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I love Bitter Harvest. Labor issues don't get much attention in the U.S. media, and heaven knows that workers are still fighting for basic rights in some industries.
I love how Mac just sort of got swept up in the protest at the beginning, and then wound up working with the farmworkers. I also liked how Mac's curiosity paid off yet again, when he discovered just what kind of chemicals the growers were using, and when he figured out who had committed the murder.
My favorite scene, though, has to be the final one, where Mac is driving out of town, and passes a busload of workers on his way, and they see him and they all cheer. Great ep that underlines the show's constant theme of how one person can make a difference.
BTW, Rocky, glad to see the forums beginning to be restored. Thanks for all your hard work on this issue!! And at the *%#* that took us down!
Do not pity the dead. Pity the living, and above all, those who live without love. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
You don't eat things like that, you call pest control! Kate in The Gauntlet
What's that? Lateral... cranial... impact... enhancer. *whack* Last Stand
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Yes- "Bitter Harvest" is a great episode. There are some really cool MacGyverisms - like escaping from the tank- and some intense scenes- like when MacGyver gets thrown through the glass. And the main theme of MacGyver getting involved to help strangers in what he knows is right- and make a statement against illegal pesticides. MacGyver is always that Good Samaritan- and I love that about him! It's a great episode, as all are.
And it's ironic that this episode is the one we're discussing, because I think maybe quite a few of us are feeling pretty "bitter" about this "harvest" of crashes!
But it'll get better- and we'll make it! (As I'm sure MacGyver would tell us!)
And it's ironic that this episode is the one we're discussing, because I think maybe quite a few of us are feeling pretty "bitter" about this "harvest" of crashes!
believe me.. "Bitter" doesn't even come close to how I feel.
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Season: season 5
Episode:Serenity, Passages, Humanity
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Good on the excellent episode. Top scenes: the first scene with the shots of MacGyver driving the car, the fight, the chase in the fields, the last fight, MacGyver thrown through the windows.
QUOTE
And it's ironic that this episode is the one we're discussing, because I think maybe quite a few of us are feeling pretty "bitter" about this "harvest" of crashes!
I love that cynicism.
QUOTE
believe me.. "Bitter" doesn't even come close to how I feel.
I do. But we couldn't prevent that, we never saw it coming.
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.
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Season: season 5
Episode:Serenity
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Excellent ep! A real MacGyver White Knight episode!
One of the (many) things I loved about this ep was the fight scene, when Mac jumps into the fray to help Tony (who he doesn't even know yet) from getting beaten in a two-on-one. When the cop cuffs Mac and force him to sit down, you can see the fury on his face. A real adrenaline moment for our dear Mac!
I also love the scene where Silva is telling Mac about the worker who died because of the pesticide exposure... while Mac's still feeling sick after getting sprayed!
"Well, I feel MUCH better now... THANKS!"
So much sarcasm... it's like candy!!
Everyone, sometimes, needs a camel.
Old troubleshooters never die... They just wait til the last moment and then rescue themselves!
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Season: season 2
Episode:Humanity
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Definitely an excellent episode! I like how Mac finds a cause (well...how causes find him) even when he's not on the job. If we all looked out for our fellow people like Mac does, the world would be a hugely better place!
Great scenes already mentioned...I love the chase through the field...Mac getting sprayed! and then coughing all the time...Poor guy's always getting shot up, beat up, knocked out and just generally having his well-being threatened because he's so sure the world can be a better place if he just does something. Gotta love 'im!
"It's amazing what one can do when one doesn't know what one can't do." Garfield the Cat
"Another day, a whole 'nother set of fresh possibilities. I'm a sucker for mornings." MacGyver
I voted "average". This is not one of my favorite episodes because it's too 'preachy' for me. I much prefer the earlier seasons to 6 and 7 though there are some great episodes in each
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I fond the pre crash responses. You'll need to vote again though people.
QUOTE (MacGyverGod Oct 28 2006 @ 09:48 PM )
I voted good on this actual excellent episode. This is way better then MacGyver's Women. The way it opens is great, those first shots of him driving the car with that background music are cool. Then when he joins into the protesting and the fighting. Followed by one of my favourite action scenes where Tony gets killed and MacGyver hit down with the shotgun and of course the whole investigation and the second fight against that big guy throwing MacGyver through windows. This is one of the better episodes especially after the last one. Not as good as Humanity or The Wall or Lesson in Evil but a really enjoyable one.
