"Murdoc + Helman + Hit" – MacGyver S03E18 Review

So Michael Des Barres got to do stuff. That was a big highlight of the episode: after his almost-dialogue-free performance in "Murdoc + Handcuffs" where he acted more like the Terminator than the original Murdoc, "Murdoc + Helman + Hit" gave Des Barres a chance to sing. Twice. He also got to do a vicious hand-to-hand fight scene, and display signs of humor and wit.

So if you're a Des Barres fan, "Murdoc + Helman" was a smash. It also had David Dastmalchian, who seems to have great fun playing nu Murdoc. He cracks wise repeatedly, makes cultural allusions--I liked his remark about being a Bob Ross protégé--and Team MacGyver actually got some closure by "defeating" Murdoc at the end, as much as they can defeat him since it's clear the fans like him and/or the creative team is going to keep bringing him back.

How did they triumph over Murdoc? The episode starts with Nicholas singing in a karaoke bar, giving Des Barres a chance to strut his musical stuff. Folks know that Des Barres is a rock singer, right? He kills a FBI agent in the audience with a syringe full of poison and walks out. Phoenix learns of this and consult with Murdoc, who is locked up at a Phoenix black site. Murdoc points out that Nicholas let himself be identified for a reason.

Nicholas kills a federal prosecutor, and the first victim was a FBI interrogator. This convinces Phoenix the witness against the Hong Kong syndicate the Feds were working with is Nicholas' ultimate target. The FBI is going to move the witness anyway, so the team rush to intercept the transport only to discover it's a ruse. Nicholas' target is Murdoc, who, as was revealed in the aforementioned previously episode, murdered Nicholas' wife. Murdoc hires Nicholas to come after him so that Murdoc could escape.

Wilt is the only one with Murdoc, and Murdoc convinces him to free him from his manacles. When Wilt does so, Murdoc fights Nicholas and eventually triumphs thanks to a wounded Wilt knocking Nicholas out from behind. He lets Wilt live because Wilt saved his life, but knocks him out and leaves. Mac and his father, James, manage to stop Murdoc's escape truck, and they end up locking him in a cell next to Nicholas. Nicholas starts singing, and Murdoc is less than thrilled.

In the B plot, we get more of Mac's father James' cancer. He reveals late in the episode that he has a 50/50 chance to live, and there are several scenes where Mac and Desi look nervous as James tries to do physical stuff and has a hard time. In the end, James suggests he and Mac just go fishing and have some quality time together.

"Murdoc + Nicholas", written by old-MacGyver series creator Lee David Zlotoff, is surprisingly more about Murdoc than Mac. If I was inclined to speculation, I'd wonder if Zlotoff likes nu-Murdoc more than nu-Mac. He gives Murdoc a lot of great dialogue, peppered with sarcastic barbs, while Mac doesn't have anything that witty to say and only does one MacGyverism.

The plot itself has a few holes. Murdoc only gets to see his son, Cassian, if he remains in custody. Is he willing to risk losing his son to get out of the black site? We never find out how Murdoc hired Nicholas. They mention he emailed Nicholas payment at the time of Murdoc's last hit, but there's no clarification of how Murdoc used that opportunity to email Nicholas the money.

Finally, there's a bit at the end where Nicholas shoots Wilt in the shoulder. There's no reason for that, and Murdoc even gaslights it by saying Nicholas never misses. So why did Nicholas shoot Wilt in the shoulder instead of the chest, head, or any other kill zone? Other than it's in the script and it keeps Wilt alive and able to knock out Nicholas. Maybe it will pay off in some future episode and they'll bring it up in a Previously, but that'll be too late. Scenes in Previouslies just don't have the same impact as a few minutes after they actually happen.

Despite those flaws, "Murdoc + Nicholas" is an okay episode, or slightly better. Mostly because of the dual presence of Dastmalchian and Des Barres. Des Barres gets to do more than in his last outing, and Dastmalchian is his usual mix of sarcasm, superiority, faux concern, and occasional human moment. Like I said, we even get to see him "defeated" for once, actually punished by being forced to listen to Nicholas. It's nice to see Team MacGyver get the upper hand against Murdoc for once. Even when they've defeated him and locked him up, there's always the sense that it's part of Murdoc's long-range schemes. This time, not so much.

The Mac + James plot is American TV son-and-dying-father maudlin. It's as good as CBS network MacGyver is going to get, given we have Lucas Till and Tate Donovan. Not to slight their performance, but they're not big-screen major talents. The rest of the cast doesn't have much to do. Desi (Levy Tran) gets to look concerned about how Mac is worried about his father's physical condition. And at the end, we get Mac acknowledging that Desi is almost as good as Jack (after five episodes!). I'm sure that Jack appreciates the loyalty, Mac. The creative team seems to be hinting at a romantic attraction between them, which... ugh. The show doesn't need it.

Matty and Riley sit around the war room and do supervisory and computer stuff, respectively. Wilt (Justin Hires) isn't bad for once. His presence at the black site watching Murdoc is a bit strange: he seems the worst possible candidate for the job. But Wilt does as well as he can with a combination of competence, incompetence, cockiness, and street smarts. There's no sign of Leanna, even though Murdoc mentions her. Probably because Leanna just isn't that important a character.

Overall, "Murdoc + Nicholas" is a bit above average, because it a) has Murdoc, and b) has Des Barres being Des Barres. Zlotoff takes good advantage of that, with the majority of the episode focused one or both of them.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?