For a pilot episode, I Saw The Sunrise isn't bad, it does its job of introducing the characters, relationships, and setting with a thin wrapping of plot.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
The opening is a completely ridiculous scene were viewers are meant to believe Magnum is base jumping from a helium balloon in the stratosphere, ala Felix Baumgartner, to rescue a scientist in North Korea. It turns out the scene is supposed to be completely ridiculous as it's the opening of Robin Masters' latest thriller in which Magnum, and his real-life work for the Navy, is the inspiration. As opening scenes go, it does grab your attention.
The plot of the episode is pretty thin, basically, Magnum's long-time friend Sebastian Nuzo is kidnapped and murdered. Magnum, along with Rick, TC, and Higgins, set out to find out why. It turns out, two former Marines stole roughly a ton of gold from one of Saddam's strongholds while stationed in Iraq, but the ship carrying their stolen goods sank off the coast of Oahu. Nuzo, who runs a salvage company, is hired by the bad guys to find the ship, but when he finds out who his clients really are, he refuses to help. The problem for the bad guys: Nuzo found the ship and he refuses to tell the bad guys where it is; this is why he's kidnapped, tortured, and killed.
Don't think for a minute the title of the pilot episode wasn't used as a direct homage to the original series episode, Did You See The Sunrise? (there's even a teleplay credit at the beginning for Donald P. Bellisario and Glen A. Larson) though beyond the fact a friend of Magnum's is murdered and there is a character named Nuzo that was in a POW camp with Magnum and the others, the two stories share little in common.
Throughout the course of the investigation, we see a lot of Oahu scenery and meet some of the recurring characters. There's HPD police lieutenant, Yoshi Tanaka, who doesn't want Magnum interfering in the case. No word if he's a Detroit Tigers fan. Captain Buck Greene (poor guy was demoted over the last thirty-five years) makes an appearance and from the interaction viewers see between Greene and Magnum, there will be more of him in the future. And we have the first cast crossover with Hawaii Five-0 in the form of Kimee Balmilero's medical examiner, Dr Noelani Cunha. It won't be much of a surprise if viewers see Dennis Chun's Sergeant Duke Lukela before too long, either.
There's a bit of backstory, Magnum is living at Robin's Nest because Robin is paying an old debt. Magnum, Rick, TC, and Sebastian were all held as POWs together in Afghanistan and kept each other alive (hence the Cross of Lorraine rings). And Higgins, Juliet not Jonathan, is a disavowed MI6 agent. Zeus and Apollo are present and the new Robin's Nest estate looks gorgeous; if the production is going for opulent, they hit the target.
There's a lot of high-speed action, the episode is directed by Justin Lin (yes, the Fast and the Furious Justin Lin) so viewers know going in, it's going to be a high adrenaline episode. Peter Lenkov is known for opening a season with a big episode. Last year his season opener for Hawaii Five-0 set the island of Oahu on fire. So base jumping from the stratosphere and jumping from a car to the skid of a helicopter are tame in comparison. Magnum also manages to destroy not one, but two Ferraris. A rather blatant signal from Lenkov this isn't going to be the same Magnum PI?
The writing isn't terribly deep and the actors are obviously still finding their characters as some of the acting is stilted. Stephen Hill's TC seems particularly wooden, while Zachary Knighton's Rick seems to be as thick as Robin Masters' describes him in one of his books. Jay Hernandez does a good job, though a few of his scenes are hard to watch as well. All of this is part of being the first episode; given some time, hopefully, all of it should smooth out as the actors become more comfortable in their roles and writers get a better feel for how to write the characters.
Overall, it's an okay episode, not great, but not terrible. There is a lot of potential for the show to break out of the shadow of the original series, much like Lenkov's reboot of Hawaii Five-0, was able to shed the comparisons to its original series fairly quickly, and tell its own stories.
I'll be back to see what happens next week, will you?
Written by LadyShelley on Sep 25, 2018
@LadyShelley 5 will get you 10 that Higgy turns out to be Master's daughter and only assumed the name / title / mantle. ;p
and that most offensive racial epitaph "h@wl$#"
dakine, simply dakine.
@jepafo: Well we don't know *why* she was disavowed. ;) And we don't know what Robin knows about the whole situation, either. We'll see. On the other hand, there's no mystery, at least for Magnum and Co, who Robin Masters is since they've all met him.
@edwardcox: BIG opening episodes is a Lenkov trademark, I think he tries to blow the budget with the premiere and finale episodes. LOL. I usually give a new show five episodes to convince me to continue. Right now I'm intrigued enough to see what they can do with the characters. The production will need to prove they can tell good mysteries without leaning on the crunch of the old show or the gimmick of Five-0 being around the island as well. (anyone else catch the Ferrari passing Danny's black Camaro on the bridge?)
Looks like they hauled out the big guns for the pilot (especially the special effects and stunts), after that I'm thinking it's dead in the water.
Why spill the MI6 beans so early. Wasn't part of the fun of the original series finding out about "Higgy Darling"?
For a bit of backstory, while the broad strokes of the pilot episode were similar to the 2-part original series pilot, "Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii", the title, "I Saw The Sunrise", was a reference to the original 2-part 3rd season premiere, "Did You See the Sunrise?". It might not have been a good idea to try to step into that episode's shoes, since it was one of the more emotionally powerful episodes of the original series, especially the final scene that the line was taken from. I doubt this new series will ever reach that level, based on what I've seen so far. It should probably be called "Magnum P.I. Lite".