40 years and we still see the sunrise: A 40th anniversary celebration of the iconic Magnum, PI episode.

On this day, September 30th, 1982 a two hour episode of a successful detective series aired and instantly became an all time classic. In fact, to this day it’s still considered one of the greatest episodes in television history. It was even awarded a nice spot at number 88 on the 2009 Tv Guide list of 100 Greatest Episodes.

Synopsis:

The past comes back to haunt T.C. when an old war buddy arrives with a warning that the brutal colonel who held them captive in a Vietnamese P.O.W. camp is after them once again. The action continues in this two-part episode as Magnum, T.C. and their comrade race to find their would-be killer before he finds them.

No one could’ve ever predicted how monumental this episode would become, not just for the series itself but for television in general… But, we’ll get to that a little later. First, let’s talk about the great late Roger E. Mosley aka TC Calvin, who this episode was very much a showcase for. Up to this point TC had been one of the great supporting cast of this show, and was a loyal, no nonsense friend and partner for Magnum, but in these episodes we got to see more the layers and facets of TC Calvin, as he’s basically at the center of this particular story. After all, it was him for whom Ivan and his sidekick’s evil plan was dependent on, and it was him who had more of a score to settle with Ivan than even Magnum had. After these episodes we would get far more TC centric storylines that were just as if not even better than what was given to the character here.

Other notable performances were from Larry Manetti, John Hillerman, James Whitmore, Lance LeGault, Jean Bruce Scott, Jeff MacKay and Bo Svenson. But of course, it all starts from the top and that’s Tom Selleck who gave us a truly memorable performance that anchored the entire thing. Especially where it counted most.

The iconic moment:

We all remember this scene. This is the scene that makes the episode the most famous, or infamous, depending on the reaction. To have your hero kill the bad guy in cold blood was virtually unheard of or seen before on television, especially network television of all places. It just wasn’t done. That specific moment took the world by storm, and creator and writer of the episode Don Bellisario got exactly the reaction he wanted:

More than just shocking, the moment was also innovative and ground breaking enough to open the doors for future shows to allow their leads, their “hero” or “anti hero” to do something so unpredictable and jaw dropping such as iconic series like The Sopranos and The Shield for example:

Magnum, in that moment busted down the doors for television to go to places it hadn’t been allowed, or even thought to go before. Of course no one could’ve predicted how ground breaking this episode or moment was, nor could anyone have predicted how iconic and classic the entire Magnum, PI series would become to this day, but here we are.

So happy anniversary, “Did you see the sunrise?”! You continue to impress, shock and wow us forty years on. Cheers to you. And Ivan? The question remains: Did you see the sunrise this morning?