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Live and Learn

Original Air Date: January 15, 1990
Episode #096

On the campus of Dillard High School, MacGyver demonstrates the principle of equilibrium for the physics class. After class, he attends a science scholarship competition. As one student displays his project, another, Tony Milani, uses a device he made to destroy it. Tony is taken away and suspended. At a meeting with the faculty, Pete Thornton explains the Phoenix Foundation's new program to encourage potential dropouts to stay in school. The program involves two mentors - one teacher and someone from the community - for a student. Having volunteered as the community representative, Mac says that he'd like to work with George Fraley, the program's most vocal critic. Mac suggests Tony Milani as the student for the program's trial run. Fraley and Mac go to Tony's house and invite him to return to class. Much to Fraley's surprise, Tony arrives for the lab the next day. However, Tony soon drops out of school because his dad found him a job in construction. Mac visits the job site to give Tony some scholarship forms, but Tony's defensive dad tells Mac to leave. Not much later, Tony overhears the job foreman bribe an inspector to overlook multiple code violations. Tony retrieves the inspection form from the trash; he takes it to his dad, who just tells him to get back to work. Tony's dad then gives the form back to the foreman, who burns it. That night, Fraley and Mac are working late at the school. Fraley explains that when he started teaching, he was excited about it, but being overworked and underpaid dampened his spirit. Mac challenges that he can still make a difference. Suddenly, Tony runs up, being chased by security. Tony explains that he wanted to borrow a device from the lab to check the job site to be sure it's safe. He tells Mac and Fraley about the code violations. He fears that his dad is in on the cover-up because he did nothing when Tony showed him the report. Mac and Tony retrieve the burned form from the site. Back at the school, they are able to restore the report. Mac suggests they talk to Mr. Milani again; he thinks that Tony's dad did nothing before because he can't read. As they arrive at the construction site, a substandard concrete floor collapses, trapping Tony's dad. Fortunately, Mac is able to organize a successful rescue. With Mr. Milani safe, Mac shows the restored inspection form and declares that the foreman has some questions to answer. Back at school, Tony tells Mac that his dad is going to start taking some night classes, and Fraley offers his help as a tutor.


Quotes

MacGyver: Archimedes once said, "Give me a place to stand, and I will move the world."

Neil: Remember, class. Tomorrow we'll be in the science lab. Mr. MacGyver's going to show you a few things about earthquakes that will really shake you up.

MacGyver (to Tony): I'm kind of curious as to why you didn't enter your own science project, instead of wrecking somebody else's.
Fraley: Because he's a master at tearing down anything and everything that's decent.

Fraley: That's how he gets attention. Right, Tony?

"Worry about the kids who give a damn." Fraley, dismissing Tony as a lost cause

Pete: The mentor program pinpoints the potential dropout before it's too late, and then assigns two positive role models who take a very active and personal interest in his or her scholastic career.
Fraley: Wouldn't higher fences be a lot cheaper?

Fraley (about Tony): His actions were inexcusable.
Pete: Sure they were. But then, maybe no one ever showed him a positive way to attract attention.

MacGyver: "Introduction to Electrical Engineering" - you want to be an engineer?
[Tony takes the book.]
Tony: I use it as a doorstop, okay?

MacGyver: I'll make you a little wager: Tony doesn't show up tomorrow, you're off the hook as a mentor.
Fraley: What's the catch?
MacGyver: If he does, you run the program after I leave.

"Just thought I'd . . . see what's shakin'." Tony, arriving for the lab

"That's the way it is, in the real world." Fraley, after telling Pete and Mac that Tony dropped out

MacGyver (to Tony): If this is really what you want for yourself, great; that's no crime. But if it isn't, if you wake up thirty years from now, and all you are is thirty years older . . . that is a crime.

"Can't you read? No trespassing." Tony's dad, referring to a sign that says "Hard Hat Area"

Mr. Milani: A few days on the job, he thinks he's already a hotshot engineer.
Tony: Pop, I just thought--
Mr. Milani: Well, stop thinkin.' That's not your job. Cleaning up the site, that's your job. You got that?

Fraley: Race, color, poverty, the drug scene? They weren't a problem. I had all the answers.
MacGyver: What happened?

Fraley: Forty-five kids in a class. FORTY-FIVE kids in a class! Not enough textbooks to go around. A day that starts with twenty percent teaching and eighty percent just trying to keep order.

MacGyver: You sayin' it's not worth it?
Fraley: All I am saying is that I am your average overworked, underpaid, under-appreciated teacher, whose biggest thrill is to discover a senior who can find Washington, D.C. on a map and spell the word necessary.

