MacGyver
A Prisoner of Conscience
TV Flash files “A Prisoner of Conscience” as hour 21 of 139 in the TV Flash guide — MacGyver (1985–1992) on ABC, season 1, episode 21, aired 1986-04-30, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E21: listed hour 21 of 139 in the MacGyver guide, hour 21 of 22 in season 1. It aired 1986-04-30 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Escape” (S01E20). Next is “The Assassin” (S01E22).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Pete is made to believe that his Russian friend, Alexander Kharsov, is dead. When he realizes he's alive and being held in a mental hospital, he enlists MacGyver's help. Helped by Mariah, Alexander's daughter, they will try to get him out of there before he is killed.
Viewer FAQ
Where does A Prisoner of Conscience sit in the MacGyver guide?
S01E21 is listed hour 21 of 139 — hour 21 of 22 in season 1, season 1 episode 21.
When did MacGyver S01E21 air?
A Prisoner of Conscience aired 1986-04-30 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Why doesn't he use a gun?
That is the brand. MacGyver prefers inventiveness — paper clips, chocolate, duct tape — over firearms. The crises are puzzles; the explosions are chemistry class.
In the series
Why this series still plays
The anti-gun action hero done right — clever set pieces and Anderson's unflappable center. Paper clips, chocolate bars, a Swiss Army knife as sacrament: Phoenix Foundation missions as science-fair ingenuity. Still the patron saint of making do. MacGyvered entered the dictionary; mullet science stayed in the yearbook.
No gun required — just a paper clip, a chocolate bar, and Richard Dean Anderson's calm competence. ABC's MacGyver (1985–1992) made improvisational problem-solving a heroic superpower for the mullet age: Phoenix Foundation missions with Dana Elcar's Pete Thornton, Bruce McGill's Jack Dalton in the mix, a Swiss Army knife as sacrament. Lee David Zlotoff's hero taught a generation that duct tape is a lifestyle. **Seven seasons, 139 hours, and a surname that entered the dictionary.** Rex can toast the gunslinger.…
Filed against
- Richard Dean Anderson as Angus MacGyver
Richard Dean Anderson’s Angus MacGyver made paper clips a sacrament — anti-gun action hero, Phoenix Foundation as science-fair ingenuity — then dialed Stargate SG-1 as O’Neill’s wry competence for ten seasons. The verb entered the…
- Dana Elcar as Pete Thornton
Dana Elcar’s Pete Thornton ran MacGyver’s Phoenix Foundation desk — paper clips, chocolate bars, a Swiss Army knife as sacrament, the anti-gun action hero’s municipal boss. Anderson stayed unflappable in the field; Elcar made the…
- Bruce McGill as Jack Dalton
Bruce McGill played Jack Dalton on MacGyver — the loose-cannon friend in a paper-clip action hour that treated a Swiss Army knife as sacrament. Phoenix Foundation missions as science-fair ingenuity, Anderson unflappable at the center. TV…