Hey everyone, pushinguproses here, self proclaimed Murder, She Wrote superfan and Murder Mystery
enthusiast, and welcome back!
Today we’re looking at the much anticipated part to of the Magnum P.I., Murder, She Wrote
crossover; if you haven’t seen the first part then be sure to check it out.
Otherwise, let’s dive right into the rest of this hot mess.
Okay, so last we left off on Magnum, P.I., Magnum was wearing some tight ass short shorts
and making passive aggressive jabs at Jessica for being an amateur.
Despite his continual awkward confusion, he cracks the case and catches an hitman who
had a contract to kill one of the women staying at The Beach house.
Before we go any further, I feel obligated to mention that YES, this character is portrayed
by Jessica Walter, known for her roles in Arrested Development and Archer.
I swear if I get one more “but Roses you forgot to mention” comment I’m going to
ANYWAY.
After Magnum kills this guy, Jessica leaves and all is well.
…..OR IS IT?
As I started to watch the Murder, She Wrote side of the crossover, I thought.
Wait… what?
This wasn’t the ending I saw.
What is going on?
IS THIS A PARALLEL universe?
Disappointingly, no.
That would have proved way too interesting; the episode I showcased had simply been edited
to serve as a stand alone episode; the continued version shows Magnum taking a shot at the
hitman, who is then found shot in the back and unarmed.
Even though witnesses heard TWO gunshots, the police conveniently couldn’t find any
evidence so Magnum is put in jail, being the only suspect.
Sweet, I like this new continuation; it’s like a Choose Your Own Adventure book where
you go back and pick the NON shitty ending.
Magnum finds himself in the police station being charged with Murder I.
He tries to reason with the lieutenant booking him to little success.
Our favorite salty captain is the one on the case, much to Magnum’s annoyance.
Jessica rushes in to defend him because she is a firm but kind woman with a well adjusted
moral compass.
Magnum: “Mrs. Fletcher, thank you, but maybe I better handle this myself.”
Oh my god Magnum SIT DOWN.
Jessica is being SO nice and he’s being like, You know what?
Me.
Turns out in THIS continuation, the hitman had a perfect background.
They squabble a little over the guy’s intention and the captain insists that he was just a
guest at the party and an upstanding citizen who owns property and pays taxes.
He also insists that they used a bunch of metal detectors to try and locate another
gun but they only found Magnum’s.
Captain: “Lieutenant, lock him up.
Now.”
Heck yeah, get in the cage!
Don’t worry, Jess offers to do whatever she can to help Magnum.
First things first, let’s check in with our favorite hairline, Higgins.
Higgins: “Please um, forgive my appearance.”
Higgins believes that the Captain has a personal beef with Magnum which is why he’s eager
to lock him up, and meanwhile, the ladies who were previously staying at the beach house
decide to relocate to a different hotel.
Higgins STILL thinks he was the main target and urged them to stay somewhere safer.
Jessica decides to get freshened up and talk to…
I don’t know, some guy that wasn’t interesting enough for me to be bothered to remember.
As she’s waiting, she decides to snoop Oh Jessica, you’re so subtle.
After this rousing re-enactment of the crime (EERGH) she finds a bullet shell nearby.
How did the cops not find this, HOW?
It’s in PLAIN SIGHT.
So this guy here was responsible for the guest list and was previously seen hanging out with
Joan - the one the hitman was presumably after.
Jessica is going for the JUGULAR here, she’s not messing around with her interrogation.
Bryant: “Mayfield wasn’t a friend of mine, I hadn’t even met him.”
Jess: “Oh how strange, to invite someone you didn’t even know.”
She also gets on his case for inviting Joan and her secretary to the party on such short
notice.
Just listen to this EVIL laugh.
Bryant: “There’s nothing unusual about that.”
Jessica: “Oh of course not, hahahaha.”
I can listen to that FOREVER.
Jess presents the evidence she found to the Captain, who is extremely dismissive.
