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 136 – Gunz ‘N Boyz

A Challengers Club youth takes the heat for the fatal shooting of a gang member. But MacGyver suspects a weapons dealer who sells guns to gangs.

I voted OK on this one...it was alright. The only thing I *loved* about it was the return of the jeep! Yay! I love The Challengers Club, but I kinda missed Cynthia in this episode.

I liked Stumpy, good acting, very believable character.

I did love the MacGyverism of blowing the door open with the metal tube and keg or whatever! Way to go Mac!

Also love Mac's optimism whenever he is dealing with the youth. He is convinced that there is hope for change even in the most far gone kids.

Something about the showdown of the rival gang members at the end reminded me of the ending gang scenes of the book "The Outsiders".

All in all, a Ok episode, lacked a certain something to make it outstanding.

I like the "Gunz 'N' Boyz" episode pretty well. Nice to see the return of the Challengers Club- too bad Cynthia and Breeze couldn't show up though. As was mentioned before, nice to see MacGyver's jeep back. And we get a quick look at his driver's license. I definitely liked the theme of what the episode was doing- as gang war with lots of guns was certainly a timely issue- and one that was sure to get MacGyver's ire up. The ending scene was certainly powerful to see all the gang members giving up their guns. There you realize the stupidity of it all- kids killing kids.
Though it was pretty weird to see "Jon Baker" as a bad guy (Larry Wilcox, who portrayed Officer Baker, alongside "Ponch" on classic cop show "CHiPs" )
And some cool MacGyverisms- rips off an air conditioner to get into a warehouse, blows off door with keg, and picks lock with cork wire- good stuff. Overall, it was definitely a good episode.

I really love that they did this in the final season! They just knew that everyone needed to have a little time for some last moments with the jeep before the show ended.

OK what are everyone else's thoughts on this eppy? *looks around* Hey where is everybody? MG, you've only been gone two days, but I'm already noticing your absence!

PS- Just edited my above post because I realized that although *I* understood what I was trying to say about the gang name, I probably wasn't making myself very clear to anyone else! (Good rule of thumb: never post when *extremely* sleep deprived! ) Goodnight...

This episode has some good social commentary about parents taking responsibility for their children.. an idea which seems to have been left in the 90's

I did find myself disappointed that MacGyver just stood there when the gun man pulled the gun on him. I'm sure I've seen MacGyver take guns away from people who have pointed them at him before?

I also found myself wanting MacGyver to whip the gun away from that gang banger in the parking lot and "lay the smack down" on all of them.

Maybe it was just my general intolerance towards teenagers showing through.

Anyway.. this was probably one of the better episodes of season 7 in my humble opinion.

I really love that they did this in the final season! They just knew that everyone needed to have a little time for some last moments with the jeep before the show ended.

Anyone remember last weeks episode? "split decision"?

You see a lot more of the jeep in that episode.

Rock, I love that you just said lay the smack down, even if it was in parentheses.

What?! Why are you intolerant of teenagers? I know they can be clueless, but they can be fun, and keep you feeling young and remind you of how much fun life was at that age. C'mon, give teens a chance!

So I voted good on this episode. This is one of the better and way better than the poorly done Split Decision.
Another troubled teenagers episode. Kids on the edge of being pulled down the wrong way, kinds on the wrong way.
These kids really seemed like they were walking straight into jail, they had guns and everything.

But MacGyver getting caught twice in two days time in one episode? Mustn't have been his days in this one.
Well it resulted in great MacGyverisms. I love it when he builds that torpedo thing like. All you need is a piece of the air vent and barrel and a single match which you obviously can find in the garbage can.
'Ain't you somethin'?'
The second time was like; Again?
This Minton guy was great. The calm bad guy. He was also troubled and had this creepy way of talking. Silent but clear and dangerous.
I think he's the only one who was able to catch MacGyver twice in one episode. If Murdoc finds out I'm sure he would kill Minton for it.

This episode also had the one and only decent fight over the whole season. And MacGyver's gets his butt kicked. He at least had good two shots down the stairs. I love it when Mac ducks and Minton hits the window of the fire extinguisher instead.

And of course the ending is great too: 'Put the guns down!!! This truck is filled with dynamite!!! Put the guns down!!!'
This is also the only time he raises his voice on that level.

Oh and by the way, the kid that says: 'Aw man it's my grandma!' Isn't that same kid who showed up briefly in Nightmares with Lisa and that other girl?

