Yeah, but Mac wouldn't want a desk job.

Good point, but at sometime every one MUST grow up. Maybe SAM showing up in Mac’s life was the adult in Mac wake up call?

Still, I'd like to remember MacGyver as an adventurer, without any strings attached. Not even a stringer. (Get it...? Was trying to be funny here for a sec, my apologies )

I absolutely hated "The Stringer." On so many, so, so, many multi-faceted, multi-layered, multi-leveled levels.

I dislike the premise itself and I also dislike the clumsy, stretching, overreaching way the premise was carried out. Yeah I know, much of the entire series may be a stretch, but this really takes the (elaborately frosted, hard-to-swallow) cake for sure. Inconsistencies abound in this episode, and if you're not even sold on the plotline in the first place, glaring flub-ups can be just that much more irritating.

Firstly, it takes a very "special" kind of lady to not tell a man he is going to become a father, no matter what her reasoning may be. And by "special", I mean conniving and self-serving. And this is no abusive loser-type bum she has tried to prevent from having a relationship with her child, it's MacGyver. MacGyver!!! Let's keep it real here, Kate Molloy. I'm not even gonna lie, if I were going to have a child with MacGyver, I would be taking out a full-page ad in the New York Times just to announce it. I would guess that many ladies would feel the same. Kate's reasoning, as related by Sam, of deciding not to tell MacGyver because she thought he was too young or adventurous or whatever lame rationale she had, is patently bogus, and screamingly unethical. If MacGyver decided not to take a role in his son's life because he thought his wanderlust would not be conducive to good parenting, than that would be his choice to make I guess. An unfortunate, immature choice I highly doubt Mac would make, but it would be his chioce nonetheless. Kate had no right to make that kind of decision for him. I can't imagine how enraged I would be if someone had a child with me and didn't even give me the chance or choice to be a part of the child's life. (Probably medically impossible, but hypothetically, I'd be really annoyed! )

The sheer coincidence of MacGyver and Sam's chance reunion is a little hard to take, and when Sam whips out the old cliche'd locket I just have to laugh out loud. ("Little Orphan Annie", anyone?)

Next, MacGyver indicates that he was aware of Kate's untimely demise when he concurres with Sam about Kate being "shot while resisting arrest." Now how in the hell could MacGyver have learned about Kate's death, without also learning that she had a son?! Seems very strange. Seems like whoever informed him of her death would have also mentioned that she left behind an orphaned child, who was now missing (!) in red China no less. And if he learned of her death by some sort of covert researching on his part, it seems like he would have also come accross some information indicating that she had a child.

Also, I can't think of any mother I know who would put her child in harm's way like Kate did, by dragging him with her on assignment to a dangerous country not receptive to photojournalist Americans. Was there any other way, Kate? A nanny? Surely something! Ridiculous. (It also brings to mind a double standard as well. If she thought MacGyver was too adventurous and un-settled-down in his life to be a father, then why didn't she apply the same standard to her own life, and just give the child up for adoption?)

A 9-year old child trekking through China alone and surviving? Absurd.

I wonder if the friends of Kate who ultimately took the responsibility of raising Sam, and I can only assume, had to support him financially as well, were ever resentful that their "friend" Kate never revealed to them who her child's father was. (although I suppose if you're old enough to travel through China alone, maybe Sam was also employed and making his own money then. )

And as far as MacGyver readily accepting Sam as his son, um, just a word to MacGyver...if a woman is so scandalous as to hide the fact of your child from you, you may want to check up on the veracity of her claims with...I don't know? A paternity test? I would need more proof than a cheesy locket, hazy recollections, and some fuzzy math before I would ride off into the sunset with anyone. The fact that Sam's middle name is Angus doesn't prove a thing.

Pete also seems nonplussed by the news. Or if not nonplussed than at least suspiciously cheerful and too readily accepting for this kind of shocking news.

Although I don't for one second believe that MacGyver was a 40-year old virgin, I do believe that he was a man of high integrity, and for some reason, this episode kind of unsettles that for me. A father not knowing that he has a child for nearly two decades just has negative connotations for me, no matter what the circumstances.

MacGyver leaving Pete at the end was just wrong, wrong, wrong. If anyone should have rode off with MacGyver it should have been Pete, the character we have so much history with.

