Maybe I missed it, but when Mac had his "life flashing before his eyes" moment, Jack wasn't there? Way to memory-hole George Eads, production staff!
And the absence of George Eads is part of why 'MacGyver' ended not quite as good as it started. I'll admit, I wasn't a big fan of the Jack character when the series started. Yes, the "new format" with Mac as a part of a team of government troubleshooters required someone who can... shoot. Even if a gun-wielding partner was part of what made the show not very original-MacGyver-ish.
But Jack did grow on me, mostly because of Eads' charms. Such as they are. He provided better comic relief than either Justin Hires or, later, Russ Taylor. And maybe Levy Tran as Desi did better action stunts.. But Jack managed to be both funnier than the latter (the Wilt-Russ fake brawl at the end of this episode is painful to watch), and Desi got enmeshed in the whole Mac-Riley romance subplot that according to the current show-runner, would have got deep sixed if the series had gone to season six anyway.
The whole romance subplot was another reason the series ended. Like the production team was running out of ideas, and they figured, "Hey, let's have three of the main characters form a romantic triangle!" was what the series needed. Particularly with Jack gone. It didn't, and we got a new romantic relationship (or two: Russ and Sofia), when we had previously established ones dropped. Remember Reina? And Billy? We got rid of them for what we did get?
Part of the overall weak series was the fact that it seemed like the production staff forgot or ignored what 'MacGyver' was initially about. One kinda nerdy guy who demonstrated that brains is better than brawn. Having someone there to shoot the bad guys while Mac feverishly tries to improvise something just goes against the spirit of the original series. Which isn't bad per se, but who was the new series reaching out to?
And the plots, particularly when they decide to go serial in the later seasons, were kind of eh. Ooh, a big conspiracy-type group with Codex? Been there, done that. The whole nano-thing dragged on way too long.
What redeemed the series was the generally likeable cast. Lucas Till was decent with what he was given. So was Tristin Mays as Riley. Hires did the best he could with what he was given: the mildly racist comic sidekick. Eaton was good once they settled on her as the Phoenix Oversight. Parker... who knows? I guess she's still working for the government version of Phoenix.
The finale seemed like a good jumping off point for the nu series returning to its "roots", with Mac as a freelancer of sorts. The interviews with the show runner suggest that if we had gotten Season Six, we would have gotten more of the nano-conspiracy government plot, just without the government. Oh well. Maybe we're lucky we never got that.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
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