Series / Magnum, P.I.

Women just love the moustache.

"When I created 'Magnum, P.I.' I got thousands of letters from Vietnam veterans thanking me for portraying Vietnam veterans who were something other than killers and drug addicts and crazy and unable to function in society...they just loved it."

— Donald P. Bellisario

Created by Donald P. Bellisario and Glen A. Larson and airing on CBS from 1980 to 1988, Magnum, P.I. seemed at first glance to be yet another Action Series show, using the old Hawaii Five-O production facilities in Hawaii, with a handsome lead actor talented in comedic schtick and the usual buddies helping him solve his case-of-the-week. But it soon revealed its more dramatic plot threads by alternating the comically-toned episodes with those concentrating on The Vietnam War background of Thomas Magnum and his friends. The concluding scene in the season three two-part premiere "Did You See the Sunrise?" was the key moment that illustrated Magnum's darker side. It remained the most unexpected and controversial scene of the series' entire run.

These deeper character-developing episodes became fan favorites, and helped to spur the series to a five-year stay in the top-20 rated shows on television between 1981 and 1985. Also, both Tom Selleck (Magnum) and John Hillerman (Higgins) won multiple awards for their work.

Magnum was assisted ably by his friends Theodore "T.C." Calvin and Orville "Rick" Wright, and alternately helped and hindered by Jonathan Quayle Higgins III, the manager of insanely wealthy best-selling author Robin Masters' estate where Magnum lived. Masters was only occasionally heard as The Voice of Orson Welles via telephone.

Donald P. Bellisario (who unlike Larson had a lot to do with the series after the pilot) became known for his darker, almost fantastical overtones (see Quantum Leap), and they were introduced slowly into Magnum, P.I.'s storylines by way of prophetic dreams, psychic connections, and ghosts.

In February 2018, a reboot of the series was announced with Jay Hernandez playing Thomas Magnum. This is the third remake Peter Lenkov has done for CBS and is included in the shared continuity with the 2010 version of Hawaii Five-0, and by extension with JAG and its spin offs (NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans), Scorpion and MacGyver (2016). It was cancelled in May 2022, but in the following June, NBC picked it up the series for a fifth and sixth season renewal.

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Magnum, P.I. contains examples of:

• '80s Hair: Well, look at the production dates, but pretty much every female has big, BIG hair. Not to mention Magnum's perm.
• Abnormal Ammo: Magnum uses lemons in "The Love-For-Sale Boat". It Makes Sense in Context.
• Accidental Aiming Skills: Garwood Huddle manages to shoot the baseball bat Walt Brewster is brandishing into pieces. Turns out Garwood had been aiming for his chest.
  • Susan in "A Girl Named Sue" ends up shooting a Pretty Little Headshot into the Wainwright family portrait when demonstrating her skill to Melissa.
  Magnum: And that was about the most amazing shot I've ever seen.
  Susan: (shyly) Well actually, I-I was aiming for the lamp.
• Acoustic License: Susan's radio in "Rembrandt's Girl" is able to pick up a signal and play music. From inside of a bank vault.
• Actor Allusion:
  • One episode is an Affectionate Parody of Raiders of the Lost Ark, a movie Tom Selleck was considered to do the lead in, but gave up to do this show instead.
  • The opening dream flashback in "Tigers Fan" has a character talk about how "Jim [Rockford] was being driven nuts by this pain-in-the-butt named Lance White". Lance White was played on that show by Tom Selleck.
  • In "Luther Gillis: File #001", Robin Masters leaves a message on Magnum's machine, telling him the personal access code needed for his next assignment's computer is "Rosebud".
  • In "The Legacy of Garwood Huddle", John Ratzenberger's character has a friend named Norm.
  • In "Italian Ice", Magnum chokes (and is later choked back by) the Marchese's bodyguard, played by Lenny Montana, whose most famous character was garroted to death.
  • James Doohan plays a Scotsman (again) in "The Big Blow".
  • "The Curse of the King Kamehameha Club": When Magnum first meets Sidney Dollinger (Lew Ayres), we hear audio from Sidney's television of the 1948 film State of the Union, which starred Ayres.
• Actually Pretty Funny:
  • Magnum finds himself giggling at Luther's "onions" joke directed at Lloyd DeWitt in "The Return of Luther Gillis".
  • When Magnum accuses him of really being Robin Masters, Higgins has an epic belly laugh.
• All Just a Dream: "Flashback." Subverted in that the dream Magnum has for most of the episode does give him the info he needs to clear the name of his client's grandfather.
• All Part of the Show: In "Italian Ice", when Magnum manages to disarm Katrina and rescue Margo, the students in Margo's acting class applaud enthusiastically, thinking this was simply one of Margo's acting exercises.
• The Alleged Car: In season five's "Blind Justice", when Higgins cuts Magnum off from using the Ferrari, Rick's friend Willie hooks him up with a red Jaguar E-Type convertible. Whilst the E-Type is one of the most iconic classic sports cars, as Sports Car International magazine named it the best sports car of the 1960s, Magnum's car, on the other hand, is a real lemon.
• Always Know a Pilot: Thomas Magnum, P.I. frequently seeks help from T.C., a helicopter pilot that conducts aerial tours of Hawaii. Though it's often an imposition, T.C. routinely comes through for The Hero.
• Angry Guard Dog: Zeus and Apollo, Higgins's "lads". Although they're perfectly friendly to everybody but Magnum.
• Arrested for Heroism: Magnum is arrested numerous times over the course of the series for his getting into fights, breaking and entering, even being part of a protest blockade in one episode.

• Automobile Opening: More like Chopper Opening, though the Ferrari does appear.
• Badass Longcoat: Averted by Susan's red vinyl trenchcoat in "A Girl Named Sue", something Magnum is far too happy to point out.
  Magnum: Nice looking coat! What is it? Unborn linoleum?
• Bait-and-Switch: Magnum assumes crime boss Rose in "Legacy From a Friend" is a woman. Turns out Rose is a Scary Black Man who just happens to have henchwomen for muscle.
  • "The Curse of the King Kamehameha Club": Magnum and T.C. stop by a corner store looking for Makua. Several large men surround the Ferrari, and T.C. is savvy enough to think he and Magnum are in trouble. Magnum disagrees, and he and T.C. argue for so long that they don't notice that the men, confused, aren't going to beat them up. They then direct T.C. and Magnum to Makua's hut.
• Band of Brothers: Magnum, Rick, and T.C all served together in Vietnam—Magnum was a SEAL, while Rick and T.C were Marines with VMO-2. What they went through over there is precisely why Magnum would die for either of his friends, and they for him.
• Baseball Episode: There's a softball episode in season four ("Squeeze Play"). Noteworthy in that Robin Masters bets a year's use of his estate on the game and Magnum's team loses. The bet is rendered invalid in the end, though.
• Beard of Sorrow: Magnum grows an unkempt one after his client and love-interest kills herself in front of him at the beginning of season five.
• Berserk Button: "The Arrow That is Not Aimed": Higgins really loses it when Magnum's found to have dog repellent in his possession yet again, leading to the Draw Sword, Draw Blood below.