I don't aknowledge this as the series finale and I have done everything I can short of hypnotherapy to erase it from my mind. To me "The Mountain of Youth" is the real series finale. When Jack says at the end "You don't mess with perfection Mac. It's bad karma." That to me is a metaphor for the show, and the way it should have ended. I only wish the show would have taken Jack's advice not to mess with perfection when they hatched the flaky plan to give MacGyver a son.

Sorry I got so into this. But I kind of joined MOL to get "so into this."

You rose a few very good points here, Devon. One can't do much than just agree to them.

Especially this one. I also often thought about it and I think it would make for some really good fanfictions, him thinking about all the things he missed, he never had a chance to experience like the first words, the first steps, the first... I really feel sad for Mac thinking about it like this.

But despite all of that I have to say that I like this episode. I like to see the two of them together, and the father-to-son-speeches, and all the changes SAM brings to Mac's life. I also like his uncertainty at first. Maybe the reason for me liking it is because I somehow mixed the real life into it. When I saw the episode for the first time (at least, the first time I remember) I already knew about Rick's life with his little daughter, and how much she has altered his life, and how happy he is about it and so I think about this episode as kinda related.

As I also did when seeing the scene with Jack and the little baby and the cradle made out of icehockey-sticks and when Mac asked, if maybe that's what you need in life? He was very thoughtful in this scene.

And why should he not change someday? Even Mac finally would become older, less adventorous and then it's nice that he's not alone, that he has some family left. Someone he can be there for, can care about. Someone to give his life some other meaning.

I like that thought!

Is that really a word? Then I just happened to find just another German word that made it over to America

Maybe she never got the chance. Who knows after the Brazil assignment, the assignments came flooding in? Maybe she tried to reach him but he was never available. They both travel around the world, than it's no wonder you can't keep in touch. And there were no cell phones back than. Maybe she didn't expected to end up pregnant. Maybe MacGyver didn't want children on that age and when she appeared to pregnant, she could've been scared to tell him so afraid that he might take off or something. On that age it could be all confusing.

Oh, please, God help us all!!!

Can you over react more? Read the above.

He didn't know and she didn't do anything. As I said maybe she tried to reach him, but he was maybe unavailable. Maybe she got so sucked up into her work, that she had to leave Sam with her friends.

No thanks.

She hid Sam and why do you think she would do that? If the soldiers knew she had a kid, they probably killed him too. Maybe they knew she had a kid and looked for him but didn't find him. Running and hiding just like MacGyver did in GX-1. And if Sam has aspects of his father, you know he wouldn't let himself get caught by the soldiers or by any other sorts of authorities. I think it's very easy to blend into the Chinese crowds.
Besides he was probably told Kate was killed in China. This I presume was told to Mac by her employer. Her employers probably didn't know she took Sam along.

Maybe she wanted to spend some time with him and decided to take him along on an assignment to show him what his mommy's been doing. You don't know what happened, all we know is she got shot for resisting arrest. Maybe she was in China for whole different reason. She was doing her assignment, than probably discovered a few interesting things about probably their government (since she got shot by soldiers), she got caught and things got out of hand. She hid Sam and got killed.
And on your last sentence, read the above again.
Maybe she didn't give up the child for adoption because it was MacGyver's kid. I'm sure if you were in Kate's shoes, you wouldn't even consider it either. "Because it's MacGyver's kid".

Absurd maybe but not impossible.

Who says she didn't? She could've told them what she wanted. That she was artificial inseminated, for instance.

I can't believe what I'm reading. Maybe Kate never had the chance to tell him so. We'll never know what really happened, we'll always have to keep on guessing. When they saw each other, Sam really seemed to know who he met and later on both men seemed to really know they were talking about the same woman and we caused her demise.
And maybe the paternity test was done in the period between what happened on the ship and before they left into the sunset. If MacGyver's really was broken, he sure wouldn't be riding his bike the very next day. At least 6 to 8 weeks must've passed for his arm to be fully healed.

Maybe, maybe not.

On the virgin stuff, I agree. But further you never know. I wonder if mine knows. And I mean this seriously. If he does, he never showed it.

