#6: Good Knight MacGyver

Editor's note: This post is best enjoyed while listening to the music found here. 

Season: 7

Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:

A flower pot to the head sends MacGyver back to 7th century Britain where he meets Merlin, King Arthur, and Sir Gallahad.  He and Merlin set off on a quest to rescue Gallahad's maiden, Cecilia, from a castle belonging to Arthur's evil sister, Morgana.  MacGyver also intends to clear the name of his ancestor, Ian M'iver, whose son has the first name as MacGyver himself.     

Memorable Quote:

Oh, it's a beautiful name.  ~Cecilia

Maybe in your time, but where I come from...  ~MacGyver

Highlight:
The revelation of MacGyver 's first name, the third greatest moment in series history.  Much more on this below.  

Lowlight:
You'd think that Morgana, a powerful woman with designs of taking over the world, would be surrounded by more than just a couple of dopey guards.  Similarly, the castle special effects are somewhat cheesy and further add to the low budget feel.  But given that the budget was probably pretty low at this point of the series compared to early season episodes, I won't quibble.

Best MacGyverism:

Creates a kite out of Cecilia's dress and gets it afloat by attaching it to a mini hydrogen balloon. Ties the kite to the cell lock and then also ties the kite to Merlin's robe which he throws into Morgana's gunpowder lab.  When lightning strikes the kite, the door is thrust open and the lab explodes.  This is an awesome MacGyverism and is worthy of being on the list of the all-time greatest.   

