7.9/10440 votes#1 - The Human Factor
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 9/22/1986
MacGyver and Pete are testing a new security system at the Strategic Research Development Administration. MacGyver successfully bypasses the security and meets Dr. Jill Ludlam, the system's designer. She tries to turn off the security system, but it doesn't realize that it was just a test. MacGyver and Dr. Ludlam are then forced to find a way out, as the security system, named Sandy, tries to destroy the "intruders."
Director: Charles Correll
Writer: Robin Bernheim Burger
7.5/10398 votes#2 - The Eraser
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 9/29/1986
Mac inadvertently leads a hit man to his target, believing that he's helping a father find his lost son.
Director: Paul Krasny
Writer: Stephen Kronish
7.4/10377 votes#3 - Twice Stung
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 10/6/1986
MacGyver and Pete have a surprise party planned for a colleague, but when the colleague doesn't show up, MacGyver goes looking for him, and finds him on the verge of committing suicide. When questioned why he would do such a thing, Kelly explains that a con artist has swindled him out of his life savings. MacGyver tells Pete about Kelly's situation and the two of them decide that they will get Kelly's money back from the con
Director: Paul Krasny
Writer: Bill Froehlich, Mark Lisson
6.8/10385 votes#4 - The Wish Child
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 10/20/1986
While MacGyver goes to pick up a Chinese friend's brother from a birthday party, he witnesses something strange: Paul is being called "The Wish Child." It seems that a greedy businessman has wrapped him up in a scam, because he looks exactly like a boy from an old legend that owns the secret of immortality. Now, MacGyver must try to talk him out of this, because Paul is starting to believe he really is The Wish Child!
Director: Charles Correll
Writer: Bill Froehlich, Stephen Kandel
7.2/10396 votes#5 - Final Approach
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 10/27/1986
MacGyver goes to the mountains to lead four ex-gangster teens on a Phoenix Foundation funded rehabilitation trip. When he gets there, he finds that this task may be a little more complicated then he thought. All of the kids are very rebellious and one of them has a bad grudge against another one. A couple of days later when MacGyver is returning with the kids, their plane crashes in the middle of the wilderness and one of them is injured. Now, MacGyver must fix the plane and help the kids work out their differences so they can save their friend.
Director: Alexander Singer
Writer: Rob Hedden
7.4/10382 votes#6 - Jack of Lies
Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 11/3/1986
MacGyver, returning home one night, walks into his apartment, only to everything he owns missing from his apartment. Initially suspecting a robbery, MacGyver eventually comes to the conclusion that his old friend Jack Dalton is the one responsible for the theft.
Director: Charles Correll
Writer: Kerry Lenhart, John J. Sakmar
7.3/10375 votes#7 - The Road Not Taken
Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 11/10/1986
MacGyver and Pete head to Asia to rescue a nun, who is an old friend of Pete's, and the orphaned children she takes care of from aggressive regime troops. While there, MacGyver runs into someone he never expected, his old fiancee, Debra. Now MacGyver must complete his mission, work out his differences with Debra, and escape from the troops, all before the troops find them.
Director: Cliff Bole
Writer: Chuck Bowman
7.3/10388 votes#8 - Eagles
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 11/17/1986
While hang gliding in the west, MacGyver crosses paths with an escaped felon who shot and wounded a rare eagle. Now, with the help of his new friend Susan Cooper and her son Darin, MacGyver must heal the eagle and trap the felon before he kills more eagles.
Director: Paul Krasny
Writer: George Lee Marshall
6.9/10356 votes#9 - Silent World
Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 11/24/1986
While helping the Phoenix Foundation test a new missile-guidance system for the government, MacGyver's efforts are hampered by men who are trying to steal it. When the men escape with it, MacGyver turns to his deaf friend, who has been having premonition-type dreams of this happening. Now MacGyver must try and analyze her dreams so that he can find the men who stole the system.
Director: James L. Conway
Writer: Stephen Kandel
7.7/10376 votes#10 - Three For the Road
Season 2 Episode 10 - Aired 12/15/1986
A retired actor and his wife stop at a motel on the way to Los Angeles. MacGyver rescues them from a drunkard who nearly makes a mark on their car. MacGyver is supposed to meet a mobster-turned-informant at the motel, but the meeting goes wrong. The mob shows up and kills MacGyver's friend before he can give MacGyver what he promised. Instead the bag lands in the old couple's car, where the old actor finds it and discovers it full of money.
Director: Alan Crosland, Jr.
Writer: Kerry Lenhart, John J. Sakmar
8.1/10424 votes#11 - Phoenix Under Siege
Season 2 Episode 11 - Aired 1/5/1987
While retrieving tickets for a hockey game at the Phoenix Foundation, MacGyver and his grandpa Harry get caught in the middle of a woman's plot to blow up the building using a bomb that she herself made. They try to escape, but are locked in. Now they must figure another way out before she activates the bomb.
Director: Gilbert M. Shilton
Writer: N/A
7.5/10348 votes#12 - Family Matter
Season 2 Episode 12 - Aired 1/12/1987
Pete's ex-wife and son are kidnapped down in Louisiana while on an archaeological trip. The kidnappers demand that Pete comes to Louisiana in exchange for letting his family go. But when he gets there, it soon becomes apparent that they don't plan to let any of them go.
