The Prodigal

Episode:  009

Production No.: 40191-009

Airdate: 08 December 1985

Teleplay: David Abramowitz

Story: Paul Savage & David Abramowitz

Director: Alexander Singer

Nielsen Ratings:  11.6 rating / 17 share / 3rd (60th overall)

EPISODE

MacGyver is hired to organize a Witness Protection plan for the brother of a local drug-dealing mobster. But when the brother finds out that his mother is dying and the Feds won’t allow him to see her, MacGyver decides to break him out of Federal protection so he can see his mother one last time.

CAST

MACGYVERISMS

Hot-wired car with a paper clip	Used SAK to pick trunk lock.
Loosened lug nuts of bad guys car.	Used string to turn on saw.
Set up buzz saw to fling pieces of wood at bad guys.	Set vacuum cleaner to blow sawdust over bad guys.
Unhooked ladder so it could be pulled down to block exit.	Cut hole in car water hose to let coolant leak out so car would overheat.
Mixed soda and popping candy with dry ice to simulate fire smoke through air vents.	Unhooked car from tow-truck in narrow alleyway to block FBI car.
Used string and rod to trip bad guys on stairs.	Made harpoon gun out of a telescope, camphor balls, cleaning fluid, and cloth.
Used rope, pulleys and steel rod to make a flying fox.

TRIVIA

• Brothers Joey and Frank Bennett are played by real-life brothers Robert and Richard Romanus.
• In the scene where MacGyver is changing his shirt, we can see Trumbo’s “go away” sign from the ‘Trumbo’s World’ episode.
• MacGyver orders the tow truck from ACME tow truck rentals.
• This episode was Angela Clarke’s last ever appearance in a TV show and second to last ever acting job.

QUOTES

• There’s nothing like waking up at home for a change. Take a look around my own world, sort of ease into the day. – MacGyver
  
• There’s got to be a gigantic secret factory somewhere puttin’ out nothing but junk mail. – MacGyver
  
• You don’t look like a hotshot expert on personal security. – Frank
  Well, I don’t feel like one either – MacGyver
  
• Now, technically I’m driving a stolen car, following a kidnapping . . . and I still haven’t had my first cup of coffee.- MacGyver
  
• I had to get you out. You forgot to pay for your coffee. – MacGyver
  
• Who elected you my conscience? – Frank
  Well, somebody’s gotta do it. – MacGyver
  
• No trouble, right? Not here . . .but I owe you. – Joey
  I’d love to collect sometime. – MacGyver
  
• I’ll worry about his mother; you tell Frank to worry about his brother. Then give him my love. – Joey
  
• Lots of people think a car runs on gas. Only one-third correct. A car also runs on air and water. – MacGyver
  
• With all due respect, Sir. I do what I do, the way I do it. – MacGyver
  
• I know a brick wall when it falls on me. – MacGyver
  
• I just know you’re gonna tell me what this is all about. – Frank
  Well, right now I’m giving the Feds a deeper and more profound understanding of themselves. – MacGyver
  
• This problem’s kinda tricky: no place to go and no way to get there. – MacGyver
  
• Can’t rush these things ya know. Haste makes waste and all that. – MacGyver

NIT-PICKS

• The mother moves a few seconds after she dies!
• When MacGyver is rigging the trap on the stairway his watch is missing in one of the shots.
• Why would a convenience store have Dry Ice for sale?

FILMING LOCATIONS

MacGyver’s Apartment Private Home 317 Ocean Front Walk, Venice Beach, CA	MacGyver’s Neighborhood Ocean Front Walk, Venice Beach, California
Lumber Yard 5850 Adams Blvd, Culver City, California	Pickup Truck Scene 7000 Romaine St, Los Angeles, California
Alleyway Between N. Orange Dr. & Mansfield Ave Los Angeles, California	Bennet Mansion 401 S Hudson Avenue, Los Angeles, California