• Big Fancy House: "Robin's Nest" is a 200-acre beach front estate.
• Big "NO!": In the two-part episode that started off season five, "Echoes of the Mind", Thomas lets out one of these after one of the Dupre Sisters (played by Sharon Stone), with whom he is in love, kills herself offscreen just before the freeze frame.
• Big "SHUT UP!": Magnum to Higgins in "J. 'Digger' Doyle" in The Münchausen below.
  • Everyone to Princess Wanda Martine in "The Big Blow".
• Bilingual Bonus: The Marchese's dinner dialogue at the start of "Italian Ice" regarding Katrina: "Dearest friends, sometimes she's a real Madonna and then suddenly turns into a witch. It's a very interesting combination. Should we see who it is is at the moment?"
• Bittersweet Ending: "Unfinished Business", as while Quang Ki ultimately gets away with killing Michelle and (seemingly at the time) Lily, Magnum stops himself from killing him so the American P.O.W. in the prisoner exchange can return home.
  • "Laura": Michael Doheny's granddaughter Laura is dead, but he's avenged her death by getting her murderers.
  • "Way of the Stalking Horse": Magnum had been used as one to cause a man's death by hitman, but he kills said hitman at the end, saving the life of the street kid he had befriended.
  • "Tigers Fan": Lieutenant Tanaka is murdered, but Magnum avenges him by catching his killers.
  • "L.A.": Magnum has caught Marti Jensen's killers, but despite even proposing to new love Cynthia, she gets cold feet and chooses not to fly back to Hawaii with him.^note Considering the number of episodes where Magnum reconnects with friends or adversaries, this may have been a setup for them to reunite. Fan interest may not have been high enough however. When she visits him in a later episode, he's working and they keep attempting and failing to be together.
  • "Rapture": The ghost boy's stepfather, who confessed to blowing up him and his grandfather (the sole intended victim), has flown his plane away in an act of suicide, but the boy's mother finds peace and a new lease on life in knowing the truth, and now dives in the waters where Magnum saw the boy to stay close to her son. In one last dive there he found the necklace he'd seen the child wearing and gives it to the mother, clearly establishing to them that his visions were Real After All.
  • "Little Girl Who": Even though Michelle has to leave Hawaii again with her daughter Lily, who has been in Magnum's care, Magnum realizes that Lily is his biological child. The girl even runs back to hug him, having grown fond of him from their time together.
• "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Patty Emory in "Straight and Narrow" stole incriminating papers from the Villain of the Week, preferring to call it a "shrewd financial move to set [her]self up in business."
  Patty: Patty's Palmistry Parlor. I give great readings.
• Bland-Name Product: Magnum is seen drinking "Coops" beer in several episodes.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: T.C., during part of "Did You See the Sunrise?". Brainwashed by a brutal, Soviet officer during the Vietnam War to later become a sleeper killer.
• Breather Episode: "Squeeze Play" can be considered one. No crimes or murders, just a simple dispute being settled over a friendly game of baseball.
• British Stuffiness: Higgins
• Broken Pedestal: Olivia Ross at the end of "Double Jeopardy".
  • "Death of the Flowers" subverts this big time. Carol's mentor Judge Kearns had been taking bribes to dismiss cases, Magnum's investigation of said bribes implicates Icepick, affecting Rick and his relationship with him, while Icepick realizes the person who bribed Judge Kearns and then had him murdered is the woman he was in love with decades earlier. In the end, Icepick accompanies the woman to turn herself in, while salvaging his relationship with Rick.
• Broken Record: "Work the lock, don't look at the dogs, work the lock, don't look at the dogs, work the lock, don't look at the dogs, work the lock, don't look at the dogs"... (looks up at Zeus and Apollo getting nearer...) "Damn it you looked at the dogs."
• Butt-Monkey: Rick a great deal of the time.
• Call-Back: Generally, when a recurring character like Luther Gillis appears, expect references to their prior episodes, such as the presence of holding cellmate Scrungo whenever Magnum and Luther get arrested.
• The Cameo: Bruce Forsyth once appeared, appropriately enough playing a game show host (ironically, the same year his only American game, Hot Streak, both went on the air and got cancelled, lasting 4 months).
• Career-Ending Injury: Dorsey Bramlett in "One More Summer", as Magnum tells him that the episode's bad guys have not been healing his shoulder injury, but just numbing it the whole time, and that playing just once more will ruin his shoulder for good. Dorsey, after careful thought, chooses to go out onto the field anyway.
• Catchphrase: Magnum narrating to the audience: "I know what you're thinking. And you're wrong/right."
  • Also: "Yeah, I don't believe it myself."
  • "OH MY GODDD!"
  • Honorable mention goes to Higgins' "Have you gone irrevocably, irretrievably mad?!". And yes, it's always directed at (or said in relation to) Magnum.
• The Charmer: Rick, who usually has some bikini-clad girl in tow.
  • Would make that argument for Magnum and T.C. as well.
• Chekhov's Gunman: The person responsible for stealing the English relic from Northern Ireland in "Faith and Begorrah" is not Father Paddy McGuinness or Brigadier Ffolkes, but the female tour guide who had only previously appeared at the beginning of the episode. It's also implied that she took the relic for the sole reason of keeping Father Paddy away from her tour group.
  • A subversion: The old man seen at the beginning of "Rembrandt's Girl" is important to the episode's plot, but it turns out he's not Herb "Rembrandt" Norton, Susan's father, but Lefty Schultz, his rival and partner-in-crime to the episode's bad guy.
• The Chew Toy: Magnum in "Of Sound Mind", once he's inherited the bulk of Wilson MacLeish's fortune.
  • Luther Gillis' nephew Jack in "The Return of Luther Gillis". The fact that he never appears again doesn't have the best of implications.
• Christmas Episode: Season one's "Thank Heaven for Little Girls and Big Ones Too" and season four's "Operation: Silent Night".
• Chromosome Casting: All four main characters are male.
• Clear My Name
  • Magnum spends most of "Foiled Again" trying to clear Higgins of the murder of an abusive bully who'd married the woman Higgins loved.
  • In "Thicker Than Blood", Magnum and Rick do the same for T.C., who's Taking the Heat for another fellow soldier.
  • As do Magnum and T.C. for Rick in "The People vs. Orville Wright".
• Cliffhanger
  • The memorable seventh season finale "Limbo", in which Magnum apparently dies from a gunshot wound; originally intended as the series finale.
  • The actual series finale did end on a cliffhanger, albeit a much lighter-hearted one. Rick is getting married, but hesitates when it comes time for him to give his vow. Magnum, T.C., and Higgins all prompt him, "I do," and finally he opens his mouth and says, "I..." and the credits start rolling.
• Cool Car: The Ferrari 308 (and the '29 Bugatti replica in "Flashback").
  • Fans sometimes say the Ferrari was the real star of the show.
• Crash Course Landing
• Crossover: With Murder, She Wrote and Simon & Simon.
  • A proposed Quantum Leap script had Sam Beckett leaping into Thomas Magnum, but never reached the filming stage.
• Cultured Badass: Higgins
• Cultured Warrior: Higgins
• Darker and Edgier: Magnum always had a mix of action and humor, but episodes seemed to go into darker and darker territory as the series went on.
