TV-Reviewed

I almost forgot about this episode. It kind of escaped my mind, what with all of the other shows returning now. I can’t skip one of my favorite series, so on with the review.

The big myth of the show was Jamie and Adam’s attempt to combine water guns with a taser gun. It came thanks to a myth that suggested the government was working on a gun which would essentially work as an water stun gun, a very effective tool if it’s possible.

And that’s just what the duo tried to do: see whether or not it’s feasible. This myth reminded me of the one where they tried to see if someone could get killed if they urinated on the third rail. That one proved to be a difficult one to crack, with the problem being keeping a constant stream. Electricity can travel very well through water… to a point. Water offers a great deal of resistance over a particular distance and that made this myth impractical. Jamie and Adam weren’t able to make a model small enough for anyone smaller than the Incredible Hulk to carry around and use on would-be bad guys.

While the boys were playing with water and electricity, Tory, Grant, and Kari had some fun with fire. They tested one myth which sounded rather silly to me… throwing a fire extinguisher into a fire and letting it explode, thus extinguishing the fire. The gang proved the exploding extinguisher works, but it really just sends the embers flying everywhere.

For me, that extinguisher myth wasn’t very interesting. I thought eventually they would try a different approach, as sort of a spin-off. Suspend a stick of dynamite above a fire. Detonate the dynamite and watch it immediately put out the fire by sucking out the fire’s oxygen. Oil fire fighters have used this method for years and has been depicted in an episode of MacGyver as well as the John Wayne 1968 film Hellfighters. I think it’s a nice spin-off myth to try on a future episode. It’s not going to surprise anyone with the results, but the fire myths in this episode were less about surprises and more about the science behind it.

Speaking of which, the last myth was fire walking. Again, nothing surprising going on here. Successfully (safely) walking the fire is less to do with meditation and more with simply remaining calm when every natural instinct tells you to get your feet out of the burning coals. At least we got to see Adam get a little toasty. I was a little disappointed he didn’t break out the graham crackers, marshmallows, and Hershey bars for a little S’more action alongside the fire.

Rating: 7.1