MacGyver season 2 episode 11 review: Is Christmas canceled for the Phoenix Foundation?

MacGyver season 2 episode 11

The first few minutes of MacGyver season 2 episode 11 suggested that this was going to be an hour stuffed full of holiday cheer. After all, you had some awesome costumes, a holiday party, and Bozer bragging about his family’s pastrami tradition. (Of course, we now want pastrami like nobody’s business).

So what happened to throw a wrench into the Phoenix Foundation’s holiday plans? It started when Mac was arrested for domestic terrorism after an explosion ended up costing the life of an innocent man. He and the rest of the team couldn’t understand how this happened — they swept the building before having the explosion happen (as part of a mission) to ensure that there was nobody inside who could get caught in the crossfire.

For most of the episode, Mac found himself stuck in an interrogation room, ironically being interrogated by the original Jack Dalton actor in Bruce McGill! Mac couldn’t disclose who really was or the work that he does, but he also could not prove his innocence. He was more reliant on help from the Phoenix Foundation than ever before and it took every person being involved in one form or another to make that happen. For Jack, that involved posing as an attorney. For Riley, it involved some hacking skills to find the resources needed to determine what exactly happened.

Eventually the team managed to figure out some of what they needed, and right in the nick of time given that a man posing as a police officer arrived in order to “retrieve” MacGyver. Whoever sent him was clearly a part of a larger plan … and we of course knew who the architect here was from the beginning. As much as we enjoyed this MacGyver episode, we do wish that someone behind the scenes would disguise the guest stars in advance! The moment that we saw David Dastmachian’s name in the credits in the early going, the more we realized that Murdoc was involved here. The “cop” was the man who actually killed the innocent at the start of the episode. It was set up from the beginning to get MacGyver behind bars just so he could be taken.

When did Murdoc actually arrive?

It happened in the closing minutes of the episode, as he paid an impromptu visit to one Samantha Cage. She didn’t see him coming and he was able to gun her down in her own home. We didn’t see her die — we don’t think that she’s going to die — but there’s a heck of a lot of suspense there. For now, fingers crossed that Isabel Lucas sticks around!

CarterMatt Verdict

MacGyver season 2 episode 11 was an episode stuffed full of mixed emotions — there was some incredible drama, a shocking return featuring Murdoc, and a nice moment for Mac and Matty near the end. It also turned out that Mac had a surprising gift under the tree … from his father!

Of course, the biggest cliffhanger for now is the status of Samantha Cage … we’ll see what happens with her in 2018.

What did you think about MacGyver season 2 episode 11 as a whole? Be sure to share now in the attached comments! Also if you are a Murdoc fan as much as we are then you might want to check out our 6th annual CarterMatt Awards. David Dastmachian’s Murdoc has been nominated by our staff competing for the title of Best Villain. Click on the link here to vote for him!

Just in case you’re wondering when MacGyver returns…

You can find that out over here! Be sure to also like CarterMatt on Facebook! We’ve got a lot of news on MacGyver over there and there’s even more good stuff coming. (Photo: CBS.)

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