4-9 Code + Artemis + Nuclear + Nemesis

Airdate: April 10, 2020
Writer: Brandon Botta & Casey Tollett Botta
Director: Michael Martinez
Guest Cast: Tate Donovan (Oversight) , Sea Shimooka (Kai) , Holly Deveaux (Peyton)
Ramon De Ocampo (Phillip Lasky) , Delaney Williams (Daniel Hawkes) , Randy Havens (Tech)
Dean Cudworth (FBI Agent)

While Mac’s friends surround him during his time of grief, Los Angeles’ power grid is taken hostage in a ransomware
attack resulting in a citywide blackout, and the team discovers the code used was written by Riley years ago.

It was sad that Oversight had to die although I would have like him to die peacefully instead of in a building explosion. It was good that the team were there to try and cheer him for a bit although it looked like all he ever wanted to do is be alone by himself. I liked when Matty joked how he called her up early just name her dog, Gus of coarse, she didn't do it.
As much as I hate MacDesi, and I do, there was tender moment when Desi comforted him with some words of wisdom.

I do agree with Russ that Mac was putting all his energy on Codex instead of dealing with his grief.

I really liked Kai and I hope she ends up the way Reilly has.

Mac kills someone uhm not sure how I feel about this

Ok a few things

1. Mac killing an innocent person kind of bugs me
2. Riley saving the day kind of also bothers me Macgyver should of solved the day

Mostly a poor episode after last weeks brilliant episode

Hoping next week they turn it around

This episode is continuing the running theme of right +wrong+ both +neither. Just as James said, sometimes you do the wrong thing for the right reason. One life or 4 million lives? Who wants to make that decision to harm someone even if it was the only decision.
I'm sure this will stay with Mac but seriously, was there any other way? Very powerful.

I liked how everyone gathered around Mac at the beginning. I was a bit annoyed that Desi was the one comforting him at first (we get so many MacDesi moments already, I was hoping to either see Matty showing a rare emotional scene or Bozer finally showing us a new scene of him and Mac being BFFs.) But I let it go after the scene with Russ at the end. That was... surprisingly sweet, i didn't expect that from him. Nice cliffhanger ending, too.

Mac's crying about "Once I view this, that's it, my dad's gone. My mom's gone, he's gone. I'm all alone" honestly broke my heart, dammit.

I liked the episode and that we finally got to see a glimpse into Riley's past (took them long enough). The storyline and guest-stars were interesting.

Not sure why they didn't try to rescusitate Lasky? He might have lost some brain cells due to lack of oxygen, but he might have survived they they administered CPR? Also, I hope Mac saved all his family photos before the laptop exploded. Thanks for no warning, Oversight.

Nice to see the team meeting up at Mac's house again. I miss the team meetings a bit. And I've been wondering: Where does Bozer live now and why didn't he move back after Phoenix got disbanded and they had to go look for new jobs?


Some fans are complaining on social media about the lack of Matty and Bozer in the last few episodes, and while I have to admit I don't miss them all that much , it also shows one of the "problems" this season: The episodes are good, but really packed.

That's probably due to them initially only having 13 episodes ordered and scripts to write for; so they have to cram a lot into 40 minutes. That means less Matty and/or Bozer (which I don't really mind and also shows that the new co-showrunner realized early on that their character are mostly fillers if they keep up with Phoenix being a spy agency), but also less "family time" at Mac's house after a mission - and less room for character development for Desi, while Russ is taking over what Jack's role used to be. I think it's sort of funny how Desi - who was recruited by Jack to have Mac's back and being his overwatch - has been replaced by Russ for taking care of both Mac's physical and emotional well-being. It's probably what they had in mind all along, but they hadn't dared to put in another male character as second lead right away in S3.

I think it's a pity though because while I think Ian was a great addition for the show, it shows Desi was simply introduced as a potential love interest in in S3 and to cause friction when needed. Same problem with Cage. They never bothered about her character development, either and that's why the character didn't work and had to be written out. Levy is a recurring now, and her character is still just as bland as Lenna or Thornton were, with less character development so far than Russ had in half the episodes. I hope they can change that in the second half of the season.

Watched it live again last night, so here we go with my second-viewing live observations:

-Between the episode's title and this opening...it would seem we have a Riley-centric episode on our hands.

-For even the best of hackers...is it really this easy? Press a button and a printer blows up?

