Thanks for the welcomes both.

KiwiTek, Fwiw I also thought it strange that the harness should fail, maybe it was an old bit of kit that hasn't been changed out when it should! I guess they had to find a mechanism to bring about an accident that Mac couldn't prevent or solve to make the story work. So, if that meant a bit of failed kit then so be it.

Climbers are really strict about their safety gear because, after all, their lives depend on it, so even the old harness theory doesn't really work very well.

I would have like to have seen the failure been in the rope. It could have frayed or been cut against a sharp bit of rock as she fell leaving it weakened and then full failure while she hung there. It would have been much more realistic.

Equipment can be checked, double checked, triple checked, etc. Sometimes freak things just happen no matter how many precautions are taken.
Whether fate is real or not, I think that's what this episode is about. And the unexpected things that happen to us as human beings.
It's awful what happens to Mike but that was her fate. Then MacGyver hits "rock bottom" in the land of the living. So he's forced to rise again when Murdoc shows up out of nowhere. And who's the last person he expected help from? Nikki.
Mac takes on a lot in this one: losing someone close to him, isolation, vulnerability, a vengeful nemesis he thought long dead and facing his fear of heights. The whole episode is just a cluster of "are you kidding me?!" moments. That's why it's my favorite.

RyLo10, I read it slightly differently, I don't think it was Nikki that helped, she just provided someone for him to help and I think it could have been anyone in that role. The person that distracted Mac for long enough to realize that the world was still revolving was Murdoc and really neither Mac or Murdoc would have wanted that, I think that's the hidden message in the episode. Though I would have been quite happy for him to cry on my shoulder. ;-)

I think this was the first MacGyver Episode I ever saw, that's why it will always have a special place in my heart.

I guess I was about 8 or 9 years old... long, long time ago ;-)

Overall I really like this episode - although there are some things that seem unlikely - the *only* place they can run is too the top the mountain where a good idea is to free climb? I know it works for the plot but it seems like a terrible plan lol. They had a whole forest, it's not like they had to stay on the path with Murdock chasing them.

Mike's harness clearly snapped accidentally, that made her fall, not her first emotional fall. At the beginning Mac is hanging without worry. The part that frayed looked like it clearly fell with her, so I'm not sure how it was attached to the rope for Mac to find later - but that's nitpicking.

Not a fan of the change of actress for Mike, it makes the character's personality really different, which is frustrating.

it's hard to watch Stallone's movie Cliffhanger without thinking of this one - based on the exact same premise of a harness strap tearing.

Maybe the only way up is through the forrest so they would've ended up there anyway. Besides Murdoc mined the path to the road.

And to watch Die Hard without thinking of Phoenix Under Siege or The Silence of the Lambs without thinking of Deadly Dreams.

You might wonder where these movies got their inspiration from?

And to watch Die Hard without thinking of Phoenix Under Siege or The Silence of the Lambs without thinking of Deadly Dreams.

You might wonder where these movies got their inspiration from?

Right but you can walk through a forest, you don't have to stay on the path, so they could have doubled back around?


It is impressive all those movies came out AFTER MacGyver!

Then it shouldn't have been called The Widowmaker but The Forest or something. The point is Mac had to face his fears while he was on the run from Murdoc.

Well actually there already was a Hannibal Lecter movie released before Silence of the Lambs and the first Die Hard is based on a book release somewhere during that time. Only Die Hard came in 1988 while Phoenix Under Siege was released in 1987.

Oh I get that for the plot he had to conquer the mountain and save Nikki from falling, but I'm just saying it was a little contrived that the only direction they could go was to the top of the mountain - also its unusual the cabin would be at the top and not the bottom of the mountain - they were going through forest and all of a sudden they were at the top!

I know this isn't a popular response to this episode, but I'll say it....I don't think it's that great.

The helicopter shots are probably my favorite parts of the episode

The episode seemed all over the place, Nikki and Pete trying to comfort Mac which is certainly understandable,

The murdoc scene with the flame thrower and log cabin are good, but everything else about the episode just doesn't do it for me....the melodrama with Mike and her reaction to Mac pushing back seems very juvenile..

Nikki climbing at the end is insane, that's Expert level climbing and it seems like she has zero experience , even Mac doesn't seem very experienced! when we see him climbing with mike

I'd rate it 6.5 /10

I used to feel similar. The character drama is a bit much. But most of all Murdoc has always seemed like out of a different genre to me. Still this and Strictly Business are the only Murdoc episodes I unequivocally like. Because they're in the woods the whole time I guess.

As an in-universe aside, we now know that it's a very bad idea to ask people to be in a relationship when they're in a distress situation. It's very tragic, for one

Nikki prescribing meanness to MacGyver's PTSD we now know is outright cruel, and back then it felt more like a plot device than something that would come out of the story.

Why it works is because the episode doesn't hinge on those things. It's just them in the woods. And once it's in the Murdoc situation both MacGyver and Nikki are back to being their regular characters. Oh and their situations are not comparable, and if anything that adds to MacGyver's problems, but you know, just in a drama sense.

Oh and The Harrison Cue is wonderful. It should have won a Grammy. Or be remixed into a regular length Detroit Techno type song. It's incredibly late 80s autumn.