I have to disagree with the former poster about the plot holes in this episode. Yes, it is somewhat cliché and the numbers coincidentally corresponding to important things and also spelling out doctor is a bit much, but each time I watch this episode it is like watching a thriller-- of course we know how it will end but we don't know what tricks Zito has up his sleeve for the various protagonists. So love this episode, love the character of Zito, not as much as Murdoc, but just the same he's a great villain--would love to see s showdown with Murdoc, Zito and Macgyver--that would be pretty cool! Mac uses his wits to outwit Zito by getting in his head thinking what he would do, and he does a great job--yes, the script says certain things that they have to abide by, but still a really great episode, which is why the average rating is a 9 out of 10.
4 Reviews
A less gory Silence of the Lambs
veinctor6 June 2018
This episode was so good for '90s TV.... and released a year before Silence of the Lambs. The Silence of the Lambs book was written in 1981 so, I cant say the Lesson in Evil is original but I do prefer Macgyver's episode. It's more compact and into the point. It's creepy but without the gore. I love how an old man like Zito can play mind games with Mac.
Poor Man's Evil Genius
ttapola13 June 2008
Warning: Spoilers
I can't believe that at the time of writing, this episode has got 9.0 average. It's so full of stupid plot twists and clichés. First there's the Obsessed Cop, then the Doctor Who Believes the Psychopath Has Made Progress. Zito escapes during daytime. Zito hates MacGyver and no one immediately thinks about putting some bodyguards on Pete and others even though Zito gives a plain clue for them? They have the time: it's dark when Pete leaves the Phoenix Foundation and by that time they've been listening to the tape over and over again. They find Pete's car ONLY when Zito leaves it in front of the police station, in broad daylight! Wasn't there an APB or anything for the car? And nobody has the sense to assign any protection to the doctor when she tells she has transcripts that might be useful. The doctor arrives on MacGyver's place by car and literally stays inside for only two minutes. Meanwhile, Zito has somehow managed to take out the Doctor's car battery while there are a number of police swarming about! But the most stupid thing is the formulas which Zito leaves for MacGyver to give the numbers: 4, 15, 3, 20, 15 and 18, which, when changed to letters spell out "DOCTOR". Great, but there's a couple of problems with that. Supposedly Zito has started planning to strike at the doctor ever since she took him in for evaluation. The first number has to be "4", which coincidentally just happens to be Zito's cell number! The second number has to be "15", which is the page number on which Zito has written the formula for the next number. The third number has to be "3", which refers to the Fates in Greek mythology. Just when MacGyver has figured the third number, Pete calls that the Phoenix Foundation laboratory has discovered another formula, the one for the fourth number! How convenient. Why didn't they discover it before the second or the third number? Because the script says so. The fourth number has to be "20", which refers to Pete's parking lot number. How does it happen to just be the 20th letter of the alphabet? Because the script says so. Zito leaves the formula for the fifth number on Pete's parking space. The fifth number has to be "15", which already was the second number MacGyver just conveniently doesn't yet figure out that now the numbers would spell out "DOCTO". Why? Because the script says so. When Pete's car is found, in the trunk is MacGyver's doormat. The Obsessed Cop makes a sweep of MacGyver's apartment and MacGyver conveniently sees the sixth formula and the words "P.S. Goodbye Murphy" written on the wall just before the Cop steps into a trap that nearly kills her. When the sixth formula gives the number "18", only then does MacGyver make the alphabet connection. By the time Zito kidnaps the Doctor, I no longer cared how it would turn out in the end: it was obvious MacGyver had to go in alone, because that's the cliché and the script says so. Criminal masterminds like Keyser Soze are cool, but omniscient posers like Zito and the currently popular Jigsaw are just plain stupid.
Season 6 strikes again!
mojorecords1 January 2023
Re-watching MacGyver to enjoy the series again, there starts to appear a rather obvious shift in the quality of the show at around the start of season 6. Earlier seasons have their own faults, but the show manages respectable consistency despite the relative duds here and there. Season 6 unfortunately fails in that rather lofty goal extremely early on, with the most obvious early example being this episode right here.
