- Title: MacGyver (2016) – Thief + Painting + Auction + Viro-486 + Justice
- wiki: link
I haven’t watched much of the CBS reboot of the 80s MacGyver. What I have seen has been more MacGyverish or Team MacGyver compared to the original. The latest episode, and the first I’ve watched in several seasons, features not one but two art thefts. Ah, I just can’t resist a heist. Aimee Mullins guest-stars as former art thief extraordinaire Jess Miller whose career was cut short by a horrific leg injury. Blackmailed into helping, Miller trains Desi (Levy Tran) to break into a weapon dealer’s safe to retrieve a bio-weapon before it can be sold to terrorists. The heist, and training exercises, offers a host of challenges in terms of a locked room, safe, lasers, and sensors, all which need to be beaten within a minute. Oh, and then there’s the twist.
Team MacGyver is in good form here, well prepared leaving not much in the way of on-the-fly improvisation, other than MacGyver (Lucas Till) making an impromptu listening device. The mission is personal for Russ Taylor (Henry Ian Cusick) who loses a friend and protégé to the the villain (Sebastian Roché) in the episode’s opening scene. Despite finding the safe empty, the team is able to shift gears and manage to get their hands on the weapon that has been woven into a forged artwork in a final act (that does feel a bit rushed). “Thief + Painting + Auction + Viro-486 + Justice” is light and fun, but I’m still not calling it MacGyver.