Recap / Macgyver 2016 S 2 E 11 Bullet Pen

MacGyver: I'm sorry. Are you saying that I killed a civilian?
Jack: No, no, wait a minute. I cleared that building myself. It was empty. Don't start playing the blame game...
Matty: The game's already started, Jack. The LAPD has a warrant for your arrest, Mac. They're on their way here now.

Mac is arrested by the LAPD when a man is found dead in a building he recently blew up. Is Mac guilty of murder?

Tropes:

• Abandoned Warehouse: The building Mac blew up is an abandoned office building.
• Christmas Episode: The festivities are ruined when Mac is arrested.
• He Knows Too Much: The gang whose meth lab Mac blew up storm the precinct to shut him up.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Mac is accused of murder when an abandoned building he blew up turns out to have been occupied. Phoenix can't do much to help him because espionage on U.S. soil is illegal. Mac is cleared at the end when it's revealed that the building was being used as a meth lab, was empty when Mac set the charges and that the victim was involved in the meth cooking.
  Riley: Okay, Mac can't say anything. No matter what the cops throw at him, he cannot reveal that he's a covert agent working for the U.S. government. Murder charges are bad, but violating the Espionage Act? Way worse.
• Insistent Terminology:
  Riley: You're not a grown man who believes in Santa, are you?
  Mac: I'm a grown man who cannot rule out the existence of Santa.
• Noodle Incident: Whatever mission led to Mac and Jack in an elevator, dressed as Santa and a reindeer respectively, with an unconscious man in a sack.
• Shout-Out:
  • Bruce McGill, Jack Dalton's actor in MacGyver (1985), plays an LAPD detective.
  • It's a Wonderful Life is playing in the precinct.
  • Music from The People's Court is heard when Jack poses as Mac's lawyer.
• Spotting the Thread: Thinking back to what he saw in the building prior to blowing it up, Mac realises the place was being used to cook meth.