Tonight on CBS their action adventure drama MacGyver airs with an all-new Friday, October 14, 2016, episode. On tonight’s MacGyver season 1 episode 4, the guys try to shut down a warhead in Moscow and need help from a Russian bomb programmer and his estranged handler.
Did you watch last week’s episode where “MacGyver and the team were in Malaysia to extract a terrorist groups’ money man, Ralph (Oliver Cooper), who held key intel to an impending attack? If you missed it we have a full and detailed recap, right here for you.
On tonight’s premiere MacGyver episode as per the CBS synopsis, “Mac and Jack partner with older versions of themselves, a Russian bomb programmer and his estranged handler, to shut down a Soviet-era warhead in Moscow. But when the antiquated computer needed to disable the warhead becomes inoperable, Mac must find a way to fix it with only duct tape and wire in time to prevent a new Cold War.”
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MacGyver starts tonight with Riley Davis (Tristin Mays), Patricia Thornton (Sandrine Holt) and Jack Dalton (George Eads) are all running out of the Rogue Intelligence Agency because their case went “sideways” and they had all been made. When Dalton asks where Angus “Mac” MacGyver (Lucas Till) went, Riley tells him that he stayed until the virus was done uploading.
As everyone is shooting around them, the three of them get in the van, but Dalton refuses to leave without Mac. Riley tells him that Mac told them to leave no matter what, there is a big bang and Mac looks over the top of the wind shield and tells Thornton to drive.
When Mac returns from shopping, all his friends and co-workers are in his living room, staging an intervention for him. Mac’s roommate Wilt Bozer (Justin Hires) found Mac’s laptop and that he is still doing a search for Nikki, the deathly girlfriend from episode one. Dalton is mad at Mac because he promised to stop looking for her. Bozer thinks she died in a car accident, and he needs to let her go.
Riley asks Dalton if they could just tell Bozer the truth about Nikki; Dalton says no because the intervention is way too fun, at least it was until it was his turn to express his feelings. Dalton says that he loves him and all but for him to tell his friend he moved on while he is doing quiet searches for Nikki behind his back is not a good way to go about his business.
Riley chimes in that it’s way unhealthy, and his boss Thornton, tells him when you put your focus in the wrong place, it can affect your work and that could have serious ramifications. Mac’s very first girlfriend, Penny is there, and she tries to get some role playing going to cope with the “Nikki” issue, but Thornton gets a message and they are off to work.
They received a distress call from one of their agents, Carla Bannister. The agent has discovered that Sevchenko (Yorgo Constantine) is assembling a private militia of former soldiers. When they contact Bannister, she reveals the weapons they have including a military crate that is reading off the charts with uranium. She wants to open the container, but Mac protests telling her she needs to back out and let a field ops team take over.
Thornton overrides Mac’s advice and tells her to open it. Mac looks at the lock and tells her she could open it with a ball-point pen, which she doesn’t have. He tells her to empty a bullet and use it. When she opens the lock, they find a 10-megaton Soviet warhead! Sevchenko arrives with some of his men and they kill Agent Bannister. He leans down to the camera, and tells the crew that they should have minded their own business.
As the crew reviews the footage, they say if Sevchenko uses this weapon, it’s enough to restart the cold-war. Dalton says they need to find it and Mac will be able to disarm it. Riley says, “that thing is seriously OG,” and asks Mac if he can do it, but even Mac isn’t sure he can do it. Mac explains that the Soviets had hundreds of programs the US never understood. He shows them the control panel, and says it has parts he has never even seen before; that this bomb is custom built.
Dalton then says put Riley in front of it, if it’s a computer thing. Mac finds a name on the weapon that translates to “Firebird”, which Thornton says that was the rumored name of a Soviet secret weapons program. Riley finds the scientist, Alexander Orlov (Elya Baskin) who helped the US secretly during the cold war, and he might be the only one who is able to disarm and shut down the bomb. Thornton says she is going to Russia alone, that it’s her fault Bannister was in Russia. She is going there to find Sevchenko and bringing Bannister home.
Riley, Dalton and Mac arrive at a seniors’ home, where Riley asks why these places smell the same. Dalton says he doesn’t smell anything and Riley tells him because he already smells like an old man. They don’t have a current picture of him because he defected 50 years earlier. Orlov escapes before they can get him, trapping them inside. He attempts to steal a car, and Riley says she loves this dude but Dalton looks at Mac and says, “He’s an old you!”
Mac chases him down, and after Orlov punches him in the face, he tells him what they need him for, and he stops dead in his tracks. He tells them he is not a scientist anymore, just an old man scribbling on the walls. He explains why he deflected. He didn’t want the bomb, he said if the Soviets lost, the whole world lost. He continues to say that wouldn’t be a tragedy, it is madness!
After Orlov learns that the bomb was not deactivated, and he is the only one alive who can help them shut down the bomb; he explains that even if he translated, they would still need the passwords. Dalton asks if he could do it, and Riley tells him it’s unlikely. They ask him who has the passwords, he goes onto explain that scientists back then were similar to Mac and Dalton. One had the brains like Mac, and the one like Dalton, “Not so much!”
