Name of Show: MacGyver
Genre: Action and Adventure
Executive Producer: Henry Wrinkler, John Rich
Created by: Lee David Zlotoff
Aired Dates (Season 5): September 18th, 1989 to April 30th, 1990
Aired Dates (Season 6): September 17th, 1990 to May 6th, 1991
Aired Dates (Season 7): September 16th, 1991 to May 21st, 1992
Introduction
So for the last part, the quality of the shows was pretty poor. They could have probably taken the last 3 seasons and made 1 good or decent one. When you start including supernatural episodes and aliens in a MacGyver show, you are starting to see the end.
Memorable Episodes
Tough Boys (Season 6):
In this episode a local vigilante gang called Tough Boys dress up as ninjas at night and are trying to weed out the drug dealers and kingpins out the neighbourhood. Richard Roundtree who plays an old military type called Hines, plays this part very well. He comes in trying to help the Karate Dojo. At first MacGyver is weary of Hines and they both play off that tension. In the end, MacGyver's childhood friends and also the cop, ends up being behind the whole operation. Although the ending of this episode is a little weird, it is also a pretty strong episode. The rap song Tough Boys is a pretty catchy song as well.
Legend of the Holy Rose (Season 5)
This is one of the episodes that MacGyver is known for. The MacGyver adventure, searching for some artifact that is sacred. In this particular case it is the Holy Grail. So this is an adventure episode that has everything in it, suspense, action and a good story with a journey. You can place this episode in the first 3 seasons and it would not be out of place. It is a very strong episode and I would encourage anyone to watch it at least once.
Lesson in Evil (Season 6)
This is the return of Dr. Zito. He was being tried in a courthouse and he lost. However, he managed to escape. He is up to his antics again. He goes after the cop that arrested him and MacGyver. Again, as it was in the previous episode with him, it is a battle of the mind. You can almost see MacGyver crack. Although the ending feels a little abrupt, it is still a good episode overall.
Weaker Episodes
The Lost Amadeus (Season 5)
If you read my previous reviews, you will see that I am not a big fan of Penny Parker. However in this episode there is a character (Lulu) that makes Penny look like she is on ritalin. Lulu gets introduced to us by running into MacGyvers bike. The Lost Amadeus is a violin that was thought to be lost but Lulu's friend Izzy had purchased it. Izzy gets kidnapped and MacGyver and Lulu are able to save the kidnapped friend and regain the Amadeus. The scenes in this one are not very strong. The MacGyverism's are kind of weak. In addition Lulu, makes this episode unbearable. The way I see it, if we removed this episode from the pack, no one would notice.
The Visitor (Season 6)
The opening scene looks like the start of an X-Files episode. MacGyver's car breaks down and he is forced to walk around. He goes towards this weird light and then he is hit in the head. The premise of this episode is that he tries to find out who is putting on this show. as a scientist, he does not believe in what is being shown and wants to get to the bottom of this. Where this gets weird is that there is a mysterious vacuum salesman who looks a little like a Man in Black. He seems to show up and help MacGyver at opportune times. By the end of it, you see a light in the sky of what seems like a zooming ship. It leaves the mind of open if there is life up there. This would have been fine for the X-Files but not for MacGyver. This episode dealt with the supernatural which is out of the shows comfort zone. It just does not seem to fit and feels flat. I think this is in the top 5 worst episodes of this series.
Honest Abe (Season 7)
This season was the shortest with only 14. You figure with the extra time, they could have had to time to come up with something better. To make it worse, this was the season opener. So MacGyver is supposed to go to an old friend's son's Bar Mitzvah. His grandfather is supposed to attend. However on the way to pick him up, he kidnaps MacGyver to the Caribbean. The acting in this one is really bad and the premise is not meant to be a first episode to open a season. Abe who is the grandfather is frustratingly annoying. Also the premise is even more unbelievable than other MacGyver episodes and that is saying something. You can see that since this is the first episode of the last season, you cna just imagine how the other episodes were.
Bottomline
Season 7 is by far the worst season in the series. The writing seemed to be lazy and the episodes are very unappealing. The series finale, was a little touching. especially in the last scene but it cannot redeem the rest of the season. It was due to get off the air and fast. The key here as I was looking at the episodes is that I was not anxious to watch the next one. At this point, watching one episode at a time is all that I could muster. It is too bad that the series ended on such a low note.. There were a few enjoyable episodes, but for the number that was produced for this season, I expected better quality.
Let me know what you think. Did I miss the mark? Was I too harsh. Let me know.
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