Magnum P.I – Season 5 Episode 7 “Birthright” Recap & Review

Birthright

Episode 7 of Magnum P.I. Season 5 starts with two robbers breaking into a home at night. Unfortunately for them, the house owner is armed and kills one of the men.

The next morning, Rick moves out of the robin’s nest and rents out Suzy’s dad’s boat. He wants to be out of the way to allow the new lovebirds their privacy. T.C. and his adopted son, Cade, help him move. They ask about Magnum, and Higgins tells them that they had two clients so they decided to divide and conquer. Higgins soon leaves to meet with their second client.

She meets with Gus and Kerry Urima, the man who killed one of the robbers the previous night. He wants Higgins to look into the second robber who got easy with a precious family heirloom that belonged to his late wife. The necklace is worth almost 200,000 dollars. The police are yet to identify the thief and Gus wants extra eyes to track it down. Kerry is worried that the robber might return to revenge his partner’s death so Higgins promises to help them.

Elsewhere, Magnum meets with his client, Verna, who has been struggling with mental illness and wants to reunite with her son after 36 years. It turns out she is T.C.’s mom and she wants a chance to be in his life again. Magnum promises that he will do his best but the ultimate decision lies with T.C. After the meeting, he calls Higgins and explains what happened with Verna. Higgins worries about how this will affect T.C. but Magnum thinks he still has to tell him.

Higgins continues with her case and visits the house. She learns that Kerry gave up her work and life to take care of their ageing dad. While there, she meets  Brent, Gus’s son and asks him to show her the video of the robbery aftermath. Brent asks about the insurance company and thinks Kerry is not pushing the company hard enough. After watching the video, Higgins spots something odd.

Higgins heads to the police station and talks with Katsumoto about the case. Higgins shares the clue she found in the video. She thinks that the robbery was an inside job and Katsumoto agrees that the police reached the same conclusion. They, however, are not sharing that theory with the family. Katsumoto also shares that most of the people in the family’s lives have alibis and the police are yet to find any links to the dead robber either. They even interview the dead robber’s girlfriend, Dawn, but she has not been forthcoming. Higgins decides to try her luck with the Dawn.

In the meantime, Magnum pays T.C. a visit and tells him about his mom and her desire to see him. T.C. immediately says he doesn’t want to see her but Cade notices that his conversation with Magnum shook him. Later, Rick asks T.C. to reconsider seeing his mom so he can say everything he has to say and move on. He assures him that he will be there for him.

Higgins pays Dawn a visit and learns that she is pregnant. She asks Dawn to talk and she agrees to reveal her boyfriend’s partner, Nixon. She and Magnum stake out Nixon’s house and follow him around until they find sufficient evidence against him. Their plan backfires when Nixon spots them and shoots their tires and asks them to back off. Magnum thinks that Dawn has changed her mind and calls Nixon.

Katsumoto tells him that Nixon shot their car so they have probable reason to hold him when they investigate further. Katsumoto agrees to arrest Nixon and Rick sends Higgins a list of fences on the island that have the capability to move high-end jewellery.  She cross-references  Nixon’s location data to see which fence he visited. Their investigation leads them to Jamie.

They visit Jamie’s shop and find his dead body. They call the police and Katsumoto takes over the case. They think that Jamie got into an altercation before his death so Magnum asks for an update on Nixon but the police are yet to find him. They go through Jamie’s phone and find out that someone text him about the necklace the night of the robbery. They assume that it was Nixon and also find $100,000 in Jamie’s belongings. This makes them realize his deal with Nixon never went through so they question why it failed.

Concurrently, T.C. takes Rick’s advice and meets with his mom. He listens to Verna’s reasons and her struggle with her mental health. She expresses her regret in leaving but argues it was for the best. T.C. opens up about how her leaving changed his life and broke his heart.  Her absence traumatized him greatly but he finally moved on. He learnt how to survive and thrive. He tells her that he has forgiven her and that he is glad she is better but she has no place in his life.

In the meantime, Magnum and Higgins show Gus and Kerry a picture of Nixon but they say they have never met him. Rick reaches out to the other fences to see if they took up the deal.

Magnum suggests they sneak into Nixon’s house while they wait to hear from Rick. At Nixon’s house, they find letters from Kerry who was Nixon’s penpal when he was in prison.

Katsumoto brings her in for questioning and pressures the woman to reveal Nixon’s location. Kerry admits that she knew Nixon but they stopped talking 3 years back. She blames herself for telling him about the necklace when they used to talk. Katsumoto tells her that they think that Nixon had help from a family member and she is the main suspect. Upon hearing this, Kerry asks to make a phone call to her dad.

Higgins believes she is innocent and Magnum thinks she has a soft spot for Kerry. Higgins shares her theory with Katsumoto and asks him to check with the insurance company if Kerry made a claim.

After meeting with his mom, T.C. still feels down and Cade checks in on him. They talk about Verna and Cade asks him to reconsider having his mom in his life.

Back at the police station, Childs realizes that the necklace the robbers stole was fake. Katsumoto learns that Kerry cancelled the policy three months ago when the insurance company asked to appraise the necklace before the policy renewal. Higgins thinks that Kerry sold the necklace and replaced it with the fake one which was later stolen.

Kerry does admit that she secretly sold the necklace to pay for an expensive treatment that her dad needed. She also comes clean about the fact that Brent knew Nixon.

Katsumoto worries that Nixon might attack Brent and his intuition turns out to be right. Nixon attacks Brent in his father’s house and demands to have the money left after the original necklace was sold. The police arrive at the house and spot a car driving away from the scene. Katsumoto asks some officers to stay with the car but are surprised to find out that Gus was the one driving the getaway car.

Magnum spots Nixon fleeing on foot and gives chase. Katsumoto joins and they manage to arrest Nixon together. In doing so, they find out that Brent hired Nixon because he had some serious financial problems. Kerry is freed and reunited with her dad.

After the case, Higgins shares her regret for putting her late mom in an elderly facility. She feels that her decision hastened her mom’s decline, while Magnum comforts her and requests she stop comparing herself to Kerry.

The episode ends with T.C. meeting his mom and telling her he is willing to give their relationship a chance.

The Episode Review

T.C.’s decision to give his mom a second chance was moving. I believe he made this decision after his talk with Cade. Cade has turned out amazingly well and it is all because of T.Cs love and support, he is doing a great job raising him. I hope Verna won’t disappoint T.C. and they will be able to work on their relationship.

It is understandable that Higgins feels guilt for putting her mom in a retirement home but everyone’s situation is different. She can’t live in the ‘what if’ and have that guilt consume her. Hopefully she listens to Magnum and learns to forgive herself. She did the best she could do at the time.