On that you're maybe right. Resigning because you wanna take some time off with your son. I'm sure they would be gone for a long time, let's say at least two months but, resigning there for. Than again, he resigned for the same reason he never got commited during his time. That his loved ones might die for the work he does. This doesn't mean all his enemies are gone. Murdoc's still out there and he will come back and if Jack shows up again and drags him into one of his crazy adventures. OK that doesn't mean Sam has or wants to come along, all Jack need is Mac.

No comment.

Yeah me too.

Especially this one. I also often thought about it and I think it would make for some really good fanfictions, him thinking about all the things he missed, he never had a chance to experience like the first words, the first steps, the first... I really feel sad for Mac thinking about it like this.

Thank you Astra, and the things you just wrote about MacGyver missing his son's first steps, etc., are exactly the thoughts I was thinking as well. I'm not opposed to MacGyver ever settling down and having kids, I just kinda didn't want to see it in this unsettling, hard-to-believe way with Sam. If they would insist on Mac becoming a father, I would have liked to see MacGyver have a child in a more satisfying way...like oh, say...with Nikki? (She is the only female on the show I thought was perfect for Mac!) That way, he would have been around for all the "firsts", and it would be much more organic and believable. I realize the show was ending and I imagine they didn't have time or perhaps inclination to get into a long, drawn-out, if more believable storyline...but to that I say: harumph! And ! And one of these things too

I honestly just wish the series would have just ended with Mac and Pete going on some kind of last adventure together. That way my last glimpse of MacGyver would be frozen in my mind like how I knew him from the show. He and Nikki could have kids long after the show ended I guess, when world peace had been accomplished and Mac realized there were no more missions to go on...

In my previous post I did not want to sound down on the show, or hating on the show...it's precisely because I love the show so much that I was personally disappointed in the ending. I thought the hero and cast I had grown to love deserved a better send off.

Astra, "wanderlust" has officially made it into the vernacular of American english. I'm into 2 other German words that have come over into english..."zeitgeist" like when we say it it means like the climate or spirit of a place, and "schadenfruede" like to be happy at someone's misfortune. These words are fun to say! But if I say words like this too often my friends will call me a eurotrash witch and give me the silent treatment until I stop. But only they don't say witch, it's something rhyming.

That would still like take a long time.

Unfortunately.

Maybe she never got the chance. Who knows after the Brazil assignment, the assignments came flooding in? Maybe she tried to reach him but he was never available. They both travel around the world, than it's no wonder you can't keep in touch. And there were no cell phones back than. Maybe she didn't expected to end up pregnant. Maybe MacGyver didn't want children on that age and when she appeared to pregnant, she could've been scared to tell him so afraid that he might take off or something. On that age it could be all confusing.

MG, I must respectfully say that this line of reasoning is so weak. I had my son while a teenager in high school and I didn't find it that confusing, really. I even managed to tell the father!

And Kate had 9 years in which to tell him. I have never heard of a case where the woman was too busy with work or travelling to notify the father of her child that she is expecting. She may have been busy with her carreer, but you would think telling Mac would have been a priority. And as to how she would have gotten word to him: "where there's a will, there's a way." Back in the days before cell phones, people still routinely found ways to communicate with one another. Mail, telephone, telegram, secret message, airplane with a banner reading "MacGyver! You're my baby's daddy!"...the possibilities were limited only by Kate's imagination. It seems the recovery period after giving birth would have easily given super-busy Kate ample time to write a letter, at the very least.

I think alot of your explanations are just fantastical thinking, but then again that may point to your opinions being more correct than mine, because it is kind of a "you must suspend your disbelief" kind of show, in some aspects. I can tolerate a show taking creative liberties to make things more interesting, but at it's core I prefer that a show's plot is at least somewhat believable, and this plot just wasn't at all believable for me. I feel when writers have such blatant inconsistencies and flimsy storylines, they are assuming that I, the viewer, am stupid, and will swallow anything.

There is no shame in admitting that maybe the writers didn't give "The Stringer" enough thought. As I mentioned before, I'm sure all parties involved were tired, and perhaps they were just anxious to wrap up the show. I would imagine that the writers themselves would be the first to tell you that the finale was not the masterpiece it could have been. And if any of them are sticking to their guns all these years later, saying it was the best finale they could have possibly done, then God bless them.