-Hey, a team gathering at Mac's place!

-A dog named "Jim."

-Mac still is believing Gwen's story about his mom being behind File 47...hmm.

-"L.A. didn't pay its electric bill?"

-Desi, an unconvicted felon.

-Riley origin story incoming.

-You've only ever had to watch a TV show before to figure out which one of Kai and Peyton was gonna turn out to be behind all this...

-Hardened Mac. Happened to the OG over time too.

-Can't say I've ever heard of pork buns. Sound delightful though.

-"You a nuclear physicist?" "No, just a hobby." Nerd.

-Come on Phoenix team. You should know by now that it's never gonna be that easy. Hold onto your butts!

-Pity the poor guy who just wanted to go jet-skiing after work.

-Uh-oh, seven years ago Riley in a whole heap of trouble.

-I tend to agree with Russ. Mac is being irrational. That said, the times being what they are, there may be no time for grief.

-Helluva tackle there by Mac...shame to have wasted it.

-Wow, it was Peyton. Never saw that coming. *eyeroll*

-"I'm British. We're taught from a very early age to be disappointed."

-Phil Lasky. The hero none of us deserve.

-Mac makes the tough decision. Idealist Mac disappearing before our eyes. Anyone else somewhat reminded of the ending to War Room + Ship? Ultimately it wasn't Mac's decision there, but a similar scenario.

-Good talk with Russ. I see some wish this was one of the other team members, but I think it was important for the Russ/Mac relationship.

-Good thing Russ has the analytic, numbers-based mind that he does and was able to remember the first 10 digits Oversight gave out...

----

I liked this one. Nice to see Riley's backstory "in the flesh" while also showing us the change in Mac and how he's coping (or not) with it, all the while being tasked with saving the world from Codex.

The series' dark turn continues...pretty analogous to the OG's Season 4 in that regard.

Preliminary Ratings: http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/articles/the-...-4-10-2020.html

Attached Image

Can't say I liked that Mac made that decision to kill someone....I would have rather his boss or one of the other employees there push the button instead. Can't help but compare to the OG and his hatred of killing and realize fans of the OG may really recurl at this.

Having Mac deal with death back to back like this, we find in the exact same place physically and emotionally in the apartment. Maybe even worse, the same place Riley was when she had to kill someone for self-defense reasons. A lot of people go through it when they catch their first body.

Mac losing a bit of his sanity there if they show him in the "human" sense is about as far as I liked it going.

We'll wait for the finals, and obviously all green is good, but I can't help but notice the missing "H5O Lead-In" bump...

I noticed that the ratings this week for CBS weren't as strong as last week in general. Maybe because of the holidays? Not sure. But yes, it was also to be expected that with H50 gone, ratings will drop a bit. I think they're still better for a midseason show than they would be without the Corona bump.

Well we are talking about Mac so my mind went to the original to compare....but I think the same point stands for any show when a good guy kills someone not in self-defense. If you want an example, I'd say one forced one is Christopher Nolan's Batman when he is looming at the possibility of having to kill the Joker, and he cannot, even after wrestling with it.

And that was def not self-defense, or justifiable. At best it's 2nd or 3rd degree but it was definite homicide. Mac wouldn't get charged with it, it would ultimately go to the hackers, but wanting to kill millions and having only get one body would be a win for them.

In my mind I was thinking, really he's just gonna push a button and that's it? Watch a man die on a screen after having push the button to do it? And not at least try something else, whether it worked or not, and if it didn't you can say at least he tried (like when the OG Mac's girlfriend died on the mountain climbing episode after he tried to save her, to which he ended up blaming himself for). Or like I said before have one of the other people do it since he can't bring himself to.

I recognize how they tried to make the decision more palatable to us: By having Mac insist he call his family again, and making the guy take the initiative. I agree with Jedi, that the standard is to find something that fixes both, whether it worked or not or whether at his own expense, as altruistic as (OG)Mac is he is ok with self-sacrifice......Just pushing a button and watching a man die slowly on screen and doing nothing else left a bad taste in my mouth.

Mac wanted to go try to save Lasky but Russ says there's no time. What should he have done? Let everyone die? We don't live in a Pollyanna world sadly . For the most part, things turn out positive in Mac's world, but now he understands the tough choices his dad had to make. I for one am enjoying the growth of the character. I have not seen the original and don't have any desire to, but I like my heroes to be flawed and nuanced.

