MACGYVER: SERENITY (TV)
Summary
One in this action/adventure series about MacGyver, a former Special Forces agent known for his inventive survival skills.
MacGyver is frustrated at Pete’s latest project request, feeling overworked and exhausted. They argue about it, but MacGyver refuses to change his mind and retreats into his houseboat. He plays a tape of an old Western movie on his television to relax, and falls asleep while watching it. He has an elaborate dream, imagining himself in an Old West setting as an ex-soldier looking to settle down in the small town of Serenity, Montana. He gives away his handgun to the man who gave him a ride, explaining that he has grown weary of it after the war; in exchange he receives a Swiss army knife. He arrives in Serenity and goes to a saloon to get something to eat, although the other patrons are surprised when they learn that he is a teetotaler. He soon befriends a man named Andrew Jackson “Jack” Dalton, and fends off the unruly Bozer brothers Wilt and Milt for Penny, who in his dream is a girl working at the saloon. The Bozers attempt to provoke MacGyver into a gunfight, but laugh at him when they discover that he doesn’t carry a gun. He uses a glass of alcohol and a lit cigar to help disarm the Bozer brothers, and the bartender throws them out of the saloon.
Once that matter is settled, MacGyver sits down with Jack and expresses his interest in finding a home to buy. Jack reveals that he has recently won the deed to a nearby ranch in a poker game, and that he is willing to sell it. MacGyver decides to purchase it from him, but asks to see the property before he finalizes the sale. Penny offers to go along with him, curious about the land as well. Jack takes them there and they meet the servants of the ranch’s former owner, Billy Colton and Lee Sing. They explain that all of the former owners have been frightened away, and just then a posse of men arrives on horseback led by Pete, who in MacGyver’s dream is a rival ranch owner. He demands that MacGyver vacate at once, as he claims to have had a deal with the previous owner to secure the land for himself. The Bozer brothers accompany Pete; Pete finds out that MacGyver doesn’t carry a gun and mocks him for it. He attempts to force MacGyver to leave, but MacGyver punches him and Billy prevents a fight from breaking out by threatening the attackers with a shotgun. Pete’s men drop their guns and Pete retreats for the time being, promising to return to secure the water on MacGyver’s ranch for his herd of cattle. Billy and Lee Sing decide to stay and help MacGyver, much to his appreciation.
Pete decides that he requires help in evicting MacGyver and enlists the aid of Murdoc, who in the dream is an infamous gunslinger. He demonstrates his prowess to Pete and the Bozer brothers, who are cowed by his gunfighting skills. Pete specifies that he wants MacGyver off the ranch, but not killed. MacGyver deduces that Billy is more intelligent than he lets on, and is affecting a “gumbo accent” in order to appear as an ordinary field hand. Billy reveals that he was once a slave in Alabama, but that he escaped and eventually came to Montana as a schoolteacher, using his literacy to his advantage. He continues to play into stereotypes despite the Emancipation Proclamation, as he feels that attitudes have not sufficiently changed for him to be safe. MacGyver expresses a belief that in the “new world” of the West, lives can change, and that change must come “one person at a time.” Jack and Penny inform MacGyver of Murdoc’s arrival, and MacGyver believes he can resolve the situation by speaking to Pete and working out a compromise to share his water supply.
Murdoc shows up at the ranch looking for MacGyver and shoots Billy when he draws his shotgun at him. He leaves, and MacGyver arrives too late to save Billy, who dies. Murdoc reports back to Pete, who is furious when he learns about Billy’s death. He decides to pay Murdoc his fee and call him off of the assignment. However, Murdoc decides that he wants to pursue MacGyver anyway. MacGyver and Lee Sing bury Billy, and Pete arrives to apologize. MacGyver is furious with him but agrees to hear him out. Pete says he’s called off Murdoc and that he’s willing to purchase MacGyver’s ranch off of him at double the price. MacGyver says he would rather keep his land, and Pete agrees not to trouble him anymore. However, MacGyver allows him to drill for water on his land and keep what he finds, meaning that MacGyver would have nothing more than Pete’s trust to ensure his own survival. Pete agrees to this deal, and MacGyver heads out to deal with Murdoc and get him arrested for murdering Billy, accompanied by Pete.
The Bozer brothers decide to join forces with Murdoc in order to get revenge on MacGyver. Murdoc takes Penny as a hostage in the saloon in order to lure out MacGyver. Jack warns MacGyver about Murdoc’s plot, and the Bozer brothers hide themselves in order to ambush MacGyver. They stymie MacGyver, Pete, and Jack’s progress; MacGyver rides ahead to town to confront Murdoc while Pete and Jack remain behind to deal with the Bozers, subduing them with trickery. MacGyver finds Murdoc waiting to snipe him from a rooftop, and so he uses a ladder to get up on the roof with him. He manages to sneak up on Murdoc, silently moving down a rope taken from a flagpole, and tries to ambush him. However, he finds that it is actually Penny, tied up and disguised as Murdoc. Murdoc appears and shoots MacGyver in the chest, sending him plummeting off of the roof. Pete, Jack, and Penny rush to him, but MacGyver turns out to be alive; the bullet struck MacGyver’s breast pocket, and his knife absorbed most of the blow. Murdoc rides away from town and MacGyver decides not to pursue him. The real MacGyver awakens from his dream and finds Pete in his houseboat with him. Pete apologizes for their earlier argument and for volunteering MacGyver for a mission without his permission. MacGyver accepts his apology and is surprised to find the Swiss army knife from his dream is next to his couch. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: November 30, 1999 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:47:40
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:51045
- GENRE: Action/adventure
- SUBJECT HEADING: Action/adventure
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1985-1992
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Stephen Downing … Executive Producer
- Henry Winkler … Executive Producer
- John Rich … Executive Producer
- John B. Morganville … Coordinating Producer
- Hudson Hickman … Co-Producer
- Thomas R. Polizzi … Associate Producer
- William Gereghty … Director
- Lee David Zlotoff … Created by
- Stephen Kandel … Writer
- Ken Harrison … Music by
- Randy Edelman … Theme Music by
- Richard Dean Anderson … Cast, MacGyver
- Dana Elcar … Cast, Pete Thornton
- Teri Hatcher … Cast, Penny Parker
- Cuba Gooding Jr. … Cast, Billy Colton
- Robin Mossley … Cast, Wilt Bozer
- Robert Donner … Cast, Milt Bozer
- Norman Browning … Cast, Marshall Wyatt
- Michael Des Barres … Cast, Mardoc
- Bruce McGill … Cast, Jack Dalton
- Matthew Walker … Cast, Emmenthaler
- Claire Brown … Cast, Pam
- Randall Wong … Cast, Lee Sing
- Franco Consentino … Cast, Storekeeper