MG I could provide a line-by-line rebuttal of nearly everything you said above, but when it comes down to it, we have both said our piece, and what would be the point other than to disagree endlessly (which I'm sure we could manage to do! ) And as I have mountains of laundry to fold, and errands to run, I will say I respect your passion as a fan, and I will let you have the last word.

Don't be sorry, thats what MOL is here for. Dig in.

This is probably my biggest grip.

After everything MacGyver and Pete have been through.. he seems way to callous about leaving.

When Pete says about he can't imaging not having MacGyver around, MacGyver seems to just blow him off with a "oh well how cares" kind of response.

That whole scene is just too TOO wrong for me.

The long lost son, I can suspend my disbelief and live with, although I'm inclined to agree with most of the points made.

It was wrong to introduce a long lost son.

Don't be sorry, thats what MOL is here for. Dig in.

Oh I'm digging in and loving it!

I too would have liked to see Mac riding off into the sunset with Pete - on one last adventure... but realistically, it was unlikly that Pete could still be functioning as a field agent at this point. I found season 7 to be very sad in that respect, not the way I envisioned the end of Mac would be. I especially liked the episodes in previous seasons dealing with the close working and personal relationship of these two men who obviously had the utmost respect for each other's abilities, and sensibilities. The "Good Night MacGyver" episodes kinda finished that out for me. Sam was OK I guess, but kind of a cop out for Mac. How convenient that, just at a focal point in his life, Mac finds his long lost son, and now he has a new direction to take. "...Deux ex machina..." A happy accident? or fate? You decide...

You guys just brought up something that was irking the heck out of me. For some reason I didn't know what it was and you just put the finger on the sore spot:

Mac leaving Pete behind. That's so off!

I always end up crying at the end of this episode and it's because of 2 things:
the end of MacGyver (the series)
and Pete being left behind. I could never leave my best friend. (especially after having been through so much and when he depends on me so much -he's almost completely blind-)

It's not that he's taking a little vacation, he's really leaving. Big time. End. Period. End of sentence.

I didn't quite realise what was so off to me, thank you for bringing this up! Now I know!!

First time for everything!

I just tried to look at it from the creative side.

Yeah, same here. Enjoy your folding and running!!!

Like he said: 'It was bound to happen!" And actually he didn't lie, the end was closing in.

You know, that is something I find hard to believe. I understand you want to gain your time in with your son and that your leaving for a couple of months on your bikes into the sunset for a new adventure. But I'll never believe he wouldn't come back.

I haven’t got an issue with MacGyver riding off with Sam and amn’t bothered about him leaving Pete. Its not like they were married, dependant on each other or living together or anything. We only see them together in a few episodes and unless MacGyver spent every single second with him outside the episodes how do we know they even spent a huge amount of time together? I’m not saying they weren’t good friends but I don’t see a problem with someone saying goodbye to a good friend for a while so he can spend time with his son. Friends part ways often. I hardly see my best friend but we are still best friends and keep in touch and visit each other in the holidays. I’m sure I’m not the only one in that kind of situation. It’s sad when someone you love leaves but they both have thier own lives to lead and I’m sure he kept in touch with Pete and came back to visit.
I like that MacGyver has re-evaluated his life on hearing Sam is his son and is investing his time in to getting to know Sam. I also like the idea of MacGyver and son travelling and finding adventures.
I still have a problem with this Kate suddenly appearing in MacGyvers past and the fact she didn't tell him about Sam - its all so convenient but a lot of things are in MacGyver episodes. It’s as though they were scripted!

Absurd maybe but not impossible.

Without speaking the language at all or having any money? I also always doubted that, sorry.

That's true, I also never felt this last scenes as if it would be forever. Surely he would come back some day.

It's especially funny since Mac and Jack have used that method themselves!!!

Mac

Actually, to commit adultry one person or the other must be married. Now, we all have our own feelings about sex before marriage but that is a different issue than adultry. It's just...sex before marriage. And actually it was strongly implied on at least two other eps I remeber when he was trapped in Afganistan, that he slept with the lady who sheltered him (portrayed by Persis Khambatta) and that he slept with the photographer who later married someone else. It's not so unusual to sleep with people but the tired cliche of a child you didn't know about, while it can happen, IS a sucky way to end the show. I was disappointed we only got a partial last season, too.

