How was this Magnum's mother's maiden name and the nickname of his uncle "Sully" as described in "The Aunt Who Came To Dinner" if he was the 4th and both his father and grandfather had the same middle name as described in "Resolutions"?
At least there will be plenty implied.
I've always wondered about that, too. Such an obvious continuity disconnect. I've decided that it was coincidental that his father married Katherine Sullivan, whose maiden name was the same as his middle name. At least that's what I tell myself. So far, I'm buying it.
shareOkay blue moon I'm with you. So now someone has to prove us wrong.
Spenser with an "S", like the poet.
Meaning no offense, and not really expecting to change anyone's mind, but I'm gonna disagree.
Up until the series finale, it was quite clear that Sullivan was Magnum's mother's maiden name. (There was even one episode where he explicitly referred to "the Sullivan side of the family" as his mother's people.) We were never given any reason whatsoever to doubt that was where his middle name came from.
At his father's funeral, young Thomas is referred to as "Thomas Magnum, Jr." and the deceased father as simply "Thomas Magnum." If his father had been the 3rd, surely he would have been referred to that way at his own funeral!
Uncle Sully's widow's surname is Sullivan, implying that her late husband's surname was also Sullivan, with "Sully" being a nickname based on that. Thomas refers to the widow as his aunt in one episode and his great aunt in another. I assume she's actually his great aunt, so Sully was apparently Thomas's mother's father's brother.
Sure, coincidences happen in real life -- a man could of course marry a woman whose surname is the same as his middle name. But Magnum isn't real life, it's fiction. And fiction is supposed to make sense. So I can't assume that a never-even-mentioned coincidence explains the suddenly-revealed-in-the-series-finale idea that Thomas is the 4th. It smells to me like either truly rotten continuity or blatant (and pointless) retcon. Or both.
Sorry (so to speak) for the diatribe, but this is my biggest peeve with the show. I've tried for years to make sense of it, but have failed utterly for the reasons mentioned above (and possibly some others that aren't occurring to me at the moment).