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The Worst Episodes of MacGyver

Every episode of MacGyver ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of MacGyver!

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20-something Angus MacGyver creates a clandestine organization where he uses his knack for solving problems in unconventional ways to help prevent disasters from happening.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    MacGyver Season 1 Episode 1 - The Rising
    6.1/10(1435 votes)

    #1 - The Rising

    S1:E1

    Angus MacGyver and Jack Dalton, special agents for the Department of External Services (DXS), join forces to recover a missing bioweapon that has the ability to destroy hundreds of thousands of people with one single drop.

    Director:James Wan
    Writer:Peter M. Lenkov

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  2. MacGyver Season 1 Episode 2 - Metal Saw
    6.4/10(1045 votes)

    #2 - Metal Saw

    S1:E2

    MacGyver and the team attempt to rescue Sarah, Jack’s former CIA partner/ex-girlfriend who went missing in Venezuela after she obtained evidence to take down an international arms dealer.

    Director:Jerry Levine
    Writer:Craig S. O'Neill

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  3. MacGyver Season 1 Episode 3 - Awl
    6.6/10(919 votes)

    #3 - Awl

    S1:E3

    MacGyver and the team are in Malaysia to extract a terrorist groups’ money man, Ralph, who holds key intel to an impending attack. But the mission goes south when the man is shot, and now, with only a driver’s license and hand sanitizer available, MacGyver must keep Ralph alive in order to learn the terrorists’ plans.

    Director:Matt Earl Beesley
    Writer:David Slack

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  4. MacGyver Season 1 Episode 4 - Wire Cutter
    7.0/10(886 votes)

    #4 - Wire Cutter

    S1:E4

    Mac and Jack partner with older versions of themselves, a Russian bomb programmer and his estranged handler, to shut down a Soviet-era warhead in Moscow. But when the antiquated computer needed to disable the warhead becomes inoperable, Mac must find a way to fix it with only duct tape and wire in time to prevent a new Cold War.

    Director:Joe Dante
    Writer:John Turman

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  5. MacGyver Season 1 Episode 5 - Toothpick
    7.1/10(855 votes)

    #5 - Toothpick

    S1:E5

    Using only an armrest, a curtain rod, and a toothpick, MacGyver must fix a sabotaged train in order to protect a whistleblower who has proof that her boss is selling weapons to U.S. enemies.

    Director:Bobby Roth
    Writer:Nancy Kiu

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  6. MacGyver Season 2 Episode 1 - DIY or DIE
    7.1/10(705 votes)

    #6 - DIY or DIE

    S2:E1

    Using a cell phone and soccer ball, MacGyver and the team search for a Navy SEAL who is believed to be alive in captivity in the Middle East.

    Director:Stephen Herek
    Writers:Peter M. Lenkov, Craig S. O'Neill, David Slack

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    The 20 BEST Episodes of MacGyver

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  7. MacGyver Season 1 Episode 9 - Chisel
    7.2/10(790 votes)

    #7 - Chisel

    S1:E9

    With only a chisel and matchbook, MacGyver and team must defend themselves the U.S. embassy workers in Latvia from extremists who are attempting to retrieve their leader. Also, Bozer faces a big decision now that he knows who Mac really is.

    Director:Brad Tanenbaum
    Writers:Brandon Willer, Bret VandenBos

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  8. MacGyver Season 5 Episode 11 - C8H7ClO + Nano-Trackers + Resistance + Maldives + Mind Games
    7.2/10(737 votes)

    #8 - C8H7ClO + Nano-Trackers + Resistance + Maldives + Mind Games

    S5:E11

    Mac and Riley head overseas together to prevent a governmental collapse and inadvertently inhale new deadly microscopic technology.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. MacGyver Season 1 Episode 6 - Wrench
    7.3/10(815 votes)

    #9 - Wrench

    S1:E6

    Using only a wrench and rope, MacGyver must diffuse a bomb set near the United Nations by his old nemesis, “The Ghost”, a notorious criminal whose work killed his mentor, and track him down before he strikes again.

