Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:
MacGyver is in Afghanistan to recover classified information from a downed satellite. He gets shot in the shoulder while being ambushed by local tribesman and Soviet soldiers, and he takes refuge in a hut with a woman and her young son. He befriends the boy, and they all escape across the border into Pakistan.
Memorable Quote:
"American, if I had seen you, I might tell you the border is two kilometers due east. But next time, American, next time, I drop roof on your head." ~Soviet soldier
Highlight:
See Memorable Quote. Earlier in the episode, MacGyver lets the soldier go instead of killing him as the boy suggests. Then at the end, the solider returns the favor and lets MacGyver go. Nice symmetry there, even if one has to wonder why the soldier was allowed to be by himself after getting chewed out earlier by a superior. And then I like how they just walk away with no urgency whatsoever.
Lowlight:
"You’re staring at me." ~MacGyver
"I just want to remember, do you mind?" ~Afghan mother
"Not at all." ~MacGyver
So much painful dialogue between MacGyver and women in the first season.
Best MacGyverism:
Builds a hang glider out of spare satellite parts in about 20 seconds.
Other thoughts, observations, and questions I didn’t ask when I was in fourth grade:
- We start things off with MacGyver flying a jet! Did not remember that at all. Who knew MacGyver was a fighter jet pilot?
- If the data capsule was booby trapped, why did he have to go retrieve it? Unless the Soviets had someone as smart as MacGyver who could defuse it. Doubtful.
- Uh-oh, he's been shot! Looks like we'll have to add it to the shot chart! Let the games of Dodge the Bullet begin!
- We're seeing MacGyver in full action-hero mode here. First he's flying a fighter jet and parachuting out of the stratosphere. Then he's hang gliding off a cliff. Now, he's amazingly hurling a rock with his left hand (due to his wound) and perfectly striking a charging horseman.
- I always check the cast on IMDB to see if there are any interesting nuggets. Turns out the boy in this episode is none other than Ajay Naidu, aka Samir Naga-Naga-Notgonnaworkhereanymore of Office Space fame.
- To treat MacGyver's wound, the mother pulls a hot poker out of the fire and touches it to MacGyver's shoulder which makes him pass out. They don't mess around in Afghanistan.
- "It’s very difficult to say goodbye to someone who means so much" ~the mother. How can MacGyver mean that much? He's only been there for like two days!
Script Analysis:
Here's a link to my script analysis where I compared the original script to the final episode.
Final Analysis:
I didn't remember this one hardly at all. It's not bad, but not really that memorable or enjoyable. It is good to see MacGyver in first season swag-mode. Next up we're headed to Season 2!
This is a good write up on episode 112. Is the title referring to the young boy he befriends?
ReplyDeleteThanks Lara! Yes, the title refers to the boy.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this one although I will admit that the middle third of the episode where the wounded MacGyver bonds with Ahmad and his mother plods along too slowly. It was kind of cool to see MacGyver being a father figure of sorts though and the "cauterizing" scene was intense so I'm good with it. The first and final thirds of the episode were straight-up high adventure awesomeness representative of the best of what this series did in its first season, and I liked the clever hook at the end too, hard to swallow as it was. Also, weren't the Afghani freedom fighters of the 80s fighting AGAINST the Soviets rather than colluding with them? Not sure I understood the oddball allegiance of Khali and his men under this context. Either way, I enjoy this episode thoroughly and rank it #47.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Mark on this one! MacGyver's flying a jet ( don't you need years of training?) and coolly ejects just in time. Its a good start and gets even better with a trademark just-in-time booby trap defusion, building a hang glider out of a satellite, escaping whilst badly injured, dishing out sound fatherly advice whilst defeating an unpleasant villain and outwitting an entire army! MacGyver's injury is believably acted by RDA and leads to some real suspense - how is he going to defeat Khalil in the state he's in? The iron in the fire scene builds up well - Macgyver tries to make light of the impending cauterisation with an 'ouch' but there's a real sense of drama and apprehension. I'm ok with the scenes in he house in the middle third - they're almost cosily domestic as a little family unit yet there's the constant threat of discovery hanging over them. Is there a hint of romance between MacGyver and the woman - in the morning she wants to 'remember him' (after a very short time as you say) whilst combing her hair in a sultry way and gazing at him? The final escape is exciting although the ice and rock trick is a belief stretcher. The ending is a great example of how MacGyver's pacifist leanings serve him well although I'm not sure why they then assume that the route to the border is danger-free as they saunter casually off. Other points to note; you can see the shape of the cast on RDA's right hand under the black glove when he's working on the satellite. Maybe Khalil and his men were one of the militias bribed by the Soviets and Afghan government into supporting them - Khalil seems to be the type to swap sides if he thinks its in his interest. Altogether one of my favourites - in the top 10 with season 1 action- MacGyver, vulnerable MacGyver and sensitive father-figure MacGyver all in one episode together with a helping of Cold War geo-politics!
