higgy was mostly joking and he casually drops the ‘2, actually’ line.  Quick personal side note: I’m not a fan of a character (TV/Movie/whatever) having a dating history so long you need to start numbering the pages.  Assuming the character is not just a slut (male/female/I don’t care, the adjective applies).  Presumptuous, but I’m going with it.  That says one of two things: the person has a major character flaw and can’t keep a relationship, or the other person recognizes quickly that they really don’t want to be with the character and cuts it off quickly.  Either way, it doesn’t really reflect well on the person.  And yes, I am generalizing, but I really hope Magnum isn’t portrayed as going through a TON of relationships.  A few, sure. We’ve seen him date Lia and fairly seriously date Abby, and his relationship with Hanna was...something, yeah.  But other than that, we see one instance I can remember (early in Season 1) when we see someone he’s had at the guest house.   Personal side note/thought completed. 

Cute little discussion on the way to the car about how they know so much about each other, that a relationship just kind of happens organically and they didn’t really ‘court’.  Higgy’s pessimism followed by her line: “For what it’s worth, I think I might actually have enjoyed being courted by you” is such a great way to introduce how their relationship might go.  I look forward to it.

Damn right Katsumoto better fight for his badge.  I don’t think the line about Thomas not turning him in had he pulled the trigger is such a great one concerning Thomas, but...  

Could we have just Magnum talk to Kimee off-screen and/or not in front of Higgy with Kimee being quite flirty?  Or are we just trying to make Higgy jealous right away?  Anyway, we get a client name.  And after talking with the woman and her high-powered realtor husband with possible ties to organized crime groups...lovely.

From the conversation with the Parkers, Higgy realizes that the wife is being abused and the Doc was trying to help her get away when the husband’s ‘security’ was chasing them.  And Detective Childs’ played them!!!!!

 Breaking Melinda out of her domestic prison!  Convince her to testify against him, get out of there and use reason.  Hmm, it works!  Magnum beating down three guys was pretty impressive before Higgy disarms the husband and does a really nice hip-toss as the approaching sirens announce HPD is coming!  I do enjoy Higgy beating people up.

I really like Detective Childs smirk after Magnum and Higgins confront him about playing them.  Childs could be a really fun character.

Gordie!  Fight it!

 Oh man, Higgy’s smile when she heads through the gate in the wine cellar to see Magnum’s setup for them.  They are so together hard. 

Hmmm, Captain Greene.  Kidnapped.  About to be tortured for the identities of Magnum’s team...this is going to be interesting. 

Small question: in the first season, wasn’t the team interviewed publicly upon their escape and after medical recuperation from their Taliban captivity?  So their names would already be publicly known...?

This has been in the back of my mind, just sitting there, niggling, for a while now.  I’ve mentioned before in my thoughts regarding Magnum, PI episodes that I don’t particularly like how Higgins’ relationship with Dr. Ethan Shah unfolded, particularly the end of it.  Season 3 was fine, with Higgins and Ethan getting to know each other and feelings developing and all that.  I figured Miggy/Miggins could eventually happen, but it might take a while, and so TPTB decided to throw some acceleration land mine plot points in to speed shit up.  Hence, the development of a relationship for Higgins.  We’d already had some time with a Magnum relationship with Lawyer Abby (I know I don’t have to call her ‘Lawyer Abby’, but she was a lawyer named Abby and I think it sounds cool once or twice), so now Higgins gets some action. 

The relationship with Ethan progressed, Magnum encouraged Juliet to give it a chance, saying it might work out, but even if it didn’t, why not see if it could.  So good, supportive friend/partner.  Higgins and Dr. Ethan (Abby got the treatment so why not Ethan...once or twice) get close.  Close enough to the point when Higgins decides it’s time to tell him about her past, not just her post-MI-6 obfuscation (I do like that word and find so few times to use it).  Ethan doesn’t take it particularly well, but hey, his reaction was human.  However, in his trying to figure his shit out, he volunteers for the Doctors Without Borders assignment to Kenya.  And then in trying to make up with Higgins, invites her to Kenya for the six months.  I wasn’t too thrilled about this, because as strong a character/person Juliet Higgins is, it almost seems more like penance then Juliet wanting to go, and by inviting her, and her going, Ethan and Juliet have created a power imbalance between them.  On screen, we saw no planning and the whole last few minutes of the “Bloodline” (Season 3, Episode 16) seemed a bit rushed anyway.  So what was Juliet going to be doing in Kenya?  She’s awesome, and to see her somewhat relegated to Doctor’s +1 for the trip didn’t sit well with me.  And it makes her mostly dependent on Ethan while he’s off Doctoring.  He’s a Doctor, that’s great, but she’s not a medical professional...so what the hell is she going to do?  In Season 4, Episode 1 we get that since she’s a qualified pilot, she’s been helping ferry supplies where needed, yet that was only briefly alluded to and we didn’t know if that was the plan to start with when Higgins accepted Ethan’s offer to go to Kenya with him.  So that plot point for me has just been flapping out in the breeze, and that’s very rarely a good thing to say about something.    

