China Doll

“China Doll”

After the pilot made Thomas Magnum’s life look like a dream of girls, beer, and Ferraris, “China Doll” walks that back a bit. Only a bit, mind you. Magnum hasn’t had to move into a studio apartment wedged between two Jai alai courts. But his relationships with his friends (or, in the case of Higgins, his friendly nemesis), are now presenting some welcome nuances. His friends mock his abilities. They get mad at him when he abuses their willingness to do favors. The episode’s point, to a large degree, is to let us know that while Thomas Magnum is a charming, handsome fellow, he’s also someone whose friends, however loyal, sometimes find him hard to take.

This week’s adventure begins when a Tong society assassin murders the beardliest mariner in Hawaii to acquire a Chinese object d’art from the McGuffin dynasty. (The unlucky sea dog was a dead ringer for Captain Redbeard Rum from the second Blackadder series.) Cap’n Beardface McWhiskers, however, no longer had the vase. It’s now in the possession of an adorable Chinese woman who wants Magnum to safeguard it until she can move it to some super safe hiding place. The Tong society assassin, showing the sticktuitiveness of Yosemite Sam, chases Magnum, the lady, and the vase around the Island of Kauai, pausing occasionally to use his legendary crippling martial arts moves to pummel all who stand in his way.

What a sad situation Asian actors were in back in the 1970s and 1980s. They could be extras on M*A*S*H*, or they could be martial arts expert heavies in crime dramas. I think the two Asian guys with good roles on TV were Pat Morita on Happy Days and Jack Soo on the first season of Barney Miller. (Of the two, I think Soo had the better role.) The Asian actors in “China Doll” don’t fare particularly well. Mai Ling, played by Susie Elene, does most of the actual speaking, but she, like the vase she carries, is largely a plot device. Not much personality emerges from underneath the accent and the cryptic smiles. George Cheung, a veteran Asian character actor who’s been in, well, everything in the last 40 years, spends most of this episode doing martial arts and looking menacing. This he does well, but his character is allowed fewer dimensions than a Terminator machine.

Of course, it may be unfair to single out Asians as mistreated. So far, villains of every ethnic background on Magnum P.I. have been disappointingly underdeveloped. The pressure of carrying the episode once again rests on Tom Selleck’s charm and the continued development of the characters Rick, T.C., and Higgins. This the show handles well. I particularly enjoy the way the relationship between Magnum and T.C. is developing. T.C. is getting a little tired of Magnum bumming rides and asking favors, and at one point, after Magnum blows a fare for T.C.’s helicopter business, T.C. demands that Magnum finally pay for gas. I also enjoyed the way Rick and Higgins mocked Magnum’s mistaken belief that Mai Ling had hired him to protect her, rather than the vase. The strength of the by-play among these characters has been carrying the last two episodes of the show, but it would be a pleasant surprise to see some guest characters who do something other than furnish plot points.

Note:

--I guess I’ll have to wait a few episodes for the iconic theme music to arrive. The title instrumental for this episode sounds more like the music from Tom Berenger’s fictional TV series in The Big Chill.