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 50 - GX-1

MacGyver and new colleague Nikki Carpenter go undercover as a married couple to look for a crashed experimental plane. But the Soviets are looking for it too… with a psychic!

Votes from October 2006
Poor [ 0 ] [0.00%]
Average [ 0 ] [0.00%]
OK [ 1 ] [7.69%]
Good [ 4 ] [30.77%]
Excellent [ 8 ] [61.54%]
Total Votes: 13

Archived Posts

That and the fact there there are some things that science just can't explain.

Ever seen that show "Medium"? Its based on a real women who relaly does help the police. The whole first season is based on real cases she worked on with police. She actually works as a consultant to the show so they can get it as real to what actually happined as possible.

I watched the entire series on TV Land to begin with and never saw this episode. I recorded them on my DVR so I know that it didn't air. Anybody know why? From what Ive read it doesn't seem like there is anything harmful in it. Does Mac make a bomb or something??

This was one of the "Lost" episodes - ones that were never shown by TVLand. We reasoned that because of the sensitive political nature of the content (at the time the Russians were the BAD guys - and now they are the GOOD guys) we (meaning the US of A) didn't want to insult them. Also never shown were Renegade, Gold Rush and Easy Target - all victims of someone's idea of political correctness. Enjoy them - on the DVDs.

Nikki: Look MacGyver, as soon as I'm finished crossing that border, babysitting you, I'll be in the Aspenhaus.
Pete : -in the meantime- Ohhh, I should've known this wasn't gonna work...
Mac : Babysitting??! Babysitting??? Did you hear what she said, I do not have to be babysat!

Didn't anyone notice the footage from the 1986 movie "Top Gun?"

They used the death scene of Goose!!! His best line in the whole film was: "The Defense Department regrets to inform that your sons are dead because they were stupid!"

I have to admit something: my husband noticed it first!

I vote good still, because I like the relationship between Mac and Nikki. Not one of my favorites though. The best one with Nikki is the Widowmaker.

And I agree with Mac: I would rather have a map, a compass, the coordinates for the plane, and my gear, than a psychic. That stuff is just hokey mumbo jumbo to me.

I love that scene! Nikki was sooo good at pushing Mac's buttons. Nikki seems so calm and MacGyver was throwing a hissy fit. And poor Pete caught in the middle.

But the psychic angle is a bit for me.

One of the better episodes of season 3. I liked interaction between Mac and Nikki and the great scenery. Nature episodes of MacGyver are always good.

The plot was great. It's always good to see psi presented in a positive light. The ending with Starkoss was emotional and showed again this show's positive and humane approach on things it deals with.

Loved that part where MacGyver tells Nikki to jump.

I love the argument at the start with Mac and Nikki.

And poor Pete seeing his fears come to reality.

All in all I really like this episode. It's classic MacGyver.

I now know why I don't really care for Nikki. When Mac told her that she had to jump out of the make shift balloon, she balked that he weighed more the she did, which is true. But Mac made her jump so that the men could even out the weight of the balloon. If she had stayed in the balloon the weight would have been uneven between either her and Starkkos or Mac.

I'm glad that Mac and Nikki showed some compassion towards the dead pilot, and decided to take his dog tags with them. I thought Nikki was kind of stupid at the beginning of the episode when she yelled MacGyver at the top of her lungs.

Just my thoughts.

what do you mean by even out the weight?

How much do think Nikki weights I guess about 118-120 lbs. Mac weights maybe and I'm just guessing 160-165lbs. Starkkos probably between 180-200 lbs. That is what I meant when I said Mac made Nikki jump out of the balloon because the weight distribution would have been more even. If Mac or Starkkos jumped out of the balloon the weight in the basket would've been thrown off.

At the time Mac was 180 pounds. I personally think he made her jump to shut her up. She was being quite a pain in the rear.

Oh Ok.

Hot air balloons baskets don't actually need to be balanced. They are supported by all four corners and because they are hanging under a much larger balloon the physics of the balloon counters any weight change within the basket... hence a single person can travel in a balloon with no counter-weighting required.

I reckon he just wanted to ditch her, and who could blame him?

Yep, or maybe just to wind-her-up even more

It was almost a Murdoc moment with her yelling out something as she fell towards the earth.

I laughed when she turned up and asked "Where's Starkos? Don't tell me you made him jump too??"

Well, she comes running up to Mac "I'm going to tell Pete what you made me do." But he also probably saved her life by making her jump out of the balloon. Something that homemade to me wouldn't look to me to be balanced, and they weren't using a typical basket either they were using an old refrigerator. Who only knows what the bottom of that looked like?

This post has been edited by MacNymph on 6 June 2009 - 09:54 AM

Wasn't basket that old wood-box thing MacGyver and Starkos knocked over and dragged around to the balloon?



As far as being balanced goes, there's a whole scene after Nikki jumps, which has MacGyver and Starkos standing beside each other in the basket, if they where worried about balance they would have stayed on opposite sides, so he must have been purely worried about the weight factor I guess, or just wanting to annoy Nikki as much as he could... or both

Looks like a piece of metal. I had ear phones on and thought I heard Mac say it was some sort of old refrigerator. I look at it like this your weighing an 100lb woman against a 200lb man which way are the scales going to tip. And don't forget they had to cut the gas chambers so the balloon wouldn't hit the tree tops.

I'm remembering something about a fridge being mentioned myself actually...

