- A cruise ship is the target of a terrorist attack and has three bombs hidden aboard. MacGyver and a friend from the agency are asked to dismantle the bombs before it's too late for the crew and passengers.
- MacGyver gets called in, with his old Vietnam bomb-defusal partner, to deactivate elaborate bombs planted aboard an ocean liner before it goes off. Complications arise when MacGyver's partner sets off one of the bombs, and the bomber decides that DXS operated in bad faith and refuses to hand over the bomb-disarming instructions after he gets the extortion money.—Gislef
- On the cruise ship Victoria, in the North Pacific Ocean, Third Officer Carole Tanner gives Captain Howard a report on Hurricane Henry, that they're approaching. Howard orders a course correction so they can skirt it, just as the home office calls. They tell Howard that there's a bomb threat, and he has Tanner take over the bridge while he goes to investigate. He goes to the weather room to get his two senior officers, and bomb there goes off killing everyone inside.
MacGyver is relaxing at his apartment in Venice Beach, making breakfast for his landlady Susan. He serves it with a remote control and a small robot he's made, Roberta. Roberta drops an egg on Susan's foot, and MacGyver admits his technology needs a couple of adjustments. Pete Thornton, the head of DXS, calls, and tells MacGyver that he needs MacGyver's help. Pete explains that a cruise ship with 1,100 has a bomb threat from someone calling himself Viking,
Arriving at the briefing at DXS Headquarters, MacGyver is reunited with his old Vietnam bomb-defusal partner, Charlie Robinson. They talk about how Charlie married his sweetheart, Shirley, and has one child coming. They realize that Pete called them both in. MacGyver immediately tells Charlie to go home to his family because of his risk, but Charlies refuse because he needs the money.
The two of them go into DXS and meet with Pete. Pete is talking with Michael Donahue, who Pete recruited to find Viking. MacGyver says that Charlie has no business taking the case, and Charlie tells Pete to ignore MacGyver. Pete tells them that they have complete communication with the Victoria, and a warning bomb wiped out the weather room and killed Howard. The storm makes it impossible to put the passengers into lifeboats, and there are no ships or air rescue units near the liner. MacGyver and Charlie will take a jet to Midway and a Huey to the liner, and rappel down to it. He says that Donahue is running down Viking, and Charlie recognizes Donahue as the man who ran down the bomb squad in 'nam before their time. Donahue had a medical discharge and now works for the police, and runs one of the best bomb investigation units in the U.S.
The crew has located a bomb near the engine room, in an electrical cabinet. Donahue provides MacGyver and Charlie with a description, and Pete introduces the two men to Donahue. Viking calls in and uses a synthesizer for his voice, and says that he knows about Pete, Donahue, MacGyver, and Charlie. The extortionist says that the bomb is set to go off at 6 p, in ten and a half hours. They need to pay $6 million to stop the bomb. Donahue's partner Carlysle traces the bomb, and Pete has field units head there. Charlie calculates that once they get to the liner, they'll have three hours to defuse the bomb.
MacGyver and Charlie get to the liner and rappel down, and they send down their bag of bomb defusal gear first. The winch malfunctions, dropping the bag into the ocean. MacGyver improvises a rappel rope by taking apart a cargo net, and he and then Charlie rappel down to the liner. Carole greets them and explains that she's the acting captain. She takes them to the bomb and says that she hasn't told the passengers what's going on. MacGyver says that if he was a passenger, he'd want to know what was going on. Carole says that they believe the bomb was placed during dry-dock a month ago, put in a phony electrical panel, and has an elaborate detonation mechanism. The bomb is in an airtight clear glass container, and there's a plate holding yellow powder inside the casing, near the bomb. There are mechanical, electrical, and chemical bomb triggers on the inside of the case, and Carole gives MacGyver and Charlie headsets so they can talk live to Pete in LA
Pete and Donahue listen in, and MacGyver tells them what they're facing. He makes sure Donahue is on the national database so they can track the bomb MO, and they recognize the yellow powder trigger from a bomber they dealt with in Ling Chow in 'nam. MacGyver confirms the yellow powder is sitting beneath a heat-sensitive sensor, but they can't identify the powder.
An aide reports another bomb on D deck, at the opposite ends of the ship. MacGyver figures that the two bombs are synced, and MacGyver tells Carole to hold the ship steady. She says that she will, once she tells the passengers what is going on. Charlie goes to the second bomb, while Carole announces over the loudspeaker what is going on. The two men talk on the headsets and confirm that the two bombs are apparently identical.
There's a silicon base around the entire edge of the glass. Meanwhile, Viking calls DXS and figures they've found the second bomb. The call comes from an automated machine in a hotel room. He gives them instructions to put the $6 million in a locker at a downtown bus station. The call cuts off before Carlysle can trace it.
