Recap: MacGyver 409: Artemis + Nuclear + N3mesis
In episode MacGyver 409: Artemis + Nuclear + N3mesis, Riley’s past comes back to haunt her when a program she wrote years ago called N3mesis shuts down Los Angeles and threatens a nuclear meltdown.
MacGyver 409: Artemis + Nuclear + N3mesis + Flashbacks
The first flashback is Mac(Lucas Till), remembering the death of his father, Oversight/James. He has a memory stick with a final video of his father, but can’t bring himself to watch it.
MacGyver feels alone. Photo credit: CBS
A toast to Oversight.
Photo credit: CBS
Photo credit: CBS
N3mesis Code
We flash back to Riley(Tristin Mays), years ago, messing with an ATM. She and her friends Kai(Sea Shimooka) and Peyton(Holly Deveaux) wrote a code named N3mesis that caused it to spew money everywhere.
The good old days: when black lipstick and eyeliner were king, and Peyton’s mouth was screencapped to look like something out of The Ring. Photo credit: CBS
Hot Topic loved Riley two years ago.
Photo credit: CBS
Their goal is to show the world that it depends too much on a few lines of code, and that security everywhere is too lax. Peyton is mortified at Riley’s actions, Kai is elated. Riley explains to Peyton that they are being heroes, and that the code is meant to be harmless to everyone but rich corporations. She tells Peyton to lighten up.
In the present, ransomware has shut down all the power in LA. The hacker has demanded $12,000,000.00. Money that LA doesn’t have. Things are getting dangerous quickly, and the reformed Riley is horrified to see that it is the code she wrote years earlier.
Photo credit: CBS
It was never intended to be deadly. Riley realizes that the culprit is Kai, but doesn’t know why she is doing it.
Why Not Peyton?
Matty(Meredith Eaton) explains that Peyton has gone on the straight and narrow as well, opening up her own development firm, after having made millions. If Peyton still has the source code, then maybe Riley can stop Kai. Thankfully, she does. After a frosty reception between Peyton and Riley(Riley stopped all communication after she was the sole one to go to prison), Riley gets to work.
Peyton.
Photo credit: CBS
After an initial patch, she has to go to several locations to reset the computers; it can’t be done from one location.
Going Nuclear
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At the nuclear power plant, things are initially going well. Riley has the system up after a few tense seconds. But dropping a firewall has let Kai in long enough to take over the plant. Things are getting hot, fast, and Mac has to buy Riley some time. Using jet skis, duct tape, batteries, sea water and fire hoses, Mac, Russ(Henry Ian Cusick), and plant manager Lasky(Ramon De Ocampo) are able to cool down the reactors. But there are risks. Fukushima level risks. Riley needs to act fast.
