#82: Jack of Lies

Season: 2

Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:

MacGyver gets convinced by his old buddy Jack Dalton to fly to Central America and rescue a botanist, who turns out to be their friend Mike.  The military is holding Mike in a monastery in hopes of luring Jack in order to recover their heroin that Jack stole.  After rescuing Mike and seeing their plane surrounded, Jack (who is dying) saves Mike and MacGyver by flying the military Colonel on a suicide mission in his leaky plane.     

Memorable Quote:

Charts!  Shouldn't we be using charts?   ~MacGyver

What's the name on the plane, Mac?  ~Jack

Fly by Night.  ~MacGyver

Exactly!   ~Jack

Highlight:

Good scene at the end where Dalton says his goodbyes to Mike and MacGyver.  It's poignant, and at this point of the series, the audience doesn't realize he will be back.  Also I like how MacGyver runs after the plane and the transition from the somber music to the rock that was heard earlier in Dalton's headphones, and then the music transitions once again after the plane leaves. 

Lowlight:

A strange scene at 24:42 as MacGyver and Elena (the cantina owner) hide outside the compound and MacGyver plots a way in.  The dialogue itself is fine, but Elena says her lines with a weird seductive intensity that is out of place.   

Best MacGyverism:

Uses red wine to jump start a battery, then links the battery to a plane propeller.  That is then connected to a rope trap which snares one of the bad guys.  

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

• Jack cleans out MacGyver's apartment of all its belongings in order to get his attention.  Even a small apartment would take quite a long time to clear everything out of--not sure that was the best use of Dalton's time.  
• This is Jack's first appearance in the series, and it's Jack at his wacky best.  I'm a big fan of the character--Bruce McGill is a great actor and did a great job of making Jack goofy and rascally but also soulful and likable.  Here's an interview where he talks about all his roles including MacGyver.  Interesting tidbits here, like how the producers wanted to make him a regular and how his energy lifted up the "laconic" RDA.  RDA may be laid-back, but the article makes it sound like he had the energy of a corpse which I don't find to be true as a viewer.  And I like how Bruce calls him "Ricky."
• I've always liked Jack's "left eye twitches when he lies" gimmick.  It'd be interesting to know who came up with that idea.
• It's a Gregory Sierra sighting in a familiar role as a corrupt Latin American military leader!  We've seen him before as Captain Diaz, he plays Colonel Antunnez in this episode, and we'll see him later as General Vasquez.  
• 30:24 - the mildest of shakes.  But bonus points for wearing a monk outfit.  
• 33:50 - why is the American in the suit threatening the Colonel who has many soldiers at his disposal?
• Conversation at 35:53:
• "We need the plane and we need time to fix it."  ~MacGyver
• "We need to get Antunnez and his men away from it."  ~Jack
• "That's where you come in, son."  ~MacGyver
• I love it when MacGyver drops "son" in conversation.
• At the end we hear the story about how Jack told the Colonel that both engines were smoking and they had to bail.  I don't get how this is a clue to MacGyver that Jack was up to something.  The only thing I can think of was that maybe there was only one engine in the plane?

Conversation:

Here's my conversation with episode writer Kerry Lenhart.

Final Analysis:

A solid, steady episode with no obvious highlights or lowlights.  Good acting, and a fun introduction to the Jack Dalton character who we'll see again and again.  And interesting how I've now reviewed 7 of the first 8 Season 2 episodes, but only 2 of the next 14 from that season.  Next up, our first two-parter!  There are three to choose from - which one will it be?!