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 105 - Tough boys

MacGyver suspects a gang of young vigilantes, who are destroying local crack houses, are being trained by an ex-marine from the youth center

Ok, here goes. The credits are rolling. The song Tough Boys is catchy, cool. I just have qualms about teenage kids taking the law into their own hands, kind of like Mac in Rush to Judgement. Except these are kids, minors being led by a cop, who has strong personal prejudices against crack dealers.

Manny- man I feel for this guy--newly divorced, his only child killed herself as result of being addicted to crack, not to mention his infant/toddler aged granddaughter, who was born addicted to crack and has serious physical problems. But what he does, while understandable, is illegal and while we sympathize, we cannot justify. His speech after Mac and Hines come to his house to confront him is powerful-maybe the most powerful part of this episode.

The kids- a range--but Coco's death sends a message to Manny--no more killing-no more death--no more kids should die, but this vigilante group isn't the way. Hopefully, the news media would be enlightened of the situation and changes would be made.

Hines--great character--mean, tough, military mind, I love the dialogue between Mac and Hines.

It's been a while since I've seen this one. (I generally prefer the earlier seasons so watch them more often)

I do remember this episode has some very good interaction with MacGyver and Hines. And on some level this is probably one of the better PSA episodes, and still very relevant.

Yeah, and as I was watching I thought too about the great MacGyverisms, where Mac knock the one bad guy into the water and uses the gun as a wrench, and makes a water cannon! Great scene! I love the look on Hines face!

I liked this episode, but I only rated it good because the music is just too cheesy. It is catchy, and I'm sure it was cool in the early 90's, but it doesn't translate so well to today!
The beginning is just so-so, but it gets a lot better, and has a lot of good messages.

That scene where MacGyver's jumping in and out from behind the car to get what he needed to make the water canon makes me cringe.

Theres a guy firing an Uzi at him and he carries on jumping in and out of the firing line. And even more amazingly, he didn't get hit... not even from a ricochet.

I watched this last night, and found it to bee quite an enjoyable episode. I think it was pretty well written compared to some others in this season. The way all the evidence was pointing at Hines being the ring leader, but then a sudden twist (of sorts) to find it wasn't.

A well written and enjoyable episode, although that bit with the water canon as I said above... eesh.

Anyone else find themselves really distracted by the way Manny talks through his teeth?

I don't know why but I find it really distracting whenever I see someone talk with their teeth together all the time like that.

I actually found it boring. I hated the music, I am not a fan of rap and that rap song was terrible. The acting from Manny was terrible as well, as was the acting from the boys.

And also, after watching Passages yesterday, I see that Mac has cut his hair! NOOOOOOOO!!! Not happy!!

I really like this episodes. I admit that I don't care for the music, but then I am not a fan of rap music. However, the words are at least understandable and fit with what they are trying to accomplish.

I really liked the interaction between Mac and Hines!! I thought it was interesting how they just mention Mac checking the background of Hines, but it sounds like he was digging pretty good (typical for Mac) to protect the kids. I particularly enjoyed each time Mac showed Hines that he was not a "tourist". For example, Hines recognizing that Mac knows a lot about violence, and also that he picked a locked door over the more obvious path...just those types of things and their interaction was really good. Also quite funny in several places!!

I gave this episode a "good". There are some things I like about it, but some things I don't. RT Hines actually really rubs me the wrong way, though I'm sure that was done on purpose. I always feel a bit irked during the beginning conversation between Mac and Hines.

I liked the scene where Mac demonstrates his knowledge of violence to Hines and mentions that's why he doesn't like it. Not to mention the whole scene where he's in Hines house.

The rap song is seriously out-dated and a bit annoying after a while.

And Mac's shirt in the beginning... seriously... That is one ugly shirt. lol

I liked it though. It's fun to watch and it's always interesting the way Mac describes why he feel the way he feels. He always seems to have a good balance, in my opinion.

It's been a while since I watched it last, so I'll have to watch tonight during dinner.

OK, my thoughts in order on this one:

1. That song's dated really badly. Sets the story up nicely though.

2. Hi there, Hines. MacGyver's really not going to like this guy.

3. HINES! GET YOUR SHOES OFF BEFORE YOU GO ON THE MAT!

4. Mac, that shirt is seven shades of nasty...

5. Actually this one's still pretty relevant, with the drug concerns and the vigilantes and all. More's the pity.

6. Nice twist, didn't see that one coming

7. Manny is seriously off the chain... Time to form a truce, guys.

8. Aha! A MacGyverism involving a firefight and a fire hose. Nice

9. Phew!

10. MAC! GET YOUR SHOES OFF BEFORE YOU GO ON THE MAT!

11. That's one wicked grin you've got there...

In all, I liked it. Good start to the new season.

LOL! I forgot about how awesome the ending to this episode is when they're back at Challengers. XD Mac mimicking Hines and rolling his eyes is hilarious and I agree... that's one wicked grin Mac has there. Haha! Awesome...

