Today’s Throwback Tuesday post takes us back to the two-part opener of Magnum, P.I.‘s Third Season. The arrival of an old war buddy (James Whitmore Jr.) on the island brings back Vietnam prisoner-of-war memories for both Magnum (Tom Selleck) and T.C. (Roger E. Mosley), especially when their friend informs them that the brutal KGB officer (Bo Svenson) who tortured them in Vietnam has followed him to the islands. “Did You See the Sunrise?” plays on some common themes we’ll see throughout the series including Higgins (John Hillerman) get rankled by Magnum and his friends, and Buck Greene (Lance LeGault) refusing to share information with Magnum, this time resulting in the death of series regular Mac (Jeff MacKay). The episodes also introduce Maggie Poole (Jean Bruce Scott) as Magnum’s new inside man within Greene’s office.
The simple story of revenge gets more complicated as it becomes obvious his old war buddy is drugging and playing with T.C.’s mind and is nearly able to use him to assassinate a delegation on the island. The two-parter ends on a controversial note as Magnum walks Ivan out into the Hawaiian wilderness and makes sure the Soviet spy and war criminal will never trouble his friends, or anyone else, ever again. While the script leaves little wiggle room for Magnum to keep his friends safe from Ivan, some fans objected to the show’s hero killing anyone in cold blood.