Episode Number: S1E14
Ranking: 136 of 138
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| CBS.com |
Quotable Moment:
MacGyver: You know, Charlie and I busted 51 bombs together in Vietnam. Charlie used to put a little scratch on the wall above our bunks every time we'd get back from doing one. We used to tell anyone who would listen that we were going for the record. The day we shipped out, he counted'em. Fifty-one. Then he laughed - just laughed.Best Part: When Mac tries to impress Susan with his robotic egg-cooking, and fails spectacularly. Also, Mac's speech about Charlie's bomb-counting ritual in Vietnam. Emotionally charged and powerful moment.
Worst Part: Charlie Robinson's death.
Thoughts:
- The juxtaposition of the normal, everyday activity on the ship with the footage of the unknown bomb slowly counting down is chilling, and definitely creates an atmosphere of dread and suspense. It makes me want to jump up and down, wave my arms, and shout at the people on the screen, "RUUUUUUN!" And while I could indeed use the exercise, I don't think my warning will do any good now.
- It tricked me! It tricked me the first time I watched it, then I forget, and now it's tricked me again! The way that the show alternates between the people in the room and the bomb, it makes you think that the bomb is actually in the same room (Are they called rooms on a boat? Cabins, perhaps?) as the people ... but this time, it isn't. Well played, "Countdown." Well played.
- I think Susan must like her eggs with lots of cheese in them ... because the voice-over three minutes in is about the cheesiest he's ever done. Really? "I wonder how she likes her eggs?" Why don't you ask her instead of having your disembodied voice ask the audience, who has no idea who Susan is, let alone how she likes her eggs?
- I love the ingenuity of Mac's egg cooking inventions ... though it does seem like it might be less work just to get the eggs himself.
- I'm tempted to move this episode up at least ten places on my list just because Mac made a robot that looks like Wall-E, and its name is Roberta. My day has officially been made. (It doesn't take much to amuse me.)
- It would certainly be faster if he did it himself, and cleaner - but not funnier!
- I have decided that I quite like Susan. I love how she laughs at Mac when she says he's on the verge of a great discovery, followed by, "Sure you are! The world's just waiting to find out about shoe polish egg foo yung!" I always enjoy female characters who aren't totally sold on or charmed by Mac's, well, charms. Although he is quite the catch, it's nice to see him with girl friends who are just friends and not drooling all over him.
- Seriously, I'd completely forgotten about the banter between Mac and Susan in this first part (honestly, I'd completely forgotten about Susan in general). It's wonderful. "It's just my cranky maintenance lady being herself - cranky." And then she throws the sponge at him. Adorable moment here - but I guess they had to have a few fun moments before the serious storm.
- "Mac, I need your help," says Pete. "Last time you said that to me," Mac retorts, "I ended up in Washington wearing a pin-stripe suit and a necktie." Am I the only one who would like to see this story play out?
- I love how "Pete's place" is the DXS, not his home. Further proof that Peter Thornton lives, eats, breathes, bathes, and sleeps work.
- This episode gets points for a "bro-hug." One thing you'll learn about me fairly quickly is that I am a sucker for what the Internet calls "bromance." I just love strong friendships between guy characters, and while I normally like established bromances the best (i.e. Mac and Pete or Mac and Jack), a bro-hug from an off-screen friend will almost always get my vote!
- Charlie seems so nice ... and he's going to be a daddy ... I have to tell myself what I told my sister when watching Stranger Things... "Don't get too attached."
- 6:55 - "Charlie, you get back in your car, and you go back home." Listen to Mac, Charlie! Charlie, Jr.'s going to need his daddy!
- And here, about seven minutes in, we get one of the few glimpses into Mac's past in Vietnam. This is a part of the show and the character that I always wished they'd elaborated a bit more on. Mac in a war setting, special ops? That doesn't exactly compute with his values and character, and I'd have loved to see how he dealt with the challenges of the Vietnam War.
- Charlie is fantastic. Gesturing toward Mac, he tells Pete, "Ignore him. He has this irrepressible paternal instinct toward me." Again, I have to remind myself not to get too attached.