Pete tells MacGyver and Charlie that they have no leads on the Ling Chow suspects. He's going to go ahead with the money drop, and Charlie wonders what happens if Viking doesn't tell them how to shut down the bomb. Charlie goes first and probes the sealant leak. When air seeps in as he probes with a dental probe and seals the entry with Vaseline to get a sample to test, the powder ignites and sets off the sensor, which sets off the bomb. It explodes, killing Charlie, but now before he yells to MacGyver that it's a vacuum.
MacGyver goes up with Carole, whose crew has managed to isolate the area to keep the liner from sinking., When Carole asks if he's okay, MacGyver talks about how they tried to go for a record for bomb defusals in 'nam. They defused 51 bombs when they shipped out. MacGyver says that Charlie figured out it was a vacuum, and figure the bomb is in a vacuum and the powder is phosphorous. When air hits the phosphorous, it explodes, setting off the thermos-couple and the bomb. MacGyver figures he can disarm the bomb by filling the vacuum with something else besides oxygen. He asks Carole if there are any neon signs aboard. The aide, Atkins, reports that search teams have found a third bomb in the auxiliary power room. MacGyver figures they're in sequence and recruits Carole as his new partner.
At the bus station, the DXS agents put a briefcase with the money into the locker. One man stays outside as a backup while Donahue and the other agents wait inside.
MacGyver talks Carole through defusing the bomb, and admits that he's surprised to see that she's captain. She says that she is as well, and MacGyver scores off a piece at the end of one neon tube. Carole does the same, and under MacGyver's instruction they cork the tube and then push the tube through the gasket. Once it's inside, they pop the corks off the edge of the platform the phosphorous is on. The tube maintains a seal, and the neon creates a suction, pulling in the phosphorous. They pull their tubes out and the phosphorous flashes safely outside the casing.
MacGyver tells Pete the brand of the coupling, and Pete admits that they haven't found anything on Viking. Viking calls Pete and says that he has the money, but they've dealt in bad faith so he's not giving them the bomb-disarming instructions. Pete calls Donahue, who checks the locker and discovers that Viking took the briefcase out of a panel in the back.
Pete calls MacGyver and tells him what has happened. He says that it's up to MacGyver, and after a few minutes of consideration, MacGyver confirms that there are tubes of a liquid in the bomb and it's probably the last trigger. Pete calls to say that the computer has reported that the Ling Chow bomber used an unstable chemical trigger on two of his bombs. Donahue returns, and MacGyver figures that they need to neutralize the current-carrying liquid.
Donahue doesn't remember the Ching Low bombers' chemical triggers, even though he commanded the lead sabotage control group in the area during that time. Undeterred, Donahue suggests that it's an acid mixture. If the acid is released, it will create a short that sets off the bomb. MacGyver has Carole get pastry tubes, a container of oven cleaner, and a pint of low-fat milk. Carole tells Atkins to get it, and MacGyver explains that they can use something with a strong alkaline base to negate the acid.
Once the components are assembled, MacGyver and Carole inject the milk and oven cleaner into the acid tubes using the pastry tubes. The liquid starts to neutralize the acid, for MacGyver and Carole. Carole has the compartment doors dogged shut if the bombs go off. MacGyver asks Donahue about his team's post-mortem on the bombs, and Donahue says that there wasn't enough left.
MacGyver reminds Pete that they have a golf game planned later. Pete talks to MacGyver on a separate channel, well aware that the golf question was a coded message since MacGyver never plays golf. MacGyver has Pete check one of the Ching Low bombings, figuring that anything so personal is a piece of "art" and has a personal signature. He has Pete cross-check who was on all of the defusal teams that dealt with the triggers, possibly narrowing it down to Viking.
The acid changes appearance as it neutralizes, and MacGyver and Carole drain the neutralized acid safely. The bombs shut down, and everyone at DXS shakes hands with each other in relief. Pete gets a cross-check report from the computer, calls MacGyver privately, and tells him that Donahue was on all of the teams. MacGyver has already figured Donahue lost his leg in one of the bombings, but he wanted proof so had Pete run the computer check.
The bombs reactivate and MacGyver removes the bomb cover. There's a backup timer counting down 60 seconds, and two fuses, yellow and blue. MacGyver figures one cuts the circuit and one fires it, and asks Donahue for advice saying that he's stuck. Donahue tells him to pull the blue fuse, and MacGyver pulls the yellow fuse and then has Carole do the same. The bomb defuses, and MacGyver has Carole do the same. Pete arrests Donahue, and has his men take him away.
Later, Carole and MacGyver wait on the deck for MacGyver's chopper. She asks him to stay and relax, and MacGyver agrees as long as he gets to sit at the captain's table.
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