MacGyver (TV Series) Wrench (2016) User Reviews

Best Ep By Far

[urthpainter · 7/10 · 29 October 2016]

I've taken an odd liking to this show - mainly because it has gotten universally hammered, and while this reboot leaves a lot to be desired... I still really want this show to improve and succeed.

This weeks opening (pre-title sequence) is way less cliché. There is a real sense of danger and how and a how heck are they going to get out? type of scenario.

The bulk of the episode is a complex story involving a super criminal (the ghost), flashbacks and an interesting look into Macgyver's past. Nearly everything about this episode improves upon the previous four. While there are entertaining sequences in the first few episodes, this is the first that has a level of quality throughout.

This episode also adds more to a series arc, or content that extends beyond individual episodes. Previously the only running story of note was Mac's ex-girlfriend, her treachery, and trying to locate her. This episode adds a revenge factor, not only for Mac, but his team...

His team... what's funny about this vastly improved episode is it makes the glaring weaknesses stand out even further. Of the surrounding cast and the characters they play, only the boss is slightly interesting. This is probably because we see her the least, and there is a ton of mystery there. The three others are terrible characters, and no amount of writing is going to make them work. At the rock bottom of this list is Mac's roommate, whose token appearances in this ep. fall flat as usual, feel completely out of place and seem to serve no other purpose than to take up some time. They all need work, but I think the roommate character simply needs to be removed from the show.

Regardless, still enjoyed the episode as a whole, and hope to see continued improvement.

tense bomb episode. meh.

[mikeholmes-48012 · 5/10 · 28 October 2016]

So once again, we start off with some thing happening and they are buried in a car about to die of no air cause some guy buried them. He uses an airbag mechanism, blows his way out, after the bulldozing bad guy leaves, and the roll off what i now find out is a dirt hill, and never once seem concerned the bad guy may still be there. I'd like run to the woods, hide, wait an hour. And how hard is it to get out of a pile of dirt, compared to being underground? Im not scientist but seems you could just did unless camera angles did it injustice. So Phenoix still reeling from its traitor computer expert now finds themselves training the hot LIsa BOnet computer hacker expert in the field of fighting. Thorton is training her. Macgyvers roommate is planning fun Halloween party with masks of presidents and rambling dialogue of Taft gags. Then Mac has to go diffuse a bomb at the request of the BEST bomb defuser ever. THen we learn Mac was in Afghanistan and his teacher was blewed up by a bomb that detonates when you deactivate the first one. But Jack is like, you can tell us if you want to talk and Mac is like no way man. So the bomb is so complex they know it can only be one person. I was like "Say Murdoch". they said Ghost guy. and he was in Afghanistan and killed Macs teacher. Using like three numbers from a 12 digit number and all this other unbelievable crap, the crafty computer expert Lisa Bonet tracks the dude to his apartment. Who is so advanced they worry about bomb booby traps if they kick in the door. I"d be worried he saw them on camera approaching and using gum. reflective tape from electronic device and knife for a mirror to place under door. So there the guys sits, they kick the door but its re enforced. cheaper that a camera i guess. He gets away. THey get his computers and keep them from blowing up and see all the videos he has of when he blew people up. One video was the Macs teacher dying in Afghanistan. Apparently Mac lost audio feed then so was hearing it all new as the guy talked about his new born daughter etc and then blew up. Mac cried and was determined. so stuff happened they found a abandoned factory they thought he was in, slowly walked to and Kaboom. Investigators and Thorton felt the Ghost , rushed to leave the country, and was using highly combustible explosives and was killed by his own rushing. Evidence was backpack with everything to flee etc. Mac is like no way, my gut says this is a set up and hes still trying to blow up UN peace meetings (which my history tells me are pointless). so they notice strange NYPD van that shouldn't be there, suspicious cop, and run to it, and Jack runs in truck, steps on plate that triggers bomb, and it doesn't go off cause he must have stopped on a dime . Bad guy gets away. Mac has to help jack, steals some rope and hot dog cart wheels which make pulley to take out fuse of second bomb. Oh yeah, the hot dog wheels have aren't flat like every other wheel , they have a channel like those aqua grip tires that perfectly channels the rope. And oh yeah, Mac was ready to do a simple wire cutting of explosive weight sensor ed bomb jack was on, like just sitting out there, and he remembered the episodes flashbacks and was like, maybe this isn't hte only bomb and then he found the other i mentioned. Bomb disabled, they just sit down on truck bumper instead of running like hell as i would disabled bomb or not. They go on to plan party and argue who dresses as President Taft which i found offensive. Im not into bomb episodes. Usually there is a timer and they stop it in the nick of time with usually guessing what wire to cut. Only one bomb had a timer, which was nice, and only once he guessed about having to difuse a bomb, which was timed but not with a clock, they just knew it would blow soon. that Russian episode, two episodes ago had a bomb that was so old that Y2K made it deprogram-able for 100 years . that blew my mind, that was smart, but ironically not as tense as bomb with 30 seconds. I just don't like bomb episodes .I liked that "Behind enemy lines " movie where the guy steps on a pressure mine and is like help me and the other bad guy leaves him and then you hear a poof in the distance. that's fun bomb stories. this one was not.

Military Angus

[tenshi_ippikiookami · 5/10 · 14 April 2017]

Another weak episode, even though this time, lucky us, we don't get the team going the 'extract the target mission' route.

This time the team has to stop a mysterious figure known as "The Ghost" (because more original names are trademarked) who sets bombs for a living. MacGyver has history with "The Ghost" (say with throaty voice), history that is more than a little bit lame but that we get to know through overlong flashbacks.

Cue an episode that delivers in the MacGyver part (the inventions are kind of fun, and delivered in a fresh manner) but that falls short on everything else. The enemy in this episode is mysterious enough, but the... "Ghost" is not a very original threat, and the pace of the episode suffers a lot from the team just running in circles behind him. On top of that there is the ridiculous obsession of the show with Wilt Bozer, MacGyver's flatmate, a shallow and boring character as they come. If that was not enough, the episode delivers some of the most cringe-worthy and over-the-top dialogue ever. "Wrench" ends up being an uneven experience.