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| MacGyver Online Forums > Characters > Deborah |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 25 November 2007 - 01:09 PM | ||
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| Posted by: Lothithil 25 November 2007 - 02:16 PM |
| I like the character of Deborah. She's a solid, constant personality, believable (to a degree) --a heavy touch of the Machiavellian perhaps, but she IS a 'bad guy', so-- passionate, cunning, independant, and colourful. I did kinda hate the way she was shown all made-up and dressed to the nines when she was building bombs and stuff... I mean, really, who paints their nails before they wire a bomb dentonator?  I realize, however, that this is an excellent device to make her unlikable to the audience.  It worked! I despised her instantly! And not just because she was seducing Mac!Okay, I'll be honest... yes, because of that, too!  |
| Posted by: jackwabbit 25 November 2007 - 02:47 PM |
| I voted good. I love this character because she gives us lots of fodder for nicely emotionally whumped Mac stories, but she is a touch cliche and a touch too, well, cliche for me to give her an excellent. She is also afflicted with the cliche bad guy syndrome of having to make everything much more difficult to get her job done. (Unfinished Business? Helloo...just shoot him and be done with it...helloo....but of course then we woudn't have the great dilemma of her actually liking Mac and not being able to kill him, blah, blah, blah...and another of Mac's women folk couldn't fall off a cliff...again, just a little cliche...but all in all I like this character for giving me lots of evil aftermath for Mac to deal with! And we never got to see it on the show, so even better for us writer types! Nice job, Deborah! As if our man wasn't fragile enough...you do this and give us even more stories to write! Thanks!) |
| Posted by: MacsChick 25 November 2007 - 05:32 PM |
| Yes--she has been the topic of many of my fics, especially Mac dealing with the aftermath of what she did to him. He has a lot of psychological baggage when it comes to women and relationships, and she only adds to it. She's the perfect sociopath--charming, narcissistic, no conscience, manipulative--so not altogether completely unbelievable. She would make a great partner for Murdoc, if he wanted to work with her. I vote excellent. |
| Posted by: MacGyverGrrl 25 November 2007 - 08:27 PM |
| I rated her good. She had a solid presence on the show. Her nastiness was a strong counterpoint to Mac's kindness and goodness. She is so cold and clinical as she analyzes her options for getting rid of MacGyver. One thing I liked about The Negotiator was how MacGyver's sensitivity and vulnerability were portrayed, again a strong counterpoint to Deborah's calculating nature. Deborah's dual nature is clear in her scenes where she interacts with the other people in Mac's life. The look she gives Nikki as Nikki walks away from her is ice cold. I half expected her to go after Nikki, not just the dog. Deborah was a real baddy and played it strong, even if her death was a little too cliched. |
| Posted by: MacGyver 25 November 2007 - 09:44 PM |
| Deborah was definitely a unique villian for MacGyver. For one thing, she was one of the few female villians I can think of on the show. For another thing, she actually showed up in more than one episode and was portrayed by the same actress. (And on MacGyver, that's HUGE! ) And I thought that she was a bit different from a simple killer-for-hire. She didn't just go out and try to put a bullet through Mac's heart. She analyzed MacGyver and decided what was the best psychological approach to eliminate this obstacle. She didn't necessarily have to kill him- just get him out of the way. And so I thought it was interesting to see her taking a methodical approach to the situation. And it was interesting seeing MacGyver getting allured by this woman and wind up getting taken in- but still managing to defeat her in the end of course. And of course, "The Negotiator" is easily probably one of the best episodes and certainly seems to be a fan-favorite from what I've seen on the forums. And upon initially seeing "Unfinished Business" I wouldn't have guessed that it was going to be Deborah necessarily from the start. They did it carefully so that you couldn't necessarily tell if it was a man or woman and I think that whole storyline played out well. And I definitely thought Pete's story of the scorpion and the turtle at the end of the episode was quite powerful. And it was good to see that MacGyver did his best to save Deborah- because no matter what she'd done- all human life is precious and I think MacGyver definitely believes in the worth of every individual. And so Deborah wound up dying by her own hands- and at that point MacGyver had done all he could do. Deborah definitely was a great addition to MacGyver's rather slim list of recurring villians. |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 26 November 2007 - 02:03 AM |
| I think the whole negotiator angle was really clever and even unique. Deborah wasn’t just a murderer for hire; as was just mentioned, her job was to “negotiate” MacGyver out of the way with as little fuss as possible, not to simply kill him. This in my opinion is quite a unique angle. Most baddy’s are just shut ‘em dead, blow ‘em up types like Murdoc. So to have this female work her way under MacGyver’s skin to find what his vulnerabilities are and then use them against him was… well… MacGyverish. In fact I would say Deborah could be seen as very much like MacGyver. She investigated, analyzed, put a plan together on how to handle things in the same way as MacGyver did.. she was a thinking villain, which kind of follows the whole idea of MacGyver being a thinking hero. As I typed this it occurred to me that they used a women to get under MacGyver’s skin in Lost Love too. It was a different situation there with the women being his ex-girlfriend, but I wonder if the idea of the negotiator started with Lisa in Lost love. Wouldn’t it be great to have insights like that from the writers, even just for a few episodes. Something else I pondered while writing this is, I wonder if Deborah was her real name. Isn’t it funny how the only 2 villains with any substance both had single names just like the main character. Anyway Deborah gets an excellent vote from me. It’s a pity her second appearance was only a “Surprise!! It’s me!” at the end of a clip show, but at least they had the same actor and they tied it back to her first appearance . |
| Posted by: MacGyverGod 26 November 2007 - 07:06 AM | ||||
| I voted good. I actually quite liked Deborah. If she wasn't evil, she would be the perfect woman for him. She's like the wolf in sheeps clothing. When she's with him it's like she' so natural, the way she dressed, hardly any make up. You know reading all this stuff gives lots of inspiration for fanfics. Just got myself a few ideas.
