MacGyver: #49 Black Rhino (S5E8)

Edit: After re-watching this episode, I realized that it was much better than I remembered it to be, so I have since moved it to a substantially higher place on my list.  Instead of being #136, it is now #49.

Episode Title: Black Rhino
Episode Number: S5E8

Ranking: 49 of 138

CBS.com

Summary: When the youngest Colton brother takes it upon himself to go after a bounty that his older brothers had never been able to score - a poacher, Ladysmith - MacGyver goes to Africa to find him and ends up joining the hunt for the killer as well.

Quotable Moment: 

MacGyver: Kate, I've gotta tell you.  That is the sickest, cruelest, most inhumane thing I've ever seen in my life.

Best Part: The fight between MacGyver and Ladysmith on the dam.

Worst Part: When they come across the rhino that had had its horn removed and had to be put down.


Thoughts:

• I'd like to preface this post by saying that "Black Rhino" is not near the bottom of my list because it's a bad episode; in fact, I think it's great and that everyone should see it at least once.  It has a great point, hits home emotionally, and tackles the difficult subject matter with tact and grace.  That being said, it's also one of my least favorite episodes because of how depressing it is at points, and it's ranked this low because it's difficult for me to watch personally, though it is, again, a good episode.
• Billy Colton - I forgot he was in this episode!  This makes me a bit happier about watching it again, because I love the Colton brothers.  Frank's probably my favorite Colton, but I love Jesse and Billy as well.  Scratch that - Mama Colton's my favorite Colton, followed by Frank, then Jesse and Billy.  Would you consider Frog a Colton, too?  If so, he's my favorite.  Oh, let's just say that I love all of the Colton family, and I'm glad Billy-boy's in this one.
• Just from the little Pete's told us about the Ladysmith so far, I already know that I dislike him tremendously.  The godfather of the poaching trade?  Can't say I blame Billy for going after him, even if it is not the most responsible - or sane - thing to do.  Though the more Pete tells us about Billy's adventures, it seems it wasn't for the right reasons - he's more interested in besting Frank and Jesse in the bounty hunter business with this score.  But if he had just thought about it - if his brothers, seasoned bounty hunters, had not been able to catch this guy before, what does this kid think he's going to do?  Jealousy can make people do things they wouldn't normally do, though, so it's not really that surprising.
• You've got to love Pete here, pulling the guilt card.  "How can you not go?"  No wonder Mac can never say no to anyone - they know exactly what buttons to push and precisely what heartstrings to pull.  Poor Mac - he doesn't stand a chance against Guilt Trip McGee over here.
• I like the music that plays during the opening credits, as well as the safari shots.  And, despite not really wanting to go, MacGyver sure seems happy to be in Africa now that he's there. 
• I love the sign in front of the reservation - "All rights reserved for rhinos."  It's cute. 
• And here's our disclaimer for the episode: "This story contains a scene depicting an injury to an animal.  The animal and the injury are simulated."  This is when I knew that this was going to be a tough ride.
• So it looks like Billy has gone undercover as a poacher if the box of rhino horns he was helping carry are anything to go by.  This is just so heartbreaking, seeing those horns - though I know these aren't real, this episode makes a very solemn point, that this is a real problem and that things like this really do happen all the time.  It's not so much the episode itself that is so difficult for me - rather, the implications that it makes about the real world.
• My first impression of Billy is that he's not the brightest bounty hunter out there.  I'll set the scene for you: He's on a dock, helping the poachers among whom he's gone undercover load up their dirty haul, and a truck drives up and a man gets out.  It's the guy he's looking for.  But just to make sure, Billy - still standing in plain daylight, on the dock, with Ladysmith's people all around him - pulls out the bounty flyer to compare the man's face to.  Kind of a dead giveaway, don't you think?  I think Billy may need to go back to the bounty hunter academy for a refresher - Boba Fett he's not.
• Wait - isn't that bad guy the same soldier who talked to MacGyver at the beginning, that's supposed to be working for Kate?  Looks like Captain Obvious isn't the only double agent in this episode.
• So Ladysmith's a poacher and a racist - this guy just gets better and better.  Sheesh, MacGyver was right - this guy's a slimeball!
• 12:40: I present to you Richard Dean Anderson petting a chimpanzee.  Your argument is invalid.
• 12:47: D'awww, a baby rhino - how adorable!
• 14:30: This is why "Black Rhino" is #136 on my list.  As soon as I see the bloody horn and hear the moaning of the rhino in the distance, I just fall to pieces.  True, the rhino doesn't even look real - you can tell it's a simulation - but the noises you hear, and the blood, and the pain, and - like I said earlier - the implications - are just too painful for me to handle.  This episode is an eye-opener, but it's just not one I like because of how heart-wrenching the eye-opening bit is.
• That poacher cut its horn off with a chainsaw while it was still alive, and then left it there to die in agony?  It makes me positively sick.  This is why I can't do this episode.  It makes me physically nauseated.
• RDA does a wonderful job acting in this scene, though, as does the actress who plays Kate.  The disgust, pity, and heartache at what the poacher did and at what had to be done to put the rhino out of its misery is perfectly portrayed.  
• Well, Billy's gotten himself caught 20 minutes in, and his attempts to talk his way out of trouble have moved him from being shot to hung.  He sure is lucky Mac's on his way, because there's no way he'd be getting himself out of this fix.
• I love Mac's lecture to Billy - like I've said before, I enjoy it when MacGyver gets angry because it's not his usual temperament, and this scene is charged with emotion, and RDA and Cuba Gooding, Jr. work well off of one another as they argue.   
• I like Kate - she's not afraid to take charge of the situation.  So far, she's put Mac, Billy, and Ladysmith each in his respective place!  
• Oh dear, this spells trouble - the supplier is the head of the defense force, and he knows Kate and will ID her as soon as he sees her, and the whole undercover operation will be blown, and Kate will be killed.  Murphy's Law, am I right?  Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong - especially if your name's MacGyver.
• I love the improvised water slide that gets Mac and Billy to the dam undetected.  It looks like fun - except for the sludge at the bottom, and the arduous rock climb to safety afterward. 
• Okay, I love Billy's taking out the bad guys from underneath the jeep - so fun.  He's getting the hang of this now.
• I'd completely forgotten about the Reichenbach Falls moment, with Mac and Ladysmith fighting on the dam - what an intense, albeit short-lived, fight scene.  And it's kind of poetic that Ladysmith died when he fell on the crates of the rhino horns on the boat below him, isn't it?  
• The end scene where Kate finally burns the rhino horns is solemnly inspiring.  I also like that Billy decides to donate the reward money to help save the rhinos.
• The episode ends with a message from Richard Dean Anderson, informing the audience that in the year of the episode, 1989, there were less than 4,000 black rhinos left in the wild, and that unless something was done, they would be extinct by the year 2000.  That's a pretty heavy message.  I was curious, so I looked up the black rhino in today's time - it seems that there has been some success in conservation of the black rhino, but poaching is still a threat to the population.  For more information, you can click here. 

