Episode 113=Bitter Harvest

MacGyver goes undercover to pick up where a murdered farm-worker left off, by investigating a grower's possible use of illegal pesticides.

I love Bitter Harvest. Labor issues don't get much attention in the U.S. media, and heaven knows that workers are still fighting for basic rights in some industries.

I love how Mac just sort of got swept up in the protest at the beginning, and then wound up working with the farmworkers. I also liked how Mac's curiosity paid off yet again, when he discovered just what kind of chemicals the growers were using, and when he figured out who had committed the murder.

My favorite scene, though, has to be the final one, where Mac is driving out of town, and passes a busload of workers on his way, and they see him and they all cheer. Great ep that underlines the show's constant theme of how one person can make a difference.

BTW, Rocky, glad to see the forums beginning to be restored. Thanks for all your hard work on this issue!! And at the *%#* that took us down!

Wrong show. That was Knight Rider.

*giggle*

Yes- "Bitter Harvest" is a great episode. There are some really cool MacGyverisms - like escaping from the tank- and some intense scenes- like when MacGyver gets thrown through the glass. And the main theme of MacGyver getting involved to help strangers in what he knows is right- and make a statement against illegal pesticides. MacGyver is always that Good Samaritan- and I love that about him! It's a great episode, as all are.

And it's ironic that this episode is the one we're discussing, because I think maybe quite a few of us are feeling pretty "bitter" about this "harvest" of crashes!



But it'll get better- and we'll make it! (As I'm sure MacGyver would tell us!)

believe me.. "Bitter" doesn't even come close to how I feel.

Good on the excellent episode. Top scenes: the first scene with the shots of MacGyver driving the car, the fight, the chase in the fields, the last fight, MacGyver thrown through the windows.

I love that cynicism.

I do. But we couldn't prevent that, we never saw it coming.

Excellent ep! A real MacGyver White Knight episode!

One of the (many) things I loved about this ep was the fight scene, when Mac jumps into the fray to help Tony (who he doesn't even know yet) from getting beaten in a two-on-one. When the cop cuffs Mac and force him to sit down, you can see the fury on his face. A real adrenaline moment for our dear Mac!



I also love the scene where Silva is telling Mac about the worker who died because of the pesticide exposure... while Mac's still feeling sick after getting sprayed!

"Well, I feel MUCH better now... THANKS!"

So much sarcasm... it's like candy!!

Definitely an excellent episode! I like how Mac finds a cause (well...how causes find him) even when he's not on the job. If we all looked out for our fellow people like Mac does, the world would be a hugely better place!

Great scenes already mentioned...I love the chase through the field...Mac getting sprayed! and then coughing all the time...Poor guy's always getting shot up, beat up, knocked out and just generally having his well-being threatened because he's so sure the world can be a better place if he just does something. Gotta love 'im!

I voted "average". This is not one of my favorite episodes because it's too 'preachy' for me. I much prefer the earlier seasons to 6 and 7 though there are some great episodes in each

I fond the pre crash responses.
You'll need to vote again though people.

That's why I said I liked those first shots of him driving the car. What do you see? A decent man, driving around, to spend a night or a weekend in another town to get his car fixed.

This is also very true. MacGyver simply cares for his co-human beings.

I wouldn't, but I just don't understand why someone would put something that he knows to be poisonous into his mouth to test whether or not it really is poisonous?

I wouldn't, but I just don't understand why someone would put something that he knows to be poisonous into his mouth to test whether or not it really is poisonous?

Same reason people always ask you to "taste this" when they think something tastes bad ( as in spoiled ) I guess

First time I ever saw someone getting arrested for taking a ride.

He just jumped on that guys back and went round and round and round. WEEEEEEEEE!

I wouldn't, but I just don't understand why someone would put something that he knows to be poisonous into his mouth to test whether or not it really is poisonous?

He doesn't taste it. He sees the label and says, "Maple syrup?" Then he opens the container and takes a little on his knife, and sniffs at it. Then Silva says something equally skeptical, and Mac says to him, "Well, I wouldn't want to put it on my pancakes."

This episode was great. It had one of the shows best fight scenes also! Loved it.

Yeah, thanks, I recently watched it again and also noticed that he just sniffed. To me it always looked as if he touched the knife's tip to his lip (as you taste cocaine to tell if it is or it is not the real stuff). Maybe it's only a bad camera angle.


