Don’t miss tomorrow’s night episode of MacGyver!
Looks to be a good one, here’s a preview peek with Mac, Desi, Bozer and Russ!
Recognize the voice doing the interrogating?
MacGyver airs on CBS 8/7c on Friday nights!
Recent press indicates while most of the world stays at home as much as they can to help stop the spread of the Coronavirus, there have been those remembering and reminiscing of Desmond Hume’s similar situation.
On LOST, Desmond spent 3 years down in the hatch, in a self imposed quarantine of his own. Pushing the button every 108 seconds in order to save the world. Enjoy the three articles below the photo cap and let’s do like Desmond did……stay home, stay safe….let’s save the world!
‘What LOST’s Desmond Can Teach Us ABout Quarantine’
by Lindsey Romain at Nerdist.com
Desmond’s introduction on the show is one of Lost‘s great reveals. In a subplot from the first season, the characters Locke (Terry O’Quinn) and Boone (Ian Somerhalder) stumble on a hatch door buried in the middle of the jungle of the remote island where their plane crash-landed. The unlikely duo decides to excavate the hatch, but they initially keep it from their fellow survivors. Boone, on his death bed, reveals the hatch’s location to the island’s de facto leader, surgeon Jack (Matthew Fox), and the season finale involves a mission to open it and find out what’s inside.
That final episode ends with tantalizing tease: Jack and Locke peering into the hatch before the credits smash and we realized we’d have to wait a whole summer to learn what was in there.
ABC/via Giphy
So what was in there? The opening of the season two premiere introduced us to what seems like a totally unrelated series of events: normal scenes of a man starting his day. However, we quickly learn that this man is actually down there in the hatch—a strange, bunker-like place frozen in a ’70s aesthetic—and that he’s about to be confronted by the survivors of Oceanic 815, after years in isolation. We also learn that stamped on the inside hatch door is a curious word: “Quarantine.”
That means Desmond is under the belief that his bunker home is protecting him from some unknown illness on the island—an illness the survivors might now have. Because this is Lost, it would take us way too long to explain the truth of the matter, and frankly, we’re not even sure we know the answers ourselves. Suffice it to say, Desmond’s story is one of the most fascinating and heartbreaking on the show, and how he came to be on the island—and what becomes of him later—are worth the hours of investment.
What we want to do here instead is take a look at his morning quarantine routine. Because it’s actually a pretty good model for what we should all be doing every morning.
First, Desmond starts his day by hopping out of his bunk, pressing some buttons on a computer (you do not have to do this as you are not trying to “save the world” in your quarantine), and then heads to his record player and puts on some tunes. The song he picks in the season two premiere is “Make Your Own Kind Of Music” by Mama Cass Elliot—the perfect sort of breezy, infectious, and upbeat tune to get you through another day of quarantine. The lyrics are also a little on the nose for self-isolation:
You’re gonna be knowing
The loneliest kind of lonely,
It may be rough goin’,
Just to do your thing’s the hardest thing to do.
But you’ve gotta make your own music
Sing your own special song,
Make your own kind of music even if nobody else sings along.
As the song plays, he washes the previous night’s dishes, and then hops on his exercise bike. We watch his mini fitness routine, which includes pull-ups and sit-ups. Next, he pops into the shower, does a nice little scrub-down, then heads back to the kitchen to make a breakfast smoothie. We’re not entirely sure what’s in this thing; it looks like a combination of protein powder, cherries, and peaches. But he’s doing his best with what he’s got.
That’s about when things veer off into Lost territory, since we next see Desmond inject himself with some sort of mysterious medicine, and then the hatch door explodes and he’s thrust into action. But don’t worry, he makes sure to change into his work jumpsuit first! As the experts say, the best work-from-home practice is to treat it like you’re going into the office anyway; that includes getting dressed.
It’s a pretty simple scene, and honestly, not one we thought we’d ever need to look to for inspiration. But it’s 2020, the year where absolutely nothing makes sense. So why not let a moment from Lost inform us about the dos and don’ts of quarantined life? Thank you Desmond, for this vital bit of informative pop culture. May we all be as fit as you by the end of this.
