I've said this in several threads, and Rocky bless his heart suggested that I start this. How do you think the series should've ended. I don't think it should have ended with Pete standing with a driver listening to Mac and Sam ride away on their motorcycles. How do you feel?

Yes, thinking about it, I do agree with you. With Pete's blindness and all they had been through together Mac did kinda leave him very much alone. He said he would visit, but still. I see your point. I don't know how I would have liked the series to end, but that ride away did seem like a good ending, but now I think about it. Poor Pete!

I remember in the episode Passages Pete told the doctors that he was the cloeset thing to family that Mac had. Harry had just died. I think it would have been nice if Pete decided that if Mac had to leave, then he could've retired from the Phoneix foundation. Or even if Mac and Sam had invited him to come along. There are side cars for motocycles. To me there was no closure. Just more questions then answers.

Pete probably thought he was going away forever breaking all contact. That's why I think he said: 'Can I expect you to drop in once in a while?' with Mac replying: 'You can count it, my friend.'

Alright, knowing you're going to work and your best friend and employee won't be there, needs some getting used to and it will be a terrible miss. But life goes on.

Mac leaving Pete never to see each other again and blows him off with a get over it attitude..., nàh.

Mac sounded reassuring he was going to come back.

A two-parter would've been nice to tie up loose ends. More room and space for a better storyline, instead of pressing everything into 45 minutes. MacGyver said: 'It was bound to happen, things change.' Maybe even if they actually made a 90-minute finale and you know as watcher and both Mac as Pete knew what the effects might have been, the drama would've been better and "bound to happen" could've gotten a better context. Besides we don't know how much time passed after the ending on the boat and them coming out of the garage. There's no way, that it was the next day because Mac wouldn't take any impulsive decisions. I at least like to think that there are at least a couple of weeks has passed.

Alright, do have to say one thing to that ending. Why in the world did he quit the Phoenix Foundation? There was totally no reason for doing that. We know everybody Mac loved died, but quitting the Phoenix Foundation won't change a thing. Murdoc is still out there. But Sam has proven he can take care of himself, so I wouldn't have been so surprised if there was a job waiting for him. I don't think I would quit my job if I find out that I have son I never knew about. I can understand that Mac said: 'Sam and I have a little catching up to do.' Taking a month or two off of work is one thing for catching things up.

What else was there supposed to happen? Pete came to say goodbye. Most times peoples that aren't coming are staying behind. MacGyver never said that he wasn't coming back. Maybe it sounded cold but that could've been unintentional. Didn't you guys ever said anything that sounded colder than it was supposed to be? And even MacGyver himself said it: 'I'm not perfect. Yet!' And why should he have taken Pete with him anyway, if he was going to take a road trip with his son to... God knows where? Knowing Mac to rougher territory like the mountains or the hills in other states.

Maybe he drove himself into another great adventure realizing when coming back, he'd like to work at Phoenix again. That's how we all like to figure it I think when it comes down to fanfiction.
Though in Trail To Doomsday he said something about pens in Natalia's purse: 'I've seen a lot of these pens in my time.' So that probably stills acknowledges it that he's still retired.

There aren't any questions: Mac found out about his son, he drove into the sunset with him to get to know each other, end of story!

i think they should of re-worded there ending.

Mac broke his arm when he fell into the cargo hold of the ship. I just think Pete got the short end of the stick. After all they went through together. I agree you take two weeks/months off to get to know the son you never had. How come Sam wasn't bitter about Mac not being in his life? I know that Sam told Mac that his mom would introduce them when the time was right, but still. And the two movies never ever mentioned either Pete nor Sam, so what happened?

It sounds to me that Mac just left Pete out in the cold. Pete was there when Mac almost died, and Mac was their when Pete had surgery for his glaucoma. Just too many unanswered questions.

Like MacGyver said he didn''t know he had a son until he showed up one day, I know if i had a father out there some where I be looking for him no matter how many years it took.

I was abandoned by my father when I was 2 years old. He left my mother with 5 kids from the ages of 18 to 2 years old. I guess I'm a cynic. But all Mac had before Sam showed up was Harry and Pete. I understand that Harry died, and that when Mac was in the coma, Harry came to say good by. I understand Sam wanting to know his father. But just to leave the only person who had stood by Mac throughout everything was wrong. And they didn't even mention either Pete or Sam in either movie. So what happened. There are more questions then answers.

