Magnum P.I. is just days away from the spring finale that will reveal the aftermath of the explosion that may have killed Det. Childs and the shooting that certainly doesn’t look good for T.C. All signs point toward trouble for Magnum and Rick next, but Higgins already went through the wringer in the penultimate episode. When she was overloaded with drugs, she had some vivid hallucinations, including one of Magnum about to propose. When star Jay Hernandez spoke with CinemaBlend ahead of the upcoming spring finale, he shared his thoughts on how Magnum would react if he found out.
The star also directed Episode 9 of Season 5, which involved some harrowing hallucinations for Higgins when she was drugged by her would-be killer in what Hernandez described as “uncharted territory.” Most of the hallucinations involved a vision of Magnum bleeding out and/or her hands covered in blood as she tried to escape, but they started with her hallucinating Magnum pulling out a box while they were at a fancy dinner, which certainly suggested he was about to pop the question. Higgins was shocked, but not displeased… which of course changed when the hallucination took a turn for the bloody.
By the end of the episode (which you can find streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription), Higgins had opened up somewhat to Magnum, but there was no sign that she’d dropped any details about what exactly she had seen in her drug-induced state. When I spoke with Jay Hernandez, he weighed in on how he thinks Magnum would react to finding out about Higgins' hallucination near-proposal:
I think there's a kind of wisdom to the guy. I think things often go unsaid that he's aware of, and I don't know if Magnum would be totally surprised, because I think he understands kind of what's going on beneath the surface. And I think the things that are on the surface, sometimes people have to hide or there's an agenda or there's a reason why, and I think Magnum understands that to a certain extent. So if it were to be revealed, I don't think it would necessarily surprise him.
As Higgins said in Episode 9, Magnum can be wise… for somebody with a stupid password! Her hallucination of a fakeout proposal has raised the question of whether a real engagement could be on the way before the end of Season 5, as just one of several questions ahead of the spring finale. Whether or not Magnum ever does reveal a box that actually holds a ring instead of a bullet remains to be seen, but the star thinks that he wouldn’t necessarily have been shocked to learn what Higgins was hallucinating.
Higgins was still recovering from the overdose as of the end of Episode 9, which could mean trouble in the spring finale if mercenaries are going to storm Robin’s Nest in search of Magnum, which could be the case based on the footage in the promo. Then again, she appears to be back in action, and T.C. and Rick may be the ones to be worried about. Take a look at NBC’s preview for the spring finale:
On the whole, it would have been very early for Miggy to get engaged in the ninth episode of the season, especially since they only went public with their relationship in Episode 6, and even that was only because Rick and T.C. connected the dots about the development after finding her necklace. There are much larger concerns heading into the spring finale, not least whether the worst truly did happen to Childs in the wake of Katsumoto’s big win of returning to HPD.
Check back with CinemaBlend for more from Jay Hernandez about Magnum P.I. and the spring finale, which airs on Sunday, April 23 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC. A return date for the second half of Season 5 hasn’t been announced at the time of writing, but you can find some viewing options following the spring finale with our 2023 TV premiere schedule.
