HELL WEEK
Episode 3-09 [053]
23 November 1987
MacGyver returns to his alma mater to judge the "Fizzic's Follies" during hell week. Invited by his old professor Ryman to help in judging the yearly competition, he also sees David, the professor's son, after many years. He is one of four finalists, and the challenge is to build the best barricade. MacGyver is troubled by Prof. Ryman's impersonal attitude towards his son. He talks with Janet, David's girlfriend, and discovers that he does drugs, particularly "speed", and has been moody and depressed for quite awhile. David loses to Jeffrey Kramer, but at the celebration following the competition MacGyver exposes Jeffrey as a cheat. He and Prof. Ryman rush back to the physics lab when they learn from Janet that David has built a bomb. He is quite drunk and popping pills when they arrive. They hope to contain the bomb blast by sending it down to the basement in the elevator but end up trapped there themselves. MacGyver uses two wires to create a current to heat and vaporize the mercury switch, so the bomb fails to explode. An ambulance arrives, and an exhausted David is taken to the hospital.
MacGyver: Wasn't that a little rough?
Professor Ryman: Physics is about truth, not tact. I was rough on you too.
MacGyver: Yes, you were. You were a tyrant, but you humiliated David. He's your son.
Professor Ryman: Nobody's going to give him any points for that.