Fraley (bitterly): And I was gonna change the world.

Tony: But you can't read it. It's burned.
MacGyver: Well, sometimes things are hidden under the surface . . . You just gotta know how to bring 'em out.

Tony: How'd you learn to do all this stuff?
MacGyver: How do you think?


Log Jam

Original Air Date: February 5, 1990
Episode #097

MacGyver arrives in Oregon to see why his environmentalist friend Amy Chandler cancelled a summit with the local loggers. He finds Amy at the sheriff's department, having been taken into custody for stopping log trucks with a picket line. She explains that her friend Lopez died in a suspicious "accident" after calling her to say he had proof that his boss, Foxworth, was violating his timber cutting contract. Amy offers to reschedule the summit if Mac will help her find out what really happened to Lopez. Mac agrees, and he goes undercover at Foxworth's logging company. Unknown to Mac, the man who hires him is Jack Walker, Amy's estranged husband. Meanwhile, Foxworth is pressured by a man named Glass who demands more logs for an illegal shipment to Japan. A clue left by Lopez leads Mac to a trucker named Braddock, but Braddock is also suspicious of Mac's snooping. Foxworth frames Amy for sabotaging his equipment, and he fires Jack and Mac when they try to defend her. As they collect their things, Braddock starts out with a load of logs; suspicious that the load will be diverted for Mr. Glass, Mac stows away and rides along. He arrives at an old sawmill, where the logs are added to the shipment for Japan. At the sheriff's office, Jack and Amy learn that Braddock's recent log loads were not recorded in the paperwork, and they head to the old mill, which is owned by Mr. Glass. Mac sees Foxworth pull a gun on Jack and Amy. Mac attacks; Foxworth is knocked out, but Glass tries to flee. Mac follows, and the two fight ferociously until Glass falls to his death. The sheriff and his men arrive and arrest Braddock and the other thieves. Later, Jack and Amy seem headed toward reconciliation, and the timber summit is re-scheduled.


Quotes

Pilot: Ever been in this part of the country before?
MacGyver: I used to work summers up here during college.

Pilot: They say eight-five percent of the old growth forests have already been cut.

Foxworth: My men replant what they cut, lady. I want those trees to grow as much as you do.
Amy: So you can cut them down again! A tree farm is not a forest, Foxworth.

Foxworth: When are you going to do something about that wife of yours, Jack?
Jack: I'm not. That's why we're separated, remember?

MacGyver: The Phoenix Foundation worked for months to put this summit together, and you supported the idea.
Amy: That was before the cover-up.

MacGyver: Proof?
Amy: Well, that's all he told me, and then he suddenly said, "Check out Betsy." And he hung up.
MacGyver: Who's Betsy?
Amy: I don't know.

MacGyver: Even if you're right about Lopez, declaring war on the loggers is not the answer.
Amy: Then what is?
MacGyver: Compromise. Finding a win-win solution so they'll listen to you.

MacGyver: What happened between you two?
Amy: We separated. About six months ago . . . I guess we couldn't "find a win-win solution."

Jack: You got any experience?
MacGyver: Well, I worked summers as a rigging slinger back in college.
Jack: Boy, that was a long time ago.

Glass: The Yakuza have a saying: [He speaks in Japanese.] "The wind does not wait for the tree to bend."

"I ain't got time for this sheep dip." Braddock, after Mac talks about the timber summit

"She's not worth it, Braddock. No wonder her husband left her." Foxworth, goading Amy

[Mac arrives after a hard day of work.]
Amy: You look terrible.
MacGyver: Thank you.

Jack: I guess Amy and I just let this logging thing come between us.
MacGyver: It's never too late. It's just a matter of wanting to work it out.

Jack (to Amy): Maybe if we stop making short-term demands, we can find some long-term solutions.


