Okay, here's something else I've been wondering about. I just watched "The Eraser" again last night because I hadn't seen it in a while and it's just a fun episode. Jimmy Kendall was a really sympathetic character- it's so cool that he shows up again in "Back From the Dead".
Anyway- I noticed that MacGyver has Pete arrange another "bonus" for him. I know MacGyver's mentioned before that through his work with the DXS and this apparently also continued to the Phoenix Foundation that he'd have Pete set up "bonus" stuff for him every now and then, as part of his payment for doing an assignment. I noticed that it seems we only saw that in the first 2 seasons or so. I don't recall there being much of that in later seasons. So I was wondering- could we try to name all the "bonuses" MacGyver had on the show?

I think the first one is in the first time we meet Pete Thornton- "Nightmares". Mac gets Pete to help set up a fund for Lisa to pay for her further schooling and such.

Did Mac get Pete to arrange something for Zia and Ahmed in "To Be a Man"?

And in "Ugly Duckling", I think maybe the dance Mac took Kate to at the club was a bonus thing too?

And then MacGyver specifically mentions the "bonus" thing again in "The Eraser" because he is playing a scrimmage with a local ice hockey team (I assume they're meant to be a professional NHL team- or perhaps just a minor league team)- and that was part of the bonus Pete set up for him in payment for his last assignment. Of course, he was also supposed to have a week off, but obviously that didn't happen!
And then at the end of the episode, for his bonus for this assignment, MacGyver gets Jimmy Kendall set up in his new identity- "Louie", who is working as a coach of some sort with a baseball team in Florida.

Did MacGyver get something set up for Susan and Darin Cooper in "Eagles"?

I know in "Three for the Road" MacGyver had Pete restore Guy and June Roberts car that MacGyver had cannibalized for parts in the episode.

What about in "Ghost Ship"? Did MacGyver arrange something for Karin Graff?

I know MacGyver and Pete both get in the rink and play a little ice hockey in "Early Retirement"- was that part of a bonus MacGyver had set up?

And in "The Spoilers", I'm thinking MacGyver gets Daniel "Earthquake" Toberman a new dog as part of his bonus.

I think maybe somewhere past the third season or so, MacGyver kind of ceases to mention the whole "bonus" thing, but he just tells someone that he's going to get Pete to arrange something to help them out- and he just does it without mentioning it as a bonus of any sort.
But I assume this would fall under the same deal he already had with Pete- and since MacGyver had mentioned this deal in his narrations before, there was probably no need for the writers to have Mac continually clarifying that this was what this was for.

I know in "The Madonna" we see that the Phoenix Foundation is donating Christmas presents to The Challengers Club, as well as donating financially to their funding. I don't know if this would be considered one of MacGyver's bonuses or if this is more like a project that MacGyver recommended the Phoenix Foundation take on, much like he recommended the science project at public schools in "Live and Learn".

Okay- well, correct me if I'm wrong on any of these, and add in any other "bonuses" if you can remember any others.

Well, I would die to have an arrangement like Mac's. Phoenix doing special things for the best special agent.

In Final Approach he wanted Pete to go kayaking with him.

In D.O.A. MacGyver he arranged a new bike for the kid and mentions some of his older bonusses.

In For Love or Money is as far as I know the only time Phoenix really payed him money. Both 200.000 $ for MacGyver and Diane. Except of course MacGyver donated away his two hundred thousand.

In GX-1 they gave him a trip as a bonus to anywhere he likes on their costs.

In Gold Rush he wanted to go to somewhere tropic but Phoenix had something else in mind. Alaska! Not sure this was a real assignment and it was on request of Nathalie to hire MacGyver.

Okay- yeah, I'd forgotten about those. So sometimes MacGyver's bonus was something for himself- like his hot air balloon trip in "GX-1". But a lot of times his bonus was for someone else- like a new bicycle for the kid in "D.O.A. MacGyver" or money to help Lisa in "Nightmares", etc.

Ugly ducking, doest he arrange for the girl to get a scholarship, or work for the foundation?

In one of the challenger episodes I believe he gets a new pool table for the challengers club with his bonus.

It was 'Nightmares' where he used a bouns to arrange a government scolarship for Lisa, the runaway. In 'Ugly Duckling', Kate -herself- impressed the D.O.D. with her skills and offered to set her up with her own lab after graduation... Mac just passed on the message.

I liked the 'Physics Demonstration Lab' that he donated to the Challenger's Club, too! LOL!

This was said in DOA MacGyver

Carol “So you mean the Phoenix Foundation pays you a bonus after every assignment?”

MacGyver - “No, well, they don’t exactly pay. They kinda do things. They arranged for me to have a scrimmage with a pro hockey team one time. Arranged for a scholarship for a girl. Annnnd… they bought some new wheels for a friend of mine.” *reveal the bike in the back of Jeep*

weeeeeeeeeeeeee!


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But they did pay, didn't they? Wasn't it in the very next episode For Love Or Money that he got a large cash bonus? Or was that a reward?

Okay... so I went ahead and watched For Love Or Money and it was a reward put up by private investors. Nevermind.

In "Pirates" for an owed bonus an arrangement of a top of the line dive boat and 83 Navy Seal volunteers to go looking for the treasure to help the kids.