• A Day in the Limelight: The eponymous Hall of Records clerk in "Ms. Jones", who hires Magnum to find her missing husband.
  • Higgins and Luther in "Luther Gillis: File #001", with Magnum's side plot at the bank rendering him a Hero of Another Story.
• Dead All Along: Harold Farber in "Ghost Writer".
• Death of a Child: At least twice in the series. Magnum is led to believe for some time that this also happens to his daughter Lily.
• Delivery Not Desired: Magnum writes a letter to the daughter he thinks is dead, in a plot about why he doesn't kill her murderer.
• Disappeared Dad: Magnum's father died in Korea when Magnum was ten.
• The Don: Icepick is an interesting example, as while he has no problem threatening people he feels wronged him with terrible things, he feels sick at the thought of innocent people getting hurt.
• Downer Ending: Quite a few, sadly.
  • "All For One": Tyler McKinney saves two Cambodian children from a grenade, but at the cost of his own life.
  • "The Last Page": Magnum's client Taylor Hurst commits suicide by Claymore mine, taking with him the adversary responsible for his war buddy's death.
  • "Never Again... Never Again": Magnum's friends Saul and Lena Greenberg turn out to be Nazis in hiding, having killed the now-grown child of their victims that had been looking for them. Saul then dies of a heart attack, sparking Lena's Roaring Rampage of Revenge and Magnum having to shoot her dead.
  • "Paradise Blues": T.C.'s old love Alexis Carter, having been kidnapped by the people chasing after her, perishes with them when their car plunges over a cliff.
  • "Echoes of the Mind": Diane Dupres, despite Magnum's urging, commits suicide to free herself from her Split Personality Deidre.
  • "Tran Quoc Jones": Not as tragic as the above examples, but the titular boy ends up right back on the street where he started, despite Magnum and his friends' best efforts to find his father.
  • "Round and Around": It's discovered that Ron Pennington wasn't killed by any of the robbers, but by the elderly convenience store owner accidentally shooting him aiming for the robbers.
  • "Limbo": Magnum is shot by Quang Ki, and for some time, he was intended to be dead. Even with him barely surviving in the following episode "Infinity and Jelly Doughnuts", it still qualifies as a downer.
• Draw Sword, Draw Blood: "The Arrow That is Not Aimed": When he's in trouble with Higgins yet again, Magnum mentions this trope in reference to Higgins unsheathing a katana. Then Higgins gets this crazy gleam in his eye and says "I know."
• Drop-In Character: Jim "Mac" Bonnick and Luther Gillis are the first that come to mind.
  • It's clear that Higgins sees Magnum himself as this despite Magnum actually living on the property.
• Dropped After the Pilot: Rick's Cafe Americain, a disco club, is never seen after the pilot, replaced by the King Kamehameha Club. It's later explained in "The Curse of the King Kamehameha Club" that the Cafe Americain had gone under, leading Rick to manage the KKC.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Aside from the original jazz-fusion Theme Tune by Ian Freebairn-Smith, many of the show's recurring characters don't appear until after seasons two or three. And Magnum introduces himself several times as "Tom" Magnum, rather than the more formal "Thomas".
  • The "trades" between Magnum and Higgins for use of the tennis court / wine cellar / photo lab etc. were mentioned a lot less as the series went on.
  • Even though his plan technically fails, the bad guy in "Thank Heaven for Little Girls and Big Ones Too" still flies out of Hawaii and escapes prosecution for kidnapping the girls. If the episode had happened later, Lt. Tanaka or Nolan Page would surely be on hand to arrest him.
  • Downtown Honolulu's then-seediness was emphasized more in earlier seasons.
  • Several early episodes directly or indirectly contradict the later "Higgins being Robin Masters" theory.
  • In "Adelaide", Magnum says he's never been married, though this could be handwaved as him still grieving over Michelle's supposed death.
  • T.C. is noticeably more willing to ditch the people he's scheduled to fly in "China Doll" to help Magnum. After that, his clients usually come first for him and he's far more vocal about maintaining his business.
  • T.C.'s ex-wife Tina and kids Melody and Bryant are never mentioned to even exist until "Missing Melody".
  • Many King Kamehameha Club scenes were filmed at different locations earlier in the show's run, with other locations staying consistent throughout series' whole. These differences are more apparent in season one, before most indoor club filming was moved to soundstages. This guide explains more.
  • Seeing Jeff MacKay as a Navy man in the pilot who isn't named Mac or Jim Bonnick will be this for many viewers.
  • Higgins' study in the pilot looks completely different than in all other episodes. This is due to all the indoor main house scenes on Robin's Nest being filmed at the actual Marks Estate, not the Anderson Estate (the Nest's stand-in) or any soundstages.
  • Magnum's upper chest scar, introduced in the pilot and seen throughout the first season, disappears afterwards.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Given their pasts, the whole main cast, but especially Magnum, and especially in season eight.
  • In "Resolutions", still recovering from getting shot in "Limbo" and the entire Quang Ki saga, Magnum, in a mild depressive funk and growing dissatisfied with his business, accepts one last job from previous Girl of the Week Linda Lee Ellison (from "Forty"). Around this time, he figures out that his daughter Lily had actually survived the bombing that killed Michelle. Not only does he fight to see her, but when they're finally reunited, he finishes his last job and in the end re-enlists in the Navy to give her a more stable home.
• Elite School Means Elite Brain: Jonathan Higgins is an expert on nearly every subject imaginable and a graduate of both Eton College and Cambridge.
• Embarrassing First Name: Orville Wright. He much prefers to go by his nickname, Rick.
• Energy Weapon: "Smaller Than Life" and "No More Mr. Nice Guy", which have lasers invisible to the eye and characters taking great pains to avoid them.
• Expansion Pack Past: Higgins
  Magnum: Higgins, what did you do with your life? Is there anything you haven't done, anywhere you haven't been?
• Extra-Long Episode: "Resolutions" and "Did You See the Sun Rise?" and "Deja Vu".
• Evil All Along: Saul and Lena Greenberg appear to be an elderly Jewish couple being hunted down by Nazis, until it turns out the two are the actual Nazis being hunted after by the children of their former victims. Saul and Lena even went as far as to fake concentration camp tattoos on their arms to complete their disguises. After Saul's killed, Lena's murdered his captors and Magnum's forced to shoot her down.
• Evil Matriarch: When Timothy Finch's mother is introduced in "Professor Jonathan Higgins", she seemingly embodies this trope, being a stern, stuffy socialite who is displeased by Sally failing to keep up proper etiquette. Subverted, however, since Mrs. Finch is reasonable enough to give Sally another chance, and when Timothy abandons Sally before the wedding, Mrs. Finch is genuinely shocked and saddened for Sally.
• The Faceless: Robin Masters, only seen onscreen sporadically, and most definitely not from the neck up.
  • Icepick was only mentioned and never actually seen for the first few seasons.
