The BEST episodes of Magnum, P.I. season 3
Every episode of Magnum, P.I. season 3, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Magnum, P.I. season 3!
Former Naval Intelligence officer Thomas Magnum resigns his commission to become a private investigator on the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii. He lands a home in the guest house on the estate of millionaire author Robin Masters in exchange for testing the estate's security, but is forced to work under the strict and ever watchful eye of Jonathan Higgins, a former British Army soldier who serves as the estate manager, and constantly patrols the grounds with his two "lads" Zeus and Apollo, who are loyally trained Doberman Pinschers always ready to pounce on Magnum. Magnum makes good use of the perks that come with working on the estate, including driving Masters' sporty red 308 GTS Ferrari, Audi, and all-terrain Jimmy, as well as equipment such as high-end cameras and telescopes.
#1 - Basket Case
Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/3/1983
T.C. and Magnum train their respective junior basketball teams for an upcoming game. T.C.'s team seems to have the advantage until Magnum meets a plucky teenager with a great game, and persuades her to join his team. Magnum and Higgins take a shine to the girl, and discover that her foster parents are criminals who are using her as a pawn in running their con games.
#2 - The Arrow That is Not Aimed
Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/27/1983
Higgins sends Magnum to collect a valuable Kenzan porcelain plate, newly purchased by Robin Masters, from the airport, but the artefact, which was entrusted to the care of a Samurai warrior while in transport from Japan, has been stolen. At first, Thomas thinks the whole thing is a joke, especially when the Samurai, Tozan, claims that the plate was stolen by a ninja, but the situation is for real, and the pair team up to try and find the stolen artefact. But they must work fast, as Tozan’s centuries-old culture dictates that he must commit sepuku – which means taking his own life – if the precious plate isn’t retrieved...
#3 - Faith and Begorrah
Season 3 - Episode 23 - Aired 4/28/1983
Thomas is hired to follow Angie, the wife of his client Clarence, to see if she's being unfaithful. After watching Clarence in the ring training for his next title bout, Thomas is extremely reluctant to be the bearer of bad tidings. Clarence assures him that he wants proof that Angie is cheating, so that the fight's multi-million dollar purse won't be part of the settlement negotiations in the divorce proceedings she initiated. While he's on Angie's trail, Thomas meets a priest at the airport who turns out to be Higgins's Irish half-brother Paddy. Higgins isn't thrilled to see his sibling, especially when he discovers that Paddy has followed Ffolkes, Higgins's former commanding officer, to Hawaii after suspecting Ffolkes of stealing a relic during a search of Paddy's church for I.R.A. weapons. Paddy intends to hold hostage a certain English relic he pilfered from the custody of Ffolkes and Higgins until the one from his church is returned until Thomas steps in to mediate the standoff a
#4 - I Do?
Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/17/1983
To smoke out the thief in a large family-owned business, Thomas feigns marriage to the CEO's niece, who drives a mean limousine and can't quite make up her mind how she feels about men, marriage and Magnum.
#5 - Mr. White Death
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/18/1982
Magnum, Rick and T.C. are at a wrestling match to try and collect some betting money owed to Rick, when they find themselves in a tight corner up against some heavies, but they are helped out of the tight spot by ageing, cheerful wrestler Earl. When their new acquaintance - a former boxing champion who now wrestles in down-and-out clubs - learns that Magnum is a Private Investigator, he asks him to find him son, whom he was forced to leave many years ago. Higgins finds that he indirectly knows Earl through an old war friend, and the pair strike up a friendship, but as Thomas searches for Earl's estranged son, it begins to seem that elements of Earl's story do not completely add up...
#6 - Heal Thyself
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/16/1982
When Karen Harmon, a nurse whom Magnum knew in Vietnam whom was once traumatised when a wounded soldier she was treating was killed in a bombing, and is now a doctor, is accused of the murder of three patients in her care, he is determined to help her clear her name. All but one of the entire hospital board believe her to be guilty, and when his offer of help is rejected by Karen and her now husband, Thomas feels compelled to look into the case anyway. A hounding reporter determined for a story does not help the issue; and the whole matter only serves to trigger off delayed stress syndrome for Karen from that fateful bombing in 'Nam...
#7 - Did You See the Sunrise? (2)
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/30/1982
Conclusion of this feature-length / two-part story. As Magnum, T.C. and Nuzo plan to get to Ivan before he kills them, the Navy – inparticular Colonel Greene and Admiral Hawkes – have their own concerns in the situation and questions regarding Mac’s death. But things are not as previously thought about Nuzo, and not only is T.C.’s life in great danger, but many other people’s too as a result, in part of an assassination plot of a Japanese prince...