QUOTE (Mac Oct 29 2006 @ 02:30 AM )
At last! Bitter Harvest is my favourite MacGyver episode and the ep I’d show to anyone who wonders why I love this show, and this character, so much.
The plot is classic later-season MacGyver, where he stumbles into a situation instead of being assigned to it. Because of the kind of man he is, a gentle, caring, and decent man, he allows himself to be swept up in the tragedy that clouds the lives of the poor pickers he meets. Even though he is assaulted early on in the episode, it’s made clear that it’s not for himself that he fights, but rather for those who cannot fight for themselves.
What is revealed about MacGyver in this episode is many-fold. In the scene after little Nathalie is told that her father has been murdered, we see MacGyver outside, looking sad and heartsick. He has only known these people a few short days and yet he can bleed with them. Carmen, the widow, barely knows this man, but reaches out to him for comfort, and finds it.
Throughout the episode, the effects of his brutal assault are visible—he is weak and sick, and does not try to hide it. We see here that MacGyver is just a man, a very brave man, yes, but just a man. No one watching this episode would be led to believe that MacGyver is written as some sort of bionic superhero who bleeds but feels no pain.
What else does this episode tell us about MacGyver? Using ordinary objects like sunglasses and nail polish remover, he is able to determine that a chemical is an illegal fertilizer. From that we can deduce that he is well versed in chemistry and keeps up to date on matters pertaining to the environment. It also tells us that he makes do with what he has in order to achieve his goals. His dirty, broken fingernails give testament to his willingness to do hard work.
There’s another reason I love this episode: Caspar Kasabian. He is set up to be a villain and turns out not to be one. He is actually a decent man capable of change and willing to sacrifice profit—and his son—to improve the lives of those who make his empire possible. How refreshing!
Last, there is the episode’s incredible score, a melancholic lament that is perfectly suited to the episode’s sad theme.
For all the reasons I’ve mentioned, ‘Bitter Harvest’ is hands down my favourite MacGyver episode.
Mac
QUOTE (Macs Lab Rat Oct 29 2006 @ 02:54 AM )
I enjoyed this episode. The plot kind of morphed in to Log Jam with MacGyver going in as a worker to try to uncover the vital information that Tony(Bitter Harvest) / Lopez (Log Jam) had, but were killed before they could tell anyone. Still, it was a really good episode and one that I watch a lot.
QUOTE (MacGyverGod Oct 29 2006 @ 02:59 AM )
QUOTE
The plot is classic later-season MacGyver, where he stumbles into a situation instead of being assigned to it. Because of the kind of man he is, a gentle, caring, and decent man, he allows himself to be swept up in the tragedy that clouds the lives of the poor pickers he meets. Even though he is assaulted early on in the episode, it’s made clear that it’s not for himself that he fights, but rather for those who cannot fight for themselves.
That's why I said I liked those first shots of him driving the car. What do you see? A decent man, driving around, to spend a night or a weekend in another town to get his car fixed.
QUOTE
QUOTE What is revealed about MacGyver in this episode is many-fold. In the scene after little Nathalie is told that her father has been murdered, we see MacGyver outside, looking sad and heartsick. He has only known these people a few short days and yet he can bleed with them. Carmen, the widow, barely knows this man, but reaches out to him for comfort, and finds it. Throughout the episode, the effects of his brutal assault are visible—he is weak and sick, and does not try to hide it. We see here that MacGyver is just a man, a very brave man, yes, but just a man. No one watching this episode would be led to believe that MacGyver is written as some sort of bionic superhero who bleeds but feels no pain.
This is also very true. MacGyver simply cares for his co-human beings.
