I was delighted to come home from TIFF and be able to unplug and unwind with a tropical getaway. Okay, I didn’t really get away, but thanks to Jay Hernandez, Perdita Weeks, Zachary Knighton, Stephen Hill, Amy Hill and Tim Kang, I got to spend some time in Hawaii alongside the new take on Magnum P.I.

Over four seasons, the series has become very much its own thing. And while it shares some genetic similarities with the original series, this new iteration has done its share to go its own way, building its own world, introducing new characters, and making some important commentaries on suicide, abuse, history and more.

The fourth season is packed with twenty Hawaiian sun-drenched episodes that build character relationships, affect changes, and let that tension between Magnum (Hernandez) and Higgins (Weeks) simmer a little while longer.

There’s fun to be had throughout the season as Higgins deals with being blackmailed into covert action by her former employers at MI6 (without Magnum’s knowledge) as well as smart scripts dealing with vet issues, as well as just the usual slew of fun times to be had.

The series has made a name for itself as escapist television, and that remains in play while letting the characters grow in interesting ways, something that the original wasn’t always allowed to do thanks to the episodic nature of television at the time.

Paramount Pictures has released the fourth season on a five-disc DVD set that packs most of the episodes with a deleted scene or two and has a fun bonus feature of a gag reel. And while, to date, there hasn’t been a really fun behind-the-scenes documentary or making of segment for the series, I keep hoping.

In fact, gimme a camera, a ring light, and a couple of mics (not to mention airfare and a place to stay) I would be all over doing a behind-the-scenes feature to add to the next release. Because despite the look of things as the season closed, Magnum isn’t going anywhere just yet.

The fourth season was originally it’s last, getting that cancellation notice that no show really wants. But it was picked up by NBC for two seasons, and a grand total of twenty episodes with the possibility of renewal following that. So it’s not quite aloha yet for our favourite ohana.

And they really are ohana. It took me a while, and the shadow of the other series was always lurking at the edges of my opinion of this show, but I’ve come around. I mean the original, alongside Quantum Leap, is one of my all-time favourite shows, but the reimagined series, which is not what I wanted it to be when I first heard about it, had grown to be a lot of fun.

So check out Magnum P.I. on DVD from Paramount Canada. No doubt, you’ll say mahalo and wait expectantly for the next season.

Aloha!