I think so. Deborah sounds so very normal. Maybe too normal to be an alias for a 'negotiator'.
And Zito. Unless his first name is Doctor. But indeed Deborah deserves a special place with the biggest villains of the series. Between Murdoc and Zito and behind them The Von Leer Brothers. |
| Posted by: MacGirl 4 December 2007 - 04:42 PM |
| Deborah was definitely one of the best villains the show had, along with Murdoc. She was such a perfect example of a sociopath: sweet and caring to Mac's face, while she was plotting to kill him. Smart, too: every bit as smart as Mac himself. She gave me chills!! |
| Posted by: jknnej 20 June 2008 - 02:57 PM |
| It seems weird to me that MacGyver can't commit to women-yet he had no problem becoming her boyfriend right away. I liked Deborah's character. I don't think, however, she would have been dumb enough to let herself die like that. She couldn't honestly think that tiny knife would have killed Mac or that she could take him over the edge with her.....thought she was way too smart for that. I remember watching her second episode with my dad when it aired originally. My dad said right away, "That's a woman." I still don't know how he knew, but he did. And MacGyver is SO smart, so Pete and Nikki. You're telling me they didn't put two and two together when Mac met the "perfect" woman right as he was being intimidated by professionals? Even after the boat explosion, no one suspected her....I don't buy that...no way. But, they were still both good episodes. The fur coat was a little over the top; so was that tiny knife she carried around. Please; to kill a man with? A gun would have seemed a lot more appropriate for a woman killer; I doubt she would have the necessary strength to stab and kill a strong man who would definitely be fighting. |
| Posted by: Liz1976 25 June 2008 - 05:10 AM |
| jknnej, I agree with you about Deborah's fur coat, which wasn't just over the top, but didn't she ever deduce that Pete would run a lab analysis, and that the lynx fur could end up in the dog's mouth. Why wouldn't she take it off before killing the dog? Wouldn't there have been the dogs blood all over it? What did she do with the coat after that? Strange. Also, I agree the gun she has in Unfinished Business is more realistic than the knife in the Negotiator. You also noticed how quick Mac became Deborah's boyfriend--all I can say is Deborah was really beautiful and she seemed (an act) really interested in him. I don't know how soon they became physically involved, personally I don't want to imagine it, because she was using him and planning to kill him and that's a rotten, lowdown way to treat anyone. He was obviously seduced by her, or he would have caught onto her--she was good, but she left some obvious clues too. As far as villians go, I like Deborah. I wanted to slug her, so I guess she's effective. |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 25 June 2008 - 12:09 PM |
| Love is blind. It's always easy to see whats going on when your looking in from the outside. And I guess the way we see.. and what we see, as a viewer isn't always the same as what the characters see or know inside the story. |
| Posted by: Liz1976 22 July 2008 - 11:29 AM | ||
Could be. Love can be blind. But is it blind, deaf and dumb as in stupid? They only show us the highlights of the three weeks between the hearings with the State Environmental Agency. Who knows what Deborah told Mac about herself. Fanfiction is great. We could write it--their whole relationship in 8-12 parts. An idea. Maybe a bad one. You still haven't answered my question about the coat. It doesn't make any sense and the knife was another point that someone brought up. Why would she use a knife on Mac in the warehouse? |
| Posted by: John Litteral 3 December 2008 - 06:40 PM |
No wonder Mac fell for her, she is beautiful! I would too even if I knew she was bad!  Haha! On a serious note I thought she did great in both shows, she was one dangerous woman, very smart and skilled. She gave Mac a run for his money. |
| Posted by: Murdoc12 10 March 2009 - 09:17 AM |
She was good. She was creepy and she really tricked MacGyver into liking her, but she was a good villian for this show.  |
| Posted by: Beachbead 5 April 2009 - 06:19 AM |
| she was a bit well scarey. |
| Posted by: Beachbead 2 May 2009 - 07:38 AM |
| I never liked her one bit, she just came off as the person that was hideing alot of stuff that she wasn't showing to MacGyver and I think the reason she killed the dog was because of just jealousy running through her blood. |
| Posted by: macsgirl1 2 May 2009 - 01:43 PM |