Kate told Sam everything about Mac. I don't know my father either, but I never asked any questions about my father. I doubt my mother would even recall things now after 22 years. Her niece once told me a few things about my father my mother could hardly remember. My mother once told me, shortly after I was born, my father couldn't get work in Belgium so he had to go back to Spain (yeah, I got Spanish blood in me), he tried to work out an arrangement with my mother of letting me come to Spain every six months. My mother disagreed resulting in my father leaving her. What happened after that I don't know. He probably remarried someone else and I could have brothers or sisters around my age I don't know about. Now I at least know from who I got my study problems from. But I was never bitter for not having my father around.

I don't even know how I would react when meeting him since he's a total stranger to me. I was never emotionally involved with him.

Nothing happened. They probably didn't mention Pete or Sam because he quit the Phoenix Foundation about a year earlier so they came up with friends from before his time with Pete.

Why?! As if you wouldn't leave with someone else just because you need some time off with somebody else. Sometimes you need to do things without your best friend! And MacGyver never left with the intention of never coming back!

My father left my mother with 5 kids to go out and buy a pack of cigarettes and never came back. I understand what you are saying. But once someone has died it's too late. At least they mentioned Harry, while Mac and Sam were getting to know each other. In the movies they could've said that Sam was on assignment for a magazine, and that Pete had retired, due to complications from the glaucoma; and that Mac and Sam had been to see him several times. But to me just leaving him standing on the sidewalk was cold and insensitive.

I agree they should of said something about Pete or Sam in the two movies they made, it's like they didn't care about the two.

Kind of like they forgot they existed. Makes me wonder what they are going to do with the big screen version of MacGyver?

Now thats a question!

I don't like the ending. It seemed rushed and cold. Like they really just wanted to get it over and just threw together the first things that came to mind.

I can see what the writers where trying to accomplish. Everyone moves into a new phase of their lives, ride off into the sun-set, etc etc.

But they did a terrible job with it. It really felt rushed to me, like everyone just wanted it over and done with. (mind you the whole 7th season kinda felt like that to me)

For me the crux of all the problems of this episode center around the way MacGyver seemed to blow off Pete at the end. It came across as cold and very badly handled.

Things change. Get over it. See ya later.

I understand that MacGyver was basically going on vacation to get to know his son, but they way they had MacGyver leave the foundation and Pete talking about MacGyver not being around anymore gave a much more permanent feel to the situation, which in turn made MacGyver's off-handed remarks to Pete feel even colder.

They should have shown MacGyver talking to Pete about taking some time off so he could get to know SAM and Pete saying something like "Take as much time as you need. " and MacGyver mentioning that he wants to take a road trip with Sam.

Then they could have still done that last scene, but when Pete mentions about things being different without Mac around, he could have answered something about "we'll be back.. once we get sick of traveling.. or each other (jokingly)" - Just something to show it wasn't the end of Pete and MacGyver and SAM hadn't split MacGyver and Pete team appart, but rather possibly added to the team so they could all go on to new adventures together.

Maybe they wanted the episode to feel like a permanent end - "That's it. We're done. No more." - I don't know, if thats what they wanted that's certainly what they got, I just didn't like it.

Exactly. The character of MacGyver in the movies is not the MacGyver of the series.
Same name, same abilities but nothing more.

I feel a bit odd about the series finale but did not quite put it into much thinking until you guys brought that up. The producer probably did not put much thinking into how to end a 7-year series either.

Apart from the Mac/Pete relationship, I don't quite understand why Mac has to go on a 'never-ending' trip w/Sam in order to get to know him better. Having been on the roads all over the world in the past 10 years while working for the DXS and the Foundation, he should think about settling down, and in fact he expressed such a desire before.

I think the producers of the 2 movies deliberably detached them from the TV series, but at the same time they inevitably removed some essential elements that made the series a success. I hope the new movie would not make the same mistake again.

You guys might find this article interesting.

Just to provide a contrasting viewpoint -- I love the final episode. It's one of the one I watch repeatedly.

You have to start with the basic realities: the show was ending. It would be great if the series never had to end, but it did. Since it did, better that it end well – and that it ended on a unique note.

They could have simply stopped, offering no closure at all; that was par for the course back then. At that point, most TV shows didn’t conclude, they just stopped one month and never started again.

Instead, for MacGyver, they developed a story that gave a reason for things to change, and change profoundly.

