Soft Touch

Episode:  035 (S2.E13)

Production  No.: 40192-035

Airdate: 19 January 1987

Writers: Joan Brooker & Nancy Eddo

Director: Charles Correll

Nielsen Ratings:   16.7 rating / 23 share / 3rd (34th for the week)

PLOT

Just when MacGyver has his hands full helping a Russian seek asylum in the U.S. his scatterbrained friend, Penny Parker uncovers a plot to assassinate a Colombian official.

CAST

MACGYVERISMS

• Used magnesium from wheelchair, rags and a metal pipe to break open freezer door lock
• Used microphone amplifier to generate high pitch sound to mask voice activated bomb
• pulled speaker off wall above bad guys to knock gun out of his hands
• Used microphone as a bolas to catch the bad guy as he tried to get away.

TRIVIA

• The scene when Vincent Schiavelli’s character protests that he has been given a corned beef sandwich with mustard only to be told to wipe it off, may be an omage to producer Henry Winkler. In the movie Night Shift, Vincent Schiavelli plays a food delivery man who delivers food to Henry Winkler who also protests the presence of mustard on his sandwich. Schiavelli also tells Winkler to wipe it off.
• The “torture” device used by the Vincent Schiavelli‘s character was in fact an EMS VCS3 synthesizer.
• This episode marks the second appearance of both Penny and Yuri

QUOTES

• MacGyver: Ah, Siberia. Not known for its tourist trade or overpopulation. That’s exactly why it’s such a popular place for political prisoners and . . . nuclear facilities.
• Lyle: Corrupt cops. You just can’t depend on ’em.
• Yuri: There is a Mrs. MacGyver?
  MacGyver: No, there is no Mrs. MacGyver.
• MacGyver: How did you get in here?
  Penny: Oh. Well, I told the manager that I was your girlfriend and that I was kind of . . . pregnant.
• Penny: It seems like I’m always popping into your life at the worst possible moment and dragging you into something.
  MacGyver: Well, it’s not like you go out looking for trouble. It just seems to find you.
• Penny: MacGyver’s gonna come after us. He’s really terrific, and he’s gonna find us.
  Vince: Then he can help with the burial. Now shut up!
• Penny: I promise, I’m not gonna talk!
  Lyle: Sweetheart, you do nothin’ but talk.

NIT-PICKS

• The magnesium Mac uses to open the freezer lock ignites way too easy. Magnesium takes a lot of heat to ignite.
• The winch on the front of Mac’s jeep appears and disappears through-out the episode.

FILMING LOCATIONS

Siberia Nuclear Plant Burbank Water and Power 164 W Magnolia Blvd, Burbank CA	Forest Knoll Estates Oakdale Cir Simi Valley California
Torture House 2216 Oakdale Cir Simi Valley California	Wrong House 2210 Oakdale Cir Simi Valley California
Mac Chasing Van East & West Magnolia Blvd Burbank California	Cannery Building No Longer Exists 218 Wharf Street, San Pedro CA
Driving to City Hall W Olive Ave Burbank, California	City Hall The Trust Building 433 South Spring Street, Los Angeles CA