Director: Alexander Singer
Writer: Paul A. Magistretti
7.1/10366 votes#13 - Soft Touch
Season 2 Episode 13 - Aired 1/19/1987
MacGyver puts up Penny Parker for a few days while she's looking for a job as a singing telegram. But on her first day, she happens to witness two thugs torturing a man. Unfortunately, she can't find her way back, and when she does, MacGyver thinks this may be the start of something bigger as the victim is a Federal agent.
Director: Charles Correll
Writer: Joan Brooker, Nancy Eddo
7.5/10345 votes#14 - Birth Day
Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 2/2/1987
MacGyver's fishing trip is cut short when he meets a very pregnant woman whose husband is out to kill her. Accidentally, she found out that his half-way home for ex-cons is really a recruiting place for new crimes. Mac and the woman are chased into a warehouse where they are trapped.
Director: James L. Conway
Writer: Rob Hedden
7.3/10335 votes#15 - Pirates
Season 2 Episode 15 - Aired 2/9/1987
While on an expedition to find a Spanish treasure fleet, Dr. Barbara Ortega's boat is hi-jacked by modern-day pirates. They steal the small amount of treasure that she has already found - including the ship's log, which is the key to finding the whole fleet - and take off. When she makes it public that she was hi-jacked, the Phoenix Foundation sends MacGyver to help. Now, MacGyver and Barbara must recover the ship's log, so she can find the treasure before the pirates do.
Director: Bruce Kessler
Writer: Stephen Kandel
7.6/10356 votes#16 - Out in the Cold
Season 2 Episode 16 - Aired 2/16/1987
When MacGyver and Pete go skiing, a man switches poles with MacGyver, only moments before being gunned down and killed by his former friends. But the gunshot starts an avalanche, which covers MacGyver completely, leaving it up to Pete to convince the mountain rangers to stage a search and rescue before the next avalanche comes. As MacGyver finally is dug up, the gangsters are there, waiting for him, and whatever is hidden in that ski pole.
Director: Cliff Bole
Writer: Stephen Kronish
7.5/10347 votes#17 - Dalton, Jack of Spies
Season 2 Episode 17 - Aired 2/23/1987
Dalton, who is believed to be dead, recruits MacGyver to help uncover a CIA mole.
Director: Bob Sweeney
Writer: Kerry Lenhart, John J. Sakmar
8.2/10408 votes#18 - Partners
Season 2 Episode 18 - Aired 3/2/1987
MacGyver and Pete meet at a wrecking yard, both thinking that the other one arranged the meeting. Soon an unknown assailant captures them inside a big truck. Their only clue is an obituary for them and Jack Dalton.
Director: Cliff Bole
Writer: Bill Froehlich, Mark Lisson
7.3/10336 votes#19 - Bushmaster
Season 2 Episode 19 - Aired 3/23/1987
When MacGyver is sent to rescue an American pilot held in Central America for supposed espionage, his wargame-trained daughter tags along, but she didn't quite come prepared for the real thing. MacGyver must now rescue the pilot while keeping his daughter safe from the soldiers.
Director: Don Chaffey
Writer: Rob Hedden
6.5/10357 votes#20 - Friends
Season 2 Episode 20 - Aired 4/6/1987
MacGyver's friends throw a birthday party for him, but he's somberly reflecting on his past and future. While reflecting, MacGyver decides to leave the Phoenix Foundation to get married and have a family. Can Pete convince him of how important he is to the Foundation and get him to change his mind?
Director: Cliff Bole
Writer: Stephen Kronish
7.5/10348 votes#21 - D.O.A.: MacGyver
Season 2 Episode 21 - Aired 4/27/1987
MacGyver is called to a meeting with a former British spy, who has learned of a group of terrorists that will use a new plastic explosive in a vengeful attack on the U.S. army. This explosive can be hidden anywhere. However, before the spy can give MacGyver all the details he is shot. MacGyver flees through a window and is picked up by a boat. The female who owns the boat soon learns that the man she has rescued doesn't have any memory.
Director: Cliff Bole
Writer: Jaison Starkes
7.4/10332 votes#22 - For Love or Money
Season 2 Episode 22 - Aired 5/4/1987
MacGyver is forced to work with a ruthless freelance agent to rescue a human rights activist who is being held in a psychiatric hospital in Czechoslovakia. The rescue is an apparent success, until the secret police then kidnap the activist's wife to get him back.
Director: James L. Conway
Writer: Doug Heyes, Jr.
The Best Episodes of MacGyver Season 2
Every episode of MacGyver Season 2 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of MacGyver Season 2!
He's everyone's favorite action hero... but he's a hero with a difference. Angus MacGyver is a secret agent whose wits are his deadliest weapon. Armed...
Genres:Action & AdventureDramaFamilyCrimeWestern
Network:ABC
Season 2 Ratings Summary
"The Human Factor" is the best rated episode of "MacGyver" season 2. It scored 7.9/10 based on 440 votes. Directed by Charles Correll and written by Robin Bernheim Burger, it aired on 9/22/1986. This episode is rated 0.4 points higher than the second-best, "The Eraser".