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MacGyver Season 4 Episode 11

The Battle of Tommy Giordano

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7.8

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 2/20/89

MacGyver tries to assist a Phoenix Foundation employee rescue her kidnapped son from her estranged husband, but matters are complicated by the boy's grand-uncle, a criminal kingpin whose position of power is coveted by others.

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Even though the threat level is somewhere below fighting for freedom and justice, this modest adventure features a solid intergenerational chemistry between Uncle Joe and Tommy that at least warrants minor applause.moreless

7.4

By mark_28, May 03, 2007

Arguably the episode that ushered in the much-reviled "MacGyver: Social Worker" episode genre, I actually thought this was a decent effort to establish a young character that the series' younger male audience could connect with. The kid, Tommy, only registers at about a 3 on an annoyance level of 1-10, which isn't bad for the young actors on this series. He also has a good chemistry with "Uncle Joe", the crime-boss-with-a-heart-of-gold played very well by typecast mob boss actor Joseph Wiseman. The acting by Ruth (Tommy's mother) and the thugs working for the rival crime bosses wasn't nearly as convincing. This was hardly a groundbreaking episode of MacGyver, but the story flowed smoothly with more than a few bursts of ingenuity while avoiding the kind of cringeworthy melodrama that an episode of this nature could have spiraled into. Ratings were really to hit a stride at this point as the series rose to a season-high-tying 14.6 rating, a benchmark from which it would continue to rise in the weeks ahead.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Dana Elcar	Peter Thornton
Richard Dean Anderson	MacGyver

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Tony Dakota	Tommy Giordano	Guest Star
Peter Yunker	Richard Giordano	Guest Star
Joseph Wiseman	Joe Catano	Guest Star

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- The hockey game that the hitmen are watching in the hotel room is actually a clip from the third season episode "Thin Ice".
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QUOTES (2)
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- MacGyver: See, you gotta live somewhere, so somebody has to have custody. They both understand that.
  Tommy: Is that a rule?
  MacGyver: It's better. It's a fact.
  Tommy: Like two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, and it never changes. That kind of fact?
  MacGyver: Yeah.
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- Mary Ruth: The wrong number really messes with my polarity.
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NOTES (8)
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- This is the first of Tony Dakota's two, unrelated appearances on MacGyver. He can also be seen in season six's "High Control".
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- This is the first of Howard Storey's three, unrelated appearances on MacGyver. He can also be seen in season five's "Legend of the Holy Rose" and season six's "High Control".
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- This is the first of Ian Black's two, unrelated appearances on MacGyver. He can also be seen in season six's "The Visitor".
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- This is the first of Serge Houde's two, unrelated appearances on MacGyver. He can also be seen in season six's "Humanity".
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- This is the second of Peter Yunker's two, unrelated appearances on MacGyver. He can also be seen in season three's "Rock the Cradle".
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- This is the second of James Crescenzo's two, unrelated appearances on MacGyver. He can also be seen in season three's "Fire and Ice".
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- This is the second of Charles André's four, unrelated appearances on MacGyver. He can also be seen in season three's "Back from the Dead", season five's "Hearts of Steel", and season six's "Bitter Harvest".
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- The German episode title is "Kein Kinderspiel", meaning "Not Child's Play". The Finnish episode title is "Tommy Giordanon suuri seikkailu", meaning "Tommy Giordano's Great Adventure". The Italian episode title is "L'assalto al ranch", meaning "Attack at the Ranch".
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ALLUSIONS (0)
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