‘CoronaVirus: Scene From TV Show LOST Resurfaces as UK Goes Into Lockdown’
By Jacob Stolworthy Independent.co.uk
A scene from the TV show Lost is being circulated online following Boris Johnson’s speech to the nation in which he put the UK on partial lockdown because of coronavirus.
While addressing the country on Monday night (23 March), Johnson ordered people to “stay at home” and sanctioned one form of exercise a day.
This led many to think of the character Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick) in the hit US show centered on plane crash survivors.
Desmond was introduced in the show’s second season as a character residing in a mysterious hatch found in the jungle by two survivors.
The first time he’s ever seen, he’s shown going about his daily routine, which involves listening to some music (in this instance, Mama Cass), showering and exercising.
It’s later revealed he’s been locked away for three years believing to be under quarantine due to a deadly “sickness” on the island.
One person shared a clip of Desmond’s introduction on Twitter, writing: “Me three weeks from now, working from home.”
Another added: “We are Desmond from Lost until May”.
“The longer this isolation/quarantine goes on I reckon I am going to morph into Desmond,” wrote a third.
Writer Lindsey Romain even wrote an article about the character for Nerdist, commenting: “My man Desmond had a quarantine routine before it was cool so i wrote about it.”
Of course we don’t have the added pressure of pushing a button every 108 minutes in the belief it will “save the world”, although one tweeter stated: ”I feel like Desmond on Lost, hunkered down in the hatch, and every 108 minutes I push a button to launch a Google Hangout.”
Lost is available to stream on Amazon Prime and you can follow along with a rewatch podcast.
Find a ranking of every single episode here.
‘9 Genre Characters Who Really ‘Got’ Social Distancing’
By Brian Silliman at syfy.com
Desmond — Lost
When we finally saw what was in the hatch at the beginning of the second season of Lost, we met Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick). His sole purpose was to press buttons at proper times. When he wasn’t doing that, he was adhering to a somewhat strict regimen of keeping himself entertained.
He gets pretty good at it, but when newcomers show up and he gets to hand the button-pushing job to someone (anyone) else? This dude is gone baby, gone. He could not have gotten out of the hatch fast enough, because social distancing doesn’t allow him to reunite with his beloved Penny, or “Pennahh.” He gets stuck on the island anyway, and we’re glad — he’s one of the best characters that ever appeared on this series. See you in another life, brother.
As the Coronavirus spreads into the US and across it, it’s affecting families and businesses all over.
The television/film business has been affected as well and several TV shows recently had to stop current production…..MacGyver was included in those. CBS officially stopped production on Friday, March 13th. At that time, they were shooting episode 20 of the 22 episodes scheduled for season four.
It’s unclear how many episodes will be aired as the season progresses, we’re hoping for as many as they can possibly complete in post production. It’s been a thrilling season so far with Ian’s character Russ Taylor, quickly becoming a fan favorite! Fans needless to say, are hoping for a season five and the cast and crew are too!
Ian tweeted out a video to all the fans about the end of the season’s production and also gave some encouraging words for all of us as we go through the uncertainty of the Coronavirus, during the coming weeks. In his usual way, it was both entertaining and endearing.
We hope everyone will take all the necessary precautions, and stay safe and well. We are all in this together!
Guest star Amanda Schull delivers a stellar performance in the episode as the feisty and idealistic doctor Emilia, Russ Taylor’s former love interest whose kidnapping sets the episode’s events in motion.
Henry Ian Cusick, Levy Tran, and Amanda Schull (CBS)
This article contains spoilers for ‘MacGyver’ Season 4 Episode 6 ‘Right + Wrong + Both + Neither’
‘MacGyver’ Season 4’s last episode dropped quite a bomb with the reveal that Matty Webber (Meredith Eaton) might be Titan, the head of Codex, but Episode 6 ‘Right + Wrong + Both + Neither’ quickly resolves that mystery within the first few minutes and moves on to deliver a powerful episode centered around Russ Taylor (Henry Ian Cusick). The character has been a bit of an enigma since he joined the show at the start of the season but Episode 6 finally sheds some light on his motivations.
