"Immersive training is the best training."
—MacGyver
Mac, Riley and Bozer's weekend of wilderness survival training takes a turn when bank robbers encounter the team on a search for their stashed money. With Mac taken prisoner, the others must figure out how to save him.
Meanwhile, Matty and Jack take Ethan's family into witness protection.
Tropes:
- Chekhov's Gun: One of Mac's early survival tips is to avoid burning poison oak as it does bad things to the lungs. Later, Bozer uses this information against the kidnappers.Mac: Good job, Bozer. You officially know what poison oak looks like.
- How We Got Here: The episode opens with Riley and Bozer hearing a gunshot in the woods and saying it's "got to be Mac!" Then it jumps back to the group arriving in the woods for their training.
- Shout-Out:
- Shares similar themes with the MacGyver (1985) episode "The Survivors".
- Bozer is discouraged when one of the gang produces a banjo.
Bozer: He's got a banjo. I've seen this movie. I die first. - Spotting the Thread: Bozer and Riley find a cigarette butt they recognise from a campfire they found earlier, and a footprint that isn't Mac's, and realise Mac's been abducted.Bozer: So that smoker was watching us while we were sleeping, and now Mac suddenly vanished?
Riley: I'm getting a really bad feeling. - Too Dumb to Live: Getting a guide to help you navigate the woods you need to search is smart. Kidnapping a guide, thus making it clear you're up to no good and will presumably kill him when you're done so he has no reason to help you, is this trope.
