'MacGyver' Season 4 Episode 10 Review: 'Inception'-style mindbender filled with twists and turns till the end
Spoilers for 'MacGyver' Season 4 Episode 10 'Tesla + Bell + Edison + Mac'
A new episode of 'MacGyver' is here and it is the trippiest thing the show has ever done. While trying to find a superweapon built by Nikola Tesla (John Ales) before Codex can get their hands on it, Angus "Mac" MacGyver is forced to undergo an experimental treatment that puts him into a DMT-induced trance, allowing him to enter his own mind in search of clues.
At the end of the last episode, Mac and Russ Taylor (Henry Ian Cusick) discovered a video of Mac's late father James MacGyver/Oversight (Tate Donovan) that revealed a coded message before self-destructing. As it turns out, that code pointed to a house once owned by Tesla and that's where the whole story takes off.
The sequences inside Mac's mind are pretty surreal with representations of his biggest fears about the world and himself manifesting themselves as people around him. Through it all, he has a guide like Virgil led Dante in the 'Divine Comedy', though in this case, Mac's guide isn't a poet but his own mother, played by Scottie Thompson.
Thompson puts up a memorable performance as Ellen, Mac's mom, bringing a lot of energy to the role while still having her endearing moments. In the end, the episode is less about the weapon and more about Mac coming to terms with his own choices.
Though that said, there's plenty of interesting twists and turns in the episode, even up to the very end where it's hinted that Mac might be suffering some mild psychosis as a result of the treatment. It's not immediately clear if this is the case but that's something we'll have to tune in next week to find out.
The cast of 'MacGyver' Season 4 includes Lucas Till as Angus "Mac" MacGyver, Tristin Mays as Riley Davis, Justin Hires as Wilt Bozer, Meredith Eaton as Matty Weber, Levy Tran as Desi Nguyen and Henry Ian Cusick as Russ Taylor.
The guest cast for this episode includes Scottie Thompson, Edloe Blackwell, Ramon De Ocampo, Amber Skye Noyes, John Ales, Mark Boyd, Tom Thon, Jim E. Chandler, Matt Mercurio, Cuyle Carvin, Marsha Thomason, Jessica Webb, and Erin Ownbey.
Here's the official synopsis for 'Tesla + Bell + Edison + Mac': "When Mac is put into a dream state to help him recall key evidence found in Nikola Tesla's secret lab that could stop Codex's deadly plot, he encounters Nikola Tesla, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison…and his mother."
'MacGyver' Season 4 airs on Fridays at 8 pm ET on CBS.