Guest star Amanda Schull delivers a stellar performance in the episode as the feisty and idealistic doctor Emilia, Russ Taylor’s former love interest whose kidnapping sets the episode’s events in motion. Schull’s chemistry with Cusick was absolutely delightful and the way the episode ends their story is frankly heartbreaking.
It’s a pretty intense episode that involves global politics and a lot of gray morality, especially with Angus “Mac” MacGyver (Lucas Till) finally realizing just how much the Phoenix Foundation’s world has changed in recent times. Even though they’ve always been covert operatives, Mac and his team have never had to make choices as hard as the ones they’re being forced into this season and while they may be the right choices, that doesn’t mean they don’t weigh heavily on Mac’s mind.
Perhaps the most important thing about the episode was that it finally gave us some hints as to why Russ chose to give up his life as a private military contractor and buy the Phoenix Foundation. So far, we’ve had this nagging suspicion that he might actually be a Codex operative but now it seems more likely that Emilia may have influenced Russ to become a better person, or at least try to be.
The final moments of the episode add yet another twist to the season’s mystery with Matty saying “I think she’s back” on an encrypted phone call. Does Matty have an evil twin we didn’t know about? Or is this “she” something else altogether? We’ll just have to wait and see.
‘MacGyver’ Season 4 airs new episodes every Friday at 8/7 c exclusively on CBS.
Thank you to Parade.com for this in depth interview with Ian!
Henry Ian Cusick (Photo: Mark Hill/CBS)
Season four of MacGyver began with the introduction of former MI6 agent Russ Taylor (Henry Ian Cusick), who recruited the former Phoenix operatives to hunt down a bio weapon that he was responsible for putting in the hands of some seriously bad guys, forcing him to have a come-to-Jesus moment when he realized he needed the team to right his wrong.
Henry Ian Cusick as Russ Taylor (Photo: CBS)
“He was tapping into the eternal conflict that people have,” Cusick exclusively tells Parade.com. “He was thinking, ‘I’ll make some money out of it,’ but when he realized that a lot of innocent people were going to die, that’s when he had his epiphany and decided he was on the side of doing something wrong. Then once he starts helping MacGyver (Lucas Till), he realizes that he enjoys doing good.”
Russ went one step further then and used his ill-gotten gains to purchase the former Phoenix property and he is currently working on resurrecting the company to its former glory – at least for now. Cusick hints that Russ is a man who gets bored quickly, so who’s to say that he may well change his mind again, and go off and do something else.
That said, on tonight’s episode when Russ’ first love, Emilia (Amanda Schull), is kidnapped by the same rebels he fought during his private military contract days, he takes the Phoenix team to a small, impoverished town to rescue her and rid the town of the rebels for good.
“The episode really goes back into Russ Taylor’s past, where you see Emilia, and it’s about how things may or may not worked out,” he continues. “It’s a flashback episode. Not that far back. I would say maybe five years, you know? It’s fun going back in time. It’s probably not as wacky as the other Russ Taylors you’ve seen. Probably a little bit more military, but there’s always wacky moments with Russ Taylor, and I think, at the heart of it, it’s a good episode.”
Justin Hires, Meredith Eaton, Tristin Mays, Lucas Till, Henry Ian Cusick and Levy Tran (Photo: Mark Hill/CBS)
How did Russ get his hands on enough money to relaunch Phoenix?
He was a former MI6 agent that went a little bit rogue and started doing some, well, naughty things like selling arms, and that’s how he made a lot of money. Then he took it too far when he traded a bio-weapon that could potentially destroy the world and that’s when he goes to MacGyver and recruits him, saying, “I need some help tracking down this weapon that I sold, because I think I made a big mistake.” So, he has an epiphany and that’s how he becomes the Russ Taylor that you see in MacGyver now.
Russ doesn’t strike me as particularly a team player, but he does seem to be a bit of a genius, just not in the same way as MacGyver. He is great at solving puzzles, though. What are the skills that Russ brings to the team?
That’s a very good question. First of all, it would seem an abundance of money. If you want to set anything up, money is always good. Also, he’s got a can-do attitude. He never really gives up. He’s intelligent. He’s a pattern spotter. He can read people, and, of course, he’s been trained by MI6 in counterespionage and torturing people. So, he’s got a lot of strings to him.