#8 - Legacy from a Friend
Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/10/1983
When his friend Marcus is found dead on the beach the day after he's seen sporting an expensive new car he can't afford, Thomas suspects foul play in the demise of the former lifeguard and volleyball player. A young woman with an ambition to rise in the ranks of the police department joins Thomas in his investigation, and they uncover the married woman, the blackmail, and the fencing operation in the center of Marcus's secret life which led to his death.
#9 - Two Birds of a Feather
Season 3 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/17/1983
Although he's nearly mowed down by a private plane that crashes into the estate's tidal pool, Thomas befriends the pilot, Sam Hunter, who was delivering the plane to its new owner, Mr. Sato; both men have an inkling that they've met before but can't seem to remember where or when, and Thomas has a nagging feeling that he owes Sam one, even though he can't place his finger on why; after Higgins and Thomas are shot at when they catch someone snooping around the plane, Thomas searches through the wreckage and discovers that the crash was caused by sabotage; Sam returns to Texas for his son's birthday, and attempts to reconcile with his ex-wife; after Thomas lets him know about the sabotage and that an investigation into Sato's background reveals that he's a major cocaine importer, Sam takes to the air to track down Sato and Nick, the coworker he suspects of causing the plane crash; a bit of fancy flying later, Sam forces the plane carrying Nick, Sato, and a cargo of cocaine to land right in
#10 - Almost Home
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/9/1982
When a plucky cocktail waitress is denied permission to scatter her late father's ashes at the Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbour, and faces arrest if she tries to do so, Lt. Maggie Poole advises the woman to contact Magnum. Soon, Thomas finds himself investigating a forty-year-old court martial ruling that decided the woman's father was AWOL during the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbour...
#11 - Did You See the Sunrise? (1)
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/30/1982
First part of what was originally shown as a feature-length story. Nuzo, an old war comrade of T.C. and Magnum's, suddenly arrives in Hawaii, and finds T.C. to warn him that Colonel Ivan, a sadistic Russian agent who once held them captive and tortured them in a P.O.W. camp in Vietnam, is after them. At first, T.C. puts his old buddy's fears down to delayed stress, but it gradually begins to seem that there might be some truth in his claims. Meanwhile, Lt. MacReynolds resigns from the Navy, and Magnum lets him stay with him for a few days, but a fatal accident meant for Thomas - as yet unaware of Nuzo's warnings - adds ground to the fears that maybe Ivan is on the trail after all...
#12 - ...By Its Cover
Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 3/31/1983
Rod Crysler, Thomas's Navy buddy, is on parole and working as an encyclopedia salesman after serving time in California on a marijuana possession charge. The corrupt narcotics officer who arrested Rod follows him to Hawaii and threatens to send him back to prison on trumped up charges unless Rod serves a drug courier for him. Thomas offers to help his buddy out by delivering a box of encyclopedias Rod has sold, but comes in for a rude awakening when it turns out the package was filled with dope, not books, and that Rod has shortchanged one of the biggest dealers on the island. Finding it hard to believe that his friend is a dope dealer, Thomas seeks the help of Rod's parole officer in locating him and setting up a sting to ensnare the corrupt cop and the drug dealer, thereby clearing Rod's name.
#13 - Ki' i's Don't Lie (1)
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/7/1982
For an upcoming charity auction organised by Higgins and an attractive socialite, to be held on the Estate, Robin Masters "donates" Magnum's services, to provide security over the valuable antiques up for auction at the event. Meanwhile, mainland Private Detective brothers A.J. and Rick Simon have been hired to steal back a Ki'i - a stolen Hawaiian artifact - by it's previous owner, who is in rapidly decreasing health and believes that he has been passed on a curse from which he will die, unless the Ki'i is returned to it's intended location of rest within the Hawaiian islands. But the "cursed" Ki'i seems to spell bad luck and trouble for all who come into possession of it. The crossover continues on Simon & Simon - 2x01- Emeralds Are Not a Girl's Best Friend (2)
#14 - Forty Years from Sand Island
Season 3 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/24/1983
As part of the research for an upcoming Robin Masters novel, Higgins contacts a witness in the 1942 murder of a prison camp inmate by a civilian guard, and soon after is badly injured in an accident when the Ferrari's brakes fail. When the mechanic confirms that someone has tampered with the car, Thomas sets out to find who wants to stop Higgins's research, and uncovers blackmail and shady politics at the center of the case.
#15 - Black on White
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/28/1982
Higgins finds himself quarantined with Thomas in the guest house after Thomas' supposed exposure to 'African Hemorhragic Fever'. Unbeknown to Higgins, the enforced quarantine is actually a ruse organised by Magnum and a one of Higgins' former comrades, to try and protect him from Kenyan Mau Mau warriors who are seeking bloody revenge and one-by-one killing all members of Higgins' old Army regiment who, in the 1950s, were responsible for the destruction of a Mau Mau village...