QUOTE (MacGyver Oct 29 2006 @ 03:56 PM )
I went with excellent on "Bitter Harvest". I think this is definitely the kind of thing I like to see MacGyver doing. It's true that many will complain that MacGyver didn't go on as many missions for the Phoenix Foundation in later seasons- (though an argument could be made that MacGyver arranged with Pete for a personal mission like this to count toward his Phoenix fieldwork) In any case, since that scenario's probably unlikely- it's so awesome to see MacGyver stopping to help someone who needs help when he could have very easily walked away from the whole thing. As Pete said in "Partners"- "90% of people are smart- they see trouble and run. 10% are like you- can't resist cleaning up the mess." (or something to that effect.) And MacGyver is definitely a Good Samaritan. It wasn't even necessarily his "duty" to help the Garcias- (as in a job for Phoenix) but MacGyver saw them and had compassion and wanted to help. So as much as I enjoy MacGyver doing his more "secret agent" type missions- I also enjoy seeing MacGyver take on missions of mercy, as it were. And there are some pretty classic and shattering scenes here- particularly when MacGyver gets thrown through the glass! And another cool factor- MacGyver wears his classic bomber jacket! And MacGyver readily pitches in and gets dirty to help the field workers- it's great to see himalways ready to do that- it shows his humility- which I think he also had a good degree of. And of course, the issue of illegal pesticides is certainly a timely issues that is good to see being dealt with on a TV show. It's one of the ways TV shows can really make a difference in social conscious. I know most people don't want to see a "TV-movie of the week" episode all the time- (as some might call it)- but they are necessary episodes that make MacGyver relevant to people today. And I particularly loved the MacGyverisms- making a homemade spectroscope- and especially escaping from the tank! That was great!
So yeah- it's definitely an excellent episode of MacGyver!
QUOTE (Astra Oct 29 2006 @ 09:17 PM )
It is. Actually I wanted to stay out of the episode discussions till I had the DVDs and could rewatch every episode before, but I think I can make an exception here. Since this is one of the episodes that I clearly remember in detail (especially him getting poisened) and liked very much (and yeah, I like this kind of episodes more than the others).
And I never will understand why he sticks the tip of the into the barrel with the poison and then tastes it. I was like "Eeeeewwwww" when I saw that for the first time.
QUOTE (MacGyverGod Oct 30 2006 @ 06:14 AM )
I think it's neat that when he goes in there with his knife he gets one clean drop right on his knife. But don't put that maple syrup on your pancakes.
I wouldn't, but I just don't understand why someone would put something that he knows to be poisonous into his mouth to test whether or not it really is poisonous?
I wouldn't, but I just don't understand why someone would put something that he knows to be poisonous into his mouth to test whether or not it really is poisonous?
Same reason people always ask you to "taste this" when they think something tastes bad ( as in spoiled ) I guess
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QUOTE (Astra @ 9 November 2006 - 10:53 AM)
QUOTE (MacGyverGod @ Nov 2 2006, 12:36 PM)
But don't put that maple syrup on your pancakes.
I wouldn't, but I just don't understand why someone would put something that he knows to be poisonous into his mouth to test whether or not it really is poisonous?
He doesn't taste it. He sees the label and says, "Maple syrup?" Then he opens the container and takes a little on his knife, and sniffs at it. Then Silva says something equally skeptical, and Mac says to him, "Well, I wouldn't want to put it on my pancakes."
Do not pity the dead. Pity the living, and above all, those who live without love. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
You don't eat things like that, you call pest control! Kate in The Gauntlet
What's that? Lateral... cranial... impact... enhancer. *whack* Last Stand
He doesn't taste it. He sees the label and says, "Maple syrup?" Then he opens the container and takes a little on his knife, and sniffs at it. Then Silva says something equally skeptical, and Mac says to him, "Well, I wouldn't want to put it on my pancakes."
Yeah, thanks, I recently watched it again and also noticed that he just sniffed. To me it always looked as if he touched the knife's tip to his lip (as you taste cocaine to tell if it is or it is not the real stuff). Maybe it's only a bad camera angle.
This is still one of my favourite episodes. I don't mind Mac going into trouble by accident, rather than at assignments, I think this one was made pretty well. Of course he would stay to help and not just drive away. Plus this is a still an acute issue, there are still people working in fields (doesn't matter whether it's vine or vegetables or fruits) surrounded of poison and we eat all that poison later, also.