He’s not a team player, but he needs these people to want to work for him. True they were really bored doing what they were doing when Phoenix was disbanded, and they love having these adrenaline careers, but how does he go about earning their respect, because there was that joke in the last episode that pep talks aren’t his thing?
I think there’s a lot of what you see is not all of what you get with Russ Taylor. I think he’s doing a lot. He’s certainly performing a lot of the time for anyone within close proximity. You see in an upcoming episode, which I’m looking forward to, that pretty much he’s not really who he seems. I can give you a hint. He seems very much like an English tough, and he’s not that at all.
Is he going to be obsessed with Codex all season, or will we take a break and have episodes where Codex isn’t part of the story?
Oh, Codex is very heavily featured up until episode 13, but it actually carries on, even now. We’re just shooting episode 20, and Codex is still lingering around. MacGyver‘s a procedural and serialized show now, with Codex being the overall arc, but we will have episodes of the week, so it sort of integrates both. I think it works quite well for the show to have a long-running enemy, and also have this episode of the week feel.
Lucas Till as Angus “Mac” MacGyver, Henry Ian Cusick as Russ Taylor (Photo: CBS)
We had a shock at the end of last week’s episode, where Matty (Meredith Eaton) looks like she might be Titan, the leader of Codex. Will that be resolved quickly?
When you see the episode, you’ll realize that Matty is, obviously, not a bad guy. She’s always going to be the good guy.
You’ve done several sci-fi shows, like Lost, The 100, and The Passage. This is more action oriented, although some of those have some action. What do you like about this show?
It’s not the action. It’s the comedy, really. The other shows that I’ve been involved with were always sort of existential threats to the world, and I was always angst-y and turmoiled, you know? In some sort of pain. With this show, it’s very freeing. Russ Taylor is a lot of fun to play. He’s like a blast of fresh air for me. He’s larger than life. For me, it’s been a great, fun show to be involved with. I’m really having a great time. I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun with a character before.
Also, the crew has just been terrific. The cast is great. Every single one of them has been welcoming to a new performer to the show. They’ve been so welcoming and so easy to work with, so supportive. They’ve all been terrific and I’m having a great time, to be honest.
Of course, Atlanta’s not Hawaii.
It isn’t, but the thing about Atlanta that I’m enjoying is I’m out here with my wife and my sons, also. One of my sons also lives out there. It’s closer to Europe. One of my other sons lives in New York, and my other son’s in Edinburgh, so it’s easier to see them. Hawaii’s quite remote. I get to go back to Hawaii in summertime, so that’s the best of both, I think.
Lost ended a decade ago, but do fans still want to talk about the finale since so many of them weren’t happy with the ending?
Not really, anymore. Certainly, the people I’ve met have gotten over a lot of dislike of the ending and they just want to celebrate the show. Can you believe it’s been ten years? They want to celebrate the whole experience of Lost a lot more, I think now. We want to talk about it, because it was one of the first shows where people really hit the internet. Now, that’s very common.
Henry Ian Cusick as Russ Taylor (Photo: Mark Hill/CBS)
At that time, people weren’t doing that, and it really was water cooler TV. I love hearing about people who got to know each other and became really good friends because of the show. That, for me, is one of greatest takeaways about that show.
It’s still great hearing people saying how much they enjoy it. There’s a little bit of animosity about the ending, but I rarely hear that now. They want to celebrate it, because it’s been ten years, and it’s still relevant TV.
MacGyver airs Friday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.
Interview by: PAULETTE COHN
Fans were treated to a few pictures from tonight’s MacGyver guest star, Amanda Schull on her instagram this morning.
“Tonight on #macgyver! I spend time with the lovely @henryiancusick in various distressing situations! 8pm on @cbstv @macgyvercbs •”
Amanda plays Russ Taylor’s ex girlfriend on the episode tonight and it should prove to be an exciting hour, when she is kidnapped by rebels.
Her photos have fans more excited than ever to see Ian and her together, play Russ and Emilia. Don’t miss MacGyver tonight on CBS at 8/7c !
Thank you to Spoiler TV for this sneak peek video clip of MacGyver’s 6th episode titled, Right+Wrong+Both+Neither. It will feature heavily on Russ Taylor and his attempt to rescue his first love, Emilia who has been kidnapped by rebels he fought against while in the military.
