Every week I will be posting a new topic titled "Episode Discussion". In this we will discuss an episode, what we liked about it, what we didn't like, etc.


Episode 56 - Early Retirement

MacGyver’s boss, Pete Thornton, takes full responsibility for a deadly explosion and retires from the Phoenix Foundation. But MacGyver thinks the man who replaced Pete is responsible for setting the explosion.

votes from March 2006

Poor [ 0 ] [0.00%]
Average [ 0 ] [0.00%]
OK [ 1 ] [12.50%]
Good [ 3 ] [37.50%]
Excellent [ 4 ] [50.00%]
Total Votes: 8

Archived comments

That's called tight budget and reusing sets. smile.gif

But I think "Early Retirement" was a great episode, as usual. This episode was something different, in that Pete takes full blame for an accident at work and actually leaves the Phoenix Foundation. Nikki adds more tension for MacGyver, as he finds out that Pete was set up and Nikki is cozying up to Webber, which MacGyver doesn't like. (with good reason, as we find out later on.)
And while MacGyver still had his usual good MacGyverisms going on (like when he and Nikki took out the bad guys holding the hostage at the end), it was cool to see Pete get it on and take down the main bad guy. And of course, he went back to karate school to bone up on his fighting skills, so that's cool too. And it's always fun to see MacGyver and Pete playing ice hockey. duct.gif sak.gif

happy.gif Yeah that was funny. Pete takes attack stance and says "HIIII!"

Mac kinda laughs and waves and says "Hi"

laugh.gif

Watch the scene with Pete and MacGyver playing hockey. When they are standing talking, you can see steam rising off Pete's bald head.

Excellent episode. I like most episodes where Pete is in a bigger role.

It's interesting that Pete says in this episode that he's starting karate classes and in The Odd Triple he kicks one of the villains.

i loved the last part of this ep where Pete puts on a Martal arts outfit and does a little pose in front of MacGyver.

Completely unintentionally (even though I knew that one was based on the other), I happened to watch this episode and Stargate SG-1's "Chain Reaction" back to back the other day. Same story: Thornton/Hammond gets framed/blackmailed into retiring by rogue DXS/NID agents, and MacGyver/Jack O'Neill helps him get his job back.

Each is a terrific episode. Develops RDA's character's boss a little more, as well as the relationship between the two of them, and really shows the lengths RDA will go to for the sake of friendship.

I really *love* this episode!

There are some nice character development here, on Pete's part, and we once more get proof of what an excellent actor Dana Elcar was. Watching episodes like this one, it really, really saddens me that he's gone. He added so much to MacGyver.

Watching the disarming process of the warheads was very interesting. I have no idea if this is really the way it's done in reality, but within the show, it sure worked for me. I understand the horror and frustration Pete must have felt when the procedure failed...

It was very entertaining to see Mac and Pete playing hockey. I'm no hockey fan, but watching MacGyver/RDA on the ice is always a delight, since it's so obvious this is his element. Hehe, but Pete was doing his very best too, this time around. You can tell that RDA probably had been pretty hard on Dana Elcar for real, since his head was literally steaming.

And that goalie mask... hehehe, it was pretty awesome.

In this episode, Nikki's character once again feels different. I do prefer this Nikki over the flimsy, girlish Nikki... but yet, she just doesn't... convince me. Maybe it's just because of her inconsistent behavior. OK, continuity isn't one of the MacGyver series top qualities, but come on, a few episodes back she had no clue about how to troubleshoot a car battery, and now she's suddenly in charge of a highly technical investigation...

Anyway--it's great to see that Pete might look like a stuck-behind-the-desktop guy, but he does know how to defend himself in a fight! And you gotta *love* the ending too.

So, this is definitely an "Excellent" for me.

(...hi. )

I really liked this episode and voted Excellent! There were several points where I laughed out loud, particularly the ending where Mac giggled, waved, and said "Hi" back to Pete's Karate yell. I also cracked up when Pet told Mac what his password was for the agenda file..."Agenda". Mac/RDA's expression was priceless!!

I was not as concerned with Nikki's behavoir as some of the others mentioned here. I liked the variation. It showed more of the difference between how she and Mac think. Plus I agree she was partially blinded of Webber's behavoir. She also had not been at the Foundation nearly as long as Mac, so perhaps she did not notice all of Webber's changes to personnel and agendas that were so outlandish.

The relationship between Pete and Mac was really accentuated in this episode in my opinion. You could really see Mac's concern for Pete that was very realistic and touching. Both men were hurting inside after the "accident". Pete because of his 'mistake' that cost the lives. Mac also for the same reason, but the added hurt that Mac felt (and they portrayed well) for Pete. Not just the fact that he was going to miss him at work, but also for Pete as his friend and how he was taking the accident as his own fault. Really great acting by both Dana Elcar and RDA!!

I do like this episode. Espeically the ice-rink part with Mac and Pete playing hockey. XD This is on of those episodes that made me not like Nikki all that much though. But... that's just me. lol

O_o You know what's odd? I think the version I have on Netflix is different. I just watched this episode and there's no part with Pete in a karate outfit or anything. It just ends with Nikki taking that tribal head out of Pete's office and cuts to credits.

*sadface*

Edit: I checked out Hulu and it's on there, so it seems Netflix shows the edited version of the show, which makes me wonder what other parts I might have missed.

What an excuse to go buy the DVD set. XD

This post has been edited by Jediferret on 17 February 2013 - 06:19 PM

I know what you mean about the editing Jedi. The TV versions I was watching recently edited parts out and they shocked me when folks mentioned things here on the forum that I had not seen. I got the full series DVD set for Christmas and am enjoying working my way through the episodes again seeing what scenes they left out.

It is a great reason for you to get your DVD set!!

Somehow this episode filming style felt little different than before and those camera angles.

Also this felt different because usually we see only interior from Pete's office and then those main characters only have dialogues, but we saw Pete walking in hallway and talking with those other foundation workers who had also dialogues and also they had meeting conference in office, so it kind of gave new "perspective" that there are also other peoples in that foundation than just Pete in the office, you know

Thumbs up for that!

I'm a casual hockey fan and think Mac is super sexy when he's skating. I do wish he would have worn a helmet, though. He looked awesome without and I know he was only playing with Pete, but accidents do happen, especially with Mac who seems to get knocked out quite often, and it would also be good for the kids watching to show Mac respects safety equipment. This may be the only hockey scene that he doesn't where a helmet and I understand that back then we weren't so hyper aware of head injuries.

As for Nikki, I defended her character in Blow Out, but did not like her at all in this episode. She seemed totally different and there wasn't much, if any, back story on her. What I really disliked was that, to me, she acted like Mac's superior instead of his colleague. She was cold, and bossy. Yuck.

I always thought it was funny in the beginning when Pete was schooling the Air Force brass on what disarming a missle means . Hahahahahaha

Why? The Pheonix Foundation were the ones who figured out how to do for the military so why wouldn't he be talking them through the process and giving more explanation than what they would have seen in reports?