5-09 Rails + Pitons + Pulley + Pipe + Salt

Airdate: Feb 19, 2021
Written by: Rob Pearlstein
Directed by: Christine Moore

Guest Cast:
Brandon Quinn (Jace Olson)
Rob Rowland (Finch)
Chris Lindsay (Lieutenant)
Roger Cross (Conor)


When Mac and the team are unable to prevent Department of Defense intel from falling into Codex’s hands, Mac must scale
a vertical cliff using only gear he can cobble together himself to prevent the info’s transmission.

To the small-screen we go!

-We're heading back now. No you're not.

-I love how the "stans" of Central Asia are this show's default "remote" countries.

-As an Aral Sea disaster "snob," I appreciate it playing a role in the story today.

-I am enjoying Bozer's development as an expert situational analyst...certainly a better role for him than field agent.

-The new rule of "always build brakes" is a smart one.

-How did Desi know that the mercs got the hard drive from Mac? There was no communication between the group and Mac until just before that convo.

-Jumper cables are getting a lot of use from our hero so far.

-Some needed character expo on Mac.

-Jack never would have thought that was too many adversaries.

-I'm really bummed that Roman didn't show up as one of the Codex mercs.

-Ooh, this Finch guy is really creepy.

-"Mesophonia" sounds like something really fake people suffer from.

-How does keeping "Princess" as a hostage guarantee safe passage out of Uzbekistan when neither the Codex group nor the Phoenix are anything but foreign entities operating without permission within Uzbekistan and are essentially enemies of the state?

-Riley the Engineer saving the day, er, Desi.

-This Mac pipe-sledding scene is very reminiscent of a scene from the Super Mario Brothers movie from the early 90s. No Joe Satriani "Speed of Light" soundtrack though. Better than Six Flags however.

-Don't RIP Leland.

-It seems like James would have been born earlier than 1969.

-Codex 2.0. This feels like the intended Season 4 finale it was supposed to be. I think. This was 4X20 right? I don't know. I don't know where I am with this Season 5 timeline. Somebody send help.

-That was the last of the Season 4 episodes, correct? I'm desperate to get back on a non-disjointed timeline.

Pretty solid episode. Some much needed emotional growth and exposition for Mac and Desi, and character growth beyond just being a hacker for Riley. Nice to see her solve problems without a laptop at her disposal. Bozer as the force of earnestness for Mac was a good turn as well. Where do we go from here? As mentioned above, this seems like a natural jumping off point for the real Season 5. Will we get something representing the cohesiveness that was the fantastic 13-episode arc of Season 4 now or will things remain kind of all over the place? Stay tuned for scenes from our next story arc...hopefully.

Preliminary Ratings: http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/articles/the-...-2-19-2021.html

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-Exactly what I thought, the Beky's wouldn't care about any of them. But maybe "safe" passage meant for Phoenix not to interfere.

-She might have called Geico to save 15% of Desi, because I'm not sure how she got off those network of pipes and pulls without anyone noticing.

-I feel like Leland isn't dead. Mr Bad Bad Guy got his wet bread put in the toaster that easily?

I remember Justin saying in a S4 interview that he's in the War Room more often; being groomed to take over for Matty.

Though I don't think they're willing to have all three (Russ, Bozer, Matty) in the War Room at the same time too often. I guess Russ will still occasionally join the mission team or one of them being delegated to the B storyline every now and then.

I didn't particularly care for Mac's character this episode. Why is he just now being overprotective? If it was right after Jack's death, and he was visiting Jack's grave at the end, it would have made more sense, but he lost his dad a while ago at this point, and he was fine before this episode.

interesting info by Set Decorator Danny Davila: https://twitter.com/MacAndRiles/status/1363263328676700168

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Final Ratings: http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/articles/show...-2-19-2021.html

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Science notes by Tech Consultant Rhett Allain: https://rjallain.medium.com/macgyver-scienc...lt-8392c501142b

Some of the comments are really throwing me off.

Do you know how many people he lost in less than twenty episodes? His dad, his aunt, Jack, Charlie... That's like one person every 5 episodes. Also they've been through the pandemic and even his friends blamed him that he wasn't there for them while he was trying to take down Codex. Give the guy a break as he realizes how important they are to him. So no wonder he's on edge. Also he had to deal with one of his biggest fears: heights.

Speaking of heights, this was an interesting one. A throwback to Pilot, Eagles and The Widowmaker. Maybe mostly Eagles with his own made climbing gear. Also the bit of him climbing inside the mineshaft reminded me a bit of The Outsiders... and Tomb Raider. He was almost irrationally scared when he had to make the switch to the other wall to climb up, which wasn't that far from him. I was like... Lara Croft would've just made that jump. But than again Lara doesn't have a fear of heights.

Also great to see Desi captured and Riley having to rescue her without a laptop. And I so not hope they killed of Leland just like that. He was too big of a character to do just away with him like that. I don't know yet and whatever the reasons but if I look at season 4 and 5, I still favor season 4 with only six episodes to go yet. The story and the final battle against Codex better takes off soon.