The other Scientist would have the passwords, but he refuses to pick up Orlov, he is a uBer driver. The two fight like Mac and Dalton, but haven’t spoken since 1991. Mac interrupts them and tells them they need to this bomb. Dalton starts singing Iron Maiden, “Behind the Iron Curtain”, when Mac informs them they need to go to Russia.
While in the air, Thornton calls and says they need to go to Serbia because Sevchenko plans to release the bomb within 24 hours. The two scientists say they need a machine that will talk to the bomb, computer to computer, to shut it down. They stop in Russia in one of the safe houses and behind a 50-year-old picture of the scientists there is one of those machines.
Orlov explains why he deflected and that the USSR would have never allowed him to stop making bombs, but deflecting cost him everything. Thornton calls to let Mac know they will be ready in a few minutes. They are discovered and are hiding in the “rabbit hole”. Mac takes sacks of flour with them plus a few other things for when they run out of rabbit hole, and he lights the flour on fire as they escape.
MacGyver, Riley and Dalton are last to come out of the rabbit hole, and they find Victor beaten, but alive. He informs them that they have taken Orlov. The four of them fly to meet Thornton, where Mac and Dalton both take the blame for losing Orlov, but Victor tells her it is his fault. Riley took one of the men’s phones and Thornton has a thumb-drive from Sevchenko’s carrier.
They learn that Sevchenko’s target is an US army base, Camp Bondsteel. Mac says if he just sent this, he is telling his people to get clear so he plans to detonate the bomb today. Sevchenko tells Orlov the reason he took him is because he is a great artist and the warhead is a masterpiece, and he wants Orlove to build him more.
When Orlov says he will not build any more, Sevchenko says that is the only reason he is still alive. He tells him he has been collecting Uranium for years, and Orlov is going to do what the Soviet Union should have done a long time ago, not just restart the cold-war, but finish it; this time Russia will win. Orlov tells him he is insane, and that he’d rather die than help him. Sevchenko leans in and says, “I have always enjoyed a challenge Doctor!”
Thornton informs the army base which is on high alert, but they haven’t found the bomb yet. Mac says check around the base, it doesn’t have to be right on the base. They find fresh tire tracks at an abandoned factory. The crate is empty, so they believe the bomb is inside. Victor draws his gun and wants to save Orlov, Dalton stops him.
Inside the factory, they are beating Orlov, who refuses to help. Sevchenko insists that they will bring Russia back to greatness, or he will kill Orlov’s entire family. Sevchenko arms the bomb, telling everyone they need at least 15 minutes to be a safe distance from the explosion, and to pack up Orlov with them. Before they can leave, Mac, Dalton, Riley and Thornton drive into the factory. Riley rolls a container down the stairs and takes out two of the Russians. Mac tells her nicely done, but Dalton says, “Did you just Donkey Kong those two guys?” She says, “Yeah”, and Dalton goes, “That was AWESOME!”
Riley saves Orlov, but he warns them that Sevchenko must not escape because he has material for more bombs. Thornton and Dalton chase the Russians, but Mac stays with Riley, Victor and Orlov. Riley tells them the machine is fried. Mac fixes the keyboard with wires and tells Orlov he completes the circuit and starts to work to disarm the bomb. Victor gets shot and Orlov stops.
Thornton chases down Sevchenko and tells Dalton to cover him, he laughs and tells her, he thought that her corner office had made her soft. Mac and Orlov are able to trick the bomb into thinking it has another 100 years to go off. Orlov survives, but Victor dies. Dalton and Mac are affected by Victor’s death.
Mac tells Dalton the reason he lied to him about Nikki because he didn’t want Dalton to worry about him. Dalton says it is his job to worry about him, and they agree that Nikki is someone else’s problem. Dalton says as long as they are being honest, he needs to ask Mac about his fashion sense, asking him if he dresses in the dark, or something. Mac says that since they are being honest, Dalton’s singing sucks and he butchered Iron Maiden.
Dalton says he is karaoke champion in 4 States. Mac tells him to prove it. Dalton begins to hum, dance and sing. Mac tells him, “Not here!” Dalton starts singing Salt N’ Pepa’s “Push It!” out loud and Mac asks him what did Salt N’ Pepa ever do to him?
Riley returns Orlov to the seniors’ home, and tells him they will definitely call him next time they have a Russian problem. Riley asks if she can stay with him to watch The Price is Right? Dalton brings Thornton home, as she keeps reliving how Agent Carla Bannister died. Dalton tells her that it’s not her fault.
Thornton says she should have listened to Mac and waited for field ops, and now she is responsible to tell parents their daughter is dead because of a decision she made. Dalton tells her it was a decision that saved millions of lives. Thornton responds, “Yeah, maybe; but it doesn’t make knocking on that door any easier.” Dalton says, “No, it doesn’t.” Thornton exits the car and approaches the house.
