The latest Magnum P.I. episode, A Game of Cat and Mouse, was televised Friday, 31 January 2020. The brief episode description “when Jin (Bobby Lee) learns that an innocent woman is the target of a deadly hit, he asks Magnum and Higgins to help save her” tells us the comedic relief is back.

The episode begins with poker night at Robin’s Nest. In the wine cellar, seated at the table, we see Kenny “Shammy” Shamberg (Christopher Thornton), Juliet Higgins (Perdita Weeks), Orville “Rick” Wright (Zachary Knighton), Chef Roy Yamaguchi (Roy Yamaguchi), Theodore “TC” Calvin (Stephen Hill), Kamekona Tupuola (Taylor Wily), and HPD Detective Gordon Katsumoto (Tim Kang) all fold. That left two people, Teuila “Kumu” Tuileta (Amy Hill) and Thomas Magnum (Jay Hernandez), in the game.

Almost everyone at the table, especially the private investigator himself, believes Magnum has the stronger hand. The only person there that thinks Kumu has a chance of beating Magnum is Kumu. Kumu wasn’t buying into the whole Magnum has the better hand vibe that was floating around the table. It didn’t help that Higgins, as Magnum correctly notes, got the lyrics to a Kenny Rogers song the wrong way around. With this scene centring on a poker game, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out which Rogers song is being referenced here: The Gambler.

Kumu knows how to play the game just as well as Magnum. She has the winning hand. As Kumu takes her winnings, we hear Magnum’s cell phone ring. It’s Jin. He has a client that needs help. Unfortunately, Jin and the client is in prison. Because he needs bail, he looks to Magnum and Higgins to provide it.

Magnum, Higgins, and Jin gate crash a barbecue. Jin gets a telephone number from one of the female guests. She gave him a fake number just to get rid of him. He thinks it’s all part of the chase. It really isn’t. She’s not interested.

Higgins sees a man with a gun. Whilst distracted by the security officer, there is gunfire in the background. One of the caterers was hit. The real target, Hannah, makes her escape from the event before the hitman can get to her.

With how the initial police department scene unfolds, based on Katsumoto’s reaction to Jin, I’m not the only one that finds him more than a tad annoying. As Jin looks through a photo ID book, even though he’s there to identify the shooter, he seems more interested in pointing out his friends. It doesn’t take long for Jin to find his own picture.

The scene transitions to Magnum and Higgins arriving at the hospital room where the gunshot victim is being treated. In the room when they arrive is apparently the real target’s uncle. Magnum, in receiving a call from Jin, takes the call outside the room. Jin has identified the shooter and the detective texts Magnum a picture. It’s the so-called uncle. Even though Magnum and Higgins were only outside the hospital room for a few seconds, he gets away.

Magnum stays at the hospital whilst Higgins and Jin head over to the target’s apartment. Jin gets nervous because he sees HPD has several uniformed police officers at the apartment building. What would Jin have to be nervous about? It’s not as if he’s a criminal known to almost every cop and Federal agent on the island. No. Wait. That’s exactly what he is. Even though Magnum feels Jin can turn his life around, Higgins has her doubts. She doesn’t trust him.

Image Credit: IMDb.com

Jin observes the target, Hannah, must be struggling for money because there is a large quantity of Ramen noodles in her food cupboard. Juliet doesn’t seem surprised that Jin didn’t graduate from high school. He apparently started stealing things so that he could help his family make ends meet. Whilst there is a modicum of plausibility to Jin’s story, we must remember that it is Jin telling it.

Tall John, as Higgins correctly observes, is in prison. It would, therefore, be difficult getting to him. As Higgins stares at Jin, not that this wouldn’t have occurred to other people, a plan soon formulates in her mind. Jin doesn’t like the way she’s looking at him. Jin is going back to prison.

