UPDATE with VIDEO:
Warning: spoilers ahead for the March 12 episode of Magnum P.I. on NBC, called “Welcome To Paradise, Now Die!”
Magnum P.I. finally returned to TV in the 2023 premiere schedule after its longest-ever hiatus, but the drama hasn’t skipped a beat with its characters since being cancelled by CBS and then rescued by NBC. The latest episode had a few subplots to keep all the series regulars busy; in an unexpected twist, it was the story without life-and-death stakes that delivered the game-changer. T.C. and Rick have officially discovered that Magnum and Higgins are in a secret relationship, and actor Stephen Hill opened up about the storyline and what the Miggy reveal means for the group moving forward.
While Magnum and Gordon were chasing a missing man who turned out to be connected to the mob, and while Higgins and Kumu were on the hunt for a person who murdered a dog, Rick and T.C. had their own search back at the guest house. Rick had emerged from his pillow fort to make some pancakes, and accidentally let Roberto II out of his cage. The two war heroes searched the house over and over again, and came up empty except for a necklace under Magnum’s bed that made them suspect that he was secretly seeing somebody.
Cue the reveal! After Roberto II was found safe and sound with some mouse-sized pancakes, Higgins claimed her necklace, and T.C. and Rick connected the dots, with T.C. declaring it a “game-changer.” While it's possible that this storyline could get more serious moving forward, there were a lot of laughs to be found in the T.C./Rick plot this week. Speaking with CinemaBlend, star Stephen Hill – who has been playing the helicopter pilot from the very beginning – first opened up about sometimes starring in lighter storylines opposite some much darker developments. Hill explained that he calls it “turning corners” or “playing the music,” then elaborated:
Even within a scene I like to come into it like 'Hey, what's up guys?' If I know I'm gonna go dark, I want to have a smile at the beginning of it, so it gives it some some layers and some some texture, but it's really cool the way – especially T.C. and Rick, or Stephen and Zach [Knighton] – we get to go on these little side quests, right?... We go on these side quests, kind of like Scooby and Shaggy. [laughs]
The side quest for T.C. and Rick of “Welcome To Paradise, Now Die!” worked to not only deliver some lightness to counter the much more serious storylines elsewhere in the episode, but also let Magnum’s longtime best friends discover the truth about Miggy. They didn’t even need a Velma to pitch in like Scooby-Doo and Shaggy might have! Although Stephen Hill’s comments did make me wonder: who would be Scooby and who would be Shaggy?
Both Magnum P.I. characters are certainly much braver than the animated mystery-solvers, after all! In all seriousness, Stephen Hill went on to share what he appreciates about the show and how it manages to strike a balance. The actor said:
We do have these little funny moments, but we both individually have very heartfelt emotional moments on the show too. If we were all just comic relief, I may not enjoy that as much. But [with] the fact that we have the comic relief in one moment, and then we have some heartfelt moments in another moment or an entire episode of that, I think we have an awesome balance. And me being the Libra, I love that balance.
Of course, the dynamic of the characters has been a bit different in Season 5 with Magnum and Higgins keeping their relationship a secret. Kumu (played by Amy Hill, who recently revealed that she feels more connected to fans this season) came close to stumbling on the truth a couple times, first in the guest house in the premiere and then in this episode when she realized that the lads were suddenly being friendly to Magnum. The actress did describe her as the show’s “voice of reason” for a good reason! Now that Rick and T.C. are in on the Miggy secret, Stephen Hill weighed in on the twist that has been a very long time coming:
I think T.C. and Rick definitely knew that they were feeling each other. Everybody could see that. Even Kumu could see that, even Katsumoto could see that. Everybody could see that there was some chemistry between the two of them, but it's really cool especially for the fans that have been rooting for it for so long to finally get to see behind the curtain a bit.
Stephen Hill has been open about appreciating the fans, and even reflected on what their support meant to him in the “darkest hour” after Magnum P.I.’s cancellation and before the NBC save. According to him, it’s “really cool” that the fans are finally getting to see Magnum and Higgins together. Plus, given their comments in earlier seasons, Rick and T.C. undoubtedly qualify as in-universe fans! That doesn’t mean that the status quo won’t have to change, though, and Hill addressed the changes on the way:
It basically changes how we interact around them. It's like, you're all hanging out at Robin's Nest. Now it's like, 'Oh, wait a minute, I think we might have to go home.' [laughs] 'It might be time for us to get up out of here!' Whenever [in] a group of guys, one of them gets married or [a relationship], that guy time goes from being a daily thing to like a weekend thing to maybe every other weekend kind of thing. So I think we're gonna see how this team navigates this new information and this new relationship.
Will there be challenges on the Miggy front that could also cause some complications? Perdita Weeks shared her thoughts on how differently the two characters approached their relationship after the big kiss. Hopefully fans will still get to enjoy “guy time” between the three brothers-in-arms as well as the extra dose of romance this season.
Tune in to NBC on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET for new episodes of Magnum P.I., to see the aftermath of T.C. and Rick’s discovery, plus more of Stephen Hill. You can also revisit all the episodes of Season 5 so far now with a Peacock Premium subscription.
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