Yeah, just look at me.
I just know what you mean. I can't tolerate any children. I hate children. But I can understand teenagers what they go through.

So MG, is it safe to say you won't be running a daycare center anytime soon? I like children who are well-behaved and well-mannered. They can be few and far between these days!

Hmmm...I didn't notice that the kid who says "Aw man, it's my Grandma" could be the same one with Lisa in "Nightmares." I'll have to try and find that part and see.

Yes, definitely. I even worked in one two years ago and it really ruined half of my summer than for only 300 euros. I rather do the dishes in a restaurant or work in a grocery shop like last year. Had done three jobs last year. Didn't like two of em. It brought up nearly four times what I earned the year before.

I'm sure it's him. Or at least a look a like.

Well no offense intended to you MG, but one of things that I like about MacGyver the character and RDA the actor is they genuinely love and care about kids. RDA is the proud parent of a little girl himself, and that is something I can relate to him on. My daughter is only about 2 years younger than his. I firmly believe that both of my kids have enriched and blessed my life, and I wouldn't trade either of them for anything in this world.

As the parent of 2 and someone who has worked with hundreds of kids, I can only ask that unless your attitude towards kids changes drastically, that you don't have any. I have more problems with irresponsible parents. Kids are just small impressionable versions of adults. As parents, educators, ministers, police officers, etc. we are responsible for teaching the youth of today. But it starts with parents. I am watching this episode right now--and I am not saying that it is my favorite--but it is thought provoking.

One issue this episode does work on is how strong the influence of peer pressure can be.

The mother in this episode seemed to be doing her best for her kids, but it was the outside influences that where leading them astray.

I do think the episode was somewhat unrealistic at the end. If that had been a real situation all the parents turning up would have resulted in either a mass shooting or the kids would have all just run off.

Having kids show no respect towards parents or authority for the whole episode and then suddenly start doing what they're told isn't how it works in the real world. Kids don't just suddenly decide to do what they're told, especially when the kids holding a gun.

You're right about that Rock. Kids have to get to know and trust the adult and that takes time, and hopefully they have support at home. If they don't their ability to trust and therefore obey an adult is non-existent. I feel the same way about the Challenger's Club kids, I like Breeze but he was the most realistic in the first half of the Madonna, then he switched. Ray was done better, Jenny just needed someone to listen to her and believe her, of course that was Mac, then she needed to get help and learn that being the victim of abuse wasn't her fault.

Let's see the Challenge, the Madonna, Runners, the Gun, Gunz and Boys: the Challenger's Club episodes: the Challenge is the best to me, maybe that has something to do with Dana Elcar's direction and attention to the story and character development

In Gunz and Boys, Brian seems the most realistic out of the bunch--he wanted retailiation, and while he was innocent of the crime of killing Player G, could it be that he just didn't get there in time?

For me, this is one of the weaker Season 7 episodes. Instead of a fun adventure, we're back to Mac's soapbox... something I wish they'd left behind in Season 6. For me, the show is supposed to be about adventures, not about social commentary, and this is definitely more about social commentary. It almost felt like they threw in the action bits just because they knew they had to.

On a positive note, I did like the way Mac blew open that door. But why doesn't anyone ever just shoot Mac? Seriously. Everytime a bad guy gets him, they either tie him up or lock him in a room (which, conveniently, always has tons of useful supplies.) I know the show wouldn't last long if the bad guys actually used their brains and just shot Mac in the head, but it starts to get a little too unbelievable after a while. And Minton clearly wasn't opposed to shooting people-- he shot that other guy earlier in the episode without any hesitation. So why not shoot Mac? The show started to become too much like the old 60s Batman & Robin TV series, with the villain always locking the heroes up somewhere, and then leaving so that the heroes could figure out an escape (just like in Austin Powers, actually....)

Anyway, overall all, Gunz 'N Boyz represents all the aspects that I don't like about the series-- Inner city environment, lack of action, excessive social commentary, etc. Let's get back to wilderness, evil dictators / mad scientists, and just plain ol' fun adventures.

It was a weak episodes but it put out there that gangs and guns are real.

In my opinion, this episode was awesome. It was a little unrealistic in some parts, but for the most part it was highly entertaining. I did feel as if Mac seemed a little tired in this episode though. He just didn't have that energetic appeal he usually does. Mabye because he's past his prime? When Playa G pulled the Gun on him Rock, I don't think even Mac would have been able to take all of those gang bangers. They probably had knives and guns on all them! Minton was a surprisingly good combatant against Mac. I thought Mac was a little more experienced in Hand-to-hand combat.