The Tough Boys song seems similar to the chorus of "Hangin' Tough" by New Kids On The Block.

Aye, New Kids on the Block haven't exactly aged like a fine wine either, have they!
I do hear the resemblance though

I disagree. I still have a crush on Joe McIntyre.

Just watched this episode. As a martial arts student, it drove me nuts seeing Mac on the mat with shoes. It was an okay episode and I think I would call it "average." I think Richard Roundtree did a good job and of course, Mac is awesome.

Aha! One more of us...

What flavour of martial arts, if I may ask...?

Aha! One more of us...

What flavour of martial arts, if I may ask...?

Tae kwon do - and I'll be getting my high yellow belt tomorrow, so I'm fairly new to it, but it's addictive. How about you?

Excellent! Good for you

I'm Silat and Judo and yes, it is incredibly addictive!

I live on my own now, and have thought about taking self-defense classes. Any recommendations on a type? I'm a complete novice. LOL

I'd like to hear, too. I've always been interested and hey, having the ability to defend yourself could come in handy.

I am noobing it up all over the place, but I hope to become more self-confident as time goes on. Perhaps you could do a free trial for martial-arts lessons. You can ask to sit-in on a class and watch with parents or other family members. Try out the different ones and see what you like.

I looked up some ideas and this write-up of krav maga caught my attention from this article. I selected TKD because my husband wanted to get back into it after 20 years away from it.

Self-defense class

Search what is local to you and hopefully find a friend to go with and have fun!

I agree with the "Shoes off the Mat"!! I was more annoyed at Hines wearing his shoes than Mac since Hines is the instructor.

Martial Arts is addictive and I miss it tremendously. I studied in Tae Kwon Do for several years. I have been out of it for over 10 years now, but I still miss it. I still use my knowledge of the moves as exercise occasionally, but not near as much as I should!

I initially got into martial arts after taking a self defense class. It was called Self Defense for Active Women and taught at the YWCA. The instructor was also a martial artist. He believed that it is difficult to truly defend yourself if you are not fit. Since the stress of the situation you might find yourself in may need the added fitness. I loved the class! Plus the Tae Kwon Do class met next door to our room and I could hear them training...I got sucked in totally!!!

It's not cheap, but you can always get back into it if it interests you! There are people of all ages that attend the same dojang as me. I'm not much in shape, but we'll get there.

I've been working through the end of series 5 and into 6 now. The stories have become more 'put-together' and def. have different feel - less 'comic book', more playing to the current issues of the time and tackling some of the prejudice and social problems of the era - some of which are, unfortunately, still relevant.

I didn't like this one particularly. I wasn't overboard about the rap, I'm fairly open minded when it comes to music and will listen to most things, a certain amount of rap included. I thought the song was over-used in the episode and dubbed too loud over the action.

I can see why Mac didn't like Hines, you wouldn't get away legally with hazing kids these days (its even supposed to be wrong amongst adults in the forces) and I am surprised it was portrayed even in the era that Mac was made. Even though he redeemed himself at the end I still feel that Hines was a nasty piece of work.

I was surprised at the guess of Taekwondo mentioned above. I also wondered which Martial art, but didn't think enough was portrayed to be certain. Martial arts seem to be a recurring theme in Mac episodes. We see Mac practice with a woman in a mask (I forget which episode) - I assumed that might have been a form of Karate, even Pete mentions attending Karate lessons once. There are also a lot of MA moves that are often choreographed in the fight routines. I kind of hope that Mac himself knew Karate as that is another of my current fairly new things to be learning.

NB. Shoes off works for me, and I prefer Mac with slightly shorter hair.

Come to think of it. Season 6 starts with a preachy episode. If it started with Humanity it would've started with a bang.

I feel like he should have tried to throw or drop the bomb when it was down to 3 seconds and he didn't know what to do...

I mean obviously it was nice dramatically because it wasn't going to go off, but since he didn't know that...

I think I would like this episode a lot more if they didn't overplay that song so much lol

I actually like it better than some of the other ones! I remember the shirt in deadly silents being pretty horrible lol

Dropping the bomb would've killed him for sure. If he dropped it and the bomb went off in mid-air or hit the floor below the fire from the mushroom cloud would've consumed him.

Fair enough... but what if he threw it down the hallway? Surely a better chance then letting it blow up in his face?

Since he was caught in the net, I don't think he would've been able to give it a good throw either no matter how much time there was left. Throwing or dropping, it can always cause the bomb to go off prematurely. If the bomb was real and went off, it would've gotten him. Then again, I imagine Mac rather dies trying to disarm the bomb then just throw it away.

Why is this a good episode? Mac is already in good shape for its "Macgyverime" sorry the word does not exist in France. And also because the duo Manny / Hines are exceptional, the contract is fully fulfilled, moreover their voice actors are excellent, they are big names in dubbing, which is a significant plus.