I have to admire Mac's determination - if I had gotten sprayed as he got, without knowing exactly what it would do and what the long term suffering would be, I immediately would have left to get the best doctor ever, from the Phoenix foundation even maybe, but he doesn't care for his own health at this point.
That is the difference between a hero (Mac) and a sissy (me).
I think anyone with half a brain in real life would be heading for a shower at the very least. Leaving a unknown spray on your skin any longer than absolutely necessary isn't very smart at all.
One could argue that he may have known what the spray was (maybe he saw the containers earlier in the day or any number of possibilities) and new that it wasn't going to have any long term effects.
but if he didn't then I think there comes a point where heroism becomes stupidity. He's not going to be much use to anyone if he's on a life support machine because the poison has absorbed through his skin and caused his organs to shut down.
I guess thats the joy of fictional heroes.. they can take risks that real people can't or shouldn't.
Well, it was not shown how he got from the field into the bed. Kinda difficult taking a shower when you're unconscious. I always figured the woman had bathed/cleaned him as best as she could, while he was out of it.
I was more concerned about what he might have breathed in. He did cough a lot. But maybe he figured, if the people in this area live with this for years (and are still alive)... I can see him being somehow reluctant to use all the good medicine and doctors if so many other people don't have access to it.
Consider that this show was filmed and released in 1990, which I don't know whether the concept of organic farming exists at that time, but after 18 years and with so many people talking about environmental protection and organic farming, would it be sad to know there are still people exposing themselves to harmful pesticides/chemicals nowadays?
Perhaps that's why this show never look outdated to me.
I liked this episode a lot and voted excellent. It really shows how one person, or corporation can screw up so many lives and the enviroment. I really liked how when Mac was passing the bus in the final scene the workers waved their hats, and one was even seen floating around in the road way.
Seems like MacGyver and it's writers were ahead of their time, when they wrote this episode.
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excellent episode, probably one of my top 3. as you can see from my profile pic just perfect from the beginning to the end, also love so much the musics. filmed so many years ago and still so actual? yes. if i based my degree thesis on persistent organic pollutants, i must say i should thank mac to let me know about this.
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Hmm... I've been kicking around an idea for a fanfic sort of like this eppy for quite a long time, except focused more sharply on the union organizing itself. I have some good stuff from my own experience that I could bring in, and of course, I'd use the character who was my own creation in my first fic. Now that I'm out of school, I might actually have time to do some writing again!
Do not pity the dead. Pity the living, and above all, those who live without love. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
You don't eat things like that, you call pest control! Kate in The Gauntlet
What's that? Lateral... cranial... impact... enhancer. *whack* Last Stand
It's a good story and (sadly) still relevant in so many places. I like the way Mac can't resist helping, no matter where he is or what he was doing at the time.
I also like the fight scenes, especially when Mac thumps the really big guy and sees it has no effect whatsoever. His 'Oh, MAN!' expression is priceless! Poor guy gets thrown through not one but two glass panels for his trouble too
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QUOTE (dinoman @ 1 October 2008 - 12:40 AM)
Consider that this show was filmed and released in 1990, which I don't know whether the concept of organic farming exists at that time, but after 18 years and with so many people talking about environmental protection and organic farming, would it be sad to know there are still people exposing themselves to harmful pesticides/chemicals nowadays?
Perhaps that's why this show never look outdated to me.
It did exist. I have clear memories of belonging to an organisation named WWOOF (then "Working Weekends on Organic Farms", now I think it is "Willing Workers on Organic Farms"). I did one weekend on a biodynamic farm in 1989 and another weekend on an organic smallholding in 1990 and then one more weekend on the biodynamic farm. Then I got a bit side-tracked.
Hi I am a big Mcgyver fan and a big tractor fan.The make of tractor I am into is Fendt they were made in west Germany. The question I have is why did they use a Fendt tractor in bitter harvest does anyone know in the height of the Cold War and not a John Deere.Does anyone know where this tractor is now thanks?
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I voted good, although considering it's season 6, it might be worth an excellent - now that I'm watching season 6 lately, I think I might actually prefer it to season 5. I love that his look changed back to more old school Mac - the hair, bomber jacket, etc...
Loved Mac jumping in and getting arrested at the beginning - how many times has Mac been arrested now?