#104: Hell Week

Season: 3

Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:

MacGyver is at his alma mater, Western Tech, to judge a barricade competition between the physics students.  David (a student) is constantly belittled by his father (the professor), and David wants to prove his worth by winning the competition.  After losing when one of the other students cheats, David goes on a drug binge and builds a bomb in the lab that threatens the entire college. 

Memorable Quote:

Pressure turns coal into diamonds, is that it?   ~MacGyver

Well that's a physical fact, MacGyver.   ~Professor Ryman

It can also crush it to dust!   ~MacGyver

Highlight:

The after-competition party where MacGyver accuses Geoffrey of cheating.  MacGyver has a strong suspicion but not proof, and fortunately Geoffrey folds like a deck of cards under the pressure.  If there was a Douchebagastan, Geoffrey would be their king, so it's great to see him get his just deserts.

Lowlight:

Who is the more insufferable character?  Is it Geoffrey who says things like:

• I heard my name mentioned.
• I take pride in my creativity.
• There is (a way), one just has to be bright enough to find it.  

Or is it the Professor:

• I continue to be a little disappointed [when] those who show a shred of promise leave the fold. 
• Come and see the next generation in action.  You can be depressed along with me.   
• Think for a change...Nothing worse than a physicist stupefied by the obvious. 

A challenging decision.  At least the Professor shows some remorse in the end, so we'll make Geoffrey the lowlight.  

Best MacGyverism:

Uses elevator wires to heat mercury to a gaseous state in the nick of time. 

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

• Ah, Western Tech, MacGyver's old stomping ground!  We even see a good picture of young MacGyver/RDA with long hair and moustache as the 1973 winner of the barricade contest.
• Speaking of the barricade contest, the idea is to create a barricade that can be solved/broken down by ingenuity and not just by brute force.  Whoever breaks through the other barricades before their own gets solved is the winner of the contest.   Fortunately all 4 finalists had dorm rooms right next to each other. 
• Apparently this contest is a big deal, like a really big deal.  David thinks that winning it will get his picture on the wall and justify his existence to his Nobel Prize-winning father.  But why is David even at Western Tech in the first place?  If you had an overbearing, hypercritical, demeaning father who taught at College A, wouldn't you go to any other college just to get away?  Or if not, at least major in a different subject other than the one he teaches. 
• "I didn't forget.  Happy birthday," says David as he pulls out a rose.  "Thanks, it was yesterday," responds a crestfallen Janet.  The first of many times poor David gets kicked in the teeth. 
• In David's barricade, the door is open the whole time and "the solution creates the barricade."  Not sure that's really a good idea.  If I was trying to solve the barricade, probably the first thing I'd do is jiggle the doorknob just to get a feel for the lock, and then I'd win because the door was open. 
• Professor Ryman tells David there is plutonium in the nuclear research lab above them and that his bomb could contaminate the whole area.  Huh?  Western Tech has a nuclear research lab with plutonium?  And how was David not aware of this?
• The Professor has one job as they are moving the bomb out of the lab, and that was not to hit the dustpan that was holding the elevator open.  He fails at his job, and MacGyver is left to defuse the bomb with 55 seconds left.  "I can't even begin to think under this kind of pressure," the Professor says, which stimulates MacGyver's brain and gets him to think of a solution.  Somehow MacGyver heats the mercury "to a gaseous state" while the glass shatters, all in a span of 1 second.  

Conversations:

ANDREW SABISTON (DAVID RYMAN)

I asked Andrew if he had any memories of working on MacGyver, and he responded: 

Thanks for reaching out and jogging my memories of filming this episode. For me, it was a career highlight, capped off by the producers submitting my performance for an Emmy award in the best guest performance category. I didn’t make it to the nominees round but I still have that notification letter and a great picture signed by Richard Dean Anderson of the two of us. Both RDA and Larry Dobkin (Prof. Ryman) were first class acts and utter joys to work with. True gentlemen and artists.

And how lovely to read your readers’ comments about my acting in the drunk scene. An acting teacher once taught me that the secret to acting drunk is struggling to act sober. It was wonderful to have the chance to put that tip to work on a show as great as MacGyver.

UBC (University of British Columbia) was used for the exteriors while the interiors were in a studio in Vancouver’s East end, I believe on Commercial Drive.

Another interesting fact about this episode is that John Cameron Mitchell, who was also a guest on it, went on to have a very successful career in musical theatre internationally, being the author of a show called Hedwig and the Angry Inch. He was also fantastic to work with. In 2017 his musical and my musical, Napoleon, were both playing in Seoul South Korea and I thought wouldn’t it be wonderful to reconnect with him. I haven’t done that yet, but would love to!

Andrew has since done amazing work in theater and children's television -- you can check out his website at https://andrewsabiston.com/. 

LEONARD MLODINOW (EPISODE WRITER)

NS: How did you first get involved with "MacGyver"?

LM: I don't recall!

NS: "Hell Week" has several story credits including you and Scott Rubenstein as writers and Michael Berlin, Eric Estrin, and Rick Drew as story editors.  What was that arrangement like and what was your role specifically?

LM: Scott and I wrote the script. The episode aired with only our names on the credits. The others were story editors.

NS: What inspired the idea for the story?

LM: I came up with the idea, inspired by my time at Caltech, and my relationship with Richard Feynman. Western Tech and the contest were modeled after a real competition that takes place at Caltech each year, and Ryman was very loosely based on Feynman— his fame and adoration was based on Feynman, but not his personality or the relationship with his son.

NS: Any other memories or interesting stories related to the episode?

LM: It was a sad time for me, because I was in Vancouver helping with the production when my father had a stroke in Chicago. I got there shortly before he died.

NS: Any current books or projects that you're working on?

LM: My latest book was called "The Upright Thinkers: The Human Journey From Living in Trees to Understanding the Universe"

Final Analysis:

Interesting episode here.  It's creative and a good change of pace from the usual episode format. Also the acting performances are excellent, especially the actor who plays David.  His scenes near the end where he is drunk and talking to his father are really well-acted.  And of course the actors playing Geoffrey and the Professor are great (the actor playing the Professor also appears as Karsoff in A Prisoner of Conscience).  We've definitely been getting into better episodes lately!