For the first time in the series we get to see MacGyver's house, a beachside apartment located above a coffee shop, the perfect place to do drugs and cruise for bitches. In the pilot, he was living in a planetarium but science has never impressed chicks and the upkeep on that thing must have been a nightmare, so he sensibly relocated to the beach.
MacGyver conducts his business out of the coffee shop downstairs and is where he meets Frank Bennett, a man who plans to testify in front of the crime commission and needs MacGyver, an apparent expert on personal security, to help make him disappear.
MacGyver informs Frank that he needs to briefly go back to his apartment, under the guise of having to make a phone call, however the trip was undoubtedly drug related. In the 30 seconds MacGyver was gone, Frank was taken by a group of guys.
MacGyver's car was apparently getting repaired, so he had to hotwire Frank's in order to pursue his captors, following them to a warehouse. Security at the warehouse was weak as shit and MacGyver was able to get in easily enough by jumping a fence.
Once inside, MacGyver had the foresight to anticipate that the warehouse rendezvous would end in a car chase, so he loosened the wheel nuts on the captors car.
It is quickly revealed that the guy who asked for Frank to be brought to the warehouse was no other than his brother Joey. Their relationship was clearly strained. There just wasn't any passion in the kiss Joey gave Frank.
It turns out that Joey knows Frank wants to testify against him and that killing him is the only way he's going to stay out of prison.
Apparently Frank wants to turn Joey over to the Feds because a work friend of his died from a drug overdose, drugs supplied by Joey. I don't know why Frank is so pissed, he is better off without a drug addled co-worker, so he should be thanking Joey. It was only a matter of time before this guys work started slipping and Frank would be the one having to pick up the slack. Do you really want to be doing extra work because a guy you work with is addicted to drugs? Fuck no. He died of a drug overdose so he was probably a pussy anyway.
MacGyver had in the meantime broken into the warehouse through a window upstairs and listened to the whole conversation. MacGyver has been hired to help Frank, but realises that Frank is a bit of a dick and his motives for turning over his brother really are pretty weak. If he changed his allegiance to Joey he may be able to get some free, or at least heavily discounted, drugs.
Although the situation proved to be quite the predicament, MacGyver isn't one to go back on his word, so decides to help Frank. Just as Joey is about to shoot Frank, MacGyver starts up a band-saw shooting sawdust all over the place, creating a distraction allowing them to escape. Needing to buy a little extra time, MacGyver slows down his pursuers by dropping cardboard boxes on their heads.
MacGyver and Frank are able to get away easily thanks to that shit MacGyver pulled earlier with the car wheels. Joey is pissed and lets it be known that he wants Frank and MacGyver dead.
The next scene back at MacGyver's house starts with MacGyver shirtless and Frank holding a towel indicating that they both just stepped out of the shower. I am unfamiliar with the layout of MacGyver's house so he may well have two showers, but the more logical explanation is that the two of them shared a shower after an encounter of a sexual nature. This isn't surprising as with Joey after him, Franks days are numbered and MacGyver isn't one to turn down a sexual advance from anybody.
Frank meets with the head of crime commission and agrees to testify against his brother. The crime commission want to put Frank into protective custody immediately, but it turns out that his mother is ill and he wants to visit her. The crime commission wont allow it so Frank sends MacGyver just to check on how she's doing.
At the hospital MacGyver explains what is going on. The only comment the mother gives is that it's "brother against brother". She doesn't seem surprised and no doubt predicted this battle would happen. She reveals that she doesn't have much time to live and that she needs to see Frank one last time, indicates that she is supporting Frank in the battle and doesn't really give a fuck if Joey dies. MacGyver didn't really give her all the facts so her opinion could be swayed with further information.
MacGyver makes his way to the Crime Commission but they wont allow Frank to see his mother sighting the danger he faces if he makes an appearance at the hospital. MacGyver knows just how important it is to Frank to see his dying mother one last time, so has to come up with a plan to get Frank into that hospital.
The plan is one of MacGyver's best, mainly because it involves him having to act as a dead shit tow truck driver.
Step one sees MacGyver sabotaging one of the cars situated outside the Crime Commission, hopefully the vehicle they'll be using to escort Frank away in.
Step two involves MacGyver evacuating the Crime Commission building by creating the illusion of that it is on fire. He does this by creating fake smoke with some tab clear cola and dry ice he bought at the local convenience store. Why the fuck the convenience store had dry ice is anyone's guess. He added some sherbet just to step the smoke up to a new level, and let's just say he evacuated the fuck out of that building.
The crime commission guys do in fact take Frank away in the car MacGyver sabotaged earlier and he follows them in a tow truck he was able to rent at short notice.
When their car breaks down, MacGyver is right behind them to help out. Breaking out his dead-shit-tow-truck-driver schtick to perfection, MacGyver is able to convince the crime commission guys that they need to hold a plank of wood which gives MacGyver and Frank enough time to drive off. Classic MacGyver.
The Feds give MacGyver chase in what must be one of the slowest car chase sequences ever put to tape but he is able to shake them off by trapping them in an alley with the crime commission car.
MacGyver gets Frank to the hospital but by this time, Joey has already taken their mother home, knowing that she only has a few hours left before passing.
The game has changed. MacGyver now has to break Frank into the house to see his mother without being caught and killed.
He probably should just forget about his mother, as she is as good as dead, and concentrate on protecting himself. He has his whole life ahead of himself and it would be a waste to get himself killed just so he can say goodbye to his mother.
Just as he's about to go inside, the Feds show up, so Frank is confident that he'll be able to see his mother and walk out the door without being killed. Joey has a plan however. He calls the Feds, pretends to be Frank and tells them he is at MacGyver's house, so they drive off. Shit plan, but luckily he was dealing with some fucking idiots so it played out pretty well.
Frank gets the opportunity to say goodbye to his mother is what is one of the most emotional scenes in the series so far. She may have only had a few lines but I felt I knew her. I knew the adversity she'd faced, the dreams she'd never realised, the love she'd lost. She really was a classic MacGyver character that I felt could have been a great reoccurring character, but unfortunately her time had come.
Once she'd died you could see the instant regret on Frank's face. The goodbye was important but it wasn't that great. Was it worth dying for? No, no it wasn't. If you were told that your mother was about to die and that you could say goodbye but then you'd be killed, would you do it? I don't think anyone would. If your mother gets pissed off at that then she's a selfish cunt who doesn't deserve a goodbye anyway.
With the Feds gone and Franks death imminent, MacGyver's only option is to break Frank out of the house a full two decades before Prison Break hit screens showing just how far ahead of its time MacGyver really was.
MacGyver is able to pick the lock to the house using a knife. Using a pipe he found on the ground, MacGyver trips Joey and his assistant down the stairs giving Frank and himself enough time to flee to the attic and the possibility to win some serious cash on America's Funniest Home Video Show with the surveillance tape. Fuck knows why they went to the attic, it seems like the least likely place to be able to escape from, but MacGyver is always a man with a plan. They barricade the door but really only have a few minutes before Joey gets in. It is too high for them to jump so MacGyver uses cleaning fluid, a telescope, some mothballs, a hat, a scarf, some cable and a pulley to make a harpoon and flying fox.
MacGyver fires the harpoon and the flying fox worked well enough to get them out of the attic just as the brother brakes down the door. Joey acknowledges his defeat with a "Nice Frankie, even pop would have been proud". At first it looked like Joey would be heading to prison, but given how fucking easily he fooled the Feds before, a man of his means should be able to allude them for decades to come.
MacGyver showed us that keeping your word is important even though free drugs may be at play and that poor acting can get you out of almost any situation.
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