MacGyver season 2 episode 8 review: Riley’s father; Jack vs. art museums

Billy Baldwin

We have to say that MacGyver season 2 episode 8 was full of surprises. For one, getting to see so much of Billy Baldwin as Riley’s estranged father! Also, getting to see Curtis Armstrong as a bad guy!

For MacGyver and Jack, the main crux of their mission tonight was fairly simple: Doing what they could in order to force a notorious art dealer out of hiding. How they did that along the way proved entertaining, especially the parts of it that proved that Jack Dalton is not a man who knows how to behave himself in art museums.

Unfortunately, the team’s whole plan to get this art dealer didn’t end up going as planned (does it ever?), given that the bad guy’s team — which included our favorite Revenge of the Nerds star — ended up putting them all in a bad place. Somehow, using some true MacGyver ingenuity and a little bit of, they made it through.

Also, we saw the art dealer get punched in the face.

Bozer’s off to spy training

Matty clearly wants Bozer to be the best agent he could be, and that meant sending him off to the MacGyver version of Quantico … though we almost prefer to think of it as Hogwarts. The thing with Bozer is that he’s already got some training from being out in the field, and when he saw some suspicious activity he acted on it — even at the expense of his time in the program. He made himself a target, but in the process he also found himself a possible new love interest to boot in one of the other trainees.

While Bozer may not be the fastest or the strongest trainee in the program, he’s clearly one of the most resourceful. He proved that in knocking the bad guy upside the head and sparing himself for the immediate future. As it turns out, Bozer’s actions ended up exposing a massive spy operation.

As for Billy Baldwin

His scenes with Tristin Mays and Meredith Eaton were pretty powerful, mostly because his character Elwood was so convincing that he really was there in order to make things right and be a positive influence in her life for a change. He recognized that he made mistakes and he was trying to apologize as a part of what may have been his twelve steps.

At the end of the episode, Riley did decide to pay Elwood another visit, saying that he was saying and doing the right things now but that doesn’t change anything that happened. So far, it does feel like the man can be trusted now … but time will tell. She’s right to be nervous and take her time figuring this out. This isn’t the only time we’re going to see Elwood on the show.

CarterMatt Verdict

This was a funny episode at times, a crazy episode at times, and also a touching one. We learned about Riley’s family history, Jack’s aversion to art museums, and that Bozer’s got more of a natural ability in the field than anyone first thought. A fun MacGyver — which is good since we’re going to be waiting for two weeks now.

What’s next on MacGyver season 2 episode 9?

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