Back at the police station, with Higgins’s plan becoming obvious, we see everyone’s favourite detective taking new mugshots. Jin probably didn’t agree to the plan unless his mugshots were replaced. Failing isn’t an option for Jin because Katsumoto might leave him in prison. It’s not as if he doesn’t belong there.

Elsewhere, Kumu and TC help Rick decorate his tiki-bar for the coming karaoke night. With Rick and TC being main cast characters, the episode needs something for them to do whilst Magnum and Higgins are out working a case. Kumu’s assistance is cut short when she receives a text from Higgins asking her for a favour.

Tall John has a cell phone which he’s been using to contact the shooter. How is Jin going to get his hands on that cell phone? Jin gets Magnum and Higgins to visit him. In an off-camera heist, as we were distracted with Rick’s tiki-bar scene, Jin successfully stole Tall John’s cell phone. It turns out that Tall John isn’t the head criminal in this episode. It’s a guy named Bill Nash. This Nash guy, whoever he is, hired Tall John to get a job done.

Nash, as Higgins notes, is a big real estate mogul. Higgins tells Magnum and Jin that Nash is apparently associated with some seriously shady people. With him having gotten the information they need, Higgins pays Jin’s bail. Magnum is surprised that she’s willing to bail Jin out so quickly. He’s not the only one. Did Higgins believe Jin’s story? It looks like she did. I guess I am too much of a cynic to believe anything that comes out of his mouth.

Kumu digitally reassembled the paper fragments found in Hannah’s shredder. On close examination of the documents, every payday, they found that Hannah had been withdrawing money from her bank account from the same ATM. Kumu conveys this information to Magnum and Higgins.

Rick isn’t happy with Kumu for using his tiki-bar as an office. He wants his clientele to be paying customers. Magnum apparently has a long tab at the bar which he has yet to settle up.

Magnum and Higgins wait for Hannah to arrive at the ATM. Not long after she arrives, Higgins notices the hitman approaching Hannah. Magnum drives up to the guy and Higgins uses the passenger down to knock him out cold. This move would be better seen than described.

Magnum uses his fake HPD badge to get bystanders to help him carry the hitman’s body to the car. They place him in the trunk of his own vehicle. I guess the trunk of the Ferrari is too small.

Magnum and Higgins enter an office building. Higgins soon finds that people must have a keycard to access the elevators and stairwells. Magnum is seen using his fake HPD badge at the security desk. It’s interesting how the security officer doesn’t question Magnum or the validity of his police badge. I guess confidence really is everything when getting to people to believe you.

Elsewhere in the building, Higgins finds Hannah hiding in a women’s restroom. Higgins informs Hannah that her brother had been shot and is at the hospital. Higgins promises to assist Hannah. The reason that Hannah hadn’t involved the police because she and her brother had entered the country illegally.

On their way back to the car with Hannah, Higgins notices the hitman has been joined by at least five other men. It doesn’t take them long to spot Magnum, Higgins, and Hannah. The men chase them back into the building. The fire alarm is pulled. One of them probably pulled the fire alarm to empty the building of potential witnesses.

Magnum calls Katsumoto. With the detective being approximately eight minutes out, Magnum, Higgins, and Hannah must find a way to stay alive until he gets there. Higgins has managed to steal a keycard to access the stairwell.

On the roof, Magnum tries to use a ladder to get from that building to the next one. The ladder is too short and falls to the ground. With Plan B in effect, the three of them use an elevator as a temporary saferoom. The hitman bypasses the emergency stop on the elevator and it descends to the first floor. Seconds before the doors open, we hear gunfire. Katsumoto has taken out three bad guys.

At the hospital, Hannah is relieved to find her brother is alive. The episode doesn’t dwell on these characters very much.

The episode closes with a scene set at Rick’s tiki-bar. Higgins is on stage singing The Gambler. Magnum is surprised that she got the lyrics right. The ensemble effort, with most of the main cast singing Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive, was kind of fun to watch. It was obvious that certain cast members were deliberately singing badly to make their respective characters appear like they couldn’t sing.

Previously …