The Hawaiian word for friendship is “pilialoha” and in many ways, it is a perfect word to describe the relationship between Thomas Magnum (Jay Hernandez) and his best friends, Rick (Zachary Knighton) and TC (Stephen Hill), in the rebooted version of “Magnum P.I.” Pilialoha means “close friendship” or “to be in a bond of love.” Additionally, “pili” means “to cling, stick, adhere, close relationship; thing belonging to” while “aloha” not only means “love and affection” but also “compassion, mercy, sympathy, pity, kindness, sentiment, grace and charity”— all elements that describe a friendship.

These definitions certainly explain the type of friendship Thomas has with his teammates, as well as with Higgins (Perdita Weeks) and Kumu (Amy Hill). And friendship, as well as an interesting mystery, is the focus of “I, the Deceased,” this week’s episode of “Magnum P.I.” Written by Scarlett Lacey and directed by Krishna Rao, the episode has Magnum looking into the strange death of Larry Hayes (Elijah Solis). What makes the case interesting is the fact that Larry himself hires the private investigator to solve his own murder.

Magnum often relies heavily on his friends — as well as on the very reluctant HPD Det. Katsumoto (Tim Kang). Katsumoto certainly has a hard time dealing with all the interference and “help” Magnum gives him during his homicide investigations. I suppose both Katsumoto and Dr. Noelani Cunha (“Hawaii Five-0” series regular Kimee Balmilero) have good reason to be constantly irritated with Magnum.

For as much as Rick, TC and Higgins do favors for Magnum, Katsumoto and the equally badgered medical examiner, Noelani, share in the cause. Add in TC’s chopper mechanic, Kenny “Shammy” Shamberg (recurring cast member Christopher Thornton), as well as Kumu, and we can attest that Magnum has a very talented team of friends backing him on all of his cases.

I, THE DECEASED

Thankfully, Magnum has talents of his own, and like most good military men, he certainly knows how to delegate when he needs to fill in when his abilities fall short. Mostly this comes in handy when he needs backup, aerial surveillance and money. Magnum is not one to have a lot of cash on hand, and for the most part seems to be paid in goods rather than currency — he isn’t above taking a chicken in lieu of his standard fee. But I suppose when you live on the grounds of a well-stocked estate with everything you need to run a successful private investigative service, all you need is good deductive reasoning and an excellent computer and you are all set.

In Magnum’s case, he has the sleuthing skills down, but he leaves the computer hacking and pecking to Higgins. But this time around — it will cost him. When an envelope of $10,000 and a flash drive are delivered to Robin’s Nest for Magnum, Higgins wants a fee of $50 to use her laptop. They watch the video on the flash drive where a man introduces himself as Larry Hayes. He explains to Magnum that he thinks someone wants to hurt him and hires him to solve his murder.

Higgins is intrigued by the rationale behind Larry’s hiring of Magnum, as “it appears money was no object. Surely Mr. Hayes could have hired someone more reputable. But he chose you. Why?” she wonders. Unabashed, Magnum admits he doesn’t know why but feels obliged to look into Larry’s death. Magnum contacts the law firm who delivered the envelope and finds that Larry had instructed them to deliver it to Magnum in the event of his death. Larry had given them the envelope only a week before he died in a car accident.

Like any good detective, Magnum doesn’t believe in coincidences. If Larry thought that someone wanted to hurt him, and then he ends up dead — it’s likely that Larry was murdered. Higgins agrees to tag along as Magnum works the case.

SEND MAGNUM THE BILL

After questioning Larry’s sister Katrina (Emmanuelle Vaugier), who reveals that Larry thought “someone was watching him. He wouldn’t leave his apartment. The only reason he left yesterday because he felt sick and he needed to see the doctor. I thought he was being paranoid. That he was having delusions again. Larry was schizophrenic.” She feels terrible that she did not believe her brother and try to protect him. Magnum promises to find out the truth, if Larry actually died in a car accident or if he was murdered.

Magnum and Higgins head to the scene of the accident and find no evidence that his car was forced off the road. The scene looks like an accident, but Magnum wonders if perhaps Larry’s car had been tampered with. He asks Rick and TC to get Shammy to look at Larry’s car in the police impound lot and check out if anything was altered in his car that could have caused him to crash.