ReplyDelete"To treat MacGyver's wound, the mother pulls a hot poker out of the fire and touches it to MacGyver's shoulder which makes him pass out. They don't mess around in Afghanistan."
ReplyDeleteNo they sure don't mess around! Ouch!!!
"It’s very difficult to say goodbye to someone who means so much" ~the mother. How can MacGyver mean that much? He's only been there for like two days!"
Must have been really good sex! ROFL!
It’s nice to see a late season one episode opening with so much of a Pilot opening gambit feel: MacGyver out on a rocky landscape on an assignment that involves defusing explosives, then he mentions that he hates heights and leaves flying. Even the voiceovers had almost the same accent. The outcome is less fortunate for him than in the pilot but the hang glider and the slingshot were impressive nevertheless.
ReplyDelete– To contact resistance.
– You mean the bandits.
– Bandits, of course. I keep forgetting.
Bwah. Typical commie. ’56 freedom fighters? What freedom fighters? Counter-revolutionists!
The cauterising scene was good for drama but it would have been more fitting if he had the knowledge to explain that burning a wound is a bad and outdated idea (mind you, he pulled on a broken bone before to straighten it). It may kill micro-organisms that can cause infection but it also provides more dying tissue for them to feed on! It’s the second time he passes out from pain which looks like a pretty good defence.
It was interesting that they allowed a glimpse of the view of women that the men of the country adopt from a young age.
– If you stay, you can fix the house and the barn roof and teach me to fly.
– Oh, you bet. Anytime. No problem.
It’s a bit strange that he says that hours before he says to Zia that he was leaving the next day. Good Ahmed didn’t call him out on it.
The horse of the Afghan man who asks about Khalil looks so much better than The Thief of Budapest one. Probably because of the pigmented as opposed to pink skin.
I liked the roof pull and that MacGyver set it all up with one hand.
I was surprised Zia decided to move after they were better off with their pump working and the husband gone. They were lucky that the soldiers who jumped off their jeep to avoid the rock didn’t chase them
The “as long as we’re alive there’s still a chance” and “because I didn’t have to and that should be a reason enough for anybody” are great lines! I liked that it turned out to be a good decision and so it helped to change Ahmed’s attitude.
This was one of the episodes I only started remembering to once I started rewatching it. A bit less memorable with good moments.
Thanks for the insight on the cauterizing scene. I thought it was a fantastic badass moment in the episode but always questioned whether that would be a useful of counterproductive tactic in the real world.
DeleteI was part of a medical team that went to Brazil in 2015 and one of the doctors did a minor surgery with a pen knife. He used a lighter to cauterize the wound. We had antibióticos, bandages and alcohol wipes for the patient to use until the incision healed.
Delete"'It’s very difficult to say goodbye to someone who means so much' ~the mother. How can MacGyver mean that much? He's only been there for like two days!"
