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Magnum, P.I. Season 7 Episode 5

A.A.P.I.

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AIRED: 10/22/86

At the 14th Annual Convention of Private Investigators, Magnum is to receive the 'Local P.I. of the Year' award, but the event is brought to a halt when Jean Claude Fornier, the famous French Detective, suddenly drops dead while giving a speech—after being poisoned—and everyone in the room wants to be the one to solve the case.moreless

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At the 14th Annual Convention of Private Investigators, Magnum is to be awarded a 'Local P.I. of the Year' award, but proceedings are halted when Jean Claude Fornier falls dead, setting all of the other P.I.s on a race to solve the murder. A fun story...moreless

9.0

By Jay-Spacedust, Sep 16, 2009

'A.A.P.I.' is a fun seventh season 'Magnum, p.i.' episode that sees the return of a number of previous 'guest characters'. And for that alone, the episode is great entertainment – although I must say, coming to re-watch the episode to review, it's not the perfect 10 that I remember it for, for a couple of reasons.

Things begin in a black-and-white 1930s/1940s set-up, in one of Magnum's dreams. Seen again later in the episode, this serves as a precursor to the black-and-white-set 'Murder by Night' later this season.

Anyway, the main thrust of the episode is that a number of detective and private investigator characters seen in previous episodes make a return appearance here. There is Luther Gillis, seen in a number of stories; Jean Claude Fornier, from the fifth season's 'The Man from Marseilles'; the embarrassing Detective Gordon Katsumoto, from season six's terrible 'This Island Isn't Big Enough...', and Tracey Spencer, from the third season's 'Legacy From a Friend'.

Coming from era where there wasn't as much continuity in shows as there is today, it is welcome to see so many 'one off' characters make a return appearance.

(We also get some lookalikes posing as Mike Stone, Columbo and Kojak)

The plot involves Jean Claude being poisoned, leading the other tecs and p.i.s to clamour to solve the case for themselves. But why did it have to be Jean Claude – why couldn't Katsumoto be killed instead?! (Get the feeling that I don't like that character at all?)

Also of note is Stephen J. Cannell, creator and regular writer of many hits, such as 'The Rockford Files' and my all-time favourite, 'The A-Team'.

Talking of Rockford, it is rumoured that James Garner had been pencilled in to make a cameo as Jim Rockford in this episode, but a dispute with Universal at the time resulted in Garner to set foot on set, and so the idea was dropped, which is a real shame.

For the team up of guest characters alone this is a very good episode, but as I said at the head of my review, I didn't find it the solid 10 that I remember. The plot wears a little thin at times, and maybe it's just one of those that don't hold up so well to repeat viewings.

But even so, on the whole this is a very fair episode (I love the climatic shootout, and the final scene with just about everyone in hospital), and marks the start of a run of quality season seven episodes. I give this one a decent 9 out of 10.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Tom Selleck	Thomas Magnum
Larry Manetti	Rick Wright
Roger E. Mosley	Theodore "T.C." Calvin
John Hillerman	Jonathan Quayle Higgins

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Paul Verdier	Jean Claude Fornier	Guest Star
Stephen J. Cannell	Ray Lemon	Guest Star
Elisha Cook Jr.	Wilmer	Guest Star
Eugene Roche	Luther H. Gillis	Recurring Role
Kwan Hi Lim	Yoshi Tanaka	Recurring Role
Kathleen Lloyd	Carol Baldwin	Recurring Role

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NOTES (3)
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- The German episode titles are "Giftiger Schnee" ("Poison Snow") and "Der Pokal" ("The Trophy"). The French title is "Le trophée de l'année", meaning "Trophy of the Year". The Italian title is "L'investigatore dell'anno", meaning "Investigator of the Year".
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- The title of this episode appears bottom center screen, not the usual bottom left.
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- At the start of this story and again later on, Magnum dreams in black-and-white that he is a private eye in San Francisco, 1941. Elisha Cook, who normally appears as Ice Pick, plays Wilmer, a criminal who Magnum has tracked down. T.C. and Rick appear as policemen, and Higgins as an Inspector. This whole set-up is a fore-runner to the black-and-white episode "Murder By Night" later this season.
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