MacGyver season 2 episode 15 review: Murdoc vs. Murdoc

Going into MacGyver season 2 episode 15, we knew that we would have a chance to see a Murdoc showdown like no other. In one corner, we have David Dastmachian as the show’s signature villain. Meanwhile, in the other we had the Murdoc from the original show, played by Michael Des Barres. His character was Nicholas Helman, a notorious killer who turned out to be the man responsible for training Murdoc.

One of the big question marks in this episode was getting a chance to hear so much of supposed Murdoc backstory, including that he was rejected from the Army after being deemed mentally unstable; as a result of that, he ended up joining a foreign Army. Also, his name is apparently Dennis judging from what Nicholas called him. Is Murdoc like the Joker, where he and everyone around him just makes stuff up, that certainly feels possible.

Meanwhile, MacGyver and Jack had Murdoc in custody when they realized that Helman was coming after him — surprisingly, it seems as though road-tripping with Murdoc could be rather fun! He does singalongs, plays “I Spy with My Little Eye,” and ultimately shares all sorts of fun stories.

Once all of the fun of the Murdoc road trip ended, things did get a little more serious as we started to build towards some sort of dramatic confrontation between Murdoc, Helman, MacGyver, and Jack — one that actually led to Murdoc in his own way saving Mac’s life. He didn’t want to admit it, but that more or less ended up being the cases.

As for Nicholas Helman, he’s dead. Alas, it doesn’t seem as though we’re going to be seeing Des Barres on the show again, but wasn’t this a pretty great way in which to go out?

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Here’s the interesting thing — there was one thing Murdoc wanted in return for saving Mac’s life, and that was an opportunity to see his son. This is one of the few bits of Murdoc backstory that we consider to be valid. Murdoc took his boy with him on another road trip (hey, we know that he’s fun with these!), but he made a stop along the way in order to do (seemingly) a little killing.

The aftermath of the case

One of the big revelations tonight came courtesy of Riley’s mom Diane, who learned that her daughter was a part of a secret government organization alongside Jack. She should’ve been angry about it; maybe she will be down the road. Yet, for now she’s just proud that her daughter is doing something great and we could be inching ever closer to a romance between her and Jack down the road.

CarterMatt Verdict

MacGyver season 2 episode 15 was bonkers, but probably the right kind of bonkers. We still don’t necessarily buy that Dennis’ is Murdoc’s real name, but we kind of like it just because it’s A) so silly and B) reminds us of Dennis the Menace and Murdoc is definitely that.

What did you think about MacGyver season 2 episode 15 as a whole? Be sure to share some of your thoughts on the subject in the comments! Also, be sure to like CarterMatt on Facebook in the event you want some other updates on the series. (Photo: CBS.)