The Treasure of Manco

Original Air Date: February 12, 1990
Episode #098

In Lima, Peru, MacGyver visits his friend Maria to attend her father's funeral. Maria's father tried for fifteen years to find the treasure of the Incan chief Manco; he wanted to use it to feed the starving people of Peru, and Maria is determined to fulfill his dream. Retrieving a headpiece from the university where her father worked, Maria explains to Mac that her father believed the headpiece was the key to finding the treasure. Mac agrees to help her search. They stop at a military camp to meet their guide, Ramon, whose father was killed along with Maria's. Enrique, a former friend of Mac and Maria and currently the leader of a group of rebels, is believed to be responsible for the murders, and Ramon vows revenge. That night, Mac and Maria are abducted and taken to Enrique. Maria blasts him for the murders, but Enrique says that he is not responsible. When it is clear that Maria doesn't believe him, Enrique says that she and Mac are free to go. Back at the military base, Commander Diaz marvels that they were not killed by the guerillas. Ramon leads Mac and Maria to the spot where the bodies were found. Recognizing landmarks from the headpiece, they plan to visit a nearby Incan ruin, but a shot is fired. They run for cover, and three men in camouflage take the headpiece. Believing that Enrique's men attacked them, Mac, Ramon, and Maria find Enrique's camp. Watching, they see Enrique with the headpiece, and Maria tells Mac that it proves what Enrique has become. Ramon sneaks away and tries to shoot Enrique, who is only mildly wounded. The rebels catch Mac, Maria, and Ramon, and Enrique reveals that they have captured the men - Cmdr. Diaz's soldiers - who took the headpiece. Maria and Mac apologize for not believing Enrique. Meanwhile, Cmdr. Diaz leads a group to search for his missing men, and he follows Mac and the others as they look for the ruin. The clues from the headpiece lead to a sealed entrance. Working their way in, the group finds a chamber. They soon find a secret entrance to another chamber, and Cmdr. Diaz follows them in. With his gun drawn, he thanks them for their efforts, saying that Maria's father had refused to cooperate. To the dismay of Diaz, there is no gold, only seeds. Mac is able to use Diaz's greed against him, and Enrique and Ramon help Mac subdue Diaz and his soldier. Later, Mac takes a sample of the Incan seeds to see if they will produce a now-extinct food plant. Enrique observes that Manco's treasure might feed the people after all.


Quotes

"Your father was murdered in these mountains. I don't want to have to come back to Peru for another funeral, okay?" Mac, to Maria

"It could provide food, housing, education for every child in Peru. I want his dream to become a reality." Maria, about the treasure

Maria: The legend says that the great chief Manco presented the headpiece symbolizing the Garden of Gold to the one chosen as its protector.

"Oh, I love this kind of stuff." Mac, with a sigh of resignation as he agrees to help Maria look for the treasure

MacGyver: We're not here looking for Enrique. It's the military's job to bring him in.
Ramon: Not if I find him first.

Enrique: What are you doing here?
MacGyver: Well, I think we've been kidnapped.

Enrique: I am the same man you knew before, MacGyver.
MacGyver: No. The Enrique I knew worked things out. He had a real thing about violence.
Enrique: And I still do. But sometimes an evil and corrupted government cannot be changed from within. That is why I fight them from these mountains.

Enrique: There is nothing left for us to discuss.
MacGyver: So . . . now what?
Enrique: So, now you are free to go. And I will miss our friendship.

Diaz: It is a wonder you were not killed. Women and foreigners are not known to be popular with the guerillas.
MacGyver: Well, they were just a little curious. Guess we got lucky, huh.

Ramon: Enrique lied to you. If we find that treasure, he will be close by to kill us for it. But I will kill him first.
MacGyver: Alright, listen up, Ramon. I don't buy into guns or vigilante justice. Now, I can't tell you not to defend yourself the best you know how. But I can tell you that that ache in your gut to kill Enrique is dulling your senses, and you better get a hold of it before you do something you regret.

Maria: I understand what he feels, MacGyver.
MacGyver: Yeah, well, so do I - but that doesn't make it right.

Maria: I told Enrique about the headpiece last night. He only let us go so his men could follow us and steal it.

MacGyver: We'll get the headpiece back, okay? But well do it my way. You got that?
Ramon: Si. As long as your way brings results, Señor.

"Are you nuts?!" Mac, after Ramon shoots at Enrique

Ramon: I shot you. Maria and MacGyver are not responsible for what I did.
Enrique: I see. What a brave young man you are. You are also foolish and a bad shot.

Maria: Do not harm Ramon for this. The murder of our fathers should be enough for your revenge.
Enrique: You are as blind as this boy is brash, Maria.

Ramon: I don't know what to say.
MacGyver: You might start with an apology. After I get done with mine.

"We're four hundred years too late." Maria, after they find a 16th-century weapon in the hidden chamber

"Didn't the legend of Quintano say something about his 'golden words of enlightenment'?" Mac, making this stuff up as he goes along

Maria: So, the treasure of Manco isn't a garden of gold: it's a garden of corn.

"Maybe Manco's treasure will feed the people of Peru after all." Enrique, about the Incan seeds


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