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ORIGINAL AIRDATE: October 6th, 1986 —
MacGyver, Pete, Joanne, and their swindled friend Kelly conspire to out-bunco Mr. Bunco himself!
MISSION: When Phoenix Foundation employee Kelly is tricked out of his life savings by a confidence man, MacGyver and Pete set about scamming the money right back.
This week’s highlights include:
Watch Pete lecturing Johnny Hooker in the film that inspired this episode.
Metrication in the United States (Law)
Illegal drugs and controlled substances are often measured in metric quantities. The federal law prohibiting them defines the penalties in metric masses.
In everyday use within its subculture, marijuana is sold using a combination of metric and American customary units. At small scales the basic unit is the gram (or fractions thereof), but for larger orders fractions of ounces and pounds are used generally starting at ⅛ ounce, which is often defined in turn as 3.5 grams and referred to simply as “an eighth.” The term “kilo” is used quite commonly by those in law enforcement to describe the amount of drugs (in kilograms) seized during a drug bust. A kilo of illegal drugs (in particular cocaine) is often referred to by the slang term “key”.
Check out the article on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_States
Watch S2E3: “Twice Stung” on CBS’s website or check the alternative streamability of this episode here.
Ever since a psychologist told me most people want to commit suicide because they feel like people are better off without them, I don’t like when it’s implied that they’re inconsiderate towards friends and family, so I wish MacGyver brought Kelly’s one up with some other question than “did you forget about them?”. I liked MacGyver’s “you don’t go to people with your problems, you come to your friends” and Kelly’s “Well, you don’t always remember that” answer as MacGyver certainly didn’t at The Widowmaker!
The race track trick reminds me of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R5OWh7luL4 2008 special. He probably got the idea from a guy from his home town called Horace Batchelor. I must mention how friendly the two horses were at the stables, one sticks head out in perfects sync with MacGyver appearing from behind the corner. I liked the full circle camera spin at the end too but Pete and MacGyver are the rudest ever, ignoring Joanne while she’s talking to them and, as you described it very well, the plot is a mess, unfortunately.