MacGyver season 2 episode 18 review: Is anyone ‘shipping Riley and Billy now?
The arrival of the Coltons into MacGyver came roughly ten minutes into Friday night’s new episode, and in the middle of a case that Mac and the rest of the Phoenix Foundation crew were working on. They had found their target, but soon after that realized that this same target had also been tracked down by the Coltons. They were able to negotiate in order to get the guy, but we immediately had a feeling that this story was far from over.
Why was this man so valuable? While he was a part of the illegal drug trade, he was tied to someone much more important: A terrorist. That was the real endgame, and right when the team got his captured crony talking is when the Coltons came firing back. They’re more interested in their bounty than justice and this was further proof of it. They actually didn’t end up getting their target either. Instead, all they really did was send him high-tailing it out of there.
Eventually though, the Phoenix Foundation team and the Coltons realized that there was no good in trying to capture this guy alone. Instead, Matty offered to pay the Coltons’ bounty in return for their help working the case. With that, we finally got to the part of “Riley + Airplane” where the title started to make a little bit of sense. Billy Colton and Riley teamed up together in order to bring back Beck’s stooge aboard an airplane; unfortunately, right when they were on board Mac and Jack learned from Matty that their target terrorist had come up with technology that could literally take any plane down. To be specific, Beck chose to take down the plane that Riley and Billy were on.
Related – Want to see what is coming up in regards to MacGyver season 2 episode 19?
In order to finally locate the target on the ground, Mac and Jack needed to go undercover at a lavish party. It was while there they learned the truth regarding what was coming Riley’s way, and she in turn realized that the only way in which she could save everyone was if she hacked her way out of it. (CarterMatt and Riley agree on one thing: Airplane Wi-Fi is pretty terrible the vast majority of the time.)
Riley, with the encouragement of Billy, ended up coming up with a risky plan that was effectively a reboot of the plane’s system. In order to save everyone she had to put everyone in grave danger first. Think in turns of a bad roller-coaster ride a thousand times scarier and deadlier. This somehow worked, but not before she put the entire Phoenix Foundation team in jeopardy.
Ultimately, the target was captured, the Coltons got what they wanted, and Riley and Billy may have something more: A possible relationship! They grew close over their near-death experience and all of a sudden, a member of the Phoenix Foundation could find themselves dating a bounty hunter who can really care less about the law.
CarterMatt Verdict
“Riley + Airplane” was a fun romp, one that really served two separate purposes: Watching Riley save the day almost independently of the entire team, and in turn seeing a possible relationship form between her and Billy. While we remain very much in the Riley / Bozer camp insofar as ‘shipping goes, at least the trajectory of the story and the chemistry made sense.
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