My Conclusion?

Notice that I didn't have any nitpicks for this episode - I was kind of surprised by that, but, to be completely honest, I am almost certainly going to be moving this episode up a lot higher on my list.  I had forgotten a lot about this episode that was spectacular - the acting, the message, the heart, even some of the humor.  It's true that it's a dark episode, and the implications are startling, but it is also one that tells a strong story, addresses a serious problem - though it does come across as a bit preachy at times, but this is MacGyver, after all - and does so in a tactful, meaningful way.  I still greatly dislike the scene with rhino - who would like it? - but it does add to the story and further legitimatize the point.  Like I said previously, it's obviously fake, but it still packs a punch.  Couple the de-horned rhino with the bloody chainsaw in front of it, and you might very well get a shocked audience, which is what I think the show was going for.  

This episode certainly asks us to step outside of our comfort zones, and that can be difficult - but also worth it.  This is one of the most emotionally-charged episodes for me, right alongside "The Widowmaker" and "The Negotiator."  It's kind of funny that I was joking about Pete's inclination to pull at Mac's heartstrings while all the while the show was setting its audience up to have its heartstrings pulled as well.

All in all, this is a fantastic episode, though difficult to watch.  I will still probably never watch it again - or if I do, it will be a long time from now.  But all the same, this episode certainly deserves to be higher on my list than it is now. 

Next week we'll be moving to season 6 for number 135 on my list.  Until then, I'd love to discuss this week's episode with you in the comments!