MacGyver Recap 10/21/16: Season 1 Episode 5 “Toothpick”

Macgyver-recap

Tonight on CBS their action adventure drama MacGyver airs with an all-new Friday, October 20, 2016, episode.  On tonight’s MacGyver season 1 episode 5, MacGyver has to fix a sabotaged train to protect a whistleblower who can prove her boss is selling weapons to enemies of the United States.

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.”

So don’t forget to bookmark this spot and come back between 8PM – 9PM ET! for our MacGyver recap.  While you wait for the recap don’t forget to check out all our television recaps, news, spoilers & more, right here!

MacGyver Season 1 Ep 5 ‘Toothpick’ Recap Starts Here!

Jack Dalton (George Eads) and Angus “Mac” MacGyver (Lucas Till) are on a long stakeout, where Dalton is just rambling on and on about his adventures, until Mac’s phone pings again and it’s another message from this girl he went on one date with named Cindy. Mac describes her as funny, smart and beautiful, but all Dalton is concerned with is whether she has a criminal record.

We learn that Dalton and Mac are actually in Portugal watching out for Nikki, Mac’s psycho ex-girlfriend who turned on the U.S. government. Dalton says if he isn’t still in love with Nikki, why can’t another government agency sit on this tip of her whereabouts.

Mac says he doesn’t love her, he just feels responsible in some way. Mac thinks he spots her, and they break into the room, where a Portuguese woman gives him an envelope Nikki left with her. It holds a key, and nothing else.

Back in Los Angeles, Wilt Bozer (Justin Hires) is with Riley Davis (Tristin Mays) at a parole meeting she had. Every time Bozer convinces the parole officer that Riley is on the right track, he gets another digit of her phone number. Bozer gets excited when Riley tells him he is cute and funny and he should just be himself, instead of using the cheesy pick-up lines he uses all the time.

Mac and Dalton are back at their car after they realize Nikki played them. He says it was Mike Tyson who said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”, but he feels losing Nikki’s trail was more of a slap in the face, but Iron Mike had a point, that even the best plans can end up sideways.

Boss Patricia Thornton (Sandrine Holt) calls them saying she needs them in Berlin. She needs them to find Eric Wexler, the head of the US defense contractor in Berlin has been selling the weapons to the U.S. enemies.

Wexler’s assistant, Katarina Wagner reached out to Interpol with proof that what they suspected was true, but couldn’t prove it until now. Katarina spoke to Interpol Agent Simon Abbott and he emailed her a ticket to take the night train from Berlin to Frankfurt, and he would meet her there and bring her in.

The problem is Agent Abbott was found murdered four hours ago, and the email was only two hours old, meaning she is walking into a trap. Thornton is going to meet Katarina at the designated spot, but Dalton, Mac and Riley need to go to Berlin, get on the train, find Katarina and keep her safe. They are on the train, when they get to Katarina’s cabin, she is not in it.

Riley, of course, hacks into the network, which includes everyone’s phone on the train, and the phones all have camera. Mac discovers hair in the sink and tells them she is trying to disappear. She had cut and dyed her hair.

Mac finds her sitting in the dinner car, where he tells her they are there to keep her safe. Mac tells her that Agent Abbott is dead. She asks if they work for Interpol and he tells her they work for the Phoenix Foundation and she asks for proof, which of course they do not carry with them.

Mac tells her there is someone waiting in Frankfurt for her to get off this train and to kill her. Thornton is at the Frankfurt station looking for the killer. She manages to find one of them, but another one of them starts shooting, she is unable to stop one of them, and their cover has been blown.

Mac tells Katarina they need to go back to her room, but before he can explain why, Riley tells him that 8 people have just boarded the train. Dalton says they have to go, Mac tells Katarina if she wants to live she needs to come with them now.

Mac brings her to one of the bathrooms and tells her to lock the door and promises he will be back for her. Mac then steals an electric razor from someone’s cabin, and turns it into a tazer. He gives it to Katarina to use in case someone tries to come into the bathroom.

Riley shows that the intruders have split up, so Mac and Dalton go to Katarina’s cabin and leave Riley to protect the bathroom.

Dalton pretends to be drunk and Mac is holding him up through the hallways. Dalton passes the men pretending he is going to vomit but turns around and punches one of them out instead. The other man takes Mac and starts to beat him in one of the rooms. Riley sees one of them men approaching her and Katarina.

Riley attempts to contact the guys and neither one of them is responding; Riley gets up and bashes the man over the head with her laptop and Katarina tazes him. When they turn around, another man approaches, but Dalton headbutts him to save Riley.

Dalton tells Riley she was supposed to call them if there was any trouble, she said she tried and Katarina then asks where Mac is. Mac manages to save himself by putting a pin inside the man’s gun so he couldn’t fire it and kicks him off the train.

Thornton is at Wexler Aerospace, and asks Mac to stay alive for the next two hours. He says they have the phone of one of the intruders, so they can probably keep ahead of them. Thornton tells him that she has her own party to crash as she walks into a meeting.

