#98: Off The Wall

Season: 7

Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:

Lobo, a street graffiti artist and a friend of MacGyver's, has a grandmother who is being evicted by an urban developer working with the slumlord owner.  When the slumlord is found dead in the apartments, MacGyver suspects foul play and sets out to prove that the building inspections were forged.  After turning a small bomb back on the bad guys, the developer agrees to pay for Lobo's grandmother's new housing.  

Memorable Quote:

Mr. Lawton, your new complex is gonna look awfully funny with a tenement stuck in the middle of it.   ~MacGyver

Highlight:

I gotta admit, I like the rooftop chase bit.  Who knew Jason Bourne owes his inspiration to MacGyver? Cool music, too.  

I had originally been planning to go with the scene where MacGyver goes to the handwriting expert because I had remembered thinking it was cool.  But it let me down a little bit - there was less analysis than I remembered and more of, "Yep, it's the same guy writing all these checks."

Lowlight:

The first 3 minutes include a guy snooping around the legal office.  This part could have been 20 seconds, but the producers probably got to the end of the episode and realized, "We need to fill more time, let's have the snooper look through everything!"

Best MacGyverism:

Burns through plastic hand-ties using electric heating coil.  Though it's not clear why after he frees his hands, he continues to use the coil on his feet and Lobo.  Is he not carrying his pocketknife?!

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

• I'm a big Lobo fan.  In fact, this episode should have just been called The Lobo Show. A socially conscious graffiti artist who cares about his grandma, is charismatic, and has a cool name - what more do you need?  Well, if he provided a little muscle, he'd be a better wingman.  I'll still add him to the list since he's a fun guy to have around.  
• A John Considine sighting!  We've seen him before, and we'll see him again.  
• I wrote in my last review that I got The Prometheus Syndrome confused with Off The Wall since the abandoned apartment buildings looked similar.  I didn't realize that Off The Wall happened to be next on my list.  And yes, the buildings do look similar.  I checked the shooting locations on Kate Ritter's RDA site, and yes, they are the same.
• I like the old lady lawyers.  Though I gotta ask, if the evidence they had stolen was so important, couldn't they have secured it a bit more?
• 15:25 - one of the most incredible mullets I've ever seen
• 30:30 - strange how the bad guys watch from the shadows as MacGyver enters and leaves the slumlord's office at night, yet they don't confront him.  Seems like it would have been a good time to knock him off.  Though once again as my mother says, if they did that, then there wouldn't be a show.  This episode was 3rd from the end of the series, so soon after, there was not a show.   
• 37:00 - MacGyver using a cordless car phone, and rocking some interesting shades
• 42:44 mark - we hear for the first time in The MacGyver Project what I call the "Minor MacGyver."  This is my 9th favorite MacGyver tune, and I'll add it to the list.  We'll hear it many times throughout the countdown, usually in the later years when he is figuring something out. It's a great tune and one that I wish I had on a CD that I could play when I was trying to solve a problem.  
• I like the bomb scene where MacGyver simply says "Dang," after setting the bomb for 1 minute, and then he also gives a great low-key raise of the eyebrows after the bomb hits the getaway car. 
• Fun Fact - the actor who plays Ferris was married to Robin Curtis, aka Kate Connelly

Final Analysis:

I like this one.  Not spectacular, and a little light on action, but Lobo is great and there are some good moments.