5-10 Diamond + Quake + Carbon + Comms + Tower

Airdate: March 5, 2021
Written by: Andrew Karlsruher & Andrew Klein
Directed by: Michael Martinez

Guest Cast:
David Dastmalchian (Murdoc)
Joe Pantoliano (Andrews)


While on a mission to hunt down a Codex lead, Mac and the team discover Murdoc (David Dastmalchian) hacked their comms and has recorded them for months. Now, Mac and the team must stop Murdoc, who is working with Andrews (Joe Pantoliano), as they plot to kill thousands and reveal each Phoenix member’s most-guarded secrets.

Hey y'all! How's it going? This should be nice and short as nothing much really happened in this one.

-Mac would do something as dorky as make his own diamond for an engagement ring...and we love him for it.

-Bozer's reaction is all of us (or most of us). Reminds me of when a couple of friends of mine announced their engagement and one of our other friends said "you're joking, right?" It didn't last a year.

-I feel like Mac's manicness in this scene is a tell that this decision was not made in the best frame of mind.

-The return of Big Brother Matty.

-The prodigal son (not Frank Bennett) has returned!

-The complete lack of full disclosure amongst the Phoenix team seems problematic.

-The lack of disclosure from the FBI on Murdoc's escape to what would be one of Murdoc's targets seems...problematic.

-Heckuva boot from Taylor there. Accrington Stanley could use the help.

-How tall is that skyscraper? Like two Mt. Everests?

-Andrews! Oh boy. This isn't good.

-LMAO at Andrews' apparently dyed goatee. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov would be proud.

-Andrews' annoyance with Murdoc is palpable.

-"Why do you have that?" Great question.

-Again, the complete lack of full disclosure amongst the Phoenix team in regards to things they kind of, probably should, ya know, know...seems problematic.

-Also, the way this show just casually kills off cast members/former recurring guest stars is borderline comical...I guess when it's convenient it gets sprung on you both to the characters on the show and the audience.

-All that said, pretty good acting from Justin here.

-Well, this is one way to campaign.

-Mac getting his butt kicked by Murdoc tells me he needs to spend more time in hand-to-hand combat training than creating a diamond lab in his kitchen.

-Double-O Boz to the rescue! Matty and Taylor were being useless, glad someone stepped up.

-"It was his idea." *shrugs*

-That embrace. Emotions aren't a science. Here...we...go?

-Very wise advice from Desi...do whatever you feel is right. Unfortunately, just forgetting the past 24 hours isn't something Mac feels is right, as we'll see.

-We're done with Codex. I hope. Would be nice that this death blow to a dying carcass trying to get up off the mat be final.

-"Bozer, from the bottom of my heart....I SALUTE YOU." Or wait..."I'm sorry." Ugghh. Wanted that OG reference so bad there.

-Hmm. I wonder if they pick up where they left off next week, or just put it on the backburner. Or maybe they'll just randomly kill off another character off-screen (watch your back, Frankie!).

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This was certainly a lot of fun. David Dastmalchian is such a delight in this role and any time he shows up it's a blast. This time he was used more as a conduit to end the Codex arc, but also (and perhaps more importantly) to reveal/move forward some stuff with our Phoenix heroes. Where this will go is anyone's guess, but I hope whichever way they choose to go it's done sensibly and tactfully. Quite frankly, I think our namesake hero deserves it.

Also, I checked into Twitter land and let's just say it was ablaze. While it's nice to see the show generating some kind of buzz, it's also incredibly difficult to take what goes on under the #MacGyver hashtag very seriously. People are strange about their shows to say the least (probably why I only watch a small handful of programs at any given time), and I have to say it actually makes me appreciate that none of them have migrated over here. This community may be small, but I never feel dumber for having joined the discussion here.

Get ready for all the wet bread in the B story, the writers of MacRiley accidentally left their brains on the Paramount mountain

Despite all upcoming episodes since last night being "new", it's still possible they rewrote parts of the scripts for the Season 4 Finale Episodes (421 and 422). I feel like this could have been the Season 4 Finale.

I really don't get why they keep killing off all their recurring characters; especilly off-screen. Yes, the chance of Reign coming back to the show was slim (since she will film another Season of "The Wilds" in New Zealand soon), but who knows? Same goes for George Eads. Lenkov is gone and they have a LA Unit this season so even just a short video call sequence could have been fun if they had asked.