    Director:Alec Smight
    Writer:Brian Durkin

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  10. MacGyver Season 1 Episode 7 - Can Opener
    7.3/10(801 votes)

    #10 - Can Opener

    S1:E7

    MacGyver is tasked to go undercover as an inmate in a maximum security prison to break out El Noche, a notorious drug kingpin, using only batteries and salt, and track him to his cartel's secret location and dismantle it.

    Director:Alec Smight
    Writer:Brian Durkin

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  11. MacGyver Season 1 Episode 13 - Large Blade
    7.3/10(720 votes)

    #11 - Large Blade

    S1:E13

    On the way back from capturing a war criminal, Mac and Jack’s helicopter crashes in a remote area of Kazakhstan, injuring their pilot and allowing their prisoner to escape with Jack’s gun. Using a large blade and a water bottle, MacGyver must get help as the pilot’s condition worsens and before the war criminal takes them as prisoners.

    Director:Sylvain White
    Writer:Andrew Karlsruher

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  12. MacGyver Season 3 Episode 4 - Guts + Fuel + Hope
    7.3/10(593 votes)

    #12 - Guts + Fuel + Hope

    S3:E4

    MacGyver and Riley, with the help of Vasil, a distraught father, must find a way to drive a tanker filled with liquid oxygen through a region occupied by rebels and deliver it to a children’s hospital before they run out. Also, Riley helps MacGyver decide whether or not to allow his father back into his life.

    Director:Peter Weller
    Writer:Rob Pearlstein

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  13. MacGyver Season 5 Episode 6 - Quarantine + N95 + Landline + Telescope + Social Distance
    7.3/10(671 votes)

    #13 - Quarantine + N95 + Landline + Telescope + Social Distance

    S5:E6

    During COVID-19’s first stay-at-home order, as Mac, Bozer and Riley quarantine together, they try to stop a crime in progress at their neighbor’s house. Also, Russ’ romantic fling takes on a longer and more complicated turn when they quarantine together.

    Director:Andrew Ahn
    Writers:Andrew Karlsruher, Stephanie Hicks

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  14. MacGyver Season 1 Episode 10 - Pliers
    7.4/10(744 votes)

    #14 - Pliers

    S1:E10

    Mac and the team have no time to reminisce while visiting Mac’s and Bozer’s hometown when they immediately start searching for a kidnapped prodigy from Mac’s old middle school, Valerie.

    Director:Lee Rose
    Writer:Brian Durkin

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  15. MacGyver Season 1 Episode 11 - Scissors
    7.4/10(746 votes)

    #15 - Scissors

    S1:E11

    MacGyver and Jack search for Riley, using a microwave and a power strip, after she mysteriously disappears and hacks into the NSA, possibly unleashing World War III. Also, Bozer goes on his first official mission, and Jack opens up about his history with Riley’s mother, Diane.

    Director:Stephen Herek
    Writers:Nancy Kiu, Lindsey Allen

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  16. MacGyver Season 1 Episode 14 - Fish Scaler
    7.4/10(680 votes)

    #16 - Fish Scaler

    S1:E14

    Using a fish scaler and some fishing wire, Mac and Jack must track down a corrupt FBI agent who has framed a man for murder. Also, everyone on the team is terrified to get their first performance review from Matty, their tough new boss.

    Director:Eagle Egilsson
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. MacGyver Season 1 Episode 16 - Hook
    7.4/10(663 votes)

    #17 - Hook

    S1:E16

    While tracking down the dangerous fugitive Aaron Deckard, Mac and Jack face the notorious Colton family of bounty hunters who already kidnapped their mark. Also, Bozer and Riley try to hack into Jack’s CIA file to find out about his history with Matty.