Final Ratings: http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/articles/show...-4-10-2020.html

Attached Image

Well there is a big difference between faults and homicide. The OG Mac had faults too, he was too trusting sometimes for one, even at his expense.

Charli was the one who made that decision about his own life, he wasn't making that about someone else's life, there's a difference.

Russ can say there is no time but he can't do it? 2 episodes before he was a rebel fighter, for all we know he could have killed many people directly or indirectly.

If the scientist was the one that had clearance to push the button them why is Mac doing it? He doesn't work there. What if the scientist was sick or on vacation, who would have gone too.

There is now precedence where people are dying to preserve Mac's life in wager like decisions, one out of his control, and now one in his control.

[Well there is a big difference between faults and homicide.]
I would not call that homicide. Speaking of the pandemic, here in Italy three weeks ago, at the peak of it, there was no room in the ICU for everyone and the doctors had to make hard choices, whom to ventilate and whom not. It is already a proven fact that many of the dead are due not to the corona, but to the lack of chance to be assisted in a sanitary system that completely collapsed. And the choice was made by the doctor upon admittance. Patient A would live, patient B would die. Would you call the doctor an assassin and the fact an homicide?

The OG happened in a world and the storytelling was crafted so that you had the good on one side and the bad on the other side. The world was black and white. The need to do the wrong thing for the right reason was not included and there were no shades of grey. I find this an interesting path to be explored. The more so when it is done by putting tons of guilt and doubts on Mac, who is not happy with any easy answer. If it were done lightheartedly, by simply putting forward that there was no choice, so that was the right thing to do...then I would have some trouble accepting it.

Blog Post about the MacHacks by Tech Consultant Rhett Allain: https://rhettallain.com/2020/04/14/macgyver...uclear-n3mesis/

Deaths are classified as homicide, suicide, natural causes, accident or unknown. He did not die of an illness and it was not an accidental push of the button. Hence the classification that most closely matches that is homicide.

Those people in the hospital had a pre-existing condition called COVID-19, and maybe more pre-existing conditions on top of that. Plus there are/were people that got slots that still passed so no, the doctors did not commit homicide, in the example you gave.

Deaths are classified as homicide, suicide, natural causes, accident or unknown. He did not die of an illness and it was not an accidental push of the button. Hence the classification that most closely matches that is homicide.

Those people in the hospital had a pre-existing condition called COVID-19, and maybe more pre-existing conditions on top of that. Plus there are/were people that got slots that still passed so no, the doctors did not commit homicide, in the example you gave.

Lasky was aware of the risks...I'd say it falls much more in line with accident than homicide.

But we all have our narratives, don't we?

This one was pretty good. Finally a Riley-centric episode and she delivers in more then one way. This episode kinda felt like Easy Target meets Flame's End. A weapon that is used on a town (Easy Target) and that brings a nuclear power plant on the verge of a meltdown (Flame's End). Talking about hitting two bricks with one stone. Also Riley was gothic in her student years? Hot damn, my respect just skyrocketed.

I think we got a great insight on Riley's past and how she got to jail in the first place. I also liked this episode showed Mac is more flawed than ever. He made a mistake of attacking Lasky because he was so caught up in finding Codex.

Yeah, well that is really gonna happen in an action/adventure series.

And when it comes to explosions... There is always apparently this orange glow in the explosions that pretty much gives away it's CGI and it's not helping either. That's a bit of lowpoint in the series. What happened to actually blowing stuff up like they did in Hellfire?

There seems to be a lot of commenting on Mac's decision on letting Lasky die and that he actually killed him... uh... yeah about that... Did we forget OG Mac let Glass die on the conveyor belt? Mac deliberately waited before jumping off and not giving Glass the chance to jump off himself making him fall to his death. Or maybe he's just not that merciful to Japanese guys who try to fight him off with a chainsaw? Also he deliberately electrocuted Murdoc and let him drown in the fiery pool in Cleo Rocks and he surely wasn't going to jump after him and said to Penny he really hoped Murdoc was dead. Let's be real here, even our Mac has at least one death on his conscience.

I actually think it's the other way around. I'm really glad Bozer went to the background and there are no longer three storylines with even less interesting characters involved like Leanna in only 40 minutes.

It most definitely wasn't. He had a choice to make and it was very hard one: 1 guy or 4 million.

In all this was quite a good and solid episode.