*Note: I have added another rating system to this particular review blog. There will be two ratings now, both between one and ten: one will be the rating of the episode on its own, and the other will be how it is rated as a MacGyver episode.
Episode Number: S1E2
Standalone Rating: 6/10
MacGyver rating: 4/10
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| CBS.com |
I'm on the fence about this episode, but, as for why, I'll let my "10 Things" review speak for itself!
10 Things: "Metal Saw"
1. The opening of this episode is, admittedly, pretty exciting, what with the escape from North Korea and all. It's interesting, because in this case I feel like North Korea is the new East Germany, and this scene reminds me of some of the grand escapes from communist Germany in the original series, but without a lot of the flair RDA's Mac brought to the screen. I mean, remember the jet ski coffin? A car chase is pretty meh after a stunt like that. Still, I like the cultural relevancy that using North Korea brings to the table.
2. The scene in the car as Kinda-Mac and Pseudo-Jack are talking during the escape is kind of weird. Seriously, is a high-speed car chase over the North Korean border the best time to have a heart to heart about the effect of Nikki's betrayal on MacGyver? And speaking of Nikki, I still don't understand why they characterized her this way. I'm probably going to say this a lot during the course of this episode (most likely the rest of the show as well), but I feel that they are trying way to hard to make MacGyver mainstream. One of the aspects of Mac's character from the original series that I liked the most was his fear of commitment, yet because having a steady girlfriend is the "mainstream" route in today's media, they had to have that angle... even if they turn her into a traitor. It's just frustrating, because they've taken all the quirks that made MacGyver, well, MacGyver, and squeezed them through today's entertainment mold. He's not afraid of commitment. He doesn't work alone. He's got daddy issues. He's just like every action character out there now, and it's a huge disappointment.
3. I have to ask - what is the point of Bozer? He honestly has no purpose in the show or use for the team, especially in these first few episodes. I had a mental checklist I ran through. Could he be for the obligatory bromance? No, Jack's got that covered. Comic relief? Nope, Jack's got that, too. He's a distraction from the actual plot, plain and simple. His presence changes nothing, and his little side stories - like the whole phone number game with Riley - lead nowhere. If there's one thing I can't stand in a story, it's details that are there for no reason. As a writer, that's one of my biggest rules: Don't put something in a story if it is not going to connect back to the plot at some point. Plus, he's really, really cheesy. I think I pulled a muscle from rolling my eyes too hard when he said, "I'm going to woo you like Romeo would've wooed Juliet if they'd had Snapchat in the Renaissance." He actually reminds me somewhat of Gus in the USA show Psych. Is that what Bozer is? Discount Dule Hill? Geez Louise. I do have to admit, his getting caught with his hand in the vending machine made me chuckle a bit, but still, there's no point to Bozer.
4. Why did the writers this time around feel the need to rewrite Mac's backstory? He's a tragic hero in the original, a lone wolf who is afraid of commitment because he lost so many people as a child - his dad and grandmother died in a car wreck, then he didn't get home from overseas in time to say goodbye to his mom after she had a stroke - I mean, this is heavy stuff. And it made up so much of who he was. But - and I really think this is the reason - because this show is trying so hard to be mainstream, Mac just has to have daddy issues. Are absent parents more relevant to dead ones? What is so hard about sticking with a character's original backstory? I'll admit that comic book adaptations do this all the time (and yet, Antman is still one of my favorite movies despite this), but I think that's more forgivable because of all the lore there is to sift through there. But here, it's plain and simple, and they should keep his background the same. But they don't. And I'm growing more frustrated by the second.
5. I'll admit, as a bromance junkie, I do love the scene between Kinda-Mac and Pseudo-Jack in Nikki's apartment. Although it's completely removed from the original (this part goes into my Standalone Rating, and detracts from my MacGyver rating), I do really love the chemistry that Lucas Till and George Eads have on screen. The way that Jack talks to MacGyver is like a protective big brother, and it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Like I said last time, if this was its own show and not a facsimile of MacGyver, I'd have no problem with it. But it is, and I do.
6. I get that there needs to be more character depth (there were times when I wished that was more of a thing in the original) to more than just the main character, but this episode is so Jack-centric I don't even feel like I'm watching a show that's supposed to be about MacGyver anymore. I love how Mac worked alone in the original, and though I love the bromance here, there needs to be a less Jack and more Mac to make this even somewhat okay. The show's called MacGyver (though, arguably, it probably shouldn't be), not Jack Dalton.
7. Again, the MacGyverisms in this episode fall flat. Even the one that I thought was pretty cool, the blowtorch, was so rushed through that it wasn't worth it. And the voice-overs were lame.
8. I know I said something similar in my last post, but why would they replace Pete Thorton with Patricia? Pete was funny, sometimes grouchy. a workaholic, kindhearted, not much of a family man, and great friend - sometimes almost a father figure - to MacGyver. Patricia... she has no personality. She's a carbon copy of every other secret government agency boss. And I know they try to make her more interesting later on in the series, but even that isn't believable because she, again, has no character!