MacGyver – Episode 4.06 – Right + Wrong + Both + Neither – Promo, 2 Sneak Peeks + Press Release
WHEN RUSS’ FIRST LOVE IS KIDNAPPED BY REBELS, HE TAKES HIS TEAM TO THE SMALL, IMPOVERISHED TOWN WHERE HE ORIGINALLY FOUGHT THE INSURGENTS, ON “MACGYVER,” FRIDAY, MARCH 13
“Right + Wrong + Both + Neither” – When Russ’ first love, Emilia (Amanda Schull), is kidnapped by the same rebels he fought during his private military contract days, he takes the Phoenix team to a small, impoverished town to rescue her and rid the town of the rebels for good, on MACGYVER, Friday, March 13 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
REGULAR CAST:
Lucas Till (Angus “Mac” MacGyver)
Tristin Mays (Riley Davis)
Justin Hires (Wilt Bozer)
Meredith Eaton (Matty Weber)
Levy Tran (Desi Nguyen)
Henry Ian Cusick (Russ Taylor)
GUEST CAST:
Amanda Schull (Emilia West)
Matt Medrano (Dr. Marcel)
Nick Rhys (Victor)
Maximilian Osinski (Anton)
John Purcarea (Worker)
Alex Veadov (Felix)
Yosef Kasnetzkov (Lead Guard)
Teodora Cristea (Female Worker)
WRITTEN BY: Andrew Klein
DIRECTED BY: Roderick Davis
SOURCE:CBS
Next week’s episode 4.06, “Right + Wrong + Both + Neither” will include a story line allowing us to meet Russ Taylor’s first love, Emilia (guest star Amanda Schull) . By all accounts it’s gearing up to be an intense, action driven episode!
Here’s our first look with this preview video:
From ShowBizJunkies.com comes this synoposis: “When Russ’ first love, Emilia (Amanda Schull), is kidnapped by the same rebels he fought during his private military contract days, he takes the Phoenix team to a small, impoverished town to rescue her and rid the town of the rebels for good. ”
Entire article here: ‘MacGyver’ Season 4 Episode 6 Photos: Preview of “Right + Wrong + Both + Neither”
In addition we have Matt Carter’s preview write up: MacGyver season 4 episode 6 spoilers: A tale of Russ’ first love
“Henry Ian Cusick will have a big role on episode 6 next week, and it’s one that will also feature a familiar face to Suits fans in Amanda Schull. Months removed from being Katrina Bennett, she’s going to be taking on the role of Emilia, someone who has a significant history with the character from the past. “……
Promo photos:
It was another great MacGyver episode on Friday night! We hope you are enjoying Russ…..fans this week were talking of his many outfits during this episode and we would be remiss not to thank the wardrobe department, especially costumer designer, Sara Downer @retrodollsarah for making Ian look great week after week!
We also want to thank fangirl, Tatiana on Twitter for compiling Ian’s scenes in this video from last week’s MacGyver episode. Thank you so much Tat!
We were left with a cliff hanger at the end of the episode……read about it here from Remus Noronha with Meaww.com
*If you haven’t seen the episode yet, consider this spoilerish*
“MacGyver’ Season 4 Episode 5: Adorable little fan dishes out theories on the dramatic cliffhanger with Matty”
Spoiler alert for ‘MacGyver’ Season 4 Episode 5 ‘Soccer + Desi + Merchant + Titan’
“Another explosive episode of ‘MacGyver’ Season 4 has arrived, dropping some major revelations that are going to rock the show’s world down to its core. Chief among these was the reveal that Matty Webber (Meredith Eaton) may be a traitor and the actual head of Codex, codenamed Titan……
Entire review here: MacGyver 4.05 Review/Meaww.com
Be sure to tune in next week, on Friday, the 13th for a bit more of Russ’s past and the high energy rescue mission to rescue his ex girlfriend, (guest star Amanda Schull ) in episode 6, titled “Right + Wrong + Both + Neither” .
Two previews for tonight’s episode, compliments of Spoiler TV on YouTube…….enjoy!
Tune in tonight 8/7c on CBS!