#124: Two Times Trouble

Season: 5

Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:

MacGyver and Pete are in Chicago to oversee an anti-drug music video with the help of Roxi, a singer and high school friend of MacGyver’s.  Mysterious things begin happening including an elevator malfunction and a murder, which Roxi attributes to her twin sister Carla.  MacGyver confronts Carla with the truth about her relationship to Roxi so she can get the mental help she needs. 

Memorable Quote:
"The devil’s always there to pull you down to the pool of drugs - he’ll watch you drown.  But we’re staying strong to get our dreams.  Party of life."   ~Roxi

Highlight:

I like the part where MacGyver is in Carla’s apartment and he sees her painting and uses it to figure out Carla’s secret (I won't spoil).   

Lowlight:

Not one part stands out as the obvious lowlight.  I’ll go with MacGyver getting hit in the head with a wrench. 

Best MacGyverism:

As MacGyver gives Carla a hug, she hits him in the head with a wrench.  Then she ties him up and dumps him into a water tank that was used in the filming of the 80’s music video.  MacGyver kicks an underwater light and uses the jagged glass to break the ties that bind him.  

Other thoughts, observations, and questions I didn’t ask when I was in fourth grade:

• Some rockin’ 80’s music in the beginning.  MacGyver notes, "I’m impressed, it’s a catchy tune."  I agree.  Though I can’t tell what the chorus is.  Party of Life?  Party for Life?  Part of your life?
• The music video includes a guy (credited as “The Devil”) taking a lady to the top of a water tank, tying her up, and dropping her in.  She looks legitimately terrified as she is bound and pushed down a slide into the tank.  Then the director somewhat non-chalantly says, "Cut!  OK, OK get her out of the tank," as she thrashes around wildly.  Brief screen time, but that actress earned her paycheck.
• When Roxi and MacGyver’s elevator breaks down, they climb up through the opening in the elevator ceiling and into the shaft.  After the cables break and the elevator plummets, Roxi says, "Heights still get to you, huh?"  Geez, MacGyver, you’re only thirty stories above ground hanging from a pipe!  Grow a pair!        
• Chi-town!  I think this is MacGyver’s only visit to Chicago in the series.
• In hindsight MacGyver probably should have said, “Why don’t you come down from above the water tank” before playing armchair psychiatrist with Carla. 
• So she throws a guy off a balcony to his death and tries to drown MacGyver and yet then gets to live in the nice nursing home?  Maybe there’s an insanity plea in there somewhere.  And we never did figure out what happened with the elevator – did she sabotage it herself?

Final Analysis:

It’s a clever plot (albeit bizarre) with good acting, suspense, and a creative plot twist. I have it ranked lower because there aren’t a lot of high points for me (i.e. scenes that I really enjoy and like to re-watch).  But there aren’t any real low points either and overall the episode is better than I remembered.