Magnum PI series premiere review: Is the remake a worthy one?
The best thing we can say about the title character is this: Jay Hernandez is not trying to be Tom Selleck’s Thomas Magnum. He brings his own energy and enthusiasm to the role. He’s got a charm and a sense of humor about him that makes him magnetic and fun to watch; yet, at the same time he also still excels in action sequences and finds a way to make them believable. That’s important given this show and what he’s going to be doing every week: Taking on new cases with the likes of his team. You’ve got TC (Stephen Hill), Orville “Rick” Wright (Zachary Knighton), and Juliet Higgins (Perdita Weeks) working alongside him in some capacity, and he needed all of them in this episode as he did his best to, effectively, take on the bad guys. With a show like this, sometimes the specific bad guys don’t really matter, but here we had a case of murder and some gold that was taken from those who could actually help them.
What makes this team a little bit different from your standard group of PI employees? Well, all of them, including Higgins, have some significant experience out in the field. One of the big reveals in the premiere was that Higgins was ex-MI6 and Magnum knew all about it. Magnum worked with Wright and TC while they were in the military together, and they have a bond that isn’t going to be broken at any point in the future. At the end of the premiere, they helped to honor those who did not make it back after their time in a POW camp.
If you were watching Magnum PI for one thing more so than any other, odds are it was for the action — suffice it to say, the series did manage to deliver that in spades. You had an extensive Ferrari car chase (including a wrecked Ferrari), Magnum jumping onto a helicopter, an elaborate underwater scene.
CarterMatt Verdict
The goal of a premiere for a show like Magnum PI is to effectively set up the basis of the series and we think that, by and large, this hour did that. You met the characters, understood the world, and got to see a brief cameo from Noelani from Hawaii Five-0. There were some serious moments mixed with funny ones and overall, we feel optimistic as to where this series is going.
Also, Higgins’ dogs chasing Magnum may never get old.
What did you think about the Magnum PI series premiere? Be sure to share right now in the attached comments!
(Photo: CBS.)