ReplyDeleteMaybe she was referring to how much he meant to Ahmed. Children quickly become attached to people that made an impact in their lives. It could have been something that an adult would not think could have made much of impact at all, like making a doll out of a handkerchief and a pair of socks(Slow Death episode), or something grand like hangliding off a cliff.
It does happen,though. I was in Russia in 2007. I don't speak much Russian at all(5 words, of which the word for where was the most used the day I spent with one family). That's all I needed to know to play peek-a-boo with the 1 year old and play the guess-which-hand game with 7 year old. I was told a week after leaving there by one of the translators that the 7 year old had been asking for me every day.
The same happened in Venezuela, Colombia, Belize and Brazil. The time spent in Colombia was only three days. It was a 15 year-old girl and her 12-year old brother. They were at that house because their mother was the housekeeper and they were treated like misfits. They did cry when I left.
Venezuela had it's awkward moments of getting stared at. The pastor of a church there had never seen anyone with blue eyes before. At least his wife was there and told him, nicely, that it's rude to stare.
I have good, long-time, friends in Venezuela who now have children. I have talked to their children through video chat a couple of times. The girls call me their aunt, which I found out later, is what a child there calls someone who has influenced them in a positive way, like a School teacher, forr example.
Mark I think you’re spot on and it’s both, and thanks for the other interesting comments, too! :-)
ReplyDeleteThe boy and his mother were one-dimensional - there was probably not enough time to develop them - and the interactions between them and MacGyver were silly and hard to watch. There is, however, some real danger in this one. There is one death, and MacGyver gets shot (twice?), which raises the level of threat.
ReplyDeleteSorry, two deaths. The guy MacGyver hit with the rock and Khali. Anyway, while I didn't find this a good episode technically speaking, I did have fun watching it.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely not one of my favorites and it has much to do with the insufferable boy character: an excellent contender for both "Most Annoying Kid" and "Worst Child Actor" awards.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the rhythm in this one was off, with the middle part dragging (again, had the kid been better written and played by a better actor, those scenes might have meant something). Thankfully, the actress playing the mother could act and both her and RDA managed to make due with the stilted dialogues they were given, so it wasn't a complete waste.
In spite of some very good bits here and there (mostly the MacGyverisms), I'm in no hurry to re-watch this one and I doubt I'd rank it higher than 112th on my list (if I ever get around to doing one).
Weirdly enough, the scene where MacGyver gets his wound cauterized is one that I saw as a kid and remembered to this day. I couldn't recall the rest of the episode, so I must not have been able to watch it fully at the time. Anyway, I was really looking forward to finally watching the "cauterized wound" episode in its entirety...
I love this episode from when I was a little girl and the young boy is great, down to earth and authentic
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this episode especially how much the boy looked up to Macgyver. Also several good Macgyverisms as well
ReplyDeleteNot sure if anyone is still active on this blog, but I have recently been watching MacGyver on paramount and find it interesting to read these commentaries after watching an episode. I liked but rarely saw MacGyver in its original run as I was exceptionally busy during those years and perhaps more importantly was not able to watch at home— no cable and only two over air channels. I note that commenters on this episode had strong and some opposing points of view. On this one episode, I felt compelled to add my thoughts although it seems the blog is currently inactive albeit still very interesting to anyone watching MacGyver.