He stomps off in a huff and she follows him, demanding to see Magnum.
He tells her it’s his personal policy that she may NOT see him, and then my friends…
then she goes in for the KILL, saying she is friends with the governor and would LOVE
to update him on the captain’s personal policies.
Jess: “I intend to compliment the governor on the personal attention that you give to
police department policy.”
Oh, my, god.
Jess is on POINT today.
That is a face that says “I will fuck you UP."
So Jess is able to see Magnum and update him and he’s still making quips about being
better at investigating than she is, though eventually places some trust in her to figure
things out.
Jessica: “Since you can’t, I will.”
Magnum: “One more thing...before you leave…”
I’m not on the case!
Upon Magnum’s suggestion, Jessica talks to this other dude involved who’s pretending
to use an IBM computer.
While Jess prods him for answers about Amy and his connections to Mr. mayfield, he resists
while striking this uncomfortable looking GQ pose.
Eventually he becomes threatened by Jessica’s inquiries.
“Enjoy your vacation, make it brief.
Our climate doesn’t agree with everyone.”
Is he saying HE’S the climate?
Higgins and Jess return to the hotel to discuss her findings, and the decide that the main
suspects must be the three ladies.
You remember them, right?
Pamela, Amy, and Joan.
speaking of, here’s Pamela now!
She claims to be returning a cookbook to Amy, which Jess takes a keen interest in.
Without even asking, Higgins opens it.
Pamela: “It’s not a book…”
Very gooooooood!
So yeah, Amy’s been lugging around random jewelry and claiming it’s a cookbook.
Because there clearly aren’t enough characters to keep up with in this disaster of a plot,
we’re introduced to a new one.
This guy!
Meanwhile, Amy admits that she ran away from her abusive husband and took all of her expensive
belongings with her; she thought the contract was for her, provided by her dickhead spouse.
Also, this drink looks good, I would like that please.
They run into him in the hotel lobby and Higgins is like, please eff off, good day.
Jess and Higgins visit Magnum so they can brainstorm; even though Jessica has had some
brilliant discoveries, he still seems flabbergasted that she’s so good.
In some strange attempt at neggin, he compares her investigations to one of her books, admitting
to reading some of it but not finishing it because he had figured out who the murderer
was early on.
Magnum: “I already kind of figured out that the murderer was the psychiatrist.”
Jessica: “Actually it was the lawyer.”
WAH WAAAAAAAAH.
So anyway, this guy is dead.
And Magnum’s cornball baseball cap is found at the crime scene.
Captain Salt is there, informing Jessica that Magnum made bail a couple hours prior to this
guy’s murder, so now he’s accused of TWO murders, dang!
We went from no murders in the previous Magnum P.I. episode to a DOUBLE.
Quite the improvement.
Cut to Jessica running a bath; at first I wasn’t sure if it wasn’t just a clip from
that Positive Moves video that Angela Lansbury did, and if you don’t know what I am talking
about; please, please Google it.
Jessica thinks she hears someone breaking into the room.
It’s Magnum, trying to dodge the cops who are now looking for him.
He clearly has lusty eyes for her, look at the way he compliments her bathing garment.
Jessica: “Well?”
Magnum: “Well...nice robe.”
The sexual tension is as dense as a poundcake.
They discuss how his hat could have possibly ended up at the crime scene and wonder who
could be framing him for the murders; Magnum suggests that things are getting dangerous
and genuinely asks if Jessica would consider leaving for her own safety, and she of course
refuses.
She’s committed now, and I respect that.
Later that evening, Jessica finds Pamela flirtin’ it up with this guy.
He admits that he was there to try and talk Joan, along with Murdered McGee over here,
into selling her business.
Hot damn there is a lot going on in this episode so if you’re lost, don’t worry.
This crossover is one of the most confusing I’ve ever seen.
At least we have outdoor entertainment.
Holy SHIT ...did you see that?
