MacGyver Season 1 Episode 6 Review: Wrench
Megan King
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On MacGyver Season 1 Episode 6, it’s Halloween weekend, and Millennial MacGyver is chasing a Ghost. Not the kind of phantom that shows up at Halloween party, but the kind that sets off bombs for the highest bidder.
The sadistic bombmaker-for-hire killed Mac’s mentor in Afghanistan, and now he’s threatening to blow up the UN. Ghost, or monster? In any case, he’s scary.
So naturally, with a bomber on the loose, this episode was a blast (pun intended)!
I counted four explosions, along with two other bombs that Mac managed to dismantle. Let’s detail the detonations, shall we?
1) The cold open could have been the end of another episode. In fact, someday I hope they make the rest so we find out how Riley, Mac and Jack end up buried alive inside a car somewhere in Eastern Europe. To escape, Mac rigs the car’s airbags to explode through the windshield, allowing them to escape just as the air supply was about to run out.
Don't let me die this way.
Jack
2) Mac’s former colleague calls him to check out a bomb set by a familiar foe at the UN. Our quick-thinking hero takes the 3-D printed bomb-within-a-bomb outside to the parking lot, where he covers it with a dumpster and a car. The bomb explodes but the vehicle and trash bin absorb most of the blast.
The Ghost is back.
Mac
3) Computer whiz Riley figures out that one of the shell companies mentioned on the Ghost’s laptop owns a warehouse in Queens. The trio arrives in a minivan (what?) and Jack pulls out his gun, ready to raid. But Mac holds him back and tells unarmed Riley:
I'm first in.
Mac
But before anyone can take a step, the entire building explodes, throwing all three of them backward (but they all come out unscathed, as usual). Inside they find a charred body, but Mac is convinced it's not the Ghost.
4) The (flashback) blast from the past (OK, I’ll stop now) that killed Mac’s mentor almost took out Mac too, and the incident left him with a lot of guilt. And there are still so many questions about this one. Who wanted Pena dead? Was the Ghost a fellow soldier? How did he get onto a military outpost in the middle of a war? Was Pena even the intended target?
It seems like the producers blew the budget (OK, now I’m done) on all the special effects and then there was nothing left for the promised Halloween party.
Bozer mentioned making a President Taft mask, and I waited for the payoff at the end, when everyone would be dressed up in the masks he created at their epic Halloween party. Poor Bozer!
What did you think of this explosive episode? How long will Mac be chasing the Ghost?
Don't forget you can catch up on the first season of the reboot and watch MacGyver online anytime. See you next week!
Other notes:
- What’s with the paperclip origami every episode?
- Thornton continues to annoy, although I hope her training with Riley pays off later.
- The characters made such a big deal about the Ghost “never stepping foot on American soil,” as if a terrorist cares about borders?
- Maybe The Ghost is the new Murdoc?
Megan King is a staff writer for TV Fanatic.
