And "Bravo Lead + Loyalty + Friendship" was... typical. It wasn't a bad episode. It was actually pretty entertaining for what the show is. Problem is that there just isn't much there, there.
As I kinda predicted last review, they didn't really do much with the whole cliffhanger from last week of Murdoc grabbing Jill (Kate Bond). We find out that he did kill her, off-screen, and everyone is very sad. Whether she was dead in the car crash Murdoc somehow caused (shooting her in the head?), or killed her after he called MacGyver, or something else, who knows? Maybe we'll get a flashback explanation later.
Jill is the kind of character CBS kills off: recurring but minor. Unless a main star wants off a show and doesn't plan on coming back. As such, it's hard to get too moved by either Jill's death or Mac's oaths of vengeance and Matty's sorrow. The character was nice enough and all, but she was background in most episodes, which they even gaslit last year when Jack recruited her to help break into Matty's place but couldn't remember her name.
Speaking of Jack, they actually gave George Eads something to do this week. Admittedly, most of it was in flashback. But he actually got to play a PTSD veteran and seemed mostly competent in his Delta Force flashbacks. I never doubted Eads was a decent actor: the creative team just doesn't seem to give him much characterization. Writer Brian Durkin has done some of the more moving and emotional MacGyver episodes, so it's no surprise he did pretty well here when we actually got some insights into Jack's character.
Let's recap. We find out Jill is dead, and Matty is very sad about it. And Matty brought her into Phoenix. As I mentioned on another site that shall remain nameless when I did reviews there, Meredith Eaton as Matty is one of the best actors on the show. They've mellowed her out a bit, and she hasn't moved much beyond the stereotypical tough-as-nails boss. But she does a lot with a little, so to speak.
After the funeral, Mac tells Matty to tell Oversight he's staying with Phoenix as long as they help go after Murdoc. Which raises the question of why Mac left Phoenix when Murdoc was still on the loose, but nobody on the show asks or answers it.
Meanwhile, Jack's Delta Force buddy Ryan Thorpe (Jesse C. Boyd) shows up and tells Jack their old company buddy Caleb Worthy (Wole Parks) took a job in Honduras protecting workers from terrorists, and now the authorities are after Caleb because they have video of him blowing up a railroad track.
Mac calls up Jack to tell him that he's staying on with Phoenix, and quickly realizes something is up. They hop on a plane and recruit the rest of Jack's old Delta buddies, "Dalton's Heroes". They include Paul "Deacon" Hern (Josh Stamberg), Sid Lanier (Owen Harn), Orman Munoz (Matt Skollar), and Fitzgerald "Fitzy" Cheng (Han Soto). None of them really get character development, particularly Deacon even though Stamberg gets an up-front guest listing. The only one who is fleshed out to some degree is Fitzy, and all we really learn about him is he's an explosive expert, likes to blow up toy trains (maybe he and Gomez Addams should team up?) and is a Mac kindred spirit. There are some funny bits, like finding out the "big guy" Sid is working as a school crossing guard. But that's all we learn about them.
They fly to Honduras and team up with Jacob Lawlor (Terry Serpico), a soldier turned merc who hired Caleb. In about two minutes they find out from Riley Lawlor is working with the terrorists and set Caleb up. Dalton's Heroes escape, track down Caleb, Lawlor finds out they know he's crooked, and attacks them. After Mac disables them with radio feedback, the group takes refuge in a shed. Mac and Fitzy MacGyver some explosives, and Matty sends a helicopter to rescue them just after they run out of ammo.
In the B plot, Matty gives Wilt, Riley, and Leanna a mission of their own: to get a cell phone with encrypted information from a criminal "contractor", Terry Penn (Michael Otis). He's throwing a party, and Wilt gets stuck on mission support while Leanna and Riley go in. When Mafia hitters show up to kill Penn, Leanna and Riley get him out. Wilt directs them into a dead-end alley but Phoenix soldiers or mercenaries or whatever the heck they are drop on and take out the hitters. Phoenix gets the cell phone and once again the day is saved by Team MacGyver.
At the end, everyone gathers at Mac and Wilt's house. Dalton's Heroes vow to stay in contact, and invite Mac to join them because... well, he's Mac. A running gag and corporate synergy is Matty nicknames the three relatively new agents the "Teen Titans", and they go around naming themselves after Teen Titans characters. Wilt ends up as Beast Boy, of course, but they eventually "promote" him to Robin. Did anyone hear there's a Titans series coming up featuring the Teen Titans, starting October 12, 2018? No? Ain't corporate synergy grand?
Scattered throughout are flashbacks to "Ten Years Earlier". We find out how Caleb saved the others on their final mission, and how Jack went through PTSD when he got back and Caleb talked him through it. Yes, Caleb is a god among men.
Mac's MacGyverisms are suitably MacGyver-ish. It's still hard to buy that Mac, the guy who hates guns, would hang out with a bunch of soldiers. I don't expect him to hate on soldiers, but MacGyver in the original series never thought much of the military. Granted, he typically dealt with commanding officers rather than retired field grunts. And MacGyver got along well enough with everyone. But it's a little disconcerting to see Mac hanging out with a bunch of guys firing assault rifles, embracing them as his own, and vice versa.
But then we've had that dichotomy since day one, when Mac hung out with gun-wielding Jack. So it's hardly enough to doom the series. Also, David Dastmalchian doesn't make any kind of appearance after last week's cliffhanger entrance which peters out. It's not like they put in a lot of effort with Jill's death: we didn't even get to see the funeral, for pete's sake: just Matty watching a video montage.
The good stuff was the backstory on Jack which made him out as more than a cartoon character, and the easy camaraderie between the retired soldiers. Even the wheelchair-bound Ryan provides satellite surveillance backup from Jack's apartment. There were also little bits of the "I'm too old for this shit" old-age complaints, like how the vets are all rubbing their shoulders after the airplane trip to Honduras. The episode almost seemed like a backdoor pilot, and I'd watch it.
But then again, I'm still waiting for that Coltons spinoff. So what do I know?
So overall, "Bravo Lead" was another MacGyver episode. Nothing incredibly good, nothing incredibly bad.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
Written by Gislef on Oct 6, 2018
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