Just watched this episode today for the first time. I thought it was pretty good, although seasons 5-7 are definitely not my favorites...they get a little preachy at times. To me, the show starts off as an adventure series, but as it goes on, it ends up pressing social issues a little too much for my taste.

All in all, though, this episode had a great message and some pretty solid acting, which is more than can be said for a lot of the later season episodes.

Yeah I think a lot of fans have the same feeling about the later seasons. Going from some of the interviews and news clips I've seen, I think that was one of the reasons they tried to take season 7 back to the action adventure aspect of the show, but of coarse it was too little too late by then.

Yes that would be one of my pet peeves for the whole series actually. It's one of the things I wish they had kept from the first season. In episode 2 we see him kick some serious butt at the end of the episode and it makes sense that if he's ex-special forces he knows how to fight, so to see his fighting seemingly get whimpier as the series goes on was a distraction to me.

I gave this episode an OK. I don't have much to say on this episode, though.

This one is definitely a bit stilted and clunky. I think the cracks really are showing by now...

That said, Stumpy was a good character, it was nice to see the Challengers Club again, and it's always good to see Mac having faith in seemingly hopeless cases. It wouold be nice of things really did work out the way they do in MacGyver's world - it seems like a good place to be.

Also the Gangkid's face when his Grandma turns up is great!
"Oh no! It's my Grandma!"

Yes, very true. It certainly would be nice to live in a world where things always worked out as if it were a... well, TV show.

Unfortunately the reality is that a gang kid would most likely shoot his grandmother for getting in the way of his "bidniz" rather than listen to her.

Better was when he said: 'He's trying to save the gunman. Why'd he do that?'

This is an ok episode to me because it's not bad, even if I prefer other episodes a little more adventurous.

It sure gives the picture of the gangs world. The boy killed by the gunman looks like a real delinquent.

The end seems to be a little too unrealistic, but they did so to give the message I guess.

Watched this tonight as I work through things in order. IMO the best episode in season 7 so far. I was doing well until the gun man showed up when I instantly 'saw' CHiP's officer Jon! (Larry Wilcox). For a while this spoilt things for me, until they reveal that the 'gun man' is an ex. cop! I didn't see that coming, but all of a sudden Larry's 'type cast' role suddenly made the scenario/character more believable. Now I don't know if that was the intent (and I'm sure the cop wouldn't have been Jon from the CHP), but it worked for me! I like that Mac was involved in a more traditional Mac type role and that very few of the characters were too OTT in personality (something that struggle with in every episode that has a character who 'over eggs' their portrayal - a frequent occurrence, unfortunately). So all in all the episode worked for me.

NB. Was this about the only episode where Mac seems to get close to uttering a profanity - I'll have to re-watch, but did he utter the word 'cr*p':

"So when's it gonna stop, huh? What's it gonna take? You've already lost your big brother Eddie to a gang bullet.
You're on the verge of puttin' Kelvin through the same cr*p!"

OK, it's not the worst profanity on the planet, but for me it was so out of character that it really showed (more than the raised voice) that Mac really cared about this situation - it was def. an emotion driven response - there is a real person in Mac - one that sometimes actually gets angry!

I think 'crap' is alright for a bad word. There's a lot more vocabulary to choose from but I think that word has enough power to make it clear. And it seemed to be suitable enough to use on tv. He could've said 'You're on the verge of puttin' Kelvin through the same mess!" instead but doesn't sound maybe hard enough. Maybe Mac saw what happened to Eddie because he did seem to know what he was talking about.

There are a few times in the first season where he drops a "damn", like "Damn you AxMinster!" I think that's about as "vulgar" as he gets.

Haha Reminds of the oft used local saying: 'Wouldn't say sh#t if his/her mouth was full of it.'

Often used as a compliment and/or for defending an even keel, honest, straight shooting kind of person.

One of two things would happen if they shot Mac in the head. Either he would spend the rest of the episode with a sticking plaster on one side of his forehead because the bad guys had somehow just grazed his forehead, or ... Mac would have died. Then the writers would have had to bring in his identical twin. Or a clone. Or a long-lost son who looked just like him.

Or one of the oesophaguses - sorry, sarcophaguses - from Stargate.

WoW magnificent episode, already had a huge crush, years ago for this one, and seeing it again it had the same effect on me ...

5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️