Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:
Lisa Woodman (aka Blossom) is back, and this time she's kidnapped by steel workers who are mad at her father for closing their steel plant. Mr. Woodman enlists MacGyver's help and gets 5 million in cash to trade for Blossom. During the exchange at the plant, MacGyver convinces the head kidnapper that the unemployed steel workers wouldn't want blood money and that no one has to die in order for the plant to reopen.
Editor's note (as also seen in Twenty Questions): Lisa is played by Mayim Bialik of Blossom fame so I’ll refer to her as “Blossom” for the rest of the post. Why? Because it’s a great name. How come there aren’t more Blossom’s in the world?
Lisa Woodman (aka Blossom) is back, and this time she's kidnapped by steel workers who are mad at her father for closing their steel plant. Mr. Woodman enlists MacGyver's help and gets 5 million in cash to trade for Blossom. During the exchange at the plant, MacGyver convinces the head kidnapper that the unemployed steel workers wouldn't want blood money and that no one has to die in order for the plant to reopen.
Editor's note (as also seen in Twenty Questions): Lisa is played by Mayim Bialik of Blossom fame so I’ll refer to her as “Blossom” for the rest of the post. Why? Because it’s a great name. How come there aren’t more Blossom’s in the world?
Memorable Quote:
"Look, kidnapping me isn’t going to change anything. Just let me go. I’ll ask my dad to give all those jobs
back, I promise." ~Blossom
"A Woodman promise isn’t worth the powder it’d take to blow him to Hell." ~Travers
"A Woodman promise isn’t worth the powder it’d take to blow him to Hell." ~Travers
Highlight:
Near the end, MacGyver forgoes descending some stairs like a normal person and instead puts his legs over each railing and rapidly slides down to the bottom. Given the relatively small number of steps and his stumble and roll on the ground afterwards, it's doubtful that his maneuver saved much, if any time. Nevertheless, it's a pretty sweet move and one that I'd be tempted to try if I found the right staircase and wasn't worried about breaking any bones.
Lowlight:
Every scene with Mr. Woodman. Just a total sleaze from beginning to end. And we know from Twenty Questions that Mrs. W. isn't much better either. One wonders where Blossom got her charm and sweet disposition - maybe from the grandparents.
Best MacGyverism:
MacGyver hangs a rope on a big hook and swings on the rope to kick one of the bad guys. Not really a MacGyverism but there's nothing else to pick from.
Other thoughts, observations, and questions I didn’t ask when I was in fourth grade:
- When MacGyver prints out the kidnapper's portrait from the facial recognition software, we see printer paper with holes on each side. That takes me back to childhood right there.
- How does Travers know to tell his henchmen that Blossom will be wearing a purple leather jacket?
- Once they realize the kidnappers got the wrong girl, shouldn't they place Blossom under maximum protection under the assumption that the kidnappers also realized their mistake?
- So MacGyver convinces Travers to put the gun down in exchange for Woodman's promise to reopen the plant. After Travers is hauled away by the cops, MacGyver asks Woodman when the plant will be re-opened. Woodman hesitantly double backs on his promise, to the dismay of Blossom, who scolds him for lying. He changes his mind and says he'll open the plant, and Blossom gives him a hug and says that she loves him. I don't like Travers being rewarded with his initial objective by using coercion, but somehow Mr. Woodman seems the sleaziest of all.
Final Analysis:
I didn't remember this one too well (since it's not too memorable), but it's great to see Blossom again. We'll see her once more in the countdown, but that won't be for a while. Next up, get ready for some hockey!
I didn't like this one either. Lisa's performance in the mall was the most entertaining part of the episode as the story was not particularly good and the premise of the steel mill owner plotting to murder the family of the corporate shark who closed his plant down lacked credibility, particularly with as easily as a teenage girl talked him down at the end of the episode. It wasn't the rolling calamity that "Hind-Sight" was for me but was definitely my least favorite episode from Season 5. I rated it #131.
ReplyDeleteJust watched this one and noticed that RDA stumbles and falls a bit more during the stunts. Like when he falls down on the ground after climbing the fence and the roll on the ground after coming down the steps.
ReplyDeleteI love when you call her Blossom!!! :) I used to watch that show.
ReplyDeleteThis was a tough one to watch. I don't like how travers was rewarded. Did anyone else think it was lazy writing to have Blossom kidnapped in a completely un-protected house? In real life, after nearly getting kidnapped in the beginning of the episode, you would expect her family to keep her under close watch for months
ReplyDeleteI agree. It was lazy writing to have her kidnapped from her own house with such minimal, incompetent security.
DeleteWhat I probably didn't like the most was how Travers was "no killing" and then the other day he suddenly U-turned completely and was ready to kill. How did he think he'd get away with murder and then just reopen his mill because out of the blue he just got $5 million? Not very bright.
ReplyDeleteThe Compusketch software that they used to make the composite is actually real software that was/is used by police departments for making composites. From what I could find on the internet, it was originally released in 1987.
ReplyDeleteRDA was sick in this episode, you can clearly hear he speaks from the nose. That's why he keeps falling in so many scenes. When he climbs pver the fence, when he slides down the stairs.
ReplyDeleteYou can see he's really tired and suffering.
why did they have to kill Lisa? She saw their faces all right. But Travers told the dad who he was. The dad told his colleague.
ReplyDeleteTHere was no need to kill Lisa to protect their identity anymore.
why does the comuter displays the address one letter at a time.
ReplyDeleteThe cop says it's working perfectly, I says there's something wrong with the PC, not enough ram maybe
Not the best episode for sure, but what I dont get is way so many here didnt like that Travers got "rewarded" at the end. He fought for the 400 familys that lost their income. He even said the 5 million will go towards the familys and that he doesnt need the cash for himself. Wich in my opinion is quite respectable. One thing that bugged my tho is why the PC couldnt track the location of the phone number as soon as travers hung up. I mean it clearly said Telefax DATABASE.
ReplyDelete