The Worst Episodes of MacGyver
Every episode of MacGyver ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of MacGyver!
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.
Lowest Rated Episodes Summary
The worst episode of "MacGyver" is "The Rising", rated 6.1/10 from 1413 user votes. It was directed by James Wan and written by Peter M. Lenkov. "The Rising" aired on 9/23/2016 and is rated 0.3 point(s) lower than the second lowest rated, "Metal Saw".
6.1/10 1,413 votes#1 - The Rising
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 9/23/2016
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
6.4/10 1,030 votes#2 - Metal Saw
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 9/30/2016
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
6.6/10 904 votes#3 - Awl
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/7/2016
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
7.0/10 872 votes#4 - Wire Cutter
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 10/14/2016
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
7.1/10 841 votes#5 - Toothpick
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 10/21/2016
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
7.1/10 779 votes#6 - Chisel
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 11/18/2016
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
Writer: Bret VandenBos, Brandon Willer
7.1/10 700 votes#7 - DIY or DIE
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 9/29/2017
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
Writer: Peter M. Lenkov, David Slack, Craig S. O'Neill
7.3/10 804 votes#8 - Wrench
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 10/28/2016
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
7.3/10 789 votes#9 - Can Opener
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 11/4/2016
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
7.3/10 732 votes#10 - Pliers
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 12/9/2016
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
7.3/10 709 votes#11 - Large Blade
Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 1/13/2017
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
7.3/10 672 votes#12 - Fish Scaler
Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 2/3/2017
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: N/A
7.3/10 655 votes#13 - Hook
Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 2/17/2017
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
7.3/10 589 votes#14 - Guts + Fuel + Hope
Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 10/19/2018
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
7.3/10 735 votes#15 - C8H7ClO + Nano-Trackers + Resistance + Maldives + Mind Games
Season 5 Episode 11 - Aired 3/26/2021
Mac and Riley head overseas together to prevent a governmental collapse and inadvertently inhale new deadly microscopic technology.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.4/10 736 votes#16 - Scissors
Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 12/16/2016
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
Writer: Lindsey Allen, Nancy Kiu
7.4/10 665 votes#17 - Ruler
Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 2/24/2017
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
7.4/10 608 votes#18 - Muscle Car + Paper Clips
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 10/6/2017
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
7.4/10 594 votes#19 - Jet Engine + Pickup Truck
Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 11/3/2017
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
7.4/10 494 votes#20 - Right + Wrong + Both + Neither
Season 4 Episode 6 - Aired 3/13/2020
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
7.4/10 663 votes#21 - Quarantine + N95 + Landline + Telescope + Social Distance
Season 5 Episode 6 - Aired 1/22/2021
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
Writer: Andrew Karlsruher, Stephanie Hicks
7.5/10 804 votes#22 - Corkscrew
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 11/11/2016
When MacGyver comes face to face with Murdoc, an international assassin hired to kill him, Mac must defend both himself and Bozer, armed with only a corkscrew and paper towel rolls. Also, Bozer feels completely betrayed when he finally learns Mac's true identity.
Director: Janice Cooke
Writer: Lindsey Allen
7.5/10 683 votes#23 - Flashlight
Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 3/10/2017
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
7.5/10 598 votes#24 - Duct Tape + Jack
Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 11/10/2017
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
7.5/10 594 votes#25 - CD-ROM + Hoagie Foil
Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 12/1/2017
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
Writer: Nancy Kiu, Marqui Jackson