9. And... cheesy line about Jack and Mac always having one another knows it's cheesy. But that's actually kind of okay for me, since they point it out, with Kinda-Mac saying to Pseudo-Jack, "Don't look at me. I know it sounds weird." That was actually pretty cute.
10. And although I really liked the interaction between Mac and Jack at the end on the basketball court, I do not appreciate that they've replaced Mac's love for hockey with an affinity for basketball. They even had his grandfather taking him to his first basketball game, rather than a hockey game. It's another frustrating attempt to be more mainstream. But it's not MacGyver without hockey!! Although, I will say that I enjoyed the sweet ending (curse my overpowering addiction to bromance!), even if it was pretty cheesy. I just love the big brother vibe Pseudo-Jack has for Kinda-Mac. But it's still not MacGyver.
Where I stand on the show at the moment, after having binge-watched all of season one in about 36 hours, is this: I think it's good. I like it. But it falls so short of being what the original was, with so much less heart and depth, and it is so out of character... It's a fun show, but it is not MacGyver. And I'll be repeating that mantra pretty much throughout the entire course of this "10 Things" review series.
It's not MacGyver.
So there you have it - my 10 things about the second episode of the MacGyver reboot! What are your thoughts on it? Next week, I'll move on to episode 3, "Awl." I'm going to start a new blogging schedule, updating the MacGyver reverse countdown on Mondays, the MacGyver reboot review on Wednesdays, and the Doctor Who reverse countdown on Fridays, so be expecting more content soon.
You've watched all 21 episodes now huh? I wish I could say "I like it" as you have, but I can't, even as a standalone entity. In fact, if it wasn't for the "MacGyver" legacy and the fact that there are some clever touchstones and casting choices that complement the original, I wouldn't have anything at all to hang my hat on.
ReplyDeleteGoing through your itemized list about "Metal Saw" with some thoughts of my own....
First of all, I knew I was in trouble when this was only the second episode and it was as much of a soulless boilerplate action hour as this one was. My biggest grievance was the anonymity of the villains, who never developed beyond generic and faceless foes that the audience had zero investment in. I had nothing to offer but a disappointed shrug when the guy on the motorcycle was felled at the end. It was the first and last we saw of him. Why do I care about his capture in the context of a fictional story? Most of the things wrong with the series generally can be identified in this second episode. Beyond that....
1. The North Korea thing seemed cool in principle, but the hand-wringing about Nikki while some of the most dangerous people on Earth in arguably the most dangerous place on Earth are bearing down on you with gunfire is not narratively credible or desirable. Plus, the DMZ separating North and South Korea can't just be swapped out with random cement barricades in a Korea-centric story. Amateur hour!
2 and 4. I like the designation of "Kinda-Mac" and "Pseudo-Jack". The nature of a "reboot" means you're reinventing the characters, so I cut them a little slack on that. I don't really mind that 25-year-old MacGyver was girl crazy, for instance, but there were other features of the iconic character that seemed pretty irreplaceable to me...yet they did replace them.
3. The point of Bozer....to create as many characters as possible in the cast so that multiple production shots can be done during the same filming period, taking the heat off of Till and Eads to be in every scene. It's clunky, but it was clearly the core of what Lenkov wanted for this reboot, even if waste-of-time characters like Bozer steal the show's spirit. By season's end, I found Bozer slightly less annoying than Jack to be honest. Actor Justin Hires always struck me as a low-rent Chris Rock. His character is actually toned down from the TV version of "Rush Hour" which aired last season on CBS. That show didn't win any Emmys, but I found it a notch or two above the "MacGyver" reboot.
6. Agreed that a little more character depth could have gone a long way on the original, but particularly as it applies to the villains I thought the original ran circles around the reboot. Even random villains like Khan from the "Thief of Budapest" opening gambit was given a personality...something the audience could latch onto with his over-the-top cartoonishness. Meanwhile, the characters that are being developed in the reboot I don't particularly care about....and even scenes that should be emotionally charged fall flat. Particularly in the second half of the season, it felt like the series could just as well change its name to "Jack Dalton".
ReplyDelete7. Episode 3 was the high point for MacGyverisms for this reboot for me. Even though the main guest character in that episode was awful, the quality of the MacGyverisms made me think that just maybe the show was finding its groove....and at least poised to be semi-competent in getting the core of the MacGyver franchise right. It was short-lived though and most subsequent MacGyverisms were uninspired and obvious through the rest of the season. This second episode was particularly weak on the MacGyverism front, however, and the speed at which they're revealed kills the excitement of figuring out what he's doing...most times you never get long enough to process and even understand it.
Anyway, enough about one bland episode of a bland reboot. At least for your next review of episode 3 I should be able to find a few favorable things to say. That was one of about a half dozen episodes of season 1 that I liked more than I disliked.