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| The Road Not Taken | |
| Season 2, Episode 029 | |
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| Airdate | 10th November 1986 |
| Written by | Stephen Kronish & Chuck Bowman |
| Guest Stars | Marilyn Jones as Debra Easton Salome Jens as Sister Margaret Patrick Gorman as Gilbert Arnaud Dana Lee as Chanthara Arsenio "Sonny" Trinidad as Kahn |
| Directed by | Cliff Bole |
| Episode Guide<font-family:Trajan Pro;font color="white"> | |
| Previous Episode Jack Of Lies |
Next Episode Eagles |
The Road Not Taken is the 7th episode of Season 2 in the original version of MacGyver.
Plot[]
MacGyver and Pete lead a rescue mission to save nuns and their kids from the pursuit of a ruthless Southeastern Asian general; One of the nuns is an old flame of MacGyver's.
Synopsis[]
Act One[]
In Southeast Asia, a military helicopter carrying Pete and MacGyver flies over the Thai border into an unspecified country much to the anger of the pilot. The regime is more worse than the two Phoenix agents ever dreamed; Their targets include priests, nuns and orphanages. Reuniting with Debra Easton would not be easy for MacGyver. When Pete last met Sister Margeret, Debra's current employer, the sister was on the run in the Sahara with fifteen children and a goat.
At the orphanage of Sohn Pra village, Debra and Margaret tend to their work when a villager, Kahn hurries to warn Margaret that the brutal General Chanthara is coming to get her, Debra and the kids. Urgently, the sisters gather the children to prepare for evacuation. The pilot can't bring the helicopter closer to the orphanage with patrols around to hear them coming. Pete advises the pilot to come back to the clearing for extraction in two hours. MacGyver and Pete touch down at the clearing and depart just as Debra and Margarete escape down a secret tunnel.
Preparing to rappel down a cliff, Pete is concerned that if the line breaks, they will fall. As the two agents carefully climb down, at the orphanage, Kahn volunteers to stay behind to stall the enemy until Margaret's party escapes. Aware that he may not survive, Margaret hugs him like a family then escapes into the tunnel. Once MacGyver and Pete get to the bottom of the cliff, the latter nearly slips even though he is a little slower than his partner but are faced with gunfire from the hostiles forcing them to hide.
Chanthara arrives at the orphanage with his troops demanding to know where the sisters escaped to, Kahn says they escaped across the border. Refusing to believe him, Chanthara is accusing Debra and Margaret of spreading lies about his country's government. Before Kahn warns him against sinning against a savior, Chanthara executes him on the spot via gunshot. Margarets to briefly mourn the loss of her friend as Chanthara orders a thorough search of the orphanage.
In the forest, Chanthara's troops scour never noticing MacGyver and Pete had used grass camoflage. In the tunnel, Margaret invites the kids to take a blanket and to hold on until they are in a safe haven. Debra insists on getting to the Thai border as quickly as possible because if Chanthara's forces find the tunell, they will kill them all. Remembering her high school sprinting, Debra wants to go on ahead leaving Margaret to care for the orphans. MacGyver and Pete sneak past Chanthara's patrols wanting to get to the orphanage, but the agent is worried their sound will give them away. As the two hide in a bush, he spots a runner and tackles the person; He soon realizes it is Debra. With little time to talk, the three head back to the cave tunnel.
On the way, MacGyver remembers when Debra left a sorrowing note for him about her departure but would never forget her love for him. At the hiding spot, Margaret works to feed one of the orphans until MacGyver, Debra and Pete arrive. Margaret is surprised to see Pete. MacGyver apologizes for tackling his former lover but she considers it the second time she's fallen for him. With only an hour until the chopper arrives, Pete wants to stay in the cave and since the tunnel goes back to the orphanage, MAcGyver is worried it won't be long before Chanthara's forces locate them.
