MacGuffins

If you are a fan of Alfred Hitchcock and his movies, chances are you are aware of the term "MacGuffin."  Hitchcock was very fond of the concept of a MacGuffin, talked about it often, and used them in many of his films.  If you are not familiar with the term, here is how it is defined in Wikipedia:



In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or maguffin) is a plot device in the form of some goal, desired object, or other motivator that the protagonist (and sometimes the antagonist) is willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to pursue, often with little or no narrative explanation as to why it is considered so desirable. A MacGuffin, therefore, functions merely as "a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction".^[1] In fact, the specific nature of the MacGuffin may be ambiguous, undefined, generic, left open to interpretation or otherwise completely unimportant to the plot. Common examples are money, victory, glory, survival, a source of power, a potential threat, a mysterious but highly desired item or object, or simply something that is entirely unexplained.

Examples of MacGuffins in well known films is the meaning of "rosebud" in "Citizen Kane", the statue of the bird in "The Maltese Falcon", and whatever was hidden in the statue that James Mason had in "North by Northwest".


I bring this up because the current TV season is winding down, and nowhere has the concept of a MacGuffin been used, or overused, than in three TV series that we watch regularly. To summarize....


"Hawaii Five-0".  Who killed Steve McGarrett's father has been the MacGuffin for two seasons now, and the search has become so confusing and convoluted, that we can't keep track of who is whom, even if we had a scorecard.  The overarching character here is, of course, Wo Fat.  But this storyline has now involved.... 

• a female CIA agent on loan to Five-O who seemed to side with Wo Fat, but really didn't because Wo Fat had threatened to kill her fiance, but she ended up being killed when Steve led that ridiculous raid into North Korea (this actress, by the way, can now be seen as Ken's wife in "Mad Men")
• members of the Japanese Yakuza, including the son of the head of the Yakuza, who is going legit (or is he?), and is now having a hot & heavy affair with Kono
• the bald guy who was Steve's commander in the Navy SEALs (I think), and who says he knows who killed his father, but can't tell Steve "for his own good", and who may in fact be a villain.  In any event, he seems to have disappeared for a few episodes, but I'm sure he'll turn up somewhere again
• some guy named Shellburn; who the hell is this guy?

Anyway, I've given up trying to keep up with all this, because as the Five-0 team tries to sort all this out, they continue to solve crimes in the most spectacular fashion, even with Alex O'Laughlin drying out in rehab for a few episodes, so at this point, who really cares who killed Steve's father?  O'Laughlin returned this past Monday night and captured Wo Fat and sent him to prison for life (or did he?).  Seeing Steve fight off seven machine gun toting Yakuza members while being handcuffed to Wo Fat only confirmed that Steve McGarrett is THE singular biggest BADASS in television today.

"Person of Interest".  The second biggest badass on TV is "Mr. Reese" as played by the incredibly good looking, according to Mrs. Grandstander, Jim Caviezel.  The MacGuffin in this show is the all knowing "machine" developed by the mysterious Mr. Finch that knows and sees all and can determine when someone is about to become either the perpetrator or victim of some awful crime.   The other MacGuffin is the pasts of both Reese and Finch, which is told in flashbacks and involve a tragic love affair for Reese, crooked skulduggery as perpetrated by the CIA, FBI and God knows what other government agencies, as well as crooked NYC cops, and some super criminal named Elias.  Sometimes these flashbacks take place weeks apart in the various episodes, so who can remember who's who, who's a good guy or lady, who's a bad guy or lady, who was killed in those flashbacks and who is still alive, hell, can we even be sure if Mr. Reese is a good guy or bad guy?  

Anyway, like the action in Five-0, the action in "Person of Interest" is at times spectacular, but also much grittier than in Five-0.  And it is spectacularly violent.  There has to be more violent deaths on this show than any other on network television.  I believe that tonight's show will be the season finale for POI, and there will no doubt be some maddening cliffhanger that will hook us into tuning in next September.

"Unforgettable".  The hook on this story is Detective Kerri Welles, as played by good looking babe, Poppy Montgomery, who has the ability to remember everything she has ever seen or heard.  There is one thing, however, that she cannot remember - who killed her sister when they were little girls growing up in Syracuse.  The death of Kerri's sister is the MacGuffin here.  Kerri will to do anything that she can, even going outside the pesky NYC police departmental regulations and procedures, to help jog her memory about WHO KILLED HER SISTER!!!!! Last week, she even became the #1 suspect in a murder (of a guy who claimed he knew WHO KILLED HER SISTER) just to find out WHO KILLED HER SISTER!!!!  

The gimmick of the detective who remembers everything makes this a pretty good cop show, but the MacGuffin of the dead sister is annoying.  It's almost as bad as McGarrett's father.  I mean, at this point, who cares? The season finale was this past Tuesday night, and it now sits on our DVR, waiting to be viewed.  I am not sure if this show is being renewed by CBS for next season, I read that it was iffy, so we are anxious to see if their will be a resolution, or another cliffhanger.

That's the MacGuffin Report for today.