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

• An intriguing opening in the genealogist's shop as the genealogist tells MacGyver and Pete that the "M'Iver" clan goes all the way back to the 7th century.  He talks of Ian M'Iver who "fell prey to great evil" and died in a dungeon, and he says how Ian gave his son the same first name that MacGyver has now.  What a way to set the scene and foreshadow the episode.  I'm hooked!
• Then we see MacGyver hit in the head with a flower pot and transported back to medieval times to restore his family's honor in a wild, amazingly creative, dreamlike fantasy. Once again, I'm in! I won't say, "I don't understand how people wouldn't like this concept" because I know there are many who don't like this 2-parter in general, but I think it's an inspired idea. And it gets off to a great start as MacGyver has a joust with Duncan, played by Christopher Neame (from Deathlock and Legend of the Holy Rose) who is brilliant as ever.
• Great scene as Merlin and MacGyver have a "magic duel" that ends with MacGyver ruining Merlin's trick.  I love the Merlin character, by the way.  Time Winters, who I just talked to about this episode, is phenomenal in the role, and I enjoy his animosity toward MacGyver initially and how it slowly turns into a grudging respect as the episode continues along.
• A surprisingly powerful scene between MacGyver and Pete (aka King Arthur) as Pete bestows knighthood on him.  I say "surprisingly" because who would have thought going into this dreamlike fantasy that there would be real moments of poignancy and depth?
• The moment above is helped immensely by Ken Harrison's theme for the episode, which happens to be my favorite Harrison theme and one of my favorite from the series.  In my conversation with Harrison, I mentioned how when I was writing the medieval scenes in my novel The Nightingale Moon, the theme was running through my head constantly.  Fantastic stuff.
• The "who poisoned the king" angle actually turns into a good little mystery.  And while one may wonder why Arthur's royal palace is in the middle of a wooded field, the acting in these scenes is way too good to not enjoy these scenes.  This whole episode could have easily become overly cheesy, but it is anything but. 
• MacGyver shows off some impressive knowledge while proving Merlin's innocence:
• Isolating Vanadium and knowing when it was allegedly developed
• Knowing that Scotland used to be called Caledonia
• Knowing that Vanadium comes from Caledonia
• Pete's royal seal reminds me a bit of a Ring Pop.
• The scene where Merlin is almost burned at the stake is impressively filmed.  And MacGyver conjures up a pretty sweet homemade fire extinguisher, and I like how he sprays Merlin in addition to the fire. 
• Not sure why none of the knights chase after Duncan as he is riding away. "Halt, we must advise our king," Hector says in the calmest way possible.  There's time for that later, Hector. Go after him!
• The town crier is pretty cool, and I like how he sings about "purging the M'iver name."
• Now on to Part 2, where things really get moving!  Not sure why MacGyver gets so annoyed with Merlin after he crawls off the plank. "Will you tell me when you're going to move like that?" and "You just about dumped me!" he exclaims. But all Merlin did was crawl across, so I don't know why MacGyver's got his undies all in a bunch. Maybe RDA was working off some frustration - if you missed my conversation with Time Winters (Merlin), read it and you'll see what I'm talking about.
• Speaking of Time Winters, I mentioned in my conversation with him how the makeup department did an amazing job.  He looks much older than he really was at the time (35 years old). 
• 9:41 mark of Part 2:  "I do not want your job.  Be-leeeeve me!" ~MacGyver.  RDA was really getting into this!
• Great MacGyverism as he turns the king's amulet into a dog whistle.
• I like the pep talk that MacGyver gives to Merlin before they head into the castle, and then I also like the implication of Merlin as being the father of all lock pickers.
• The gunpowder story line (i.e. the development of the first gun) is great, and it's a clever way of playing on MacGyver's aversion to guns.
• An amazing scene between MacGyver and his ancestor, Ian . What a moment. 
• All right, we've arrived at what is now the greatest moment in MacGyver history (and will be #3 by the time the countdown is over) - the revelation of his first name.  My God, what a freaking amazing moment.  Given that I started watching the series while it was in Season 6, my experience with watching live episodes was somewhat limited, and I don't have a ton of stories or memories like Mark does about what happened when I saw an episode for the first time.  There are a few exceptions, though. I talked about how the cable tragically went out during Strictly Business. And then this episode, I remember being over the moon excited for.  I mean, how could you not be? They were going to reveal MacGyver's first name!
• It was a brilliant idea to reveal the name, and the name itself was a great choice by RDA. Highlander recently shared an interview with Regis and Kathie Lee where RDA talks about how he actually saw the name at a policeman's ball on a big screen several years prior and "just knew" that it was the name for MacGyver.  He then goes on to provide hints: it's 5 letters, ends in s, and is old-fashioned.  Really interesting interview.
• Back to the moment: it's just brilliant as the name represents a link to his ancestors and also how he has to use a MacGyverism (creating a mirror) to read the message on the prison wall that contains the name.  They strung us along and made us wait for it, first for all of Part I and then through most of the second part.  Then even as the moment arrives, we still have to wait for MacGyver to read the message which feels like an eternity, and then finally he gets to the end and we see it burning in fire: "Angus."  Meanwhile, we have Ken Harrison's astoundingly brilliant score for the ages playing continuously. What a glorious moment in television history. I feel like I have the energy to go run 26 miles.  
• And incidentally, my cat's name is Angus.  That name was the name he was given by the shelter before we got him, and I took it as a sign that he was the right cat.  And he certainly turned out to be the right cat, and he's provided comfort by sitting on my lap through many of these reviews. In fact, I've given him the middle name of "MacGyver" and sometimes will call him "Angus MacGyver Sweedo."  The things you learn from this blog. 
• MacGyver drops more unbelievable knowledge as he asks Merlin for "spirit of hartshorn," knowing that it is the 7th century word for ammonia.  It's almost as impressive as the time that he drops a Guan Di / Chinese war god reference during Murderer's Sky.  
• Morgana is an awesome villain played perfectly by Robin Strasser. Great moment as the lab blows up and she piercingly screams, "NO! MY RESEARCH!"
• The "death scene" in the dream is really well done, and it's kind of cool that they found a way to give MacGyver a death scene.  Morgana does what no one else could...

Final Analysis:
I've said pretty much all there is to say about this masterpiece, but in summary, it's the most creative plot in the series (written by frequent guest star John Considine), and the whole thing is tied togethter beautifully with MacGyver clearing his family name and with the appearances at the end by Pete (King Arthur), the married couple (Gallahad and Cecilia), and the ambulance tech (Merlin).  It's fun as heck to watch, and the first name reveal makes this episode an all-time classic.

Now for a word on Season 7.  True, it may be my least favorite season.  Yes, there may have been some episodes that gave new meaning to the word "catastrophic."  Sure, RDA may have often been grumpy in several scenes. But there's still a ton of fun to be had, and the worst season of MacGyver still beats the best season of most other shows, so Season 7, I support you!