There's four Seasons in between the Frankie episodes and it all worked out fine. It's not uncommon to have guest stars come back years later.

Curious why they never bothered to kill off Cage but maybe that's for next season

Not many recurrings left besides Murdoc, Ethan (Matty's ex) or Riley's parents.

I wonder if Lenkov tried to burn all the bridges or if that was Matalas' input who didn't really have a connection to the caracters before S4 anyway; trying to "spice" things up.

I still think it's a missed opportunity close the door on some of these great guest stars. Maybe they wouldn't have been interested in showing up every other episode, but maybe once or twice a season? Gwen, for example. Maybe Matalas didn't want "his" characters to be left at the hands of other showrunners and writers if he was to leave again...

Preliminary Ratings: http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/articles/the-...d-3-5-2021.html

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I really don't get why they keep killing off all their recurring characters; especilly off-screen. Yes, the chance of Reign coming back to the show was slim (since she will film another Season of "The Wilds" in New Zealand soon), but who knows? Same goes for George Eads. Lenkov is gone and they have a LA Unit this season so even just a short video call sequence could have been fun if they had asked.

There's four Seasons in between the Frankie episodes and it all worked out fine. It's not uncommon to have guest stars come back years later.

Curious why they never bothered to kill off Cage but maybe that's for next season

Not many recurrings left besides Murdoc, Ethan (Matty's ex) or Riley's parents.

I wonder if Lenkov tried to burn all the bridges or if that was Matalas' input who didn't really have a connection to the caracters before S4 anyway; trying to "spice" things up.

I still think it's a missed opportunity close the door on some of these great guest stars. Maybe they wouldn't have been interested in showing up every other episode, but maybe once or twice a season? Gwen, for example. Maybe Matalas didn't want "his" characters to be left at the hands of other showrunners and writers if he was to leave again...

It's the easiest way to cut off those pesky fan questions such as "when is X returning?" Especially when the chances are as you say, slim, of their return.

It's still a bit lazy though.

I just assumed they did ask, and the actors/actresses said they'd never come back, so they got rid of the characters. Monica did say we wanted to wrap up every loose end

I read last night was a series low...in ratings I mean

I don't mind resolving storylines off-screen every once in a while, especially when you maybe can't film certain scenes (e.g. now due to the pandemic). But this show is really lazy regarding this; especially with most of the actors not being unavailable. People dying off-screen left and right; plus relationships starting and ending off-screen.

I think there might be a special task force consisting of Jack, Jill, Leanna, Charlie, Leland plus Cage and Thornton? They all just went undercover

Also, listing them all up just shows that they don't know what to do with female recurrings besides either making them love interests, villains or collateral damage to drive the plot forward. The mail characters seem to have a lot more character development overall.

And they are certainly doing that!

Now, about Jonah Walsh...

I read last night was a series low...in ratings I mean

Haven't seen the finals yet, but it was the lowest number I've seen...as was the rest of the CBS lineup on Friday for that matter.

I know some parts of the country are getting decent weather so maybe folks are headed back outdoors.

Science notes by Tech Consultant Rhett Allain: https://rjallain.medium.com/macgyver-scienc...er-97c1239fd5c1

I called BS about the mass damper causing an earthquake outside the building and to other structures outside, and it seems I was right because the blog doesn't address it.

I read last night was a series low...in ratings I mean

Haven't seen the finals yet, but it was the lowest number I've seen...as was the rest of the CBS lineup on Friday for that matter.

I know some parts of the country are getting decent weather so maybe folks are headed back outdoors.

Or this arts & crafts level of B storyline people are not here for

That might be one of the reasons, but I think a problem is that a lot of the recurring characters are only interesting because of their relationships.

Leanna was defined by being Bozer's girlfriend. She had barely any character development. I don't know anything about her family or her past.

Bozer didn't have any interesting storylines in S4 either. Or at least I don't remember them .

So they had to kill his ex to have at least one reason for him and Russ having a fight (which was resolved within 5 minutes). Season 4 was basically all about relationships. There's simply not enough substance there for storylines outside of their love and family lives; and it's often unnecessary drama. And if there's no family or relationship at the moment (e.g. Bozer), all that's left is to kill someone

I think some viewers might not be interested in that anymore and stopped watching.

Final Ratings: http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/articles/show...s-3-5-2021.html

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That might be one of the reasons, but I think a problem is that a lot of the recurring characters are only interesting because of their relationships.