• Faking Engine Trouble: In "Home From the Sea", Rick takes one of his girlfriends out on a boat for the Fourth of July. Later, he tells her one of the engines is out so they can't make it home through the reef in the dark and will have to wait until morning, and he intends to make the most of it...until he starts to get the feeling that Magnum's in trouble and starts up both engines without a problem. She just rolls her eyes at that.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: Quite a few. Thankfully, we're usually spared visuals thanks to an accompanying Gory Discretion Shot. Stewart Crane in "Don't Say Goodbye" is a notable example, see Laser-Guided Karma.
  • The victim in "Skin Deep", thought to be Erin Wolfe, but actually David Norman's current mistress Ginger, dies by a buckshot blast to the head. Magnum and Erin's Skewed Priorities manager J.J. Stein are visibly disturbed by the body's condition.
• Fanservice: Not just the unending stream of women who want Magnum, and not just the endless parade of near-naked beach babes in the background. This was Tom Selleck as a Mr. Fanservice, often wearing a loose shirt and tiny shorts that showed off plenty. Roger Moseley as T.C. also had many nice shirtless and/or tight pants scenes while working on his helicopter.
• Film Noir: Other than the bright sunshine in Hawaii, the emphasis on lightheartedness (at first...), and the fact it's in color, the series follows the rest of this trope pretty straight.
• First-Name Ultimatum: Higgins does this to Magnum a lot.
• Food as Bribe
  • To Lt. Tanaka, when he's on a diet. Other times, Magnum just has to pay him money.
  • Also used shamelessly with Mac whenever Magnum needed a peek at classified military documents.
• Four-Philosophy Ensemble: Magnum (the Optimist), Higgins (the Cynic), T.C. (the Apathetic), and Rick (the Realist).
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The four main characters fit these roles pretty well. Magnum (choleric), Higgins (melancholic), T.C. (sanguine), and Rick (phlegmatic).
• Freudian Slip: On occasion, Higgins refers to Robin Masters's possessions as his own. Towards the end of the series, Magnum uses this as justification for his suspicion that Higgins really is Robin.
• Friend in the Black Market: Rick
• Friendly Enemy: Magnum and Higgins are constantly at odds, but gradually develop a genuine fondness for each other.
• Friendly Rivalry: Magnum and Susan in "A Girl Named Sue", right down to Susan's matching red Ferrari.
  Magnum: I got mine for free.
  • Just about all the characters (regular and recurring) in "The Treasure of Kalaniopu'u".
• Friend on the Force: Lieutenant Tanaka. After Tanaka is killed, Lt. Nolan Page takes his place.
• Gentleman and a Scholar: Higgins is this except when he is quarrelling with Magnum. Which is a good deal of the time.
• Gentleman Snarker: Higgins, very, very much.
• Gentlemen Rankers: Higgins again. He's the Baron of Perth, but joined the British Army as a common soldier after being sent down from Eton. He made Sergeant Major before his retirement.
• Gilligan Cut: Happened quite often. One memorable example: in the episode where Rick's sister is murdered, Magnum and TC are on their way to see Icepick...TC suspects no friend of Rick's is going to want to see them right now, while Magnum confidently predicts that "He'll welcome us with open arms." Cut to Icepick's henchmen holding them both at gunpoint.
• Gold Digger: Marcella Ziller in "The Elmo Ziller Story", especially after Elmo's supposed death.
• Good-Guy Bar: The King Kamehameha Club.
• Good Luck Charm: In "Forty", Magnum loses his lucky $2 bill, given to him on his thirteenth birthday by his grandfather. Higgins thinks he has found it by the end of the episode, and while it's not in fact the lucky bill, Magnum is so touched by Higgins' efforts that he lets him believe it is.
• Hairpin Lockpick: Magnum often only needs a pick for a lock, though occasionally he's accurately depicted using a torsion wrench as well.
• Heroic BSoD: Each of the guys had at least one of these:
  • Magnum after the deaths of Mac and Michelle.
  • Rick after the death of his sister.
  • T.C. when his friend gets killed getting him a Gatorade.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: Robin Masters - to the point where, in "J. 'Digger' Doyle", great pains are taken to ensure that we never see his face (though we see a lot of his hand, and a few instances of his back to the camera, in that episode).
• High-Heel–Face Turn: Jennifer Chapman in "Tropical Madness" for Higgins and Jeannie in "A Little Bit of Luck, A Little Bit of Grief" for Rick.
• Hollywood Darkness: Episodes like "Never Again... Never Again" and "The Sixth Position" use this in nighttime scenes on Robin's Nest. Other episodes avert this for similar scenes.
• Honor Before Reason: Higgins willing to organise a fancy gathering even as the mansion is being hit by a tropical storm, in "The Big Blow". Magnum is not amused.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Leslie Emory and Cleo Mitchell subvert this. They're not mean or terrible people, but they're quite street smart, and Leslie in "The Hotel Dick" has a habit of gaining sympathy and money through false Freudian Excuses and sob stories. This leads Magnum to be quite skeptical at first when she asks for his help in "Straight and Narrow".
• How We Got Here: "The Treasure of Kalaniopu'u" opens this way.
• How's Your Texan Accent?: John Hillerman uses his natural Texan accent playing Elmo Ziller (actually Higgins in disguise) in "The Elmo Ziller Story" and Sam Caldwell in "Murder by Night".
• Identifying the Body: In an episode where Rick's little sister comes for a visit, Magnum takes her out for an evening, where she proves to be not quite as sweet and innocent as Rick would like, and vanishes partway through the night. In the morning, Rick and Magnum go to file a missing person report, made rather difficult as they seem to be describing two different girls, but one of the officers has them come to the morgue, as there's a body that matches Magnum's description. After a commercial break, the two are driving home, as Magnum's Private Eye Monologue talks about how Rick hasn't said a word since they saw the body.
• I Just Knew: Magnum spends most of "Home From the Sea" trying to stay afloat in the ocean; T.C., Rick, and Higgins all have a bad feeling about him despite having no reason to think anything is wrong. When they acknowledge it and start looking, T.C. tells Rick—who turns out to be only a few hundred feet away from where Magnum is treading water—to stay right where he is until dawn, but can't explain why he does so.
• I Never Said It Was Poison: How Magnum figures out the "inside man" of the King Kamehameha Club robbery in "I Witness", as the robbers refer to Keoki by name, despite never being told it prior.
• Idiot Ball: Magnum holds it big time in "Legacy From a Friend", when he uses the estate's electronics in his sting against Rose. Naturally, much like before and after this episode, they end up horribly damaged, if not totally destroyed.
• Insecurity Camera: When Magnum and company are captured in "Ghost Writer", Magnum notes that the only camera in the room is a single, slowly rotating one in the very center of the ceiling. He simply has everyone walk behind the camera, which tricks the guard into thinking they've disappeared and gets him to come into the cell to be knocked out.
• Insistent Terminology: As Magnum will surely attest, it's "private investigator", not "detective".
• Inspirationally Disadvantaged: Wonderfully averted in "One Picture is Worth" with Linda Andrews, a deaf painter who Magnum takes on as a client after she's the sole survivor of an armed robbery. She's portrayed as quite human, leading a normal life, and not letting her deafness define her (as she had become deaf from a boating accident well into her adulthood), only breaking down later from her loss of independence under Magnum's protection from the robbers.
