The Rising

The Rising
1, Episode 1
Air date	September 23, 2016
Written by	Peter M. Lenkov Paul Downs Colaizzo
Directed by	James Wan
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The Rising is the 1st episode of Season 1 in the remake version of MacGyver.

Synopsis

Angus MacGyver and Jack Dalton, special agents for the Department of External Services (DXS), join forces to recover a missing bioweapon that has the ability to destroy hundreds of thousands of people with one single drop, on the series premiere of the new drama MACGYVER.

Plot

Angus MacGyver, with help from Jack Dalton and Nikki Carpenter, infiltrates a party to steal a biological weapon. However, as Mac and Jack meet up with Nikki, they find her held hostage by John Kendrick. Mac gives up the bioweapon, but Kendrick shoots both him and Nikki, killing her. Three months later, Mac is on holiday when his boss, Patricia Thornton of the Department of External Services (DXS), calls him and Jack back to help retrieve the bioweapon. They recruit hacker and convict Riley Davis, who tracks Kendrick to San Francisco, where they also discover that Nikki is alive and working with him for another group. After capturing them both, Mac finds out that Nikki has already sold the bioweapon to someone who plans on making it airborne via an IED. Mac finds the bio-weapon and extracts it from the bomb before it explodes. A few days later, Thornton tells the group that Nikki's betrayal has caused knowledge of the DXS to become compromised, so they have to shut down and relocate under a new name of their choosing. Mac chooses the name Phoenix, to which the rest of the group agrees. Elsewhere, Nikki disappears during transport, leaving the cuffs behind with a hairpin.

Notes

• The name that Patricia Thornton uses when undercover at the party, Mrs. Elcar, is homage to Dana Elcar, the actor who played Pete Thornton in the original MacGyver. Elcar passed away in 2005.

Deaths

• Nikki Carpenter

Trivia

Three of the primary characters are based on characters from the original TV series MacGyver.

• Patricia Thornton was Pete Thornton, as played by Dana Elcar.
• Jack Dalton was a shady smuggler and pilot, played by Bruce McGill.
• Nikki Carpenter was a fellow Phoenix Foundation agent, played by Elyssa Davalos.

There are several references to the original MacGyver series.

• MacGyver's first name is given as Angus, although this wasn't revealed until "Good Knight MacGyver."
• The original series' theme is briefly used in both the opening and closing credits.
• MacGyver carries a Swiss army knife, the same as the original did.
• MacGyver originally works with the DXS which becomes the Phoenix Foundation. The DXS featured in season 1 of the original series, and then MacGyver worked for the Phoenix Foundation from season 2 until the end of the series.
• MacGyver jogs past the Griffith Observatory in LA on his way home. In the original series' pilot, MacGyver lived in the Griffith Observatory.
• MacGyver refers to his grandfather in the past tense. In the original series, MacGyver had a grandfather, Harry Jackson, who appeared in a handful of episodes.
• MacGyver uses plaster dust to capture a hand print from a scanner. In the original series, MacGyver used the same method in the second season premiere, "The Human Factor."
• MacGyver creates a smoke bomb using roughly the same method he did in "The Prodigal."
• MacGyver wears glasses when infiltrating the party, the same that MacGyver did on several occasions posing as an undercover nerd, "Dexter."
• MacGyver wears a tuxedo to get into the party and acts very James Bond-like, much as he did in the first season episode "The Heist."

Quotes

Nikki: You should really wear a tux more often, Mac.
MacGyver: It doesn't really go with the grease under my fingernails.
Nikki: You decide to ditch it, keep the tie. I'm sure you'll find other ways to use it.
MacGyver: Already got a couple of ideas.
Jack: Guys, you know this is an open channel and I can hear you, right?

MacGyver: And my name's Angus MacGyver. I have twelve first-place science fair trophies, two years' MIT, three years defusing bombs for the military, and what do I do now? Little of this, little of that.

Jack: I'd like her to come with us.
Patricia: And I'd like to see you wear a clean shirt, but unfortunately, we can't always get what we want.

Cast

Main Cast

• Lucas Till as Angus MacGyver
• George Eads as Jack Dalton
• Tristin Mays as Riley Davis
• Justin Hires as Wilt Bozer
• Sandrine Holt as Patricia Thornton

Recurring Cast Tracy Spiridakos as Nikki Carpenter Others Vinnie Jones as John Kendrick Cory Scott Allen as Vincent the Director