Pete had a son from an early marriage, a marriage that failed because of his sense of duty to his work and his country.

Jack had a moment when he thought that he had become a father.

Jesse Colton found out that he had fathered a child 15 years ago during the Viet Nam war.

Then MacGyver discovers that 20 years ago he also has fathered a son, but he didn't know about him because SAM's mother decided that Mac wasn't 'ready' to become a father.

This is not rehashing an old plot... this is called foreshadowing.



I found it charming that Mac wasn't angry with Kate, just surprised.

It is clear to me that Kate intended to tell MacGyver about SAM, but something kept her from doing it. She was obviously dedicated to her profession. She did tell SAM about his father, even if she never named him, and she gave him the locket so the boy wouldn't feel as if he had no father at all.

I imagine that she didn't tell Mac about the baby because she didn't want to force MacGyer to make a choice between the life he was choosing to live and the expectations and responsibilities of parenthood.

Maybe she belived that MacGyver had a Calling, and that placing such demand on him-- even if she had a right to do so-- would be wrong in the Grand Scheme Of Things.

I love the way that Mac is startled (and bemused) to see SAM doing the same things that he does himself... MacGyverisms, spouting obscure facts, recklessly plunging into situations because of his own sense of duty... like father, like son!

I'd have like to have seen a few episodes with Mac and SAM traveling together, maybe getting into trouble on the road, getting called by Pete or Jack Dalton for help, meeting Mac's women--potentially weird situations there!--or maybe Mac helping SAM on one of his own projects involving his photojournalism.

It's a shame that the end came so abruptly, as new blood could have perked up the show, taking some of the pressure off of RDA and Dana.

Oh, if wishes were fishes...

I didn't think the episode was terrible, although it's not the way I would have ended it. It went in sort of a different direction from the rest of the series - it seemed to be setting up another series for mac jr. rather than providing closure to the show. I probably would have done a two parter with action, suspense, all the good costars, with mac 'riding off into the sunset' at the end.

Look on the bright side - at least they didn't end it with another clip show!

There is nothing that implies to it that he slept with that woman from Afghanistan. With Connolly, yes.

They're actually in the same situation.

That's the proof that Mac doesn't blame Kate for not telling that he had a son. He didn't know it himself at the time.

Me too.

Yeah, definitely.

Yes, and...

So what did they do, that made her "want to remember" that night and made the two of them look at each other "knowingly" ?

The Stringer wasn't exactly the way I would have chosen to end the show, but it was okay.

I did like the fact that they brought back Mei Jan, with the plotline about the Chinese labor camps. I'm very interested in human rights, especially labor rights, so this was great.

I also enjoyed watching Mac and Sam trying to connect as father and son, especially the scene where Mac lectures Sam, and Sam says, "Well, what do you know? My first father-son lecture," and then later on the scene basically repeats, except this time with Sam lecturing Mac, and Mac echoing the above line. I always loved that sort of "mirroring," if you will, of lines that was used in the show.

And I have to agree with Loth on getting a kick out of seeing Sam behaving much like his dad, especially the MacGyverisms. It sure runs in the family!

I also liked Mac quoting Harry: "Only a fool is sure of anything. A wise man keeps on guessing." Amen!

I thought the introduction of Sam was awfully abrupt, though. They waited until the very last eppy to think of this? Ohh-kay. I think they should have introduced Sam a little earlier, maybe three eppys before the end. They still could have done the same basic plot in The Stringer, but with all the awkward father-son stuff already taken care of.

The one nitpick I have was this (and maybe I'm remembering it wrong). In the scene where Mac and Sam are discussing Sam's name:

Sam: She never would tell me what the "A" stood for, though.
Mac: Let me guess... Angus. She always thought it was a great name.
Sam: Yeah, I was never too crazy about it myself.
(I probably don't have the lines exactly right here. But anyway...)

Now, how could Sam not have "been too crazy" about his middle name if he hadn't known what it was until Mac told him?? Anyone else catch this? Or am I completely off here?