Yeah ditching Nikki wasn't the best option, but I guess they couldn't push Starkos out cos he's the one they spose to be saving and MacGyver couldn't jump cos he's the "hero", and either of the men jumping wouldn't have had the entertainment value that Nikki's jump had

I just re-watched that scene again, they turn the fridge over and pull the grate off the back of it and then it looks like MacGyver pulls a metal tube out of it, but it doesn't show what he does with it after that, they get side tracked with Starkos talking about MacGyver's mother.

They don't seem to use the fridge for anything else after that.

I still say that he threw her out so he didn't have to listen to her anymore. Pete probably gave him a raise for doing it.

Well, she was signed for multiple episodes, meant to be a love interest for MacGyver but THAT wasn't allowed.

Maybe they were hoping she'd tumble and not want to come back to fulfill her contract.

Best laugh I've had all morning. Nikki to me was just whinny. I can still hear her yelling at Mac. "I'm going to tell Pete that you mad me jump out of that balloon." What man in his right mind would want someone like that as a love interest? And in the end he probably saved her life by making her jump. She could've have caused him serious harm by going into the mountains shouting at the top of her lungs "MacGyver"

That's Nikki all mouth no thoughts.

Very good episode, i love all episodes where Mac is hiking...

Excellent

I love Starcose. Another freak in the freak kingdom. He's a freak just like Mac! In a good way of course. A lot like Clare Bennet, different, special.

Starcose telling MacGyver he could grow to love Nikki and thats when things when down hill for our beloved Nikki , the female fans freaked out and thats when they started sending in letters telling them to get rid of poor Nikki.

This is yet another of those episodes that I like a lot... yet, there are a couple dislikes too.

The plot is interesting--yes, things are so very different now between the Americans and the Russians, but back then, things were ice cold, mildly put. And yes, there *were* indeed a lot of paranormal experiments going on in Russia at the time! Though I doubt there were any measurable results, these kind of experiments are documented, I remember reading about them in "mystery books" when I was younger. You don't have to use much imagination to figure out that the working conditions for the "psychics" could be less then ideal, and they were often pressed to their limits. Hence, Starkoss' character doesn't seem too implausible to me. However, he does come off as bit exaggerated, his acting way too theatrical at times.

And poor Mac... you can really see how the guilt for not being there when his mother died still pains him. Once again, the MacGyver team doesn't really take a stand for or against paranormal phenomena--there might still have been a way Starkoss could have guessed/"cold read" those things about Mac, but it makes you wonder...

In the "Fire and Ice" thread (previous episode), MacBeth (and others) brought up the fact that the writers didn't really know what to make of Nikki's character. In "Fire and Ice," I thought that she had a great potential, and there was a clear motive behind her actions. In "GX-1" she's often way too whimsical, and overly "girlish." While it makes for a wonderful comic relief, it also annoys me at times...

It must be a difficult challenge for the writers to find something that annoys the heck out of Nikki in someone who usually makes friends with everyone... From the look of it, what is supposed to bother Nikki is that Mac is a ladies' man, and that he's solving his task mostly by improvising, not by careful planning (or at least, that's what she thinks).

The argument between Nikki, Mac and Pete in the beginning *is* hilarious, and Mac looks like a defiant little kid when he says "I'm driving Heidi *home*!"
However, she does not strike me as particularly organized as she doesn't even have the right shoes for following Mac along (yes, she was in a hurry, but still, the shoes would have made her walking so much safer, efficient and faster, and she should have known that).

I thought there was an obvious reason that Mac made her jump from the balloon (and wearing the parachute in the first place!). I'm sure he found it quite amusing to make her jump, but he also knew that they might face a situation where it would be safer to jump than actually crash land with the balloon. So it wasn't just to be mean to her!

I have no problem, however, to believe that Starkoss' comment that Mac eventually would come to love Nikki could also mean that he'd love her as a friend.

This would have been another "Excellent" episode for me, had the writers done a better job with Nikki. Now it's a "Good," but a strong "Good."

Having grown up right bang in the icebox of the Cold War, one of the things I enjoy about MacGyver as a 'retro' experience is the fact that that part of my childhood is now history. At the same time, there's a nostalgia for some elements of it: the Bad Government/Good People is more a stereotype than a trope, but it did make for some easily digestible storytelling.

There sure were. And as you said, the show aims for a very careful balance that allows for belief in the fantastic, while still holding its roots in solid reality. Have you ever heard the expression "Keep an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out?" This is a perfect illustration.

If you have a chance, check out Lothithil's story "Sleight of Mind" -- she does some terrific exploration of this, and Starkoss makes an appearance!

Nikki's portrayal in this episode drove me nuts. From the bad German to the bad shoes, and the business with the horse -- the story would have worked well, and been stronger, if she'd been portrayed as competent but out of her element. Instead, she's ridiculous.

Incidentally, did you notice that the final scene of the episode, Mac has no lines? It's a very powerful moment, all the more so because of that -- his role is all silence. It doesn't make up for the lousy writing of Nikki's character, but it's a great bit of scripting.

I think you're dead on with the business of why Mac made Nikki jump -- it was safer for her. In addition, it meant he'd have a few free minutes with Starkoss, to give him complete freedom (and quiet) to decide what he'd do next.

Incidentally, I'm having a lot of fun with these discussions -- thank you! Are you watching on any particular schedule?

I agree with Beth. It's great to see someone going through all the episodes again, and brings up new points of view, and new discussions. It's just that I hardly have time these days to watch ánd comment on the episodes you have reviewed, NightTinkerer, but I will try to, because it's great fun.