ReplyDeleteI am firmly on the side of those who loved it. It is definitely one of my favorites. I also found it interesting that the episode seems to have been inspired by an episode of Gunsmoke (Zavala). Ironic in that while MacGyver eschews guns, Matt (the hero of Gunsmoke, in case you are not familiar with the very old show) is a lawman who lives by the gun. In Zavala, a Mexican boy, impressed with Matt killing a few bad men in a gunfight, suggests that the wounded Marshal come home with him whispering to his mother that while Matt doesn’t know it yet, he is going to rid them of the man who is raping her, beating him, and killed his father. The boy’s plan works, boy suggests Matt beat him for his trickery, initially skeptical mother warms up to Matt, Matt fixes chicken coop, boy points out all the things Matt could do around house clearly planning for them to be a family while the audience and Matt clearly know that isn’t happening. The plot diverges at the end where Matt kills most of the bad guys in a big gunfight in town putting the town citizens back in charge. There is a poignant departure and Matt rides north and back to his life in Dodge. This would be the equivalent of MacGyver wiping out the Russian army and the “militia” and leaving the resistance (bandits to the Russians) in charge. I have found that most stories are inspired by previous stories or true stories, but I did find the overlap here fascinating as it occurred in different times with vastly different heroes yet, in both episodes, I felt it provided an opportunity to develop the inherent humanity in both men, significantly more so in MacGyver. Definitely interesting to compare the two episodes.
Great comments, thanks for reading and for sharing your thoughts! That's interesting about Gunsmoke, I had never heard that but I bet you're right, and that's such an old show that it's not a connection that most people would think of.
DeleteI had more to say so over continued here. I loved this episode because it was an early showcase for MacGyver’s kind heart, easy rapport with young people, and abhorrence for killing. It was a first season episode that very much clarified who he was. It also had lots of action and, for me, awesome MacGyverisms. I also thought the actors, including the boy and excepting one Russian soldier, did a great job.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to mention that beginning in the sixties and extending into the 80s the US did send satellites up that returned photos to earth in film bucket canisters that deployed parachutes after surviving heat of reentry. They were designed to be retrieved mid-air by planes. The CIA had involvement and they had salt plugs to insure they would sink if they fell into the ocean. MacGyver is reviewing schematics of the Rogallo reentry system while in jet. He was preparing to use the satellites reentry system to escape. Nice advance planning for once. Not sure it was ever used on satellites but it is plausible. It played an important role in development of human-powered flight such as paragliding and NASA considered it for use on manned capsules.
Someone wondered why it was necessary for MacGyver to be sent at all and I will suggest two reasons:1: The Russians were awaiting the arrival of a technical expert so they might well get the data if MacGyver didn’t get there first. They did not seem to realize this. This seems weird as the satellite or canister is lying on the Russian’s desk and you would think they would notice it was opened. 2: The US government wanted the valuable data in the silver tube MacGyver tucked in his jacket.
I had wondered why they had MacGyver shot in right shoulder instead of left as it made it more difficult for him to down his pursuer and perform his various MacGyverisms. Now I realize this was probably so they could bandage up his real-life hand injury that I learned about in this blog. I do think he was supposed to be shot in hand or arm and shoulder based on his comment that only his shoulder hurt when the woman asked about his arm, the bandages down to fingers, and comments of Russian soldier.
Some question the woman’s quick bond with MacGyver, but I think it is logical. She is an abused woman trying to keep her son and herself alive in a violent world where women have no power. A larger than life hero arrives on her doorstep and frees her of her oppressor and bonds with her son. He is brave, kind, industrious, and handsome. How could she not fall for him and want him to stay even when she knows he will leave. Other women with less need and time fell equally quickly to his charms—Gauntlet for example. The boy is perhaps less realistic in his belief that MacGyver will stay, but he is also young and naive. Furthermore even though he was leaving and the future dangerous, he had changed her life in those few days.
Have to mention that MacGyver looked particularly dashing all dressed in black with silver loops.
I loved the end where the young Russian sergeant rolled up in his newly repaired tank. He was still alive because of MacGyver’s firm belief in the sanctity of life. The soldier’s megawatt smile as he said something like, “next time, I drop a roof on your head”, made my heart smile. Who, at that moment, wouldn’t rejoice that this young man had a second chance at life thanks to the unyielding character of MacGyver. He regularly added risk to his own life rather than end someone else’s. Certainly, the outcome could have been much different, but MacGyver was gifted with phenomenal luck. Maybe it was cheesy to some, but to me it was just awesome. This was the point where I knew I was going to love MacGyver.