Jessica comes to the rescue of a fellow crime-fighter when Thomas Magnum, private eye, gets accused of shooting a suspected assassin in the back. Determined to prove Magnum's innocence, and to protect the women, who may not yet have escaped danger, Jessica delves into the background of the case. The trouble heightens when Magnum, having just made bail, gets framed for the murder of businessman Arthur Houston.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Accidental Bargaining Skills: Joan tells Jessica that Mr. Houston kept pushing her to sell the company to him. When she refused, not wanting to give up her life's work, he took it to mean she simply wanted more money. Eventually, he got the idea, but then he started threatening her and causing "accidents" to kill her.
- Backup Bluff: Played with. When he comes in through the window to protect Jessica from Joan, Magnum tells her that he called the police and they'll arrive shortly. Joan says he must be bluffing, because a wanted man wouldn't call the police. Then they hear them at the door. However, it turns out after things are wrapped up that Magnum didn't call the police. Someone else saw him hanging around and called them on him.
- Chekhov's Gun: Jason Bryan complains to Jessica about how difficult Joan made his negotiating job, saying that he could have had it completed weeks ago without her involvement if she hadn't kept demanding a higher price. It turns out Joan never wanted to sell in the first place and Mr. Houston was pressuring her.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Amy describes her husband Victor as insanely jealous, explaining why she ran away from him.
- Crossover: The crossover episode is a two-parter, with the first part on Magnum, P.I. and the second part on the subsequent episode of Murder, She Wrote. Luckily, the appropriate episodes are included on the corresponding season DVDs. However, Murder's season three DVD set has the syndicated version of the Magnum episode rather than the original network version that continued in "Magnum on Ice".
- Frame-Up: Joan shoots the assassin, Mr. Mayfield, and his boss, Mr. Houston, and pins the blame for both shootings on Thomas Magnum. She goes so far as to bail him out of jail and send him on a wild goose chase just so he wouldn't have an alibi for the time Arthur Houston was murdered.
- Implied Death Threat:
- Threatening Amy and Jessica with a crowbar, Victor Salyer says it worked fine for forcing open the door of the hotel room and he thinks it'll work just as well on heads.
- Joan says that Mr. Houston told her if she wouldn't sell her company, he'd buy it from her executors.
- Look Behind You: Jessica tells the attacking Victor Salyer that there's someone behind him. He scoffs, and it turns out that Jessica was telling the truth. The "someone" was Mr. Higgins.
- Mythology Gag: Higgins's karate chop, which never worked on Magnum, P.I., helps to subdue Victor Salyer in this episode.
- Nothing Personal: Joan tells Jessica that her framing Magnum was only business.
- Trouble Entendre: When Jessica visits Mr. Houston to pump him for clues, he abruptly cuts the interview short. He then advises her not to stay in Hawaii too long, because their climate doesn't suit everyone.