I completely agree with you on that one!  |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 2 May 2009 - 02:11 PM | ||
You do understand that she was suppose to be hiding a lot of stuff from MacGyver because she was the "bad-guy" of the episode right? |
| Posted by: macsgirl1 2 May 2009 - 08:54 PM |
If she really wanted to impress Mac she could have at least got herself a swiss army knife.  Could have meant big time brownie points.  |
| Posted by: Beachbead 3 May 2009 - 08:38 AM | ||
very true. |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 30 December 2009 - 09:00 PM | ||
He did the same thing with Maria. He doesn't seem to mind the casual boyfriend/girlfriend thing, but any more than that and he starts sweating. He doesn't have a problem having friends and such, so it makes sense that he wouldn't' have a problem with girlfriends either, as long as they don't want a serious committed relationship. |
| Posted by: deepfathom393 24 April 2010 - 09:14 AM |
Deborah = EW!  I didn't like her character. And "negotiator" was just a little too mushy for me....  |
| Posted by: MacLovin 24 April 2010 - 09:22 AM | ||
Yeah. She used a bomb that could be activated remotely but she couldn't get her hands on a gun? I do like her character though. She did a wonderful job and manipulating Mac. I just wonder why she targeted Nikki but never thought to pretend like the marina people were threatening her. I mean it would make sense right? Maybe she could trash her own apartment or write herself threatening letters or something. I didn't like her in the flashback episode. That one was a little too odd. |
| Posted by: MacGirl 25 April 2010 - 06:09 PM |
| Yes, I see what you mean about why she never made herself look like a victim of intimidation as well. Maybe she got so caught up in her games that she got overconfident and forgot to cover her tracks. The one problem I have with the "Negotiator" storyline is this: Nikki and Pete never thought to suspect Deborah until it was almost too late. I mean, those two are very smart, and if my friend or close coworker suddenly got deeply involved with someone like that, who seemed just a little too good to be true, all kinds of alarm bells would be going off in my head. Someone who pushes for a quickly developed relationship is usually an abuser (not a killer, as was the case here, but the point is, it's a HUGE red flag.) Also, didn't they ever stop to think, wait a minute, all these things have happened since Deborah showed up. Ya think there might be a connection?  |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 26 April 2010 - 12:52 AM |
| except they started happening before she showed up. Remember the truck hitting MacGyver's jeep on the road was right at the start of the episode before Deborah was hired and Knapp even told Deborah that they had tried some primitive tactics to scare MacGyver off. I guess, too, that this is a good example of "it's always easy to see whats going on when your looking in from the outside", but that's true of any TV show or movie, as the viewer we have the "eye of God" advantage where we see and know all that's going on, the characters don't have all the pieces to make up the puzzle. |
| Posted by: MacGirl 27 April 2010 - 06:37 PM |
| Well, yes, the attempt to run Mac off the road happened before Deborah showed up. I was thinking more of the boat explosion and Nikki's dog being killed. It was escalating, and they never even SUSPECTED that Deborah could have been responsible? Her timing was, as I say, a little too convenient. |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 27 April 2010 - 09:37 PM |
| Yeah but how many times have you looked back on something after the fact and asked yourself why you didn't realize or see what was really going on? As I said, it's easy to pick things when your looking in from the outside, and even easier when you have the all seeing and all knowing "Eye of God", which is what we have as viewers. Within the story the project had obviously been going on for a while, as had Knapps attempts to stop MacGyver's investigation. Those attempts had already started to escalate with MacGyver being hit with the truck before Deborah arrived. Maybe it's suppose to tell us that Deborah was in fact as good as she says she is at her job and was so believable as an innocent MacGyveress that Pete and Nikki didn't suspect her... who knows. |
| Posted by: lostsouls 28 April 2010 - 12:48 AM |
| The actress who played this character was in a day time show or something? I watched the second episode she appeared at the weekend and I think I couldn't understand how she could released so soon? Did I miss sth? |