• The Jeeves: Higgins
• Jerkass Has a Point: Wilson MacLeish, despite being an all-around Jerkass ungrateful to everyone around him (leaving paltry sums to those who genuinely worked hard for him), has a point in not leaving the bulk of his fortune to his cousins Tony and Marina. Tony is perpetually broke with possible mob connections, while Marina is clearly an alcoholic, and there's no reason to believe they wouldn't squander his fortune somehow.
• Karaoke Box: Used to hilarious effect in "The Man From Marseilles", when Magnum has to sing "Misty" at the Sing Sing Palace.
• Karma Houdini: In "Unfinished Business", Quang Ki doesn't die a brutal and horrible death.
  • The kidnapper in "Thank Heaven for Little Girls and Big Ones Too", see Early-Installment Weirdness above.
  • Despite Magnum foiling his assassination attempt, Duncan Scott in "Deja Vu" ultimately flees and gets away with his other crimes.
  • A subversion crosses with implied Karmic Death in "Rapture" when, upon confessing to the ghost boy's murder, the boy's stepfather flies his plane out in an act of suicide, never to be seen again.
• Killed Off for Real: Lt. Tanaka in "Tigers Fan."
  • Michelle in "Unfinished Business".
  • "Mac" MacReynolds in "Did You See the Sunrise?".
• Knowledge Broker: Icepick, by way of Rick, is Magnum's go-to guy for information that can't be acquired through legal channel.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Come on, you didn't think Jim Bonnick coming to rope Magnum into his schemes was karma for Magnum's treatment of Mac the first two seasons?
  • "Don't Say Goodbye": As they battle it out on a yacht, Stewart Crane tries impaling Magnum with a large boat hook, but when Magnum and Amy call for help, he jumps into the water, and is chopped into pieces by a passing boat's propeller. Ouch!
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Magnum's aforementioned Aside Glance to the audience whenever something ridiculous was going on.
• Leave No Witnesses: The main reason why Wendy Wright in "Distant Relative" was murdered, as she had witnessed a crime being committed, whether knowingly or not. Even worse, Magnum was with her before she was killed.
  • The bank robbers in "A Picture is Worth" don't disguise themselves for this reason, gunning down every worker there. Girl of the Week Linda survives due to being in a room behind the counter, her deafness preventing her from hearing the gunshots.
• Lightning Reveal: How Magnum discovers Captain Cooly's body in "Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii".
• Like Brother and Sister: Magnum and Carol Baldwin. She logged more time with Magnum throughout the series than any of his numerous love interests. Could possibly be seen as Will They or Won't They?, but if the show hinted at this at all, it was extremely subtle.
• Long-Lost Relative
  • Over the course of the series, we come to learn that (a) Magnum met and married a woman in Vietnam, (b) she's still alive, and (c) she has a daughter.
  • Higgins's series of half-brothers.
• Manchild: Thomas can sometimes appear to be this. Higgins often assumes a parental role with him. Throughout the series it's established that Thomas' father died when he was very young, and that his military service caused him to feel he had never had a chance to be a young man.^note In an early episode he says when he was 32 he realized he'd never been 22. Tom Selleck has a tenor voice, and when something exciting or upsetting happens (as when he says something like "I can explain everything!!!") his voice goes up about an octave and a half and cracks like Henry Aldrich. His high silly teenage-girl giggle adds to this image.
• Meaningful Name: Discussed by Carol In-Universe regarding her mentor Judge Hannibal Kearns in "Death of the Flowers":
  Carol: Thomas, you know Hannibal, the other Hannibal, he committed suicide rather than surrender to the Roman army.
  • Subverted later when Magnum determines that Judge Kearns' murder was made to look like a suicide.
  • Amy Crane in "Don't Say Goodbye", revealed to actually be her friend Carol Foster, having taken over Amy's identity and the care of her grandmother Agatha.
  • Danny Linn's School Marm tutor in "Jororo Farewell" is named Ms. Peardon, which sounds like "puritan" when spoken in an American accent.
• Monochrome Casting: Although there were some exceptions, you would think all businessmen and philanthropists on Oahu were white Brits or Americans when you look at who Higgins is often around. When they're not, they're Japanese.
  • In contrast, many Oahu-based actors and entertainers were seen on the show, ensuring a much more diverse pool of characters than on many other shows of the time.
• Mood Whiplash: Some lighthearted moments can feel like this if they follow a heavier scene. Also, watching many episodes in order can come off as this, i.e. the heavier "The Last Page", followed by the much sillier-by-comparison "The Elmo Ziller Story".
• The Münchausen: Higgins is always telling stories about all his adventures. They annoy his companions despite the fact that some of them are quite interesting. They are also all quite true.
  • It was already being lampshaded in season one's "J. 'Digger' Doyle" where, under a truth serum, Higgins tells such a story virtually nonstop before and during his rescue, to the point of Magnum having to yell a massive "SHUT UP!!".
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Icepick.
• Near-Death Clairvoyance: Magnum in "Limbo", as he lies dying in the hospital.
• Nephewism: Buzz Benoit's (intentionally) Cousin Oliver nephew Mickey in "Squeeze Play".
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Buzz Benoit (Dick Shawn) in "Squeeze Play", for Playboy magazine's Hugh Hefner, Penthouse magazine's Bob Guccione, and Hustler magazine's Larry Flynt.
• Noodle Incident: The Hungarian acrobats. And in "Who is Don Luis Higgins", Magnum is limping badly and various people ask him what happened; he refuses to explain. (Possible Shout-Out to whatever happened to Jim Rockford in "The Aaron Ironwood School of Success". In that case, James Garner had hurt himself doing his own stunts. Perhaps Selleck had done the same.)
• Not-So-Fake Prop Weapon: For the In-Universe filming of the book adaptation of Tahiti Kill.
• Nun Too Holy: David Bannister in "The Jororo Kill" employs a habit as a disguise.
• Obfuscating Disability: Chester Bixby in "Innocence... A Broad" has a habit of faking debilitating injuries on the properties of rich people and suing for damages. That is, until he made the horrible mistake of doing so in a club that happened to be owned by the mob...
• Odd Friendship: Higgins and T.C.
• Only Known by Initials: T.C. (His real name is Theodore Calvin.)
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Orville "Rick" Wright, Jim "Mac" Bonnick, and Francis "Icepick" Hofstetler.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Hillerman plays Higgins with exquisite Received pronunciation, but sometimes lapses on "schedule" and "privacy" (which should be said as "shedule" and "privissy"). Forgivable as he's a Brit who's been living in America for many years and you would expect him to assimilate to a degree.
• Papa Wolf: Magnum with Lily, naturally.
  • Icepick with his daughter Hilda.
• Paranormal Episode: The episode "Rapture". Magnum sees the ghost of a young boy, leading him to investigate the boy's death.
  • Another had Thomas in an extended Near-Death Experience after he got shot and seriously wounded. This almost was the Series Finale until the series got renewed at the last minute.
• The Patriarch: Rick considers Icepick to be like a father to him.
• Perfumigation: "Patchismo" cologne for Magnum, unfortunately, in "The Legacy of Garwood Huddle".