This is still one of my favourite episodes. I don't mind Mac going into trouble by accident, rather than at assignments, I think this one was made pretty well. Of course he would stay to help and not just drive away. Plus this is a still an acute issue, there are still people working in fields (doesn't matter whether it's vine or vegetables or fruits) surrounded of poison and we eat all that poison later, also.

I have to admire Mac's determination - if I had gotten sprayed as he got, without knowing exactly what it would do and what the long term suffering would be, I immediately would have left to get the best doctor ever, from the Phoenix foundation even maybe, but he doesn't care for his own health at this point.

That is the difference between a hero (Mac) and a sissy (me).

I think anyone with half a brain in real life would be heading for a shower at the very least. Leaving a unknown spray on your skin any longer than absolutely necessary isn't very smart at all.

One could argue that he may have known what the spray was (maybe he saw the containers earlier in the day or any number of possibilities) and new that it wasn't going to have any long term effects.

but if he didn't then I think there comes a point where heroism becomes stupidity. He's not going to be much use to anyone if he's on a life support machine because the poison has absorbed through his skin and caused his organs to shut down.

I guess thats the joy of fictional heroes.. they can take risks that real people can't or shouldn't.

Well, it was not shown how he got from the field into the bed. Kinda difficult taking a shower when you're unconscious. I always figured the woman had bathed/cleaned him as best as she could, while he was out of it.

I was more concerned about what he might have breathed in. He did cough a lot. But maybe he figured, if the people in this area live with this for years (and are still alive)... I can see him being somehow reluctant to use all the good medicine and doctors if so many other people don't have access to it.

Consider that this show was filmed and released in 1990, which I don't know whether the concept of organic farming exists at that time, but after 18 years and with so many people talking about environmental protection and organic farming, would it be sad to know there are still people exposing themselves to harmful pesticides/chemicals nowadays?

Perhaps that's why this show never look outdated to me.

I liked this episode a lot and voted excellent. It really shows how one person, or corporation can screw up so many lives and the enviroment. I really liked how when Mac was passing the bus in the final scene the workers waved their hats, and one was even seen floating around in the road way.

Seems like MacGyver and it's writers were ahead of their time, when they wrote this episode.

excellent episode, probably one of my top 3.
as you can see from my profile pic
just perfect from the beginning to the end, also love so much the musics.
filmed so many years ago and still so actual? yes.
if i based my degree thesis on persistent organic pollutants, i must say i should thank mac to let me know about this.

Hmm... I've been kicking around an idea for a fanfic sort of like this eppy for quite a long time, except focused more sharply on the union organizing itself. I have some good stuff from my own experience that I could bring in, and of course, I'd use the character who was my own creation in my first fic. Now that I'm out of school, I might actually have time to do some writing again!

I liked this one too.

It's a good story and (sadly) still relevant in so many places. I like the way Mac can't resist helping, no matter where he is or what he was doing at the time.

I also like the fight scenes, especially when Mac thumps the really big guy and sees it has no effect whatsoever. His 'Oh, MAN!' expression is priceless! Poor guy gets thrown through not one but two glass panels for his trouble too

It did exist. I have clear memories of belonging to an organisation named WWOOF (then "Working Weekends on Organic Farms", now I think it is "Willing Workers on Organic Farms"). I did one weekend on a biodynamic farm in 1989 and another weekend on an organic smallholding in 1990 and then one more weekend on the biodynamic farm. Then I got a bit side-tracked.

Hi I am a big Mcgyver fan and a big tractor fan.The make of tractor I am into is Fendt they were made in west Germany.
The question I have is why did they use a Fendt tractor in bitter harvest does anyone know in the height of the Cold War and not a John Deere.Does anyone know where this tractor is now thanks?

Hi and welcome to MacGyver Online Shea. I am not too knowledgeable about tractors but hopefully someone might be able to shed some light?

I found some old article, what talks about some Californian grape growers who used a FIX still in 1988 which was already a illegal.

4-CPA as Mac mentioned in the episode:

http://articles.latimes.com/1988-09-16/new...e-grape-growers

I voted good, although considering it's season 6, it might be worth an excellent - now that I'm watching season 6 lately, I think I might actually prefer it to season 5. I love that his look changed back to more old school Mac - the hair, bomber jacket, etc...

Loved Mac jumping in and getting arrested at the beginning - how many times has Mac been arrested now?

Does anyone know the song being sung when Mac is comforting the wife? It sounds like Gloria Estefan?