Making extensive use of the movie "The Italian Job" gives this MacGyver a real motion picture feel. It's also a cheapjack way to avoid doing a whole show on their own.
MacGyver is in Budapest to pick up some secret information hidden in a steampunk pocket watch. Unfortunately a cuter-than-cute gypsie girl picks the pocket of his contact and until the race car finale the Soviet and Hungarian authorities chase the watch just as MacGyver does. Who will get their fingers on it first?
Don't make any mistake. The Communist and/or Socialist authorities in this episode might be wearing suits and ties but they're every bit the oppressors as are they from the second episode who force slaves into the poppy fields.
Early MacGyver episodes had mini-adventures before the opening titles that were sometimes better than the episode. This one starts with a bizarre mini-adventure about a horse but it's not important. Early episodes were also about freedom and folks striving for it, whatever their color or background. I'm sorry the program strayed from that.
What matters here is: follow the watch. And if you've seen Michael Caine's "The Italian Job," try to put it out of your mind. The editing isn't seemless, but they're doing their best. And ignore that they're in Budapest with occasional signs in Italian.
