MacGyver: #134 MacGyver's Women (S6E8)

Episode Title: MacGyver's Women
Episode Number: S6E8

Ranking: 134 of 138

sitcomsonline.com

Summary: When Maria presses MacGyver to consider commitment, MacGyver dreams that he's a cowboy in the wild west who helps two mail-order brides escape from a group of outlaws.

Quotable Moment: 

Maria: Are all American men frightened of marriage?  Or is it they are frightened of women?

 MacGyver: Oh, come on.  What are you talkin' about, "all American men"?

Maria: Okay.  Some American men.   Like cowboys, who are faithful to their horse, but not with a woman.

Best Part: When MacGyver escapes the noose and signpost trap with only his belt buckle and upper body strength.

Worst Part: The mustache.

Opening Gambit: Like I said in the last post, I am not a fan of dream episodes.  Much like clip shows, they seem pointless to me.  However, I think that dream episodes are generally more useless than clip episodes because they contribute nothing to the show.  I can only think of a handful of episodes from the dozen or so shows I watch that I can actually get behind because they do actually further the character, inspire character growth, or contribute in some way to the plot of the show.  "MacGyver's Women" is not one of them.  To me, it's just an excuse to dress Mac up in a cowboy costume and plop him into the old west just for kicks.  It doesn't fit with the formula of the show, and it doesn't make a difference in the grand scheme of things.  I've said this before, and I'll say it again: if you're going to add an element to a story, it needs to be something meaningful.  If it's just there for fun or a joke, then you're not doing your job as a storyteller justice.

But I'll admit, it isn't even the fact that it's a dream episode that's got me putting "MacGyver's Women" (and next week's episode) this low on the list.  Well, not entirely.  After all, "Good Knight MacGyver," while still not up there on my list, is significantly higher than the western episodes.  No, my biggest problem with this episode (and call me shallow if you wish; I'll stick to my guns 'til the end) is that stupid, ugly mutant caterpillar that attached itself to Richard Dean Anderson's face and then died there.  Don't remember a mutant caterpillar?  Scroll up to the picture from the episode and take a gander at that atrocious mustache.  Even from that angle, it's hideous, and I can't take Mac seriously with that thing on his face.  There are plenty of outlaws in the western episode that are clean-shaven - why can't Mac be like them?  I know, I know - it sounds really petty, but the mustache really, really bothers me.  A lot.

MacGyver Reboot: Metal Saw (S1E2) - 10 Things

*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 Title: Metal Saw
Episode Number: S1E2

Standalone Rating: 6/10
MacGyver rating: 4/10

CBS.com

I'm on the fence about this episode, but, as for why, I'll let my "10 Things" review speak for itself!

MacGyver: #135 Friends (S2E20)

Episode Title: Friends
Episode Number: S2E20

Ranking: 135 of 138

CBS.com

Summary: After one too many brushes with death, MacGyver seriously contemplates resigning from the Phoenix Foundation at his surprise birthday party.

Quotable Moment: 

MacGyver: Pete... for the past seven years I have done nothing but travel around the world getting shot up, locked up, blown up, and all I've got to show for it are a couple of empty rolls of duct tape.

Best Part: Either the part where Mac tells Pete he wants to resign or the scene where Penny proves she's not as gullible regarding Jack's tall tales as he thought.

Worst Part: Just the general fact that it's out of character, and a clip show.

Opening Gambit: Something that you will discover about me early on is that I don't like clip shows, and I don't like dream episodes.  Both, to me, are fairly pointless and don't contribute anything substantial to the overall arc of a show.  The only exception to this is when the clips shown in an episode inspire new and emotionally-driven dialogue discussing something that was not addressed in the episode itself.  For example, in "Hindsight," the conversation between Pete and MacGyver about the coma in "Passages" is a great moment for me, because we get to see Pete learn about Mac's near-death experience and discuss mortality.

 But this episode, from what little I remember, does not really inspire introspective dialogue and doesn't really make a difference.  Sure, you've got the whole thing about MacGyver wanting to quit, but that isn't the focus of the episode; instead, it's focused on past episodes, and mostly shows us things we've already seen.  I do appreciate MacGyver's internal conflict about his job at the Phoenix Foundation, but I feel like that could have been much more effectively addressed with a full episode dedicated to this crossroads he has come to.  The decision to keep going has less impact on me when it is buried beneath a pile of memories and clips I've already seen before.

I do remember, however, that the episode was dedicated to a co-worker (I think he was maybe a grip?) of the cast, and while that is very thoughtful and sweet, I think that it could have been even more touching if there had been a full new episode dedicated to him rather than one cobbled together with scenes from earlier episodes.

I don't foresee this episode climbing any on the list, mainly because of my distaste for clip shows, but maybe I'll find some nuggets of goodness buried beneath all the "been-there-done-that"s cluttering the episode.

MacGyver: #104 Hellfire (S1E8)

*Edit: This episode was way better than I remembered it to be, so it's been moved up to #104.  I've adjusted the rest of the list accordingly.

*Note: I've decided to add another short section to my reviews (cleverly entitled "Opening Gambit"), because I find it interesting to see what, if anything, changes from what I remember about an episode before and then after I re-watch it.  So from now on, at the beginning of my reviews, I will have this section with my opinion on the episode beforehand, and why I initially put it where it is (or in this case, was) on the list, and then I'll write my post-ep thoughts under the "My Conclusion" section.