Here are some common trends of season 6 MacGyver:
1. Extremely convenient, contrived plot points.
2. Sometimes Mac is inexplicably an idiot, doesn't know obvious things, or can't read obvious clues right in front of his face.
3. Characters acting out of character or in some kind of way contradictory to the prior years of established character development.
4. MacGyvered objects materialize out of practically nothing, rather than Mac building something and explaining it as he does it.
5. When faced with a situation that has multiple obvious opportunities for escape, Mac chooses the most illogical, dangerous one with the least likelihood of success. Often Mac's subsequent escape has more to due with sheer luck than having an ingenious plan that actually works.
6. Likewise, the villains are also afflicted with this need to over-complicate everything, which leads to some incredibly unbelievable and stupidly twisting plot lines that delve into nonsense, more so than what is typical for earlier seasons.
This episode makes no sense. Zito has a supposed number code, but all he does is give them simple math. There's nothing here a first grader couldn't do in their head immediately. Zito might as well have just given the answers themselves instead as solving the math is no challenge whatsoever. Instead, the challenge is figuring out what the numbers mean... but that's impossible, because they're just random, individual numbers with no context given whatsoever. If the numbers were included as part of a riddle, it might make some sense but as the episode was written, it's just pure guesswork and blind luck that they manage to figure out where the next clue is.
Zito's breakout and subsequent "plan" is stupid and illogical. The show tries to pretend that he planned the whole thing, but it makes no sense as to how he could or why he would. Zito's entire motivation boils down to him "wanting a rematch" with MacGyver, but if that were his goal a prison escape wouldn't have been necessary, and the doctor's involvement doesn't make any sense regardless.
It's weird how quickly the quality drops off with season 6. Credit goes to William Morgan Sheppard as I think he did a great job with his roles on this show, and he really carries this episode. At least it's tolerable, which is more than I can say about "Harry's Will."
Here are some common trends of season 6 MacGyver:
1. Extremely convenient, contrived plot points.
2. Sometimes Mac is inexplicably an idiot, doesn't know obvious things, or can't read obvious clues right in front of his face.
3. Characters acting out of character or in some kind of way contradictory to the prior years of established character development.
4. MacGyvered objects materialize out of practically nothing, rather than Mac building something and explaining it as he does it.
5. When faced with a situation that has multiple obvious opportunities for escape, Mac chooses the most illogical, dangerous one with the least likelihood of success. Often Mac's subsequent escape has more to due with sheer luck than having an ingenious plan that actually works.
6. Likewise, the villains are also afflicted with this need to over-complicate everything, which leads to some incredibly unbelievable and stupidly twisting plot lines that delve into nonsense, more so than what is typical for earlier seasons.
This episode makes no sense. Zito has a supposed number code, but all he does is give them simple math. There's nothing here a first grader couldn't do in their head immediately. Zito might as well have just given the answers themselves instead as solving the math is no challenge whatsoever. Instead, the challenge is figuring out what the numbers mean... but that's impossible, because they're just random, individual numbers with no context given whatsoever. If the numbers were included as part of a riddle, it might make some sense but as the episode was written, it's just pure guesswork and blind luck that they manage to figure out where the next clue is.
Zito's breakout and subsequent "plan" is stupid and illogical. The show tries to pretend that he planned the whole thing, but it makes no sense as to how he could or why he would. Zito's entire motivation boils down to him "wanting a rematch" with MacGyver, but if that were his goal a prison escape wouldn't have been necessary, and the doctor's involvement doesn't make any sense regardless.
It's weird how quickly the quality drops off with season 6. Credit goes to William Morgan Sheppard as I think he did a great job with his roles on this show, and he really carries this episode. At least it's tolerable, which is more than I can say about "Harry's Will."
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