"The Rising" is the first episode of the first season of the 2016 reboot of ''MacGyver''. It aired on September 23, 2016. The story for the episode was written by

Peter M. Lenkov Peter M. Lenkov (born 9 May 1964) is a Canadian television and film writer, producer, and comic book author. He is best known as the showrunner of the reboot series '' Hawaii Five-0'', ''MacGyver'', and ''Magnum P.I.'', all of which aired on CBS ...

and

Paul Downs Colaizzo Paul Downs Colaizzo () is an American playwright, screenwriter and film director. Early life and education Colaizzo was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and raised in Alpharetta, Georgia. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from New Yor ...

. The teleplay was also written by Peter M. Lenkov. The episode was directed by

James Wan James Wan (born 26 February 1977) is an Australian director, producer, screenwriter and comic book writer. He has primarily worked in the horror genre as the co-creator of the '' Saw'' and ''Insidious'' franchises and the creator of The Conjur ...

Plot

Angus "Mac" MacGyver, with help from Jack Dalton and Nikki Carpenter, infiltrates a party to steal a biological weapon. As Mac and Jack meet up with Nikki, they find her held hostage by John Kendrick. Mac gives up the bio-weapon, but Kendrick shoots both him and Nikki, killing her. Three months later, Mac is on holiday when his boss, Patricia Thornton of the Department of External Services (DXS), calls him and Jack back to help retrieve the bio-weapon. They recruit convicted hacker Riley Davis, who tracks Kendrick to San Francisco, where they also discover that Nikki is alive and working with him. After capturing them, Mac finds out that Nikki has sold the bio-weapon to someone who plans on making it airborne via an IED. Mac finds the bio-weapon and extracts it from the IED before it explodes. A few days later, Thornton tells the group that Nikki's betrayal caused the DXS to become public, so they have to shut down and relocate under a new name. Mac chooses the name Phoenix, to which the rest of the group agrees. Nikki is arrested by the FBI but disappears during transport, leaving the cuffs behind with a hairpin.

Production

The series was first announced as being in development on October 2, 2015, with R. Scott Gemmill,

, Henry Winkler, and Michael Clear. On February 2, 2016, the series was given the green light to produce a pilot, with

replacing Gemmill as writer. On March 8, 2016,

David Von Ancken David Henry Von Ancken (December 5, 1964 – July 26, 2021) was an American film, television director and screenwriter. Career He directed one feature film, the 2006 Western (genre), Western ''Seraphim Falls'' starring Liam Neeson and Pierce Br ...

replaced Wan as the director of the pilot. On May 13, 2016,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

ordered the series, and

replaced Colaizzo and Brett Mahoney as showrunner. On June 16, 2016, Wan was rehired as the director for the pilot.

Casting

On March 8, 2016,

George Eads George Eads is an American actor, known for his role as Nick Stokes on the CBS police drama ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''. He later starred as Jack Dalton on the CBS action-adventure series ''MacGyver'' for three seasons. Biography Earl ...

was cast as Lincoln, "a man who could easily be written off as an eccentric conspiracy theorist but he's a legit government employee with great capability for compassion." On March 21, 2016,

Lucas Till Lucas Daniel Till (born August 10, 1990) is an American actor. In a career spanning two decades, he has appeared in multiple film and television projects spanning a variety of genres. He is a five-time Teen Choice Award nominee. His most notab ...

was cast as

Angus MacGyver Angus "Mac" MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series ''MacGyver''. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in the 2016 reboot. In both po ...

and Joshua Boone was cast as Gunner, "MacGyver's best friend from high school." On March 28, 2016,

Addison Timlin Addison Jayne Timlin (born June 29, 1991) is an American actress, best known for her roles as Jami Lerner in ''The Town That Dreaded Sundown'' (2014) and Colleen Lunsford in '' Little Sister'' (2016). She is also known for playing Sasha Bingham i ...

and

Michelle Krusiec Michelle Jacqueline Krusiec (born Ya-Huei Yang; ; October 2, 1974) is an American actress, writer and producer. Early life Krusiec was born in 1974 in Taiwan. She was adopted at age five and raised in America by her father's elder sister, who ha ...

, were cast as Mickey, "an app developer who's aggressively progressive in her political views with a soft spot for MacGyver", and as Agent Croix, "Lincoln's sister who works for the Department of Homeland Security." On May 13, 2016, CBS retooled the series, with only Till and Eads staying, with Eads now playing Jack Dalton. On June 14, 2016,

Justin Hires Justin Hires (born June 24, 1985) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Hires is known for portraying Detective James Carter on the CBS television series ''Rush Hour'', Juario in '' 21 Jump Street'', and Wilt Bozer in the 2016 reboot serie ...

was cast as Wilt Bozer, "MacGyver's ambitious roommate". On July 15, 2016, Sandrine Holt was cast as Patricia Thornton, "an ex-field agent turned director of operations for DXS. She doesn't let the title 'Boss' stand in her way and is always willing to join the team in the field - meaning that she's not going to let those under her have all the fun." On July 27, 2016, Tristin Mays was cast as Riley Davis, "a highly unpredictable computer hacker who isn't exactly thrilled to be working alongside MacGyver and his team - but it sure beats rotting in prison, right?"

Reception

Viewing figures

In the United States the episode was watched live by 10.90 million viewers. Within seven days, the episode was watched by a total of 14.11 million viewers.

Critical response

Matt Fowler of ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

'' said, "It's just a flat, glossy front-loaded spectacle that values quips and quirks over drama. It's spray cheese on saltines. The pilot episode ... may be filled chases and fights and all sorts of ticking time-bomb action, but there's nothing underneath. ... Plus, the science isn't even all that impressive. Look, you tune into ''MacGyver'' to see him MacGyver, but there's nothing here that'll exactly blow your mind, and MacGyver's choice to walk into dangerous situations with a clear intent to "improvise" his way out of things should the mission go wrong is a little annoying."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rising (MacGvyer), The MacGyver (2016 TV series) 2016 American television episodes American television series premieres