Every Time She Smiles

Episode:  016

Production No.: 40191-016

Airdate: 19 February 1986

Writer: James Schmerer

Director: Charles Correll

Nielsen Ratings:  15.2 rating / 23 share / 2nd (42th overall)

EPISODE

MacGyver’s quick getaway from Bulgaria with stolen microfilm is stymied by an American who involves him in her lovers’ quarrel with a Bulgarian security officer.

CAST

MACGYVERISM

Used a chair and coat hangers hooked into a conveyor belt to smash through a wall.	Picked handcuff locks with an earring
Sped up a merry-go-round and then dumped a box of brass rings into the mechanism to jam it to stop quickly.	Made smoke distraction with rat poison, soap flakes, and tile cleaner in a pot.
Created time delayed explosion using lard, newspaper, crystallized oven cleaner, and natural gas.	Created a slippery road surface by mixing diesel exhaust with water from a tanker.

TRIVIA

• Richard Dean Anderson broke his right hand while filming the previous episode.  The cast on his hand is explained in this episode as the result of a skiing accident in the Swiss Alps.
• The building seen in the opening shot of the episode is the Banya Bashi Mosque in Sofia, Bulgaria which indicates that the episode is set in Bulgaria’s capital city of Sofia.
• We get to see close-ups of MacGyver and Penny Parker passports:
  • MacGyver: Birthdate January 23, 1951, birthplace Minnesota, passport issued by Los Angeles Passport Agency on July 31, 1979, expires July 30, 1989
  • Penny: Birthdate February 20, 1962, birthplace Iowa, passport issued by New York Passport Agency on April 16, 1985, expires April 15, 1995
• MacGyver’s passport shows his birthday is the same as RDA’s real birthday, but he is one year younger than RDA. This date changed in season two’s Friends episode which showed his birthday as March 23, 1952. This new date became canon and was used from then on throughout the show.
• The distance from the city of Sofia to the border of Greece is 83 miles (133km)
• Teri Hatcher was a ‘Bond Girl’ in Tomorrow Never Dies with Pierce Brosnan. She shares this distinction with  Kristina Wayborn (from ‘The Escape” episode) who was the ‘Bond Girl’ beside Roger Moore’s James Bond in Octopussy.

MEMORABLE QUOTES

• And I learned something up in the Swiss Alps. I just shouldn’t go skiing without a parachute.  Kinda busted up my vacation, and my hand.  -MacGyver
• It’s just like the ride at Disneyland.  -Penny
  Will you keep your head down?  -MacGyver
• That’s the nicest thing anybody ever said to me.  -Penny
  Well, you’re the nicest person I’ve ever said it to.  -MacGyver
• I’ll tell you what’s simple; Me. For getting into that first conversation with Penny Parker. But what else could I do? I mean, a guy just can’t be rude. I mean, how was I to know… how was I to know?  -MacGyver
• Well, I went to the ladies’ room and climbed out the window. -Penny
  Of course you did. Why do I ask those questions? -MacGyver
• Well, the cliché thing to be done here is for him to blow my kneecaps off. -MacGyver
• You know, I really like you. You understand me. We’re on the same wavelength. -Penny
  Well, that worries me. -MacGyver
• There’s that machine, uh, that they used to plow with. -Penny
  A trac-tor?  -MacGyver
• Are you crazy?  -Stephan
  It’s been rumored.  -MacGyver

NIT-PICKS

• When climbing through the hole in the wall onto the conveyer belt we see Mac and Penny are only a few feet away from the exit flaps and the area is well light. When the camera angle changes suddenly the area is much darker and they are much further away from the exit.

FILMING LOCATIONS

Merry-Go-Round Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round 4730 Crystal Springs Dr, Los Angeles, CA	Farm House. Sable Ranch 25975 Sand Canyon Road Canyon Country, CA