| Posted by: MacLovin 29 April 2010 - 01:08 PM | ||
Yeah. She got out of prison pretty fast for someone who broke into people's homes, spied on them, killed a dog, blew someone up, and then tried to murder them. Maybe she manipulated the judge? Hmmm... |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 29 April 2010 - 11:41 PM |
| Maybe she got parole for good behavior. |
| Posted by: MurDaltonfan 30 November 2010 - 02:15 PM |
I voted excellent. Deborah is a great character. She is great at what she does, although her job isn't the greatest. Take after she killed the dog, she pretends to be so sorry for Nikki. Great acting, by the way.  |
| Posted by: Scwilson 10 August 2013 - 06:15 PM |
| I liked the character because she reminds me of a female Murdoch, cunning and resourceful. She is a worthy adversary of MacGyver. |
| Posted by: KiwiTek 25 August 2013 - 01:38 AM |
Kristian Alfonso gave us a quick reply on https://twitter.com/macgyveronline about this character today. Saying that she "had a blast shooting it both times" and went on to say that RDA "was a sweetheart to work with". |
| Posted by: Rocket 25 August 2013 - 08:19 AM |
Really cool  |
| Posted by: John Litteral 14 November 2013 - 07:08 PM |
| Great character, not to mention so dang pretty! |
| Posted by: Grazer 14 November 2013 - 08:17 PM |
| Yes very pretty. She still looks amazing today too.  |
| Posted by: KiwiTek 11 February 2014 - 07:17 PM |
| Kristian shared this pic on Twitter today. She hasn't really changed much from when she appeared in MacGyver. http://t.co/24T4PbMJjo |
| Posted by: Jediferret 12 February 2014 - 06:18 AM |
| MacGyver had some great villains, and Deborah was certainly the best female villain. I absolutely love the actress. She's super nice and sweet on Twitter. I love seeing her tweets. She was perfect for the role and did a great job. I wish they had kept her on for more episodes, like Murdoc. |
| Posted by: YopeGyver 12 February 2014 - 06:30 AM |
| Same here, Jedi! She did a really fantastic villain. If I had to choose another villain that I wish there'd been more of on the show, I think I'd have a hard time choosing between Deborah and Murdoc. Dr. Zito was creepy, but Murdoc and Deborah were my favorites. |
| Posted by: Mike D 19 May 2014 - 03:31 AM |
| Exceptional character...well written and well played. Kristian Alfonso is lovely, and the way her face would change when she went from sweet to icy was awesome. Definitely one of show's best recurring characters. |
| Posted by: RadiantRose 10 September 2016 - 12:24 AM |
| I wish they'd been a bit more discreet and hadn't put her name (including the words "as Deborah" for good measure) in the credits at the beginning. They could have done more to keep us guessing. The part where she killed a dog, whilst wearing a fur coat, served to underline her status as someone who truly didn't share Mac's values. Okay, he wears leather, but he would never want to harm a dog. And he doesn't understand why people are interested in status symbols ("The Odd Triple") like expensive jewellery, ergo fur coats. Plus, as further proof of his lack of interest in shiny, new stuff, we find in "Hell Week" that one of his leather jackets is one he has owned for several years. Oooh, I just worked out that this one is duct tape!  |
| Posted by: MurdocFan 10 September 2016 - 01:37 PM | ||
lol  so trueI watched one with Dr. Zito a short time ago.........at night............ right before I went to bed  I made sure to check my closet before I went to sleep lol  |
| Posted by: DXS 24 September 2016 - 02:53 AM |
| FIVE STARS! Cuz I hated the character! So, I'm saying the actress was so good, that I HATED her. But there is another story. Back in the PRODIGY days (ok, this would be your grandparents for most of you....and this even pre-dated AOL!!!!) Kristen Alfonso came on Prodigy to answer fan questions. Not about MacGyver specifically, but just fan questions in general. I popped a question to her about how she flip flopped on MacGyver on the extreme range from being SO SWEET to being SO ROTTEN! SHE PICKED MY QUESTION TO ANSWER! I forgot her exact answer, something about acting styles. And that's the closest I ever got to a TV actress. I mean, when in the Deborah character, she was absolutely convincing when she was SO SWEET and even when she was telling all the lies! And then you saw the ROTTEN side. It was an extreme flip flop! Hated the character, loved the actress! Oh, is there a thread about the OTHER Deborah? The good one? |
