IN REVIEW: MACGYVER: SEASON 4 – Red Cell + Quantum + Cold + Committed

Synopsis: General John Acosta recruits MacGyver to steal a highly classified project from a military lab in order to find flaws in its security.

Review: Another episode, which works well to establish the new order of things as well as introducing a new shadowy organization.

The Story

When Russ Tyler accepts a job on behalf of the Foundation from his old friend General John Acosta. Macgyver and the team find themselves having to break into a top-secret facility in order to steal an advanced computer chip that cannot survive if exposed to temperatures above freezing. As they retrieve the chip and hand it over to the General. The team soon finds out that they have been double-crossed and are now wanted fugitives.

On the run from Police, FBI and pretty much every law enforcement agency under the sun. The team set about trying to find the General in order to get the chip back but find that the situation is far from simple.

The Acting

Once again Henry Ian Cusick adds some much-needed spice to the pot as Russ Tyler learns that running a team is not as straightforward as it seems. His scenes with Macgyver continue to be strong. I particularly enjoyed how Russ was a little impatient when MacGyver was trying to think up a way to get the chip out of the lab without exposing it to room temperature. I also enjoyed how he created a diversion to allow MacGyver to get to the underground tunnels at NORAD. Also enjoyable was the bickering between MacGyver and Desi. Both Lucas Till and Levy Tran did a great job of selling that.

Overall

This was an okay episode, but toward the end began to feel a little predictable and perhaps a little too easy for the team with regards to getting their security clearance back. I think the writers had some scope to expand on Pheonix working without clearance for a while. In fact, it would have been more interesting had they done that.

Overall. A pretty average effort, which is ultimately saved by some fine acting performances.