Leanna was defined by being Bozer's girlfriend. She had barely any character development. I don't know anything about her family or her past.

Bozer didn't have any interesting storylines in S4 either. Or at least I don't remember them .

So they had to kill his ex to have at least one reason for him and Russ having a fight (which was resolved within 5 minutes). Season 4 was basically all about relationships. There's simply not enough substance there for storylines outside of their love and family lives; and it's often unnecessary drama. And if there's no family or relationship at the moment (e.g. Bozer), all that's left is to kill someone

I think some viewers might not be interested in that anymore and stopped watching.

Not to mention everybody just lying to each other and being dishonest with each other for sport

Alright this episode was rather enjoyable, especially since we have Murdoc back. Who seemed to have escaped and the FBI didn't even bothered to notify Phoenix of that. Shame on them. I like the episode and going in blind is always more fun because you don't know what the issues with the episode is until you read the comments. And apparently there is a lot going on but there is also something else. The season just feels all over the place and if this really is the closure of the Codex story...

Look, I have to admit... each episode with David Dastmalchian really lifted the so dreaded reboot up with usually a couple of notches. He's a great Murdoc and he was in 11 episodes. Maybe they brought him back because it needed a lift, maybe they were desperate or out of options or he was their last hope. If there is one thing you can give the reboot credit for it's David Dastmalchian's Murdoc. He gave him his own brand of evil to the character. It's almost like the only character they were able to do at least some honor to.

Now as it turns out, he escaped months ago and has been eavesdropping since and above all it turns out he was part of Codex working with Andrews. Was it too little too late for the story to bring him in? Maybe he wasn't available for season 4, because they could've brought him sooner if he was. But if this is the wrap up for Murdoc, Andrews and Codex in general... they should've finished it in the previous season. Or at least wrote a bigger and better story if Codex wasn't defeated last time and they were in for a rematch, which I absolutely would've supported but they killed off Leland so ingloriously. I think it's also a little disrespectful to the character, loose ends or not. They had Tobin Bell as the main villain and they didn't do anything with him. How cool would it have been if Leland, Andrews and Murdoc were the three big leaders of Codex? And even Mason, even though the scores were settled when Oversight died. That he seemingly was free after all that and mostly after killing Charlie is weird to say the least. Maybe he just wanted to die in loneliness and not having anything else to do with the world, though he would've fitted there.

And speaking of killing off characters. Turns out Leanna has died. When I heard this I was shocked while I couldn't care less about her but I was more shocked in the way of: "They're really killing everybody now." Again, not something I'm opposed against. Except maybe Jill who seemingly died for nothing but I guess it had to do with her partner leaving the show and she went along with it. But I really like Jill, showing that brains and looks do go together. She was hot yet dorky with that glasses and knew her thing around computers too. At least she got killed by Murdoc on screen. But I don't mind if my heroes die or not. This is also the fun part about writing your own shows. You can actually commit murders and crimes through your scripts and actually get away with it too. And there is plenty of characters out there: Riley's parents, Cage, Ethan, Patricia Thornton, Nikki, Penny...

That's why writing is so fun, but if you lose your way as this season seems to get... Season 4 was at least solid in their story telling as I said before: the mystery around the symbol of Codex, who were those people, who is involved, what has Mac's aunt got to do with it, what is File 47, what does Matty know about it, who is Leland and is the team losing faith in MacGyver? Especially his relationship with Desi and the already shaky relationship with Russ is being put to the test. And than they have the audacity to blame him?

Since I mentioned his relationship with Desi... kudos for Mac to make his own engagement ring to pop the big question but is he really going to ask her to marry him? She's not exactly a non-toxic person. She may be a great bodyguard and fighter but she's not relationship material. She's too angry with the world and herself for it but that Riley than suddenly stands at his doorstep that same day for them to become a thing... They should've been a thing for the get go and not have that silly storyline where wanna-be Phoenix-field agent Bozer has to earn every single digit only to realize it won't work between them. Besides, can you imagine how proud Jack would've been to see Mac and Riley become a thing.

If there is just one thing that is becoming slowly painful is that reboot MacGyver can't fight a damn. First it was always Jack, who couldn't leave him alone for two minutes. Now it's Desi having to jump in each time he's taking a punch. There are moments that I thought that he could at least stand his ground and punch a guy out but Murdoc just kicked Mac butt. He really needs to get some fighting training and fast.