I didn't feel that Mac 'blew Pete off'. He promised not to change, and he promised to come back. They parted after a deeply emotional moment, but they parted smiling, still good friends for whom distance would not truly matter. Both Mac and Pete had agreed that fatherhood was important -- how could Pete be anything but supportive of Mac taking time to be with his son?

And I find the episode incredibly uplifting. It involves the defeat of an enemy far more implacable than any murderer: mortality. Mac found he had a son – an heir; someome who had inherited some of his own unique qualities. Merely to have a child is the ultimate act of defiance against time.

And another set of long-term foes were also shown to be at least temporarily routed: solitude and loneliness. Even if the companionship of Mac and Sam didn’t hold together, the isolation of Mac’s uniqueness had been broken.

As I said, I love the episode. I don't see Mac as 'settling down' -- that was never his style. He hit the road in celebration of life, and the renewal of life. He was always free to come back and resume his work at Phoenix: not at a desk job -- that would have been slow death. But there's a world of possibilities. Just because the movies didn't cover all the possibilities didn't mean they aren't out there.

The episode ended the series on a powerful, validating, upbeat note -- an open image: Mac riding off 'into the sunset', rather than a closing image. Maybe it was less closure than 'wrapping up all the loose ends'. But it left the loose ends fluttering in the wind of the imagination. As final images go, I'm happy with it.

Yes. That dialogue is way better. Does make it seem like an end, but without making Mac seem cold or leaving Phoenix which always seemed odd. His son is practically grown up, not like Mac had a huge job that required him to be there 24/7 like having a baby to look after... Sam seems to have found his own way, so Mac just retires to venture with him then come back watch his son living his life as a stringer? Seemed odd to me.

It seemed all Sam wanted to do was find his father and he did that. I can understand MacGyver wanting to spend time with his son but leaveing his job to do so kinda felt out of place.

I agree with what Rocky said 150%. There was no closure. There were more questions then answeres. And like I said in the movies, why couldn't he have mentioned that Sam was on an assignment and that Pete had decided to retire due to the glaucoma. It was like the two characters never even exsisted. Why bring in a new character never to be mentioned in the two movies, and never mentiioned one that had been there since the beginning. I still say Pete was the closest thing to a father figure that Mac had. They made sure that Mac mentioned Harry, and I know that was Mac's grandfather. But Mac never even mentioned his mother or father to Sam. There was no closure. I hope the big screen movie answeres these questions, but I'm beginning to have my doubts.

I, too, felt the ending was a bit cold, but at least they DID an ending. So many shows get cancelled unexpectedly, and they just have a regular episode and then don't come back. I'm glad they made a decision to end MacGyver, and that they made the decision early enough so that the writers had time to come up with a final episode.

So true many tv shows never get to there real ending.

Okay look at some of the shows that did end around the time MacGyver did. It showed the characters moving in different directions. But they also had reunion movies with all of the main characters involved. Dana Elcar and the character of Pete were too important for the show to make two movies without mentioning him. Or for that fact Jack. And as for Pete and Mac meeting in quicksand maybe that was a trap set by Murdoc. There are just too many unanswered questions.

I think Dana Elcar should have been give more recognition then what he got. Too leave a blind man with a driver standing on the side of the street is just wrong. At least they could have had the car follow Mac and Sam for aways. Then had RDA say his thank you to the fans.

Well said!

I agree to that.

First of all, Mac was probably in London for his own personal reasons so why bring up names of friends that don't matter to whatever the problems are over there. Not to mention he was already involved in the situations when the movies started, so why bring it up? Who knows, maybe he did brought it up before leaving for Greece with Atticus and mentioned something about it in letters or phone calls to Paul Moran.

It did give quite the feeling and more in Trail to Doomsday than in the Lost Treasure of Atlantis that MacGyver was very much alone in his life.

I understand how you feel on that part where Pete was left on the side in front of MacGyver's house, but all we can really do is wish they changed it to another way.
I just hope when they make the movie they give the remaining cast something better then what other tv show turned to movies have went thought.

Yeah Mac was in London, but where was Sam. The son he wanted to spend so much time getting to know. Just doesn't make since to me. And in the movies Mac was more Indiana Jones then MacGyver.

Why the sudden change in character?

Maybe they wanted to see how dark they could go with MacGyver.

He wasn't a dark character to begin with. It would be like trying to make Murdoc all goodness and light. And even after Mac saved Ashton Murdoc reniged on his word and tried to kill him.