‘Magnum P.I.’ Recap: ‘Dark Skies’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

MAGNUM P.I. -- "Dark Skies" Episode 508 -- Pictured: Jay Hernandez as Thomas Magnum -- (Photo by: Zack Dougan/NBC)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 508 of ‘Magnum P.I.’ To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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It’s been a little while since we settled in to discuss one of the juicer plot lines present in season five of Magnum P.I. on NBC. Specifically, the death of Captain Buck Greene and the hunt for Magnum and his compatriots at the hands of Buck’s killer and well… it makes sense as to why this took a bit of a back seat. Simply because… this story needed to move along the romance between Thomas and Juliet and bring it out into the light. Plus, Gordon needed to get his job back and that too demanded the story’s attention. But now that our star-crossed lovers have made their magical relationship known to the world, and now that Gordon is back on the force… the time arrived at last for Magnum to dive into this dark matter in the next episode of this phenomenal series. 
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In fact, ‘Dark Skies’ wasted zero time in having Magnum get to work in regard to uncovering who killed Greene and who was hunting his team. For he swung by San Diego to speak with the harbormaster that disappeared after Buck died. For he most certainly had to have information regarding who hired him to lie and who expected him to disappear. But alas, Lewis Peele was fairly worthless in such matters. Because whomever ponied up the dough wanted to stay anonymous and offered enough of a daunting presence to push Peele to get out of town. Which forced Magnum to do something quite dangerous and bring Lewis back to Hawaii in the hopes of using him as fresh bait to smoke out the people responsible for this and well, this dangerous plan paid off.

That is, after some gunfire was exchanged. Since the bad guys seemingly knew that Lewis was a liability and led to that most dangerous game. But Thomas of course, was ready for this kind of surprise and used his foresight to capture a shooter named Oliver Cane. Who was a former soldier with a sorted past and should have been serving a sentence inside Leavenworth prison. But some combined detective work from Gordon and Higgins revealed that Cane was nothing more than a hired gun that was released from prison to handle this kind of work, and they also came to learn, that the call to take Magnum and others down… since others involved in the op died as well… came from someone embedded deep within U.S. Intelligence. Why exactly we don’t know. But this did indeed raise the stakes like never before since Magnum’s bold move might have exposed him, and it also gave us answers… and a name: Swayzak. Who Cane stated was the top dog calling the shots on this op.

Which was enough for Magnum to hand the man over to the U.S. Marshals service while he planned his next move and well, this was definitely some incredible progress for this storyline and brought about some dark and scary moments that were bleak enough to prompt… two other, more positive storylines. One of which involved a robbery at the bar, one that Kumu and Kenny decided to solve since Rick went with Magnum on his dangerous mission. And they were able to figure out who stole the goods and Kumu figured out how to save the offending thief from an ugly fate by not pressing charges. Simply because she knew to do so would put him down a dark path, and that was too cruel for a young man trying desperately to help his family. As for the other storyline, that involved Higgins and T.C., who went to a remote island property to help an eccentric billionaire preserve his privacy. Only to learn that one of his staff was being targeted by a former drug lord that she turned in. Allowing for Higgins and T.C. to do what they do best when that kingpin’s lackeys came calling… and save the day in the process.

But while Kumu’s story made us love her even more and while Eddie Jemison shined in a guest star role as billionaire Nolan Pierce while Higgy and T.C. gave the bad guys the business… let’s be honest, it’s the Greene storyline that ruled the day here. For at long last, we know that Magnum and his friends are being hunted by unsavory elements in the Central Intelligence Agency. Setting the stage for an epic conclusion to this storyline. One that will undoubtedly have Magnum and his friends and loved ones, fighting for their lives with limited resources against a well-funded group of potentially unsavory ex-American soldiers. And that is going make the wait for the next episode quite difficult, since we simply must know how this harrowing storyline is going to come an end, and why exactly… someone in the C.I.A. is going after heroes. Until next time.

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