She is told that it’s a private meeting. She shoots the TV screen to cut the conference call, and orders everyone out but owner, Eric Wexler.

She confronts him about sending killers in to kill one civilian on a train. When he asks her if she is there legally, she doesn’t respond but he tells her she has 30 seconds before the BND arrive. She promises to be back for him, with proof and a pair of handcuffs.

He wishes her good luck and excuses himself; after Thornton leaves we discover she planted a bug on Wexler. He informs the men on the train to shut off their phones.

Dalton gives Riley some tips on how to locate the men. They will change their clothes, but not their accessories. He tells her to look for their watches and shoes, as they will be military grade. They will also be overly alert, like a man who had too many cups of coffee. Riley admits that maybe she has finally learned something from Dalton.

Meanwhile Mac continues to reassure Katarina that she is doing the right thing and that Wexler is a really bad man and there is no way she could have known this and she needs to stop feeling guilty about it. Dalton and Riley sit down as they watch two of them men walk past them. Dalton tells Mac who breaks into a closet and hides them both in a very awkward situation.

As soon as they escape the closet one of the men passes by, Mac grabs Katarina into a kiss, but the man figures it out anyways. Mac manages to knock him down, and they have enough of a lead to lock him out of the next car with a fork Mac just grabbed. The fork falls and the man gets through, only for Dalton to knock him out.

Mac, Riley and Katarina are in one of the train cars and Mac opens the door, but before he can do anything a man jumps in and kicks him, pulling out a knife. Mac uses a train ‘torpedo’ to throw the man off the train. When Dalton informs the man on the other side of the phone that his guy is dead, the train accelerates and the remaining men are airlifted off.

The group goes to the front of the train and see the Engineer is dead, and the men had destroyed anyway to stop the train by cutting all wires and removing all fail-safes, leaving only a hole behind. Mac tells them they have 30 minutes before the train crashes into the station.

Mac has an idea but he says the whole train may derail instantly and kill everyone on board. Plan B is to minimize the casualties, and get everyone off the train. Katarina picks up the intercom and orders everyone to take their cellphones and to go to the back of the train. Dalton and Riley wake everyone up and get them to grab their phones and head to the very back.

Dalton informs Thornton about what has happened, and tells her she needs to clear the station. She asks about Katarina and Dalton tells her she is in good hands. Katarina feels guilty and blames herself that her testimony would put this many people in danger. Dalton tells Mac everyone is in position. Mac goes to disconnect the cars and figures out that when Wexler’s men destroyed everything, they also made sure they couldn’t simply separate the cars.

Dalton hates it when Mac says they won’t be able to do this the easy way. Riley asks if there is a hard way, Mac says there is, but it is going to suck. He finds magnesium in the armrests rust and flare to use to cut the steel holding the cars together, but he ran out of fuel before he could cut all the way through. Mac jumps on the opposite car to separate them, Dalton jumps beside him but tells him to jump the second it snaps, neither one of them makes it in time and are stuck racing towards the station.

Dalton admits he has never been to Frankfurt and Mac comes up with a new plan. He needs to climb under the train, and he tells Dalton to brace himself as this is going to be bumpy. He switches the positive and negative wires to stop the train, and he manages to slow the train down, stopping perfectly at the station. Mac climbs out from under the train and says, “Welcome to Frankfurt!”

Just as Eric Wexler is getting into his car leaving his office, Thornton is in his backseat. She puts her gun on his shoulder and reminds him what she had said the last time they met, as she drops cuffs into his lap. Dalton seems to be growing on Riley, as she asks him if he has any more tips he would like to share with her. He smirks and says she is now hooked on Jack’s infinite wisdom.

He informs her that he has spoken to Thornton and they have agreed to give her more field training. Riley says thanks to him and he tells her to be careful, it almost sounds like she is starting to respect him. She responds by telling him that he needs to cool it, she is just starting to like him.

Mac shares a private moment with Katarina, where he reassures her that she did the right thing by coming forward, and that she was responsible for putting Wexler in jail. She leans in a kisses mac on the cheek, and tells him if he is ever in Germany again, to come find her. He tells her he is not good at making plans, but they should definitely make plans to make plans.

Katarina leaves with the Interpol agents and Dalton and Riley join Mac. Dalton tells him he is proud of him for the girl, that it shows he is moving on from Nikki. Mac says it just takes the right someone. Dalton then tells Mac that they shouldn’t get involved with someone they had on a case. Riley reprimands Dalton for always ruining a good thing. Dalton walks away and Mac says, “Let’s go home!”

Back in L.A. Riley and Bozer are playing some weird game with tennis rackets and rubber ducks. Riley has no idea what the rules are, but Bozer says if he wins, he gets another one of her digits, and if he loses, Riley is to buy them dinner. She tells him to prepare to lose.

The episode ends with Mac back in Nikki’s apartment determined to figure out where the key she left him fits. Mac admits that Katarina has given him a new view on things, but that doesn’t mean he has given up on catching Nikki. He puts the key on a string and ties it around his neck.

The End!