He landed on this man’s DICK.
We call this one the FLAMING FOOT JOB.
On her way back to the hotel, Jess notice’s Amy’s room has been broken into.
Her abusive husband hops in through the window with a crowbar, demanding the previously mentioned
fine jewels that Pamela thought was a cookbook.
I realize this looks pretty bad but worry not, this is Higgins’s TIME TO SHINE.
Higgins: “Make another move at your own Peril, Saylor.
HIIIYAH!”
(VOGUE, VOGUE, VOGUE...)
Quick, someone do the flaming foot job!
After a mildly underwhelming fight, Higgins wins and impresses his lady love, awww.
Jessica: “Oh you were magnificent!”
And by winning I mean that Higgins gets slashed in the face and the other dude runs away.
This is a low bar for winning.
After another brainstorm, it is revealed that Joan was the one who bailed Magnum out of
prison, suspicious, and Amy’s jewelry has gone missing.
This causes the routine JB Fletcher epiphany, she now knows who the murderer is.
She sneaks into Joan’s hotel room and rifles around her luggage in a completely inconspicuous
way, and accuses her of having the murder weapon.
“You took Magnum’s cap before Mayfield was killed, which means that you intended
to kill Arthur Houston from the beginning and pin it on Magnum.”
She also made sure to post the bail so that Magnum wouldn’t have the alibi of being
in jail.
So why, WHY did Joan do this?
Well, she didn’t wanna sell her business.
I mean, in her defense, the hitman DID wanna kill her, and this IBM dude was also making
threats so...yanno It’s kind of confusing, really.
I feel like this coulda been talked through or something but whatever, Magnum is back
and dangling on the window sill like a weirdo.
He’s out there FOREVER, like dude… what are you doing get the crap in there and tackle
Joan!
Magnum: “Put it down, Joan.”
What, are you kidding me??
Put it down, this isn’t the time for being diplomatic!
Especially since Magnum doesn’t have his gun.
He tells Joan that he already phoned the police, and she’s like why’d you do that?
And he’s like cause they are looking for me, and after a brief back and forth, the
police DO bust in and things can finally be put to rest.
Oh good, the shorts are back.
As Jess and Magnum take a friendly stroll on the beach they reflect on what the hell
just happened.
He mentions that he didn’t actually call the cops, he was just hoping someone would
see him dangling off the ledge of the window and call themselves.
That seems VERY risky but I suppose in a very populated resort, SOMEONE would see him and
call.
Higgins joins them, ready to take Jessica to the airport.
He gets flustered and starts Hugh Granting it up while trying to tell Jessica he’d
like to visit her in Maine sometime.
Higgins: “I, I, I, I was considering taking my annual holiday in New England this year,
and uh, I uh, I thought that uh, you could recommend some restaurants.”
Right, final thoughts.
Are you confused?
Cause I’m confused.
This was a fun crossover but it wasn’t the best example of a Murder She Wrote episode;
there’s just no clear motive.
I liked this part more than the previous one since Magnum was in jail for the majority
of the time and the focus was more on Jessica, as can be expected, but even though it was
substantially better it was still kind of a catastrophe.
Worth watching?
Absolutely, even if it’s just to see Jessica dunk on the captain and hear her evil cackling.
And that was the Magnum PI/MSW crossover!
I hope you had fun, and if you have a specific episode of Murder, She Wrote you’d love
to see me cover on this show, leave a comment and I will consider it.
For now, happy sleuthing.
Magnum: “My friends call me Thomas.”
Jessica: “And I’m Jessica.”
Hey everyone, thanks for watching hopefully BOTH parts of this crossover special.
If you enjoyed it, consider liking it sharing it with fellow Jessica Fletcher fans, and
if you want to support this weird murder, she wrote endeavour, consider pledging to
my Patreon campaign.
I need funds if I’m gonna cover all 12 seasons.
Thanks again and see you in the next one!