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Magnum, P.I. Season 5 Episode 13

Professor Jonathan Higgins

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AIRED: 1/10/85

After Agatha and her friends are swindled out of $100,000 by a shady investment company, she hires Magnum to track down the crooks and retrieve their money. Higgins' distant cousin arrives to marry the heir of a local socialite and turns out to be a punk rocker in need of a drastic makeover before she can be accepted into society.moreless

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While Magnum tracks down a shady investment company that swindled Agatha and her friends out of $100,000, Higgins attempts to make his distant punk rocker cousin into a lady before she marries into a society family. One of the season's better eps...moreless

9.0

By Jay-Spacedust, Jul 29, 2009

This review contains spoilers.

'Professor Jonathan Higgins' is a very silly episode, especially when compared to some of the clever and high quality stories that the series offered up in previous seasons. Thankfully, it is also a lot of fun, and stands as one of the generally weak fifth season's better instalments.

Jillie Mack puts in a rather stereotypical but enjoyable performance as Higgins' distant cousin, punk rocker Sally. Her 'cockney' accent is a bit over the top, and she can be slightly irritating at times, but personally, I found it forgivable in an episode that doesn't take itself too serious.

(Mack, in case you don't know, had previous appeared as different characters in season four's 'Rembrandt's Girl' and, uncredited, in 'Fragments' earlier this season, and went on to marry Tom Selleck in 1987).

The episode is fully of nice touches â€" such as Magnum coming fourth in the pizza competition, and his popcorn maker â€" which have been sadly lacking for much of this season. The whole story just feels more alive, more like the episodes of the previous seasons.

The only bit of the story that I was the wrap up â€" it just seemed far too coincidental that Sally's missing husband-to-be was behind the scam that ripped off Agatha and her friends, that Magnum has been investigating all episode. This just seemed to come out of nowhere, and could at least have had a few hints at this before in the story. It is the only element of the episode that doesnâ€™t work for me.

But other than that one gripe, I personally found this a very enjoyable story. It's certainly not one of the show's most sophisticated episodes, but it is all good fun, and stands as one of the better episodes from the fifth season â€" though bearing in mind some of the season's other offerings, maybe that's not saying much!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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Jillie Mack	Sally Ponting	Guest Star
Lynn Wood	Mrs. Finch	Guest Star
Ronald Knight	Frank Ohmar	Guest Star
Gillian Dobb	Agatha Chumley	Recurring Role

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NOTES (2)
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- The German episode titles are "Professor Jonathan Higgins" and "Geplatzte Träume" ("Shattered Dreams"). The French title is "Professeur Jonathan". The Italian title is "Professor Jonathan Higgins".
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- Jillie Mack, who played Sally Ponting, married Tom Selleck in 1987, and is the mother of his daughter Hannah.
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- The storyline of this episode is inspired by George Bernard Shaw's 1912 play, Pygmalion.
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