The moment that ‘shippers have been waiting four seasons for finally happened.
At long last, Magnum and Higgins admitted their feelings to one another and kissed at the end of Magnum P.I. Season 4 Episode 20.
That was but one of the storylines tied up in this finale. Rick and Suzy had their baby prematurely, leading to a health scare for her.
The problem was that it remains up in the air whether this served as a season finale or the series finale as CBS has yet to announce whether Magnum P.I. will be renewed for a fifth season.
Perhaps TPTB learned from how CBS unceremoniously dumped MacGyver a year ago not to leave too much hanging on a bubble show.
If this is the series finale, it would be a pretty weak one. But it beats the alternative of a never-resolved cliffhanger. There have been way too many of those.
The only storyline left up in the air after this one is the professional fate of Katsumoto. It shouldn’t be, but rules are rules.
Poor Gordon was forced to operate Magnum and Higgins style, which had to grate on him. But he had no choice but to go off-book.
And there’s nothing that Thomas and Juliet do better than bending the rules for the greater good, in this case finding a way to rescue Katsumoto’s ex-wife Beth so that he wouldn’t have to kill his ex-partner. That certainly seemed reasonable. Protocol be damned.
Based on Gordon’s sketchy recollections, they found where Beth originally was being held. The only problem was that she subsequently had been moved.
But the security camera in the abandoned factory was still working. So Beth got shot in the arm since Katsumoto had violated the rules set down by her abductors.
This result led to one of those convoluted plans for which Magnum is renowned. They would simply smuggle his ex-partner Whelan out of prison and offer to exchange him for Beth. That would also allow them to interrogate Whelan to figure out who held Beth.
Beth had already determined that she was being blindfolded because her masked abductor was someone that Gordon would recognize.
How perfectly Magnum was it for Thomas to call Rick amid Suzy’s premature labor and ask him to use his shady contacts to scare up a correctional officer’s uniform?
What a well-developed plan! Magnum pretended to be a guard so he could get into the prison computer room and plant a flash drive so Higgins could hack the cameras.
Juliet’s guidance became essential after Thomas left two unconscious prisoners in the laundry room, one of whom recognized him, causing a lockdown and throwing their original plan out the window.
Still, they got away clean with Whelan in a laundry cart. He had turned state’s evidence, agreeing to double-cross a drug dealer who had previously paid him off.
It turned out that Whelan had the evidence to put away the dealer back when he was a cop but had sold out instead. Why exactly was Gordon working so hard to save this guy?
Then Whelan threw in another wrinkle right before the exchange. He told Katsumoto that the dealer had created the fatal overdose that killed Gordon’s sister so that he would be out of the way on bereavement leave while Whelan was taking a bribe.
Fortunately, when all the shooting was done, Beth was safe, and Thomas talked Gordon out of shooting the dealer, however much he deserved it.
Putting Katsumoto on indefinite suspension on the way to losing his badge seemed harsh under the circumstances.
It’s a shame Hawaii Five-0 is off the air now. A checkered past never kept anyone from joining that task force.
If Magnum continues, maybe Gordon’s superiors will come to their senses, and he’s allowed to return. Or perhaps Lia becomes the new exasperated HPD contact for Thomas and Juliet. That would add a new kind of tension to that dynamic.
Rick and Suzy rushing to the hospital for an early birth and Suzy’s subsequent emergency surgery were predictable, as was their happy ending. This series has never trafficked in shocking deaths.
Naming their daughter in part after Icepick was a nice touch.
The buildup to Magnum and Higgins’s confessions was effective if annoying.
The first obstacle was Lia appearing when Juliet went to tell Thomas. Then Katsumoto’s crisis got in the way. Finally came Suzy’s medical emergency.
How can these two detectives not see what every character and every viewer already understands? These two opposites definitely attract.
Being Hawaii, naturally, that scene was beautifully lit as they stumbled through their feelings, nearly talking over each other.
Should the series end with this episode, that kiss is a great place to leave the relationship.
If Magnum P.I. continues, it will be a more significant challenge to avoid the Moonlighting curse, as Thomas and Juliet would be spending 24/7 together.
The one thing that was done right is that the couple went from being frenemies to friends to partners. So the tension present in a lot of will-they-or-won’t-they setups no longer exists.
Becoming lovers won’t be that jarring a leap for Magnum and Higgins.
To follow Magnum and Higgins’s relationship, watch Magnum P.I. online.
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Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.
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