• Perpetual Poverty: Magnum does live on a lush Hawaiian estate free of charge, but his personal finances are another story...
• Poorly Disguised Pilot: Erin Gray appeared in the first season episode "J. 'Digger' Doyle" as a security expert hired by Robin Masters to evaluate Magnum. It was supposed to lead to a spinoff series for Gray, but the series never came to pass.
  • Season four's "The Return of Luther Gillis," dealing with an old-time St. Louis P.I. tangling with Magnum, was another show planned as a spinoff. Unlike "J. 'Digger' Doyle" above, however, Gillis did make several appearances as a Drop-In Character, as "Return" was a sequel to the same season's "Luther Gillis: File #521," the first of his five episodes.
  • "Two Birds of a Feather" featured a fellow Vietnam War aviator who crashes into Robin Masters' tidal pool. According to the Magnum Mania website, "it was a 'backdoor pilot' for a potential TV series about treasure hunter and ace combat pilot Sam Hunter and his family. The Mike Post and Pete Carpenter score that is heard when Sam comes home (and in the closing credits) was to be used as the theme song. The pilot went unsold. After the pilot failed to attract any interest, Donald P. Bellisario took the bare bones of the concept and eventually developed it into Airwolf (1984-1986).
• Porn Stache: Magnum himself of course, but Higgins and T.C. too. A very high facial-hair quotient.
• Prison Episode: Magnum goes undercover in one in "A Pretty Good Dancing Chicken".
• Private Detective
• Private Eye Monologue: Magnum in every episode.
  • Played with whenever Luther Gillis shows up and narrates his own adventures.
  • And with Susan Johnson in "A Girl Named Sue".
• Product Placement: In addition to the Bland-Name Product mentioned above, Magnum is seen in a few episodes drinking Meadow Gold milk out of a strategically held carton. And of course the entire show is an ad for Hawaii tourism.
• Psychic Powers: It's very low-key, but Magnum has moderate clairvoyant abilities. Sometimes it's just an intuitive "little voice," other times he has actual visions and precognitive dreams.
  • Laura Bennett in "Fragments" is a Not-So-Phony Psychic who hires Magnum, having apparently seen her own murder. She later realizes she was only half-right: The killer is actually trying to kill Magnum.
• Pun-Based Title: "Torah, Torah, Torah", "Holmes Is Where the Heart Is", "Novel Connection", "Legend of the Lost Art", etc.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Higgins's prayerful response to most of Magnum's activities: "Oh. My. GOD!!!"
• Pygmalion Plot: "Professor Jonathan Higgins". Magnum even lampshades it, referring to My Fair Lady. Higgins, purist that he is, prefers that he compare it to Pygmalion itself.
• Quintessential British Gentleman: Higgins.
• Raiders of the Lost Parody: "Kiss of the Sabre" features a guest star who is an author working on an adventure novel somewhere between Raiders and James Bond, using Magnum and friends as her inspiration. Doubles as Actor Allusion, since Tom Selleck was considered for the role of Indiana Jones but had to turn it down because he was already under contract for Magnum.
  • This actually happens twice. In "Legend of the Lost Art", a notorious villain is a huge fan of the old movies that Raiders was derived from, and plans all his crimes using elements of said films. Magnum, again cast as the Indiana type character, plans his countermoves by drawing on his own memories of said films.
• Rancher: In one episode there is a teenage rancher who needs our heroes' help.
• "Rashomon"-Style: "I Witness"
• Real-Person Cameo: Carol Channing at the new wave club in "Distant Relative". Magnum even includes it in his story to Rick and T.C. later.
  • Magnum briefly meets Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker of the Detroit Tigers at a bar near Tigers Stadium in "A Sense of Debt".
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Lieutenant Tanaka often helps Magnum in apprehending the Villain of the Week, but isn't above putting his foot down when Magnum is arrested or caught up in one of his investigations.
  • LAPD Detective Sam McKee in "L.A.". Unfortunately, he's not long for this world.
• Recurring Character: A veritable arsenal of them. Carol Baldwin deserves special mention, being the closest thing the series ever had to a regular female character.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Magnum is red, Higgins is blue.
• Reliably Unreliable Guns: In "A Girl Named Sue", Magnum says he "bent the firing pin" of his gun hammering his way out of the locked storeroom. If one considered it to be a Colt MKIV/Series 70 9 millimeter (the model in real life, as opposed to the .45 it was called on the show), this would be absolutely impossible to do.
  • On top of that, back when he's still in the storeroom with Susan, he fires too many shots without reloading.
• Remember the New Guy?: Ron Pennington in "Round and Around" is said to be a close friend of T.C.'s, even though he only appears and is mentioned in this one episode.
  • Most if not all of the series' Tragic One-Shot Characters fall under this trope.
  • T.C.'s ex-wife and kids in "Missing Melody".
  • Benny Travis in "Innocence... A Broad" is notable, given he's one of the series' few other P.I. characters, and only appears to serve Higgins a subpoena.
  • The heroes actually get played by this in "Underworld". T.C. is in a coma in the hospital, where a man who looks something like him appears and introduces himself as Gerald, one of T.C.'s brothers. He seems to know personal details that cause everyone (the viewer included) to take for granted that he's who he says he is. When T.C. awakes, he says he has many brothers, but none are named Gerald.
• Replaced the Theme Tune: "Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii" (the pilot movie) had a light jazz piece by Ian Freebairn-Smith that was used for the first nine post-pilot episodes; the show didn't have the Mike Post and Pete Carpenter theme we all know and love until "Thicker Than Water".
  • The original theme had a Mannix-like "early '70s action hero" feel, while the Post-Carpenter theme features an early '80s style persistent rock obbligato like (the four-years-later) Miami Vice.
    • Purists be warned—Universal subsequently took the trope to its logical conclusion by dubbing the Post-Carpenter theme onto syndicated prints of the pilot and the first nine regular episodes! Uniformity is one thing, but still...
• Retired Badass: Higgins. Occasionally we get evidence that not everything about his stories is exaggerated.
• Sacrificial Lion: Mac, Magnum's friend and fellow Naval Intelligence agent. He'd normally show up only when Thomas needed access to military information, but you got the idea that he was one of Magnum's closest friends and that while the two hung out together, it was always off-camera. And then came "Did You See the Sunrise?".
• Sarcasm-Blind: Luther Gillis' secretary Blanche, when she's kidnapped and held hostage with Higgins, as Higgins' digs at her fly right over her head.
• Scenery Porn: they don't call Hawaii "Paradise of the Pacific" for nothin'.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Magnum wasn't above simply running away from the bad guys if he got what he wanted or things got too hairy.
• Series Fauxnale: "Limbo"
• Shared Universe: With Simon & Simon (which followed the show on CBS's lineup and by extension a One Season Wonder show called Whiz Kids that crossed over with S&S), Hawaii Five-O (which Magnum replaced in CBS's lineup and is continually referenced throughout the show's run—see What Could Have Been), and Murder, She Wrote.
• Shout-Out: One of Garwood Huddle's old robber buddies uses the name William Daniels.
  • T.C. in "Operation: Silent Night": "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Higgins?"
