#117: Hind-Sight

Season: 6

Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:
Pete is in the hospital getting ready to have eye surgery for his glaucoma.  MacGyver visits him and they reminisce about past adventures while talking about Pete’s stubborn refusal to ask for help.  Then, some flowers are delivered from a mystery woman, and MacGyver and Pete discuss who it might be until the woman visits Pete at the end.

Memorable Quote:
"But I thought he [Murdoc] fell down a mine shaft and was killed." ~Willis

"What you talkin’ about, Willis?"  ~MacGyver

Highlight:

See memorable quote, and MacGyver’s actual response, which was:

"Willis, he’s also been blown up in a building, consumed by a fireball, he’s fallen off a 2000 foot mountain, he’s drowned, and they never find the body."

Murdoc doesn’t appear in this episode--MacGyver is merely considering him as the source of the mysterious flowers that Pete receives.  His quote is not much of a highlight, but I just like the way he says it.  And there’s not really much else to pick from in terms of highlights, though I do like the part at the very end where MacGyver messes with Pete by not turning in his Pete’s resignation like he asked.

Lowlight:
The nurse is as cold as it comes.  "You have to leave, now," she tells MacGyver with complete disdain.  Yikes.

Best MacGyverism:

None

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

• This episode is a “flashback” episode where clips of old episodes are played while the characters reminisce.  This used to be a fairly typical construct in 80’s tv shows, but you would never see it today when episodes are so readily available on DVD or the internet.  Back then, it was more of a treat to see an old scene that you might not have seen in a long time.  
• MacGyver tells Pete that he (MacGyver) wants to be there for Pete just like Pete was there for him.  Which prompts Pete to lament that he was never able to help MacGyver, that MacGyver always saved himself.  That prompts MacGyver to try to think of times where Pete helped, and his examples are very weak which Pete rightly notes.  
• "I was helpless, I would have drown if you didn’t show up when you did."
• "C’mon MacGyver, you didn’t drown - you came up by yourself.  I had nothing to do with it."
• "You threw me a life preserver."
• That might be the dumbest thing MacGyver has ever said.  Why not mention the time where Pete convinced the rescue workers to keep looking for MacGyver when he was buried in the avalanche?  That would have been a much better example.  
• I like how when MacGyver and Pete are running through a list of potential female villains that might want to harm Pete, the first one that comes to MacGyver’s mind is Santina, the Latin American military officer from an earlier episode.  Was she really the type to come up to Los Angeles and cryptically send flowers to Pete in the hospital?
• Here’s a link I found on youtube where Dana Elcar talks about his real-life glaucoma.  I didn’t realize that he was diagnosed with glaucoma 25 years before he developed symptoms. 

Final Analysis:
Not much to say about this one, given that half of it is flashbacks of other episodes.  Interesting that this was the finale of season 6. It’s funny how much season finales have changed since then.  Now, there’s always a big cliffhanger and dramatic moment to keep people in suspense for months.  This episode, in contrast, is as mundane as it gets.