#16 - Flashback
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/4/1982
Thomas finds himself 45 years in the past, in a dream that seems so real that at first, he is certain that Higgins is pulling some sort of practical joke on him. Trapped in this 1936 Hawaii, he is working on a case for a "dame in trouble" - a young woman who's father, a union leader, has been accused of the murder of a construction magnate. Thomas encounters 1930s versions of Higgins, Rick, and T.C. as he tries to find the evidence needed to clear the girl's father...
#17 - Past Tense
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/21/1982
Magnum is out for a morning jog when he is nearly hit by a truck, which moments later is involved in a fatal crash with a car. Meanwhile, T.C. has accidentally made a double booking of Higgins and two tourists, who both want to make flights that morning, and has to compromise by taking all three of them. But the tourist pair turn out to be armed and sky-jack the chopper, and force T.C. to fly to a nearby prison for the daring break-out of an inmate. From there they head to a rendezvous point on a small nearby island, but the damage inflicted on the helicopter during the break-out sees them crash-landing. With the Police short on leads, Thomas and Rick investigate, and the road accident that Thomas was witness to provides a key clue...
#18 - Foiled Again
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/11/1982
William Troubshaw, an old adversary of Higgins who had made his life misery at school, married the girl he once loved, and eternally the bane of Higgins' life, has recently moved to the islands with his family, and they two old rivals are scheduled to compete against each other in an upcoming fencing tournament. But during the duel, Troubshaw is suddenly killed in seemingly a freak accident, when Higgins' foil sets off his hit indicator, causing him to be electrocuted. Higgins becomes suspect for murder when his fingerprints are found on the rewired scoring box. Magnum is certain that Higgins couldn't have been responsible for the killing, and sets about finding the real culprit behind the death, but the evidence and motives are stacked up against Higgins, and for some reason, he is refusing to call upon Robin Master's top lawyers and is just going along with the allegations...
#19 - Mixed Doubles
Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/2/1982
Practising to take part in an upcoming Pro-Am tennis tournament, Magnum is assigned by Robin Masters to protect a spoilt young champ who is receiving death threats. Thomas finds his patience tested by the girl's bratish behaviour, but is pleased that the tournament sees him reunited with an old flame - who is the girl's main competitor, and thus the prime suspect...
#20 - Of Sound Mind
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/6/1983
When a highly eccentric, practical joke-loving and not very well liked millionaire Wilson MacLeish is killed when his new bi-plane explodes, Thomas, who had been working on a case for him, is summonsed to the reading of the will. Read out via a video-tape, the deceased millionaire leaves his ex-manservants some money, but leaves his relatives practically nothing, instead leaving his estate and wealth – fifty million dollars – to Thomas! MacLeish’s relations are put out and angered by this, and Thomas takes up his new residence on the estate. On a second video-tape, MacLeish informs Thomas that before his death he had suspected that one of his relations is trying to kill him for his inheritance, and wants Thomas find out who. But it begins to seem that whoever may have been responsible for the millionaire’s death is now trying to bump Magnum off too...
#21 - The Eighth Part of the Village
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/14/1982
After narrowly avoiding being shot during a case, a fortune cookie has convinced Thomas that it’s time to repay his friends and associates. As a favour to Higgins in one such payback, he heads to collect a crate of books from the docks, only to find that the crate contains a Japanese stowaway, and promptly upon the discovery he his is attacked by two goons. The stowaway woman is the daughter of an old war comrade of Higgins, who claims to have hidden in the crate to escape from her father in Japan, whom she claims is nowadays a cruel man. Although finding it hard to believe that his old acquaintance has now turned so cruel, Higgins feels obliged to help the girl, who is searching for her American fiancée. Magnum however, is more sceptical, but investigates for himself in case Higgins is becoming entangled in some sort of trap...
#22 - Birdman of Budapest
Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/10/1983
Robin Master's mentor, Elizabeth Barrett, arrives at the estate with her macaw Merlin to research a book on ornithology. The former teacher hits it off famously with Thomas, but becomes so much of a thorn in Higgins's side that he bribes Thomas to help in bringing her visit to an expeditious end by finding Dr. Albert Tessa, the reclusive bird expert she's come to the island to interview. Thomas soon discovers that Elizabeth isn't Robin's mentor, but a K.G.B. agent on a mission to assassinate Tessa, a refugee freedom fighter from the 1956 Hungarian revolt. Meanwhile, Thomas has troubles collecting his fee from a man whose beautiful employee is tough enough to shoot out the Ferrari's windscreen to keep Thomas at a distance from her boss.
#23 - The Big Blow
Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 4/7/1983
A hurricane battering the islands isn't enough to stop Robin Masters's spring equinox party, a lavish event attended by a close circle of friends, but the arrival of an about-to-give birth young woman and two ex-cons intent on grand larceny does. Further complicating matters is Robin's assertion that one of his guests is plotting to kill him that evening, and Thomas's plans to trap the culprit with the help of Rick and T.C. have been foiled by both the weather and the intruders.