  • Also to The Rockford Files, where Tom Selleck appeared as Lance White in two episodes, and also Larry Manetti and Roger Mosley both appeared in one episode:
  • Gretchen Corbett (Beth Davenport) is the first Rockford alum to guest star, in "The Curse of the King Kamehameha Club". She reappears as Holly in "The Look", with an over-the-top perm in an apparent attempt at a radically different appearance.
  • Noah Beery, Jr. (Joseph "Rocky" Rockford) two episodes later, "All Roads Lead to Floyd".
  • Stuart Margolin (Angel Martin) in "...By Its Cover".
  • Joe Santos (Dennis Becker) would play a recurring character - Lieutenant Nolan Page, and appeared in total of four episodes in Seasons 7-8.
  • James Luisi (Lieutenant Chapman) in "Forty".
  • Even James Garner (Jim Rockford) himself was originally supposed to make an appearance in "A.A.P.I.", but due to Garner's ongoing dispute with Universal, it didn't come to fruition.
  • In "Almost Home", Magnum investigates the court-martial of Pearl Harbor sailor Miles Archer, at the behest of his daughter Bridget.
• Signature Headgear: Magnum's trademark baseball caps, including a Detroit Tigers cap and a VMO-2 cap from his Vietnam days.
• Slobs Versus Snobs: Magnum versus Higgins, though usually rather lighthearted.
  • Joe Hatten's brusque attitude qualifies against Higgins', who briefly considers siccing Zeus and Apollo on him.
  • Exaggerated in "Squeeze Play" when Buzz Benoit and his Buzzettes move into Robin's Nest.
• Snap Back: In the episode "Did You See the Sunrise?", some pretty dramatic things happen. The Ferrari is blown up, T.C. is brainwashed and Magnum freaking kills someone. The next episode there is no mention of this, Magnum and T.C. are fine and the Ferrari is inexplicably back again.
• Split Personality: The Dupre Sisters, played by Sharon Stone in the episode "Echoes of the Mind".
• Sports Hero Backstory: Magnum is noted to have played on his high school football team—which won the Virginia State championship—and then been quarterback of the U.S. Naval Academy football team.
• Stepping Out for a Quick Cup of Coffee: Whenever Magnum contacted Mac (an active duty Naval officer) about some bit of classified information he needed for the current case, this was almost always how Mac gave Magnum the information. "Well, I'm gonna go get a soda. Whatever you do, do not read the file on my desk while I'm gone, okay? Because it's classified, Thomas. I mean it. Do not read it, no matter what you do."
  • Subverted with Carol in "One Picture is Worth", as she simply "drops" her case file onto the ground for Magnum to pick up and read.
  • Det. Gordon Katsumoto of course does his John Wayne impression, tells Magnum he's going to take a 20 minute nap, and puts his hat over his eyes, allowing Magnum to leave the police station.
• Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Poor Jean Claude Fornier in "A.A.P.I".
• Sunshine Noir
• Swapped Roles: Hilariously done in "Pleasure Principle", when Higgins takes time off to live a fast, irresponsible lifestyle (complete with Hawaiian shirts), while Magnum, having to handle Higgins' duties, becomes the responsible, stuffy one, even donning a suit.
• Taps: One episode had him thinking back to his father's funeral, after he'd been killed in Korea, and Taps is played following a Three-Volley Salute by Marines. You also hear it in "Almost Home", where a woman has her father's ashes submerged with his shipmates on The Arizona at Pearl Harbor.
• The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Played with at the beginning of "Luther Gillis #001". Thomas listens (and talks back) to Rick on his answering machine for an overall effect like actual conversation ("Thomas, you gotta help me!" "What is it, Rick?" ... "How about it, pal?" "No." "Thanks, Thomas!"). Robin Masters also leaves a message, with pauses anticipating replies ("I trust you're well... Good."), though Thomas just listens. "Of Sound Mind" has a rich man leave a Video Will with snappy answers to all his moneygrubbing relatives.
• Tear Jerker:
  • in 'Home From The Sea' Magnum comes off his surf-ski and spends the rest of the episode treading water whilst his friends gradually work out that he is in trouble and come to rescue him. To keep himself going he recalls his naval aviator father teaching him to swim before leaving for the Korean War and the 8 year old Magnum still practicing on the beach when a car pulls up behind his mother and a naval officer gets out. Both Magnum and the audience think it is his father returning but in fact it is a chaplain coming to tell them he has been killed in action. The title comes from a Robert Louis Stevenson poem on death, "Here he lies, where he wishes to be, just like the sailor, home, from the sea".
  • In season 6 Magnum returns home for his grandfather's funeral and reminisces with his cousin and childhood friends about his beloved half-brother, Joey Peterson. At the end of the episode Magnum visits the Vietnam War memorial in Washington DC and touches Joey's name, engraved on the Black Wall amongst all the other dead of the conflict.
  • in the pilot 'Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii' Magnum is forced into a shootout with an old war buddy turned drug dealer whom he was forced to leave for dead in Vietnam. "You should have come back for me" the dying man declares after Magnum beats him to the draw. "I did come back" replies Magnum "But you weren't there any more".
• Time-Shifted Actor: Crossing with Real-Life Relative, in "Lest We Forget", June Lockhart's younger self is played by her daughter Anne Lockhart, and Jose Ferrer's younger self is played by his son Miguel Ferrer.
  • The opening scenes of "Let Me Hear the Music" has Dennis Weaver's younger self played by his son Rusty Weaver, his other son Robby Weaver as George Lee Jessup, and his other other son is longtime Magnum producer Rick Weaver.
  • Higgins' father gets one in "Who is Don Luis Higgins...". Courtesy of Anthony LaPaglia, no less!
• Title Drop: Many episodes are named after either an important or seemingly-random line from said episode.
• Title Sequence Replacement: If you're watching an episode in syndication, chances are you'll see the opening from season seven (with the standard Magnum theme and title font), even for earlier seasons.
• Token Black Friend: T.C. - who is the most normal and likable of the group. He is also badass enough to pull a Scary Black Man on occasion.
  • T.C. is so likable that even Higgins doesn't seem to mind him always referring to him as "Higgy-Baby". He even has it on the sign he creates for Higgins' birthday and attaches to his helicopter.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Susan Johnson (Carol Burnett) in "A Girl Named Sue".
  • While Higgins is always seen to be capable in combat, the Murder, She Wrote episode "Magnum on Ice" is the only time where his infamous karate chop actually works.
• Took a Level in Kindness: While he starts out as his usual, flaky self in "Transitions", Luther Gillis almost single-handedly catches the person trying to kill Higgins for Robin Masters' new manuscript, and, having learned his old secretary (and ex-fiancee) Blanche is marrying another man, leaves quickly for the wedding in hopes of winning her back.
• Tragic One-Shot Character: Many, sadly, with several of them being friends of the main characters.
• 21-Gun Salute: The Three-Volley Salute at Magnum's father's funeral.
• Twisted Echo Cut: The scenes in "Home From the Sea" are constantly cutting to these; for example, T.C. saying that he doesn't want to be out here all night cuts to Magnum, who's been out in the sea all night, which cuts to Rick saying he and his date will have to stay all night on his boat.
