#121: Eye of Osiris

Season: 6

Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:

MacGyver is in Turkey to lend Phoenix Foundation support to an archaeologist father/daughter team that is searching for the tomb of Alexander the Great which contains the valuable Eye of Osiris.  Beth, the daughter, secretly helps a corrupt treasure hunter in exchange for money, to her and her rude father’s later regret.  The treasure hunter and the Eye of Osiris end up sealed in the tomb (which MacGyver found), and there is a reconciliation of father and daughter.  

Memorable Quote:

"Feel Lucky?"  ~A little person who pulls a knife on MacGyver in the opening scene.  MacGyver fends him off with a scarf and then takes the little person and hangs him on a light fixture. 

Highlight:

See Memorable Quote.

Lowlight:
See Memorable Quote. 

Best MacGyverism:

Not much to choose from here.  At one point, he takes a sugar-water mixture and sprays it on the sandy artifact remains to harden it up.  Let's go with that.

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

• Watching this episode with Mom!  "When are we going to get to the good ones?" she asks.  "At this rate, in about 5 years," I answer.  I kid, I kid. 
• The episode opens with MacGyver entering a Mongolian looking tavern (though it’s supposed to be Turkey).  A woman is playing dice with a villager, reminiscent of Marion’s drinking game in Raiders of the Lost Ark.  This is the first of many Indiana Jones parallels from this episode, including:
• When the artifact falls into the sand and is preserved in reverse, similar to the bad guy in Raiders who grabs the burning medallion and has it preserved on his palm
• The father who spends a lifetime possessed by finding the treasure (Prof. Jones and the Holy Grail)
• The scene where the walls close in from both sides (ok, that’s Star Wars)
• Ancient room with ingenious booby traps that still work perfectly
• Big piece of stone that chases them through a tunnel (similar to giant bowling ball)
• Who knew Turkey had pine trees just like western Canada?  Sorry, I had to. 
• I generally don't like to critique actors (don't want to hurt anyone's feelings), but Beth struggles a bit. 
• Our first Kai Wulff sighting!  He ends up appearing in 4 different episodes as 4 different characters.  Always does a great job as the bad European guy.  In this episode, he’s one of the Von Leer brothers, the first of which perished in "Legend of the Holy Rose."
• "What do I want with that [the artifacts] when I can't even read hieroglyphics or ancient Greek?" ~Von Leer.  Good to see he's thought this thing through. 
• I’m a big snowcat fan.  Would be great to traverse the Wisconsin winters.  Probably a little out of my price range though.
• "If it [the tomb] is letting light in, how come from the outside no one has ever seen this great big round window?"  ~ Mom
• I like how MacGyver sees the shining blue light and yells "There’s our way out," which he somehow immediately knows.  And then Von Leer comes back with an even more over-the-top "A hah ha ha, the eye is mine!"
• I normally don’t think of myself as a claustrophobic person, but the scene toward the end where MacGyver, Beth, and the Professor are lying on their backs with a wall no more than three inches above their head makes me feel claustrophobic.  I don’t even like thinking about it—let’s move on. 

Final Analysis:

Not as slapstick as my least favorite episodes but there are some bad moments.  Generally I enjoy treasure hunting/archaeology type stuff, though this episode doesn’t do much for me.  Next up, we’re staying in season 6 for some more borderline slapstick!