MacGyver season 2 episode 3 review: A crazy casino crasis

MacGyver season 2 episode 3

We begin this MacGyver season 2 episode 3 review by throwing the Phoenix Foundation team into sub-zero temperatures, and another remember that Mac’s watch is the key to him solving a key mystery about his past. He was desperate to get answers about what it means, and in the midst of his frostbite-ridden mission he did figure out that a part of the watch was different than everything else attached.

We’ll probably get back to this down the road; for now, let’s focus on the latest mission.

Who are the Red Fest? They are an Eastern European crime syndicate responsible for all sorts of diamond heists, and their information came via Samantha Cage’s interrogation of the Ten of Spades, the terrorist who we first met during the premiere. In this episode Red Fist were after a valuable diamond trove lock in the vault at a casino; with that, it became the responsibility of Mac and the rest of the team to break into the vault and steal the diamonds before the bad guys could.

This episode was almost instantly fun for one reason above all others — the alter egos for some of the characters. Pretty much everyone got an awesome alter ego other than Jack, who was stuck firmly in the role of “disgraced accountant.” It wasn’t the best episode for Jack in the early going, but eventually the onus was put on him because of his ability to flirt. We learned that the systems for hacking into the system were significantly different than anticipated, and he had to use some of his womanizing skills in order to get the information needed. This may have been the best scene of the entire season in terms of pure comedy, mostly because Jack was so bad that he was good.

The pivot

Things started to go awry when Cage found herself captured, and it very much was clear that she wasn’t going to get out of there via her typical means. This meant Jack coming up with a new plan, and that included taking on another identity who would be more capable of fitting in surrounded by a number of other power players. It’s too bad that this didn’t work for him early as well as we wanted it to. Jack also found himself captured, and his cover was totally blown with the very woman he “pursued” earlier in the episode.

So what happened from here? All hell broke loose, and Mac had to work out an extraction mission while also making sure that he was able to get what the team set out to grab in the first place. Mac was able to eventually help Cage and Jack escape, and following that the three of them made a desperate attempt to bust into the safe using some trademark Mac ingenuity. Somehow this worked — we have no idea how it happened, but it did and it was thoroughly entertaining.

In the end the bad guys were once more contained and the good guys won — sure, much of the money got blown up in the process, but that wasn’t really what this was about, right? The bad guys lost and the heroes won. That’s what matters.

Overall Take

MacGyver season 2 episode 3 proved itself to be a heck of an entertaining hour. After all, there was a lot of really great humor in here and this felt like an old-school caper if there ever was one. Just from the vantage point of having a great time, we’re not sure that we’ve had more fun watching an episode of MacGyver since the show premiered on CBS last year.

What’s your take on MacGyver season 2 episode 3?

Share some of your thoughts in the comments below! Meanwhile, you can head over to the link here in the event you want to preview the next episode or like us on Facebook to get more news on everything we cover at CarterMatt. (Photo: CBS.)

Love TV? Be sure to like Matt & Jess on Facebook for more updates!