  • Marti Jensen's comedy routine in "L.A." of a horror movie victim dying is juxtaposed with two kids in an auto garage being gunned down and killed by two men in the shadows.
• Two Aliases, One Character: Magnum suspects this about Higgins, that he is actually Robin Masters. Higgins even confesses this to Magnum at one point, but quickly walks it back.
• Uncanny Family Resemblance: Higgins has three illegitimate brothers, all played by Hillerman.
  • The one time we see Higgins' dad in the present time (not in a retrospect), he's also played by Hillerman.
• Undesirable Prize: Magnum wins third prize in a slogan contest for a cheese company: a trip to Disney World. When it's discovered that one of the two slogans that beat him was a quote from Dickens, he gets bumped up to Second Prize: a trip to Waikiki. Which in his case is just up the street.
• The Unreveal:
  • In the final seasons, Magnum suspects that Higgins was the real Robin Masters all along. This is never proven or disproven.
  • We never find out whether or not the real Elmo Ziller is still alive.
• Very Special Episode:
  • Episodes like "Wave Goodbye" deal with the PTSD of Vietnam veterans.
  • "Blind Justice" unflinchingly deals with domestic abuse.
  • "Find Me a Rainbow" centers around a black-market baby adoption operation.
  • "The Aunt Who Came to Dinner" made Magnum one of the first television shows to address the subject of Alzheimer's disease.
• Video Wills: Wilson MacLeish in "Of Sound Mind", complete with The Tape Knew You Would Say That.
• Vigilante Execution: Magnum, at the conclusion of season three's two-part premiere "Did You See the Sunrise?". One of the most memorable moments of the series.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Higgins and Magnum.
• The Voice: Orson Welles as Robin Masters.
• War Hero: Magnum won the Navy Cross during his time in Vietnam, and when in scenes requiring that he wear his dress uniform the Navy Cross is at the top of his ribbon rack. Higgins is a former British soldier and is also a winner of the Victoria Cross, which is the equivalent to the U.S. Medal of Honor. Neither of them likes talking about their awards and don't display them.
• The Watson: Rick, a former Trope Namer.
• Wham Episode: "Did You See the Sunrise?"
• Wham Line: "Nuns don't work on Sunday."
  • "I think... I locked us in the vault."
  • "Dutch didn't die."
• Wham Shot: The ending of "Faith and Begorrah" has Rick and T.C. spying on the adulterous couple they and Magnum have been tailing for the whole episode at a lighthouse. Through the camera, Rick sees them arguing at first, but seconds later he watches as the woman is suddenly thrown off the lighthouse to her death. Cue credits.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The beginning of "Laura" is the only time we see the title character's babysitter in the episode, talking on the phone (and paying little attention) and telling Laura to go out of the apartment. Considering that Laura eventually ends up murdered, you would think said babysitter would at least be mentioned again.
  • Eric Tobin in "Missing in Action", who's been the target of both not-Buck Greene and Magnum's investigation, is shot by the former and falls into some water, but Magnum never once goes to pull him out of the water or check if he's alright, and by the episode's end it's never stated whether he's even alive or not.
  • Even though Marcella Ziller had a hand in his supposed murder and Higgins had pretended to be him the whole episode, we never find out what's become of the real Elmo Ziller.
  • In "Compulsion", Carol's dog Chelsea disappears. Thomas gives his phone number to all the radio stations and has them do PSAs. Later a DJ calls saying one of his listeners has brought Chelsea to the station. Thomas sends Rick to get her, but the episode ends abruptly without a tag after Carol's stalker is subdued. We never see them reunited or even confirm that the dog at the station is Chelsea.^note This episode was made in 1985, four years before AVID/ PetTrac patented microchip technology and began implanting tiny RFID chips in companion animals. Microchips have identified pets that have been missing for over 18 years.
• Who's on First?: Magnum and T.C. in "Missing in Action", after T.C. fixes the Ferrari:
  T.C.: That'll be fifty bucks.
  Magnum: Fifty bucks? What for?
  T.C.: Well, there's something known as parts man.
  Magnum: Fifty bucks for spark plugs?! C'mon!
  T.C.: That's right.
  Magnum: Look, I gotta run. I'll see you this afternoon.
  T.C.: Hey man, it's Friday, Thomas. I need the fifty bucks to buy a fuel pump for my chopper.
  Magnum: Well all I got's a twenty.
  T.C.: Alright man, that will do for right now.
  Magnum: T.C.! You mean you'd let me drive outta here broke?
  T.C.: Well that's the way you always drive in! The money, Thomas?
  Magnum: Okay, I tell you what I'll do. I'll loan you ten till this evening.
  T.C.: You'll loan me ten? You owe me fifty!
  Magnum: That's right, which I don't have, so I'll loan you ten to keep you afloat. You can pay me back, when I pay you the fifty.
  T.C.: Whoa-oa, what's with this Abbott and Costello routine? - You owe me fifty, you loan me ten? Forget it!
  Magnum: Oh, ok. Thanks, I owe you one. (drives off)
  T.C.: You owe me one? You owe me fifty!!
• Whole-Plot Reference: "The Treasure of Kalaniopu'u" is this show's version of It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.
  • "Innocence... A Broad" shares many similarities to Born Yesterday.
  • "Legend of the Lost Art", for obvious reasons.
  • "Kapu" has Magnum get injured, lose his memory, and live among a tribe of natives, just like Captain Kirk in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Paradise Syndrome". The episode is also similar to Witness, in that Magnum also has to find a young native girl who had witnessed a murder, and as long as he's there, is invited to help with routine work.
• With Friends Like These...: As strong as their bonds are, Rick and T.C. are frequently irritated with Magnum and for good reason. He constantly owes them money (helicopter expenses, bar tabs, etc.), drags them into his cases to do assorted work, borrows their belongings (sometimes damaging or losing them in the process), and has a habit of not making good on promises or debts.
• Woman Scorned: Holly Fox in "The Look", so much so that she hires Magnum to find her missing fiance so she can kill him.
  • Katrina Tremaine in "Italian Ice", when Magnum doesn't reciprocate her affections, goes on her version of a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, not only going off to kill Magnum's girlfriend, but also shooting Higgins. (He gets better.)
  • Susan Johnson in "Rembrandt's Girl" is a milder example, understandably pissed that the coworker she thought was going to propose to her was actually planning to frame her for embezzling from their bank.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Poor, poor Diane Dupres in "Echoes of the Mind". Kidnapped along with her twin sister Deidre as young children, she was subjected to physical, mental, and sexual abuse during her captivity, so much so that Deidre died before they could be rescued. Ever since then, she had taken on a wild adult version of Deidre as a separate personality, as a result of severe Survivor Guilt and PTSD. She becomes so paranoid as "Deidre" that she murders her visiting psychiatrist without remembering it. Once Magnum figures all of this out, he pleads with her to surrender and get treatment to free herself from "Deidre" for good. Having switched constantly between her true self and "Deidre", Diane finally returns to herself, only to tearfully commit suicide in front of a horrified Magnum.
• You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Ivan in "Did You See the Sunrise?". He's spectacularly wrong.
  • Walt Brewster in "The Legacy of Garwood Huddle". He's also quite wrong.

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