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Favorites
Season: season 3
Episode:Blow Out
Vehicle: Jeep
Jacket: Brown bomber
House: House boat
Sorry, but I have mixed feelings.
He was very helpful,, and nice and, sweet in Lost Love (I think the scene when Mac is trapped and Jack tries to help him out is hilarious and FOR ONCE he agrees to help him) but most of the time he's just a pain...
He's okay. I mean I like his sense of adventure and hair-brained spur of the moment schemes which (often) lead into excellent adventures - but his repetitive lingo with his amigos/mes ami/kemosabe interjections gets old early. I would have made him more mercurial, cerebral, mysterious and a little less shallow and bumbling.
The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man's determination.
Whether you think you can or you can't .... you're probably right!
"Nature often addressed our problems much better than the doctor." - Henry Miller
"So shut up, live, travel, adventure, bless and don't be sorry." - Jack Kerouac
"No one is remembered for being normal" -- Albert Einstein
Posts: 7,067
Joined: 23 Jan 2013
Gender: Male
Country: South Africa
SAK owned: Tinker/Pioneer
Favorites
Season: season 1
Episode:The Human Factor
Vehicle: Jeep
Jacket: Brown bomber
House: House boat
Perhaps making Jack more mature would have been possible but MacGyver came out at a tender time. Restrictions on television made characters two dimensional. This is why villains were as transparent as water and sidekicks were campy. They naturally portrayed an opposite of the main character to create a formulaic balance.
"The bag's not for what I take, Colson - it's for what I find along the way."
Favorites
Season: season 3
Episode:Blow Out
Vehicle: Jeep
Jacket: Brown bomber
House: House boat
Jack was supposed to be like that (immature...) All the people (male and female ) close to MacGyver were either sidekicks or foils, damsels in distress ....Mac was THE HERO helping his 'friends' out (Jack, Penny,even strangers who were very silly and useless I think). Jack was the comic relief and indeed he was fun but he got on my nerves ,I always hated seeing Mac being exploited ,used but others specially his friends because he couldn't refuse them anything.Jack always found a way...
Posts: 7,728
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Gender: Male
Country: Belgium
SAK owned: Don't know
Favorites
Season: season 5
Episode:Serenity, Passages, Humanity
Vehicle: Jeep
Jacket: Black/Navy flight
House: House boat
I think Mac also lacks the character to say no to Jack.
I think the poison that was used was applied to this knife, passed to the mutton when it was cut and then activated by the wine. - MacGyver. Sometimes you just have to die a little inside to be reborn and rise again as a stronger and wiser version of you. It's better to be a little sad than to be fake content.
Posts: 168
Joined: 6 Sep 2014
Gender: Male
Country: United States
SAK owned: w/ the lighter
Favorites
Season: season 2
Episode:Phoenix Under Siege
Vehicle: Nomad
Jacket: Brown bomber
House: Loft
QUOTE (tvero @ 20 May 2014 - 05:56 AM)
Sorry, but I have mixed feelings.
He was very helpful,, and nice and, sweet in Lost Love (I think the scene when Mac is trapped and Jack tries to help him out is hilarious and FOR ONCE he agrees to help him) but most of the time he's just a pain...
So, no excellent for me .
Yes. Agree. Jack is to be taken in small doses. He can be rather over eager at times which can be annoying. He had his good side too, which sometimes evens out the balance. I wouldn't want to bail out a friend every time either. However, his shenanigans. can be hilarious . Anytime I think of Jack, I think of this beat up airplane, out maneuvering a small militant group. Pulling levers and saying "Tricks o' me trade me boy, tricks o' me trade."
"It's funny how, when you want time to move along, it never does. But when you're running out of time, it disappears much too soon."-MacGyver (Phoenix Under Siege)
"It's a shooting gallery MacGyver, and we have no guns!"-Murdoc (Halloween Knights)
"We'll never be able to out run it".-Dr.Ludlum "Come on, where's your sense of adventure?"-MacGyver(The Human Factor)
Favorites
Season: season 1
Episode:Cease Fire, but not only
Vehicle: Jeep
Jacket: Brown bomber
House: House boat
Jack is hilarious, I like episodes with him, but I really don't like the fact that he deceives MacGyver to get help, he even takes advantage of his sense of guilt. It's true that Mac should say "no", but his conscience doesn't allow him and Jack knows it, so he shouldn't do that.
The funny thing is, that I totally disliked Jack when I saw the series as a child. BUT NOW I really love him. He is a very special character, he adds a lot of fun to the episodes and his body language and facial expression is great. And he is a true friend of Mac's, although he might sometimes cause "just a touch of trouble". Can't imagine the series without him.
That is very interesting, because I felt the same! When I was younger, I never liked him, he just bugged me. But now when Im older I appreciate his character much more.
Jack's an ass and Bruce McGill plays him well. I, personally, would have toned the character down an octave and had him more on Mac's level & intellect .... and then with the ability to suddenly shift gears and cause the needed consternation that sends the whole episode into the eventual, unknown tizzy. But he's annoying (and predictable) when he starts that telltale spiel from the first dialogue. Better if we all get sucked in more slowly ,,,,
The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man's determination.
Whether you think you can or you can't .... you're probably right!
"Nature often addressed our problems much better than the doctor." - Henry Miller
"So shut up, live, travel, adventure, bless and don't be sorry." - Jack Kerouac
"No one is remembered for being normal" -- Albert Einstein
Posts: 7,067
Joined: 23 Jan 2013
Gender: Male
Country: South Africa
SAK owned: Tinker/Pioneer
Favorites
Season: season 1
Episode:The Human Factor
Vehicle: Jeep
Jacket: Brown bomber
House: House boat
Following MacGyver from the beginning, you get used to what type of characters are laid as the "Good guys". Like Pete. They are intelligent, witty and carry good hearts. When Jack first appears, gone is the stereotyped good guy and here comes this somewhat unfunny, often scruffy lookin' guy with this nervous twitch in his eye and the first thing that comes to mind is, "Hmmm. Who's this guy?...".
"The bag's not for what I take, Colson - it's for what I find along the way."
Favorites
Season: season 4
Episode:The Eraser, Runners
Vehicle: Jeep
Jacket: Brown bomber
House: House boat
Jack is a good guy, but so annoying at times... as Mac says, I wish I could punch him, but how do you punch a kid? On the other hand, I love to see the two of them working together. You see that they know and so how, understand each other well. Mac does not need to give instructions, Jack knows. Good pals these two.
Zoe: Help me find the Holy Grail! Mac: Indiana Jones already did that! I saw the movie!
I remember reading an interview where Bruce was talking about how the producers had wanted him to stick around full-time, turn the show into more of a two-hander, but he refused cos he wanted to keep his options open.
I wonder what that show would have been like. They'd have had to have toned down the comedy, for sure (but that was pretty much happening anyway, by the time you get to stuff like "Brainwashed" and "Ma Dalton".)
Favorites
Season: season 4
Episode:Brainwashed
Vehicle: Jeep
Jacket: Brown bomber
House: House boat
Jack was such a memorable character it felt like he was in way more episodes than he actually was. I think the first episode I saw him in was brainwashed. It's still one of my favorites.
"You drive each other crazy more than anybody ever could, but you care about each other more than anyone would. You're not friends; YOU'RE FAMILY!!" - Scrooge McDuck
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