"MacGyver" Slow Death (1986)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Don Weis

Writers:

Lee David Zlotoff (creator)
Stephen Kandel (writer)

TV Series:

"MacGyver" (1985)

Original Air Date:

26 March 1986 (Season 1, Episode 19)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama

Plot:

MacGyver finds himself on a train that gets hijacked by Indian tribesmen. He tries to help them find the Westerners who sold tainted medicine to their tribe and resolve the situation peacefully.

Plot Keywords:

Science | Gadget | Brains Over Brawn | Sobriety | Famous Theme

Cast

Richard Dean Anderson	...	MacGyver
Frances Bergen	...	Eleanor Kingman
Kenneth Danziger	...	Peter Kramer
Anthony De Fonte	...	Hassan
Alan Fudge	...	Paul Webster
Carrell Myers	...	Laura
Tracy Reed	...	Andrea Collins
Pamela Roylance	...	Diana Kingman
Warwick Sims	...	James Grant
Mark Tymchyshyn	...	Andy Ellis
Noel De Souza	...	Batu Das (as Noël de Souza)
Tom Simmons	...	Blade
Thomas H. Middleton	...	Lyman
Elias Zarou	...	Badur
Gerald Papasyan	...	Barman (as Gerald Papasian)

Goofs:

Continuity: In episode: #1.18 "Slow Death". When James Grant gives Diana Kingman the soda streamer, the level of liquid in the bottle raises, it goes from ¾ to full.

Refreshing mystery

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

After two not-do-great episodes this one was truly a pleasure. MacGyver's actual mission is already over and he's just returning from it. The way he tries to make it to the train is genuinely funny. When on board, Mac meets several people, who - for once - aren't cardboard clichés. They actually have depth! Even better, we don't know why the locals are preparing to blow up a bridge. There's a sense that we have pieces of a puzzle, but can't figure out how they fit together. Then two of the locals take over the train and it is revealed, that they are looking for two specific men, but not why. The purpose of the explosives on the bridge turns out to be a perfectly logical back-up plan, not one of those "evil genius one inexplicable step ahead of the hero" things we see way too often. Then, when the train is forced to stop, we finally are explained why all the trouble. These are not some bandits. They have a mission which makes perfect sense. And they are not "evil", rather "grey", which makes them believable. When we are told what the two men did to the locals, we aren't sure which of the characters previously introduced are the guilty ones. There are interesting twists which keep us guessing about which are the guilty ones. Pretty much everything makes sense in this episode, except for the cliché of one of the bad guys dying accidentally by his own hand, which happens WAY too often in MacGyver. It's as if he were some sort of black cat that brings bad luck. Or perhaps even Death itself, like in the Final Destination film series. The guise of a man who refuses to take a life would be the perfect disguise...