S4:E5 – “Collision Course”

I don’t really like MacGyver suddenly being an expert in something we’ve never heard mentioned before, though this isn’t the worst example(Mac’s natural world-class squash skill in Fire and Ice is, so far). I do think you guys were right though, that Charlie being the driver might have worked better. I think that would have given Mac the opportunity to have the sort of “team president” role that Pete seems to be filling in this. I liked both Jeff and Charlie, and sort of wish there weren’t so many other parties involved in this story.

I’ve been watching Miami Vice recently, and there have been two episodes I’ve seen with G. Gordon Liddy. There are so many crazy guest stars in that show though, G. Gordon Liddy didn’t seem as strange as he does on MacGyver.

That dramatic fade out of O’Malley! It was even funnier for me, as I wasn’t paying attention for a minute or two early in the episode, and I’d missed the clear shots of O’Malley and his name being said, so I didn’t even know who he was when Strickland revealed him.

I hated the “bitmap” scene in the truck. Outside of Blade Runner, I always dislike scenes where someone is asking for a photo or video to be enhanced. And it’s so pointless here, since it should have been obvious who was in the video. When the brake line is cut there are only three people actually by the car, and one of them is MacGyver!

It was fun seeing Peter Williams as the “Jamaican” video guy though. I recognized him, but couldn’t think of who he was, until I looked it up. I’ve watched the first half or so of Stargate SG-1, and have really enjoyed it. I’m a big Star Trek fan(particularly TNG and DS9), but I’m kind of picky about other sci-fi shows, and I didn’t like the original Stargate movie, yet I find SG-1 quite appealing. Referring back to Miami Vice, the bad Jamaican accent reminded me of how Rico Tubbs always seemed to want to use a (very questionable) Jamaican accent.

I had the same thought as Patrick, that there should have been more suspicion on Phoenix Racing. O’Malley was just exposed as the saboteur of Phoenix Racing. So, Pete being the one to handle all this evidence related to his death seems very suspicious. Pete even gets the medical examiner to let him do the water test himself, and later tells the police who to arrest. It’s almost like everybody in the episode knows that Strickland is really G. Gordon Liddy, and that anything nefarious must have been caused by him. It’s a good thing we actually see O’Malley getting killed, otherwise it would definitely play like Pete had murdered him.

Also, I felt that Visser being such a great driver, the reigning European champion, made it less believable that he’d be willing to drive for the auto racing equivalent of the Nixon White House.

I don’t like when a MacGyver plot is supposedly based on some cause, yet they don’t go into the subject beyond saying “ecological” a few times. And the plastic engine being used in a race seemed odd to me, but I guess this was based on a real thing, as a plastic engine was used in a car in the “International Motor Sports Association’s (IMSA) Camel GT Championship in the Camel Lights (Group C2) category in 1984 and 1985.” – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_automotive_engine