Episode Title: Hellfire
Episode Number: S1E8

Ranking: 104 of 138

CBS.com

Summary: MacGyver goes to visit some of his friends who have just struck oil, but when the gas ignites and threatens their livelihoods, they must take on the mantle of hellfighters if they want to save everything they've worked for.

Quotable Moment: 

Laura: [to Bill] Okay!  Look, you're going in!  This one last time.  But the two of you together.  That's the way you got this far. [to Mac] Look!  You'll fry your tail in there without Bill.  Damn it, he's the best!  So are you.

Best Part: Surprisingly, my favorite scene was where Mac and Bill try to get the dynamite out of the powder room without blowing themselves up (which Mac almost fails spectacularly at).  Despite remembering that part as boring, it turned out to be one of the most exciting parts, right alongside the firefighting scene at the end.

Worst Part: The ten minute lull about 25 minutes in where they focus far too long on Mac and Bill's getting the dynamite back to the site of the fire.


Opening Gambit: Much like with "Countdown," I put "Hellfire" low on my list because I didn't remember it to be particularly engaging or interesting.  As far as I recalled, it had its good and interesting moments, but for the most part, it fell flat for me.

A lot of this had to do with the fact that I generally find "man vs. man" or "man vs. self" conflict much more interesting than "man vs. nature."  I generally like "bad guys" that a character can more directly confront, whether those enemies end up being other people or his own inner demons.  But natural disasters?  Especially for a show like MacGyver, this is normally not my cup of tea.  There are quite a few rather tedious scenes that I remember dragging on a bit too long, and even though they are building the suspense and showing the delicacy and patience the situation requires, they failed, as far as I remember, to hold my attention.  Of course, that was probably a "me" problem much more than it was a problem with the episode itself - I typically prefer fast-paced action over slow-building suspense.

MacGyver: #136 Countdown (S1E14)

Episode Title: Countdown
Episode Number: S1E14

Ranking: 136 of 138 

CBS.com

Summary: MacGyver and his bomb-defusing partner from Vietnam are called in when a cruise ship is targeted by a bomber who calls himself Viking.

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.

MacGyver Reboot: The Rising (S1E1) - 10 Things

Episode Title: The Rising
Episode Number: S1E1

Rating: 5/10

Photo from CBS.com

Taking the plunge into the MacGyver reboot was no easy decision for me to make. I'd heard mixed things about it, and had been debating with myself on whether to watch it for months. You see, I'm an "original source material" snob, so I've been very dubious about it. Most of the reviews online are negative, but there are a few people I know personally who've said they like it, so that left me to wonder if the online reviewers were taking personal offense to the show because it's not got Richard Dean Anderson in it (understandable, but still).

The major turn-offs for me that I'd read about in reviews were the complaints about how Lucas Till portrays the character - they said he's cocky, a player, and obnoxious. If this was true, I didn't want to watch it, because that's beyond out of character. I'd also heard that they dumb down the "MacGyverisms" by putting words up on the screen to show what he's thinking about - but to me, that sounds like it could be CBS trying to take a leaf out of BBC's book with Sherlock's thought process... though admittedly, that doesn't necessarily make it any better. Reviewers said that most of the new characters (which is all of them, really, because they just took goofy, get-rich-quick schemer Jack Dalton's name and pasted it onto a generic good-looking muscle man, and it was portly and lovable Pete Thorton, not slinky and mysterious Patricia) were dull, and that some of them served absolutely no purpose whatsoever. 

And, call me shallow, but I could not seem to get past the fact that the lead actor was, only recently, in a Nickelodeon movie called Monster Truck about a monster truck ... that's actually a real, live monster. And he looks like he's twelve. And a One Direction reject. 

Despite all these negatives, however, there were still some people who actually really liked it, and the show got a second season despite its 3/10 rating, so it sounds like it must be doing something right. And so, today, I decided to take a chance on the MacGyver reboot.


Without further ado, here are the 10 Things I thought about Season 1, Episode 1 of the MacGyver reboot:

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.

MacGyver: #137 The Mountain of Youth (S7E14)

Episode Title: The Mountain of Youth
Episode Number: S7E14

Ranking: 137 of 138

CBS.com

Summary: Jack Dalton drags MacGyver along on a quest to discover the Fountain of Youth in a politically unstable third world country.

Quotable Moment: 

MacGyver: You're up to something more than the betterment of mankind, I know it.  Deep inside, I know it!

Best Part: The entire first scene where Jack is trying to convince MacGyver to help him find this Fountain of Youth.

Worst Part: Any time that I was spoon-fed a ridiculous piece of information and expected to accept it without questioning its validity, which happened far too often in this episode.

MacGyver: #138 The Kill Zone (S3E11)

Episode Title: The Kill Zone
Episode Number: S3E11

Ranking: 138 of 138

CBS.com

Summary: MacGyver and Pete face off against a stubborn scientist who refuses to allow her deadly, mutated superbug to be destroyed.

Quotable Moment: 

Pete: What a loss.

Best Part: I really enjoyed the faith and loyalty Pete and Mac had in one another this episode.  Their friendship is really well represented here.

Worst Part: Dr. Millhouse’s and Ace’s last moments.