Recap: MacGyver 411: Psy-Op + Cell + Merchant + Birds
In MacGyver 411: Psy-Op + Cell + Merchant + Birds, Phoenix plays the long con to get Codex agent The Merchant to give up information. But how well does it work?
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In A Cell…Somewhere
MacGyver(Lucas Till) wakes up disoriented. He has been beaten, and is in a cell. The other occupant looks familiar, but Mac can’t place him yet. Nor does he know how he got where he is.
Mac assesses the situation. He feels a subcutaneous medical device that keeps him drugged. The stitches indicate he has been a captive about a week. Coming out of his fog, he remembers who his cellmate is-The Merchant/Clive(James Callis)-a Codex operative that nearly killed Desi(Levy Tran) in Italy. Mac angrily shoves him against a wall, but realizes they need to work together.
Where Are We?
Using the bucket that acts a a latrine(eew) as a sound enhancer, Mac hears Mandarin. Clive hears birds native to China. That answers the where, but why? Just then, the captors come after MacGyver, tasing him and taking him away.
End Scene
As soon as Mac is out of the “prison block,” we see that he isn’t in jail at all, or in China. He is in a makeshift set built by Phoenix to fool Clive into divulging Codex’s next move. Russ(Henry Ian Cusick) got intimate details on Clive, such as his love of birds, and med prescriptions to keep Clive on edge. Thanks to Bozer(Justin Hires) and Riley’s(Tristin Mays) brilliance at what they do, everything is believable.
Desi, however, didn’t like some of what she heard Mac telling The Merchant. About the sacrifices he was willing to make. Mac admits he loves her, and that it is all part of the con to get Clive to trust him.
The Next Act
Sitting in the cell again, Mac and Clive are talking. Clive says he can lift a taser from a guard, and he knows Mac’s talent for making things. While Mac is thinking out loud, Clive silently notices that the songbirds are singing in a patterned loop.
The group decides to make it happen, and Clive lifts a taser from a guard.
Clive/The Merchant begins to get into Mac’s head. He tells Mac that he is all alone, that when he dies, it will be alone.
Russ sees what is happening, and wants to end the session, Matty(Meredith Eaton) stops him.
Escape
An agent approaches Russ; they have the audio of Clive mentioning the bird patterns to himself. Aborting the mission, it is too late. Codex was waiting for certain keywords to be used on the internet, and Riley had used them. Codex has taken over Phoenix’s computer systems, and are on their way. The team moves to keep Clive from escaping.
But it’s too late. Scarlett(Amber Skye Noyes) has led Codex operatives to the roof, and a firefight ensues. Phoenix is taken down, and Clive gets away. He has a call from Titan, and makes plans with her.
Conned Again
A Codex agent takes the phone from The Merchant. Joke’s on him, the “agents remove their protective helmets, and it is Russ and Bozer. The takedown by Codex didn’t succeed. Desi beat the tar out of Scarlett, and agents thought dead were just faking. The info Clive gave to the fake Titan will hopefully help Phoenix to end their reign of terror once and for all. I am guessing that Russ, along with being a superb agent, watched a lot of The BBC’s Hu$tle.
A Darkness Creeps
MacGyver is speaking to Clive in his new, Hannibalesque cell. The questions he asks and the things he says reveal something unsettling about MacGyver. At least it does to Russ, who is watching on monitors unseen.
Will Mac join Codex after the events of MacGyver 411: Psy-Op + Cell + Merchant + Birds?
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