- I wonder, did the bomber coordinate his attack with the weather, or did he just get lucky with his timing? Or unlucky, I suppose, for the passengers?
- 23:10 - CHARLIE, NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
- I absolutely love Mac's speech about his time in Vietnam with Charlie. This is some of that Vietnam backstory I so wish would have been expanded upon. Great acting and emotions on RDA's part. Despite the low placement of this episode on my list, this moment is an honorary high-up contender.
- There's not a whole lot to comment on for the middle of the episode. It's a lot of bomb defusing, watching Mac do something and describe what he's doing, and then watching Carole do the same exact thing and talk about it as well. The episode does a whole lot of restating things we've already been told and showing the same thing over and over again, which is why it's where it is on my list. It is, at least to me, pretty boring. This would be pretty cool if it didn't drag out for such a long portion of the episode.
- I love Pete's comment to MacGyver: "You've never played a round of golf in your whole misspent life." Fun banter for such a serious episode.
- Plot twist: the guy in charge is the whodunnit - Donahue's the bad guy! It's fairly predictable, but still a pretty neat twist, and Mac's fake-out in the end is great.
- Remember how I was commending the episode at the beginning for having a female character not googly-eyed over Mac? Well, moment's over, and we get a cliche, cheesy ending with Carole and Mac flirting in the corniest of manners. Well, at least it's familiar territory.
My Conclusion?
"Countdown" is low on my list not because it is in any way a bad episode, but because it simply failed to hold my attention for a large part of the episode the first time I watched it. I remember being bored by the long, drawn-out bomb defusing scenes. I realize that those kinds of scenes are suspenseful and exciting for some, but for me, they didn't elicit that tense anticipation, especially after Charlie Robinson died. He was not a main character, and therefore, unfortunately, expendable, and so I knew that there was a chance that he would get blown up, and I was very sad when he did. After that, there was no real risk factor in it. After all, this episode falls about halfway into the first season, and it's highly unlikely that the lead character's going to get killed or even seriously injured by something as dramatic as a bomb at this early point in the series.
Mostly, though, I think it was just a personal preferences thing for me. I like the action and inventions in MacGyver more than the bomb defusing, especially the ones that take forever to get through. Please understand that I am in no way discounting the danger or stress that people put themselves in and through in real life when defusing bombs. It just doesn't hold my interest on screen. There are some good moments in this episode, though, and despite my apathy toward it, I'm still emotionally invested in it - the loss of Charlie was rough, and the little snippets into Mac's past are always incredibly welcome. The whole beginning of the episode was fantastic, and Mac's emotional speech after Charlie's death is one of my favorite moments in the whole first season.
All in all, I think that this was a good episode for those who enjoy suspense of the bomb defusing variety, but I personally wasn't a fan because it didn't hold my interest very well.
Next week, we'll be moving up to #135 - another episode that's not bad, just a bit, well, boring to me. What are your thoughts on "Countdown"?
This episode generally gets solid reviews, aside from the fact that there's a 70s movie that it supposedly hews very closely too. I liked it all around, with interesting characters and sophisticated bombs and defusal tactics that I thought kept it more interesting than the more repetitive bomb defusal scenes on "The Prometheus Syndrome". I agree the "Viking" revelation was predictable but I still liked the execution, with the briefcase of money stolen from the false back of the locker.
ReplyDeleteThey really seemed to be grooming "landlord Susan" as love interest potential so it was odd that she was given the heave-ho after only two episodes. The Vietnam backstory was very off from the vibe of the character overall. In one sense it was helpful to have some context for MacGyver's bomb defusal skills but it was not at all consistent to imagine MacGyver as a man with a military background, given his pacifism and free-spirited nature. They were definitely still flushing out the character at that point in the series' run so I cut them some slack, but that one-episode-only Vietnam background definitely stands out like a sore thumb.
I thought this one was quite well done overall and ranked it #44. On the Phoenix Foundation podcast, they interviewed Ellen Bry, who played Carol, and she said the biggest problem they had was the episode was supposed to be set against the backdrop of an incoming tropical storm, yet the weather never cooperated and they had sunshine every day of the production, making it impossible for producers to convey the incoming storm theme of the episode.