IN REVIEW: MACGYVER: SEASON 4 – Soccer + Desi + Merchant + Titan

Synopsis: In an attempt to find the main players in the Codex and cut off their match-fixing funding, Desi goes undercover to infiltrate a soccer team and find the corrupt player working with the shadow organization.

The Story

Having figured out that the secret organization they are after is called Codex. MacGyver and the team get a lead on an operative calling himself The Merchant and hope to capture and exploit him so they can get to Titan. To that end, they send Desi undercover as a star Football (Soccer) player for an international women’s team. Initially, Desi’s mission is to find a corrupt player on the team in hopes of them leading her to The Merchant, but when the player concerned refuses to play ball. She is killed, which means that Desi now has to become the bait with which to capture The Merchant who has been making money by fixing matches.

The Acting

This is a really big episode for Levy Tran to further develop Desi who has been a great addition to MacGyver since she came onto the series last season. Seeing Desi undercover was kind of fun given that she is normally not the most subtle of characters but in this instance that sort of works. In the episode, Desi is placed in real danger when The Merchant injects her with a chip, which he can trigger via remote to stop her heart instantly. So it really is life or death. James Callis is fantastic as The Merchant and his scenes with Desi are brilliantly done. As is the set up for the character of The Merchant.

Overall

This was a pretty good episode, which gave us our first real look at Codex and one of their operatives in action. Henry Ian Cusick really sells it as an obsessed and sleep-deprived Russ Tylor who is willing to put his entire fortune on the line to get The Merchant. But it is the twist at the end of the episode that will most likely be a shock.

In terms of MacGyverisms. We see Mac use a magnet taken from a handbag, which he uses to stop a roulette wheel and we see him use a  bin lid to redirect and improve the range of a microphone. But the best is saved for last when he uses an old radio and a few other bits of pieces to build a jammer.

Overall. A fun episode for fans of Desi.