While Magnum’s friends look over the car, they discuss the fact that Magnum was prepaid $10,000 for this assignment, so they will get reimbursed for expenses. TC hopes that is true because at $450 to fill his chopper, and after all the favors he’s done for Magnum, he needs to get paid. Magnum calls for an update, and Shammy tells him the car is clean, no issues and nothing had been tampered with.

TC takes the prime opportunity to ask about his big payday, and when he is going to get paid for all the “free flying” he’s been doing to help Magnum solve his cases. When Magnum suggests that TC and Rick “enjoy” helping him with his cases both of his friends stress that they feel highly taken advantage of by their always-broke-gonna-pay-you-back friend. Magnum agrees to the charge and TC tells him to “check the mail, brah.”

While the scene is played for laughs, the camaraderie between Rick, TC and Shammy is down-to-earth and natural. While Shammy sits against the car he just inspected, Rick wheels around in his wheelchair. The scene plays like it looks — three friends, hanging out, working on a car, being bros. We met Shammy, who was paralyzed in Iraq, in “Death is only Temporary.” Rick and TC recognized a fellow veteran who was a little down on his luck and a lot down on life. The friendship is one without sympathy or pity for Shammy — Rick and TC understand what he went through in battle, as they experienced it as well.

TRYING TO BE OF SERVICE

Magnum and Higgins get Shammy’s report, and head to see Noelani, who commiserates with Higgins about having to deal with Magnum and his “favors” and pitiful food bribes. When Higgins tells her that she can expect more this time, as Magnum is “flush” after being prepaid for this case, Noelani instantly likes the majordomo and invites her out for a girl’s night. Higgins agrees and Noelani also agrees to look deeper into Larry’s death after Magnum reluctantly tells her he will make a $1,000 donation to her favorite charity.

The pair then head to Larry’s apartment and Magnum uses his fake police badge to get Larry’s landlord, Caroline (played by former Miss Hawaii and “Hawaii Five-0” actress Cathy Foy) to let them in. There they find day-old Chinese take-out boxes, surrounded by dead cockroaches, and Larry’s computer. Higgins beings to watch what is on the screen and begins to understand why Larry wanted to hire Magnum.

On Larry’s computer is a video of the press conference held after Magnum, Rick and TC escaped their captors in Afghanistan. Magnum is answering a reporter’s question about what he is going to do now that he is free. “I spent most of my adult life trying to help people and trying to be of service. I guess it’s part of who I am, part of who we all are. I think it’d be nice to be able to find some way to keep doing that, to help people in need who maybe have nobody to turn to,” Magnum says.

Higgins sees that Larry picked him because Magnum probably was the one person Larry thought might believe him and take his case. Larry’s own sister didn’t believe him, and he seemed to have no one else to turn to. Magnum was his last hope.

CHASING THE BAD GUY

After they find the clues that prove that Larry was murdered, the case turns into an epic chase — complete with a parkour foot race between Magnum and Jayson Colfax (played by professional parkour athlete and “Hawaii Five-0” guest star Jesse La Flair). Jayson is the one who poisoned Larry in order to get him out of the house so he could find a gun hidden in the wall of Larry’s apartment.

The gun is the murder weapon in two unsolved murders and Magnum is not the only one who wants to find Jayson. The owner of the gun, Randy Hamaka (J. Anthony Pena), who hired Jayson to retrieve the gun, wants to silence him before he can talk to Magnum. When Higgins and Magnum finally catch up to him, they have to run from three killers using mainly their wits. Magnum has a gun, but Higgins does not, yet they seem to make it out just fine. It is Higgins’ quick thinking, and TC and Rick swooping in on TC’s chopper to back them up, along with Katsumoto, who saves the day when he arrives just in time to stop the last shooter from taking out Magnum.

Katsumoto is able to match the gun they find in Larry’s apartment to the two murders and keep Randy, who used to live in Larry’s apartment, in prison. Sadly, Jayson killed Larry in order to complete his task, and Magnum finds no real solace in the fact that Larry’s death helped to solve two murders. Sometimes even chasing the bad guy doesn’t bring the kind of closure we expect.

But for Magnum and his friends, their pilialoha — regardless of favors unpaid and debts owed — will last beyond money or harsh words. Perhaps that can be Magnum’s reward, even when solving a case doesn’t exactly feel like a win.

Wendie Burbridge writes the “Five-0 Redux” and “Magnum Reloaded” blogs for staradvertiser.com. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.