Okay, so if people have watched the first few episodes of Season 4, good.  If you’ve read my thoughts on the first few episodes, cool, then you know I was quite curious how the relationships (Juliet-Ethan and Higgins-Thomas) were going to go back in Hawaii, but we didn’t really get to find out because Higgins comes back a little early (the MI-6 plot line with Eve was pretty good) and Ethan not only stays in Africa, but then apparently chooses to extend his stay in Africa for 6 more freakin’ months?  THIS is where I start to look around and go, “what the actual hell”.  The character of Dr. Ethan Shah, up until this point, has been quite good.  And that’s even with my Miggy-shaded perspective.  Ethan is 1) Smart, 2) Kind, 3) A good person, 4) Caring, yeah, yeah, yeah, the list goes on with the point being, he’s a really good person, that treats Juliet and other people well (I mean hell, he volunteered to write Magnum a prescription because Higgins had said Magnum wasn’t sleeping well).  When Higgins clarified parts of her past, yes, he pushed her away, but that doesn’t make him a bad person/character, it makes him human.  THAT was understandable.  Not necessarily likable, but definitely understandable.  So up to the breakup in Bloodline, Ethan is solid, even almost too good of a person, but hey, there are people like that out there and I applaud them. 

Fast forward through to the end of ”Texas Wedge” (Season 4, Episode 3) and we’ve heard very little about Ethan until the end of the episode when Higgins finishes a brief phone call with Ethan and nonchalantly says he’s extending in Kenya for 6 more months.  Even though it’s treated as kind of a throwaway line in the last two minutes of the episode, it’s pretty freakin’ important because it made it clear to me at least that the Ethan story line was pretty much dead.  And now, the tables have turned, because we’re tossing Ethan aside after almost a full season of building up him and his relationship with Higgins.  Magnum is able to convince Higgins to go with Ethan in “Bloodline” by making her wonder if NOT going to Kenya was giving the relationship a full chance or if she’d always wonder ‘what if’.  But now Ethan is staying in Kenya for another 6 months.  Off screen.  I’m wondering, if Ethan had come back on schedule, which would be right about Episode 3/4 possibly (unless it’s specifically mentioned, the episodic timeline with shows like this is usually pretty fuzzy, with time between episodes sometimes being a day or two and sometimes being weeks), what might have happened.  Would Higgins still be with Ethan if he’d come back?  We’re not given the opportunity to find out because he’s STILL IN KENYA.  Yes, Higgins has slowly been looking at Magnum differently, and also looking at Ethan differently through the first third of Season 4, but Ethan isn’t there because Ethan has essentially been written off the show. 

So, what the crap!?!?!  Did we realize that Ethan was a lot of what someone might look for in a partner, (see quick, truncated list of Ethan’s qualities above) and then Higgins realizes, well, Ethan’s not here, but Magnum is...Because it sure seems like Ethan was now written out specifically to pave the way for Magnum and Higgins to get together.  Ethan’s character was made incredible because Higgins wouldn’t settle for anything less.  And we didn’t get any hint of trouble in Kenya (the gang fight and MI-6 stuff was not relationship trouble) between Higgins and Ethan, and they were actually doing really well. 

So I think it bears repeating, what the crap?!?!?!  When Higgy dumps Ethan, I didn’t want it to be basically because they needed to get rid of him and in trying to just jettison him because of fan blowback, he was made an even BETTER person by staying on in Kenya.  Because now I feel sorry for him.  And I will always wonder ‘what if’ on behalf of Higgins.   

Anyway, that’s been irking me for a while now.