And while it wasn't a huge surprise that Ingrid was the villain, it was very clever to have 'newlywed' Bannister be her hypnotized, inadvertent double agent. Bannister was great and I enjoyed the brake fluid bit a lot although I wouldn't put it in the same league let alone ahead of building an airplane out of bamboo, duck tape, and a cement mixer engine! There was plenty of first season 'swagger' on MacGyver's part which I liked to a degree and largely did here. The opening sequence in East Germany was exciting (hat tip to recognizing his contact was the same actor who played the hockey coach in 'Jerico Games'.I didn't make that connection). I concur that there were ebbs and flows to this episode. Huge fan of the end credits with the funky interlude - let's add that to the music list.Then at the end they get Bannister to go in and kill Viktoria and MacGyver, but they could have just gone in and shot them on their own. First they activate a reverend (whom they must have prepped for weeks) all so he could try to shoot someone (Viktoria?). The GRU's plan doesn't make much sense.This must have been the last scene they filmed for the episode. This is the same cast that can be seen in Every Time She Smiles and To Be A Man. 26:25 mark - when talking about this episode with KTI, she alerted me to the scene in the morgue where you can briefly see the cast on MacGyver's right arm (he tries to cover it up with a jacket).Bannister is a great character, and I like Lynn-Holly also (that's now two straight episodes with Bond girls, by the way).I love season 1 MacGyver and all his swagger, but sometimes Pete needs to remind him who the boss is. MacGyver suggests using bait for the trap and doesn't object when Pete mentions the defector, but as soon as Viktoria enters the room he gets all high and mighty about how they can't risk her life under any circumstances.Pete mentions the possibility of the defector being a double agent even though she could walk in at any time (and later does).RDA's not normally one to overact but it feels like he's on speed here.The scene in the apartment with MacGyver packing boxes has a strange feel to it due to:.Runner-up for memorable quote: 'Well I'll be dipped.'.I wasn't sure at first if this building was the Phoenix Foundation, but they never mention it so I guess it's not.It's a good candidate for a deleted scene given that it doesn't relate to the rest of the episode and serves only to show that MacGyver is such a good guy that he would check in on the security guard's family while in East Berlin.

I'm pretty sure the scene with Fritz the security guard in the federal building lobby was not in the USA Network version.

His contact in the East German forest is played by the same actor who briefly appeared as the Russian hockey coach in Jerico Games.

Other thoughts, observations, and questions I didn’t ask when I was in fourth grade:

Enemy spider man