    Director:Tawnia McKiernan
    Writer:Nancy Kiu

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  18. MacGyver Season 1 Episode 17 - Ruler
    7.4/10(675 votes)

    #18 - Ruler

    S1:E17

    Bozer’s first overseas mission goes terribly wrong when Mac and the team are blamed for a terrorist bombing and the Phoenix Foundation is forced to disavow them.

    Director:Antonio Negret
    Writer:Andrew Karlsruher

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  19. MacGyver Season 4 Episode 6 - Right + Wrong + Both + Neither
    7.4/10(498 votes)

    #19 - Right + Wrong + Both + Neither

    S4:E6

    When Russ’ first love, Emilia, is kidnapped by the same rebels he fought during his private military contract days, he takes the Phoenix team to a small, impoverished town to rescue her and rid the town of the rebels for good.

    Director:Roderick Davis
    Writer:Andrew Klein

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  20. MacGyver Season 1 Episode 18 - Flashlight
    7.5/10(691 votes)

    #20 - Flashlight

    S1:E18

    When Mac and the team travel to Hawaii to aid in earthquake relief efforts, they team up with Chin and Kono from the Five-0 task force to rescue a group of government scientists trapped in a building. However, as they work on the complicated rescue, a group using the chaos as a distraction aims to steal the top-secret weaponry from the scientists.

    Director:Jonathan Brown
    Writer:Lindsey Allen

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  21. MacGyver Season 2 Episode 2 - Muscle Car + Paper Clips
    7.5/10(613 votes)

    #21 - Muscle Car + Paper Clips

    S2:E2

    Using a necklace and a microwave transmitter, Mac and the team attempt to locate Riley after her first solo mission with a group of dangerous hackers goes off the rails

    Director:Ericson Core
    Writer:Nancy Kiu

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  22. MacGyver Season 2 Episode 6 - Jet Engine + Pickup Truck
    7.5/10(597 votes)

    #22 - Jet Engine + Pickup Truck

    S2:E6

    Using a cassette player and a plastic bucket, Mac and the team attempt to extinguish a massive oil wellhead fire in a Nigerian village, set by a rebel group, which is trying to topple its government by destroying their most valuable resource.

    Director:Stephen Herek
    Writer:Andrew Karlsruher

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  23. MacGyver Season 2 Episode 7 - Duct Tape + Jack
    7.5/10(602 votes)

    #23 - Duct Tape + Jack

    S2:E7

    MacGyver uses a heater and hot sauce to help a key presidential candidate in Ecuador receive a heart transplant he desperately needs after a rebel group tries to sabotage delivery of the organ.

    Director:Gabriel Beristain
    Writer:Brian Durkin

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  24. MacGyver Season 2 Episode 9 - CD-ROM + Hoagie Foil
    7.5/10(598 votes)

    #24 - CD-ROM + Hoagie Foil

    S2:E9

    Mac and the team follow a group of Indonesian mercenaries who are transporting a lethal amount of stolen nerve gas in the hopes of tracking them to their dangerous leader. Also, Jack confronts Elwood about Riley, and Bozer is pushed to his limit in spy school.

    Director:Bobby Roth
    Writers:Nancy Kiu, Marqui Jackson

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  25. MacGyver Season 4 Episode 4 - Windmill + Acetone + Celluloid + Firing Pin
    7.5/10(540 votes)

    #25 - Windmill + Acetone + Celluloid + Firing Pin

    S4:E4

    As MacGyver works quickly to rescue survivors from a collapsed building in Germany, he discovers a new safety threat – a 1,000-pound undetonated bomb from World War II hidden beneath the rubble.

    Director:Eagle Egilsson
    Writer:Andrew Karlsruher

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Worst Episodes Summary

"The Rising" is the worst rated episode of "MacGyver". It scored 6.1/10 based on 1435 votes. Directed by James Wan and written by Peter M. Lenkov, it aired on 9/23/2016. This episode scored 0.3 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Metal Saw".