I did like the ending, though, with Mac and Sam riding off into the sunset together, with the implication of more adventures to come!! If they were going to do a spinoff, it should have been with Dalton James as Sam, instead of with some "nephew" we've never heard of (and anyway, as we all know, Mac was an only child, so he COULDN'T have had a nephew... unless they wanted to pull a "long-lost brother/sister" stunt on us. )

What a sad end to an amazing series. The son scenario was forced and seemed hokey. Although their similarities were funny. But the son is made even more unlikely when he shows a liking to guns. The final MacGyverism is an extremely implausible plan considering the only thing containing them was a locked door. They look like they are using jet packs to blast out. But the final blow was taken when the ending came. Instead of the two working together or something, Mac quits the Foundation and rides off with his son.

The ending would've worked better if the last hurrah would have been a climactic battle with Murdoc (still with an 'is he dead?' twist). But it did feature Mac so it isn't completely horrible.

Why do you say that?

Disliking (or liking) guns isn't passed through parental genes. It's borne of ones upbringing and personal experiences through life.

I never liked that ending myself. it seemed too out of character for MacGyver to just walk away from Pete like that.

I never liked the Son out of nowhere either, although I do realize it was probably a plot device to leave the door open for a possible spin off, but I still didn't like it.

Nevertheless, it didn't sit well with me. A MacGyver descendant who uses guns? Horrifying!

Ok, I have been reading all of your comments here.

A few things not already asked or commented on (as opposed to commenting on things said by you all that I agree with or disagree with because that would take forever):

1. Everyone knows that as a Christian, as a married woman, and as a mom that, I would have preferred that Mac and Kate be married, or at the very least that Kate would have told Mac about being pregnant, so he had a choice about being in his child's life, which knowing Mac, he would have been a great dad. I agree that Mac and Kate made some big mistakes. I also know from being in ministry that every action (or sin) has consequences. For every action there is a reaction.
2. I strongly disagree with Kate on a couple of things: One leaving Mac, Two not telling him about SAM at any point.
3. Why in the heck, even as a photojournalist, as a parent, why would you take a young child to Communist China and work on a story with a subject matter that could get you arrested and /or killed? Responsible parenting?
4. Sam was raised by friends of Kate's--why didn't they try to track down Mac?
Lots of other questions--I like the episode--I made Sam a major character in my story--I like Sam--I just wish that Kate Malloy, the great love of Mac's life had been dealt with better and the way that she provided for her child. As a mom I thought about that, and the mistakes that I have made as a mom. I admit I have made mistakes, but my kids' safety is key. I have a hard time with dragging nine year old Sam to China and working on a dangerous story and a newly orphaned boy wandering around China.
5. Kate was one of how many college girlfriends? I agree that Mac was no virgin, and while I don't agree with that part of his lifestyle, I acknowledge it. I just think that the ex-girlfriend thing got old. That's why fanfiction is fun. We can add things and elements. I didn't remove seasons or characters by tried to do more with it than what was given. Like giving Mac a real relationship and slowly developing his faith, because she teaches him about life and love and faith and so much more.

I think we can all agree that the whole premise of this episode was very badly conceived (pardon the pun).

Suddenly MacGyver has a son out of nowhere from a women we've never heard about before, and her parenting style seems to fly in the face of everything MacGyver has tried to teach us in the past 7 seasons.

Kate sounds to me like a particularly selfish and arrogant women who wasn't too interested in having a child. Yet the episode kinda leans towards saying that it's ok to be a bad parent because look, it taught Sam to be independent and he turned out to be a well adjusted individual just the same.

I don't think so Tim!

Thats not how it works in real life and it sure has no place being portrayed in this way on TV.

The topic of bad parenting cuts pretty close to my bones and it's one of several issues I have with this episode.

You're pardoned (for the pun) Rock. I agree with much of what you've said.

I don't know if Kate was selfish and arrogant, or just poorly developed. Her actions to me fly in the face of responsible parenting and also friendship--she was Mac's friend and very close to him and she left him. This is another thing--everyone Mac was really close to either left him or died or both. ?????

Mac is compared to her as being exactly the same, and while I agree that he loves adventure, it bugs me that he and Kate are compared like that because he is devoted to helping his friends which are practically like family (Pete, Jack Dalton, etc). I think that they should have done a better job with this idea instead of slapping it together at the last minute which to me is what it looks like they did. I remember from school the papers written when I waited until the last minute and it wasn't good.

I like the episode, and Sam is great for fanfiction, but I can develop him differently. I wonder if I can discover a way to develop Kate better even though she is long dead.