To get an idea, MacGyver asks for a baseball from one of the orphans so he will get him a replacement, but only if he trusts him. He also borrows empty cans, fuel, a noisemaker and some animal fat. Debra is surprised MacGyver is still making improvised traps, so he is using the string from the baseball for his makeshift alarm system and a fuse. At the orphanage, one of the soldiers tries to talk his superior down, but Chanthara knows if he lets the two American sisters get away, they will both be shot. In the tunnel, MacGyver emembers when he ties two cans to a string as he ties a rope to the tunnel entrance as the animal fat and kerosene will make a fuse. Debra tells how Margaret saved a villager from being beaten to death covering him until Chanthara's troops stopped their assault. For this, Chanthara decided to hunt her and Debra down. If the can they tied to the rope moves, they escape as quickly as they can.
Suddenly, Chanthara spots a piece of Debra's sneaker on the ground and finds the tunnel entrance. The can tips over from the movement giving Pete and Margaret the signal to escape to the clearing. Just as the troops enter, MacGyver uses the can of animal fat and lights it like a bomb scaring the troops into disarray, but Chanthara does not fall for it and continues the pursuit.
The rescue chopper flies to the clearing as MacGyver, Debra, Pete and Margaret's party race to it. They get on board the helicopter and take off. Just when it seems the mission is accomplished, Chanthara's forces arrive at the clearing firing on the chopper, hitting the circuitry, injuring the pilot's leg causing him to make Debra fall out. MacGyver dives out as Pete staying with Margaret calls out "Bulgaria". As the chopper leaves the duo behind, MacGyver and Debra escape into the forest with Chanthara ordering their deaths.
Act Two[]
Stranded in the forest, MacGyver explains "Bulgaria" is a code name for coming back to the clearing in eight hours. If he and Debra are absent, it would be sixteen hours after that and onward.
On the chopper, the pilot warns oil pressure is dropping to zero and wants Margaret to put in a call to the refugee camp. Trying to elude capture, MacGyver wants to walk back with Debra through the creek on the same footprints to try and confuse the enemy. Just as the chopper makes it to the refugee camp, the pilot loses feeling in his leg and will lose control of the chopper. Fortunately, the pilot barely manages to make a sloppy but safe landing. The kids disembark as Pete calls for a doctor but the pilot warns with the smell of gasoline, the chopper would blow any minute. Pete gets the fire under control as without the chopper, they can't save MAcGyver or Debra.
Just then, a Frenchman who heads the refugee camp named Gilbert Arnaud arrives since he was a refugee from colonial days. While he tends to the pilot, Margaret will tend to the children. Debra blames MacGyver for keeping in touch with Sister Margaret in Kenya as he didn't think she'd stay. SStill in hot pursuit, Chanthara being as smart as he is remembers how his footprints are shallow but MacGyver and Debra's are deeper.
At the refugee camp, Arnaud assures the pilot will be fine but there is no mechanic who can repair the chopper within four hours. He knows a man at a station twenty kilometers from where they are. Stopping to rest in the forest, Debra remembers when she hid in empty warehouses in the city. MacGyver spots a tree branch and this gives him an idea to try and confuse the enemy forces. Arnaud informs the mechanic he called for is in Bangkok. MacGyver prepares tree branch catapults abd ties vines to a log. The more tension on the vines, the more confused the soldiers will be as to where they are. Preparing small rocks in his jacket pockets they hopes to try Debra's rosary to reflect the light off of it to light the fuse. They set the rosary in position for the sun to shine on it. The two get into a safe position.
At the camp, Arnaud informs Pete there is no qualified mechanic within two hundred kilometers around and the truck cannot travel the dangerous terrain. Margaret determined to turn the situation around wants to fix the chopper herself.
The rosary ignites the fuse and the catapults activate slinging rocks for the soldiers to misfire at them. Chanthara still refuses to give up and spots how MacGyver sprung the catapult trap and how MacGyver and Debra are actually escaping into the bushes. As Chanthara's troupe split up, MacGyver and Debra briefly hide in a tree as the former is worried about the evil general's intellect. Hoping their time is enough, MAcGyver and Debra race back to the clearing as he would rather be at the camel races in Morocco. Debra explains she left before the tow could wed but she wasn't ready for that and left. While MacGyver still likes hockey, Debra still likes pickles dipped in cream cheese and she couldn't stop thinking about her former lover. The two share a brief kiss when they are spotted by a soldier and try to run off.
Act Three[]
Chanthara's troupe hearing gunfire continues the pursuit. At the camp, Pete has rapped a bandage around the broken hose line. As they work on the screwdriver, Margaret is surprised how they bump into each other in tight spots for every six to eight years. Suddenly, Chanthara has caught onto MacGyver and Debra's escape plan while the choppter cannot take off without the igniter. Eventually, Chanthara's forces capture MacGyver and Debra at gunpoint with the general orupd to have such an adversary.
As the two captives are taken back to the orphanage for judgement, they spot the lifeless Kahn with a warning plank tied to him. With the kitchen as their holding cell, and the orphanage being Chanthara's base, the general shows the crimes MacGyver is accused of. For speaking out of turn for his name being misspelled, MacGyver is smacked by the general who wants to give the two a public execution for the village to see.
At the refugee camp, Pete's new schedule is to pick up MacGyver and Debra at ten in the morning so they have to look for the igniter by then.
With the kitchen chimney too narrow to climb out from, Debra is worried she will resign to her fate as at the convent, wanting things get in the way of the path to god. Debra also complains about not having kids of her own. MacGyver assures they ill escape and Debra can decide what she truly wants more Debra barbs at MacGyver for moving around and the agent would want to be with her. With Kahn shot again for measure, MacGyver knows he has to escape soon.
That night, Debra warns that MacGyver is hanging himself but he fakes it and kicks a soldier down for Debra to smack him with the plank. With dawn approaching, they can only hope Pete will arrive by chopper.
At the camp under darkness, Pete casts about almost blindly searching for the missing igniter for the rescue chopper. He finds the igniter that he suspects Arnaud pilfered. Arnaud arrives in his office and with his radio communication device is secretly an ally of Chanthara and with no frther outside interference, Arnaud expects to get paud for his services. Pete catches the traitor by surprise and punches him. He then ties up and gags Arnaud to prevent him from warning Chanthara.
Act Four[]
The next morning, Margaret is concerned with MacGyver and Debra's captivity and wants to go along with the next rescue attempt. But Pete wants her to stay behind for if anything happens, she must stay with the kids. Pete assures if things were different, they would start their love all over again. Chanthara finds the holding cell kitchen open and warns their prisoners are escaping to the clearing. Staying in hiding, MAcGyver knows they can't go back to the clearing. Taking a broom with the knife confiscated, MacGyver decides to try his belt buckle to cut the broomstick's wire to make a saw and loosens a bamboo leg from a cabinet. Using fertilizer nitrates in the bamboo leg, they use a wooden spoon to turn the bamboo into a makeshift rocket to let Pete know where they are.
Chanthara arrives at the clearing while MacGyver uses a funnel for a nosecone. The pilot warns ground fire will knock the chopper out of the sky. MacGyver launches the rocket through the chumney allowing Pete to spot MacGyver and Debra for a new extraction point. As Pete's chopper and Chantara race to the orphanage, the two former captives head outside. With no time to touch down, Pete drops a rope ladder for MaCGyver and Debra to grab onto.
Chanthara's forces fire missed shots as the general absorbs the bitter taste of defeat. Debra finally enjoys the helicopter ride back to the refugee camp.
Epilogue[]
At the refugee camp, Debra has reunited with Margaret while the Thai authorities have captured Arnaud. Until a new administrator from Bangkok arrives, Margaret will run the camp. MacGyver brings in a new baseball for the kid he promised and a glove before he has a moment alone with Debra who decides to stay behind and continue her nun work. However, she can never forget MacGyver or his heroics while Pete bids a goodbye to Margaret. MacGyver knows he can never meet anyone like Debra as they wave their lovers farewell.