By the best way, how does “Magnum” finish? | EUROtoday

Certes, Two Cops in Miami. But, aside from it, what different American sequence than Magnum can boast of getting embodied with such panache the quintessence of the Eighties? Co-created by Donald P. Bellisario and Glen A. Larson, Magnum PI (its authentic title, for non-public investigator – non-public detective) was born and died with the Reagan decade. Produced by the tv department of the Universal studio for the CBS channel, it started on December 11, 1980 and ended definitively on the 1^er May 1988. And its existence, virtually synchronous with the 2 mandates of the Republican president, has ceaselessly inscribed it within the recollections as the symbol of a carefree America of the eighties, lover of gorgeous automobiles, flowered shirts and fairly dolls .

But, below the chrome of the purple Ferrari, the leisure and the heavenly setting of the adventures of the well-known non-public man from Hawaii beats a monumental coronary heart to which we must pay tribute in the future or one other. Because not content material with being infinitely richer than the actually benevolent (and related) recollections of most people counsel, Magnum has additionally succeeded in its long-term evolution. And higher but: she didn’t miss her farewells, in a superb ultimate episode the place the destinies of the hero and his mates – the butler Higgins, the helicopter pilot Terry and the boss of the King Kamehameha membership, Rick – have been accomplished masterfully by the writers after eight seasons. Extremely uncommon high quality on TV.

Let us reopen the field of recollections – and particularly these of the French viewers who, the blessed ones, found Magnum throughout its first broadcast, on December 13, 1981, on Antenne 2, simply after Sunday lunch, within the sacrosanct present Sunday Martin by Jacques Martin. Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck, fantastically voiced by Francis Lax in VF) is due to this fact this former US Navy officer deeply marked by the Vietnamese battle. Demobilized, he turned the web page by embarking on a profession as a personal detective, additionally chargeable for making certain the safety of the luxurious Hawaiian villa of best-selling writer Robin Masters (all the time touring, by no means round…), the place he’s housed in an outbuilding. On his again completely: the horrifying luxurious concierge Jonathan Quayle Higgins (John Hillerman), additionally a former soldier in his nation of origin, Great Britain, flanked by his Dobermans Zeus and Apollo.

The loves of Magnum

In Hawaii, Magnum discovered his former brothers in arms, Theodore “TC/Terry” Calvin (Roger E. Mosley) and Orville “Rick” Wright (Larry Manetti), additionally reintegrated into civilian life after the conflict. Between two investigations (one per episode basically), he leads a carefree life based mostly on swimming within the Pacific, sports activities, feminine conquests and cocktails by the seaside. The idea might have been restricted to its entertaining facet – very properly assumed, the truth is. But, all through its springs, Magnum will flesh out all its characters, from its central pivot to the second (and even third) knives. The screenwriters, surprisingly free within the context of a primary time fiction on a serious business channel, will regularly tinker with the format, breaking the 4^e wall (when Thomas appears on the digicam whereas calling on the viewers to witness), flirting with the improbable, introducing cinephilic references galore, making the plots extra advanced, various the moods by going from hilarious humor to drama with out warning…

And above all, they inflict on Magnum a painful scar – that of his merciless separation from his spouse Michelle, whom he met in Vietnam and trapped in an implacable diplomatic imbroglio. The mustachioed man shows immaturity all through the sequence – an actual geek earlier than his time – to raised bury this open wound which by no means ceases to gnaw at him. This thickness, uncommon on the time, is accompanied by a subtlety within the writing that’s simply as singular, usually going off the overwhelmed observe to supply the viewer very nice episodes. One amongst many others: the unforgettable “Breaked Record”, opening season 4 and the place a Magnum misplaced within the ocean after an accident should battle to outlive whereas remembering a very heartbreaking reminiscence.

A ultimate season 8 of nice magnificence

Brief, Magnum will mature like wine fairly than stale like a Budweiser low-cost. But, alas, competitors from Cosby Showfrom 1984 on NBC, will slowly make giant clouds seem within the blue sky of the tragicomic hero. Inexorably declining in audiences, Bellisario’s creation is heading in direction of an deadlock in its seventh season, which begins on 1^er October 1986 on CBS. Magnum should die. Literally, since on the finish of the 22^e and final episode, in a coma after the deadly shot of an assailant, he agrees, from limbo, to surrender the ghost for good after having performed the guardian angels within the service of Michelle, threatened by the Vietnamese secret providers for her collaboration with the American authorities.

This tragic final result shakes America and, exhilarated by as soon as once more hovering scores, Bellisario, his authors and CBS deliver Magnum again to life for 13 ultimate episodes. And the followers due to this fact discovered initially of the 1988 college 12 months their shock non-public, who immediately wakened from his coma for brand new investigations. On arrival: a tightened season 8 of nice magnificence, an actual fireworks show the place the writers don’t have anything left to lose and the place the general public will see all the colours. Comedy (the sensible and hilarious “Metamorphoses” with Julia Migenes we hearth), the thriller (the demise of Lieutenant Tanaka in “The Making of a Champion”), the supernatural (“Starting Again”), a pastiche ofIndiana Jones (“In Search of the Lost Art”, an excellent nod to the well-known function that Tom Selleck let slip away due to his contract with CBS)… And, in fact, the decision of the Vietnamese saga which by no means ceased to hang-out the complete story.

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In the unbelievable “Reason of State”, our carefree hero loses his thoughts whereas watching a mysterious K7 video displaying the assassination, in a automotive bomb assault, of Michelle and little Lily, fruit of Magnum’s love affair. together with his beloved. A significant shock which, within the magnificent ultimate double episode, “In Search of Lily”, will discover a completely happy twist – particularly within the second half. A ultimate phase the place all the pieces comes collectively – and which couldn’t presumably finish badly for the non-public sector so pricey to our hearts. Who will lastly discover his little daughter alive – she was not within the plastic car, not like Michelle. Calmed down, he rejoins the navy to raised shield Lily, whereas TC reconciles together with his spouse and Rick will get married – the denouement additionally takes place throughout this nuptial ceremony, which can inevitably deliver us just a few tears between two laughs. Higgins, after admitting to Magnum that he was certainly Robin Masters, retracts within the type of a pirouette which can type the ultimate phrases: “April Fools!” »

All the DNA of Magnum may have been concentrated in these forty-five minutes: the comedy, the strain, the emotion, the relief. All concluded with a poignant ultimate credit, better of of a number of key scenes from the sequence, punctuated by a contented melody composed by the indispensable Mike Post. Yes: we swim in full eighties pure juice, however at their finest. And the celebration continues even after these farewells since, in a brand new crack of the 4^e wall, a shot exhibits us a tv broadcasting the mentioned credit… Then Magnum who enters the body, wearing his Navy uniform, takes the distant management, turns to the spectator and says a final “Good evening”, earlier than plunging us at the hours of darkness! A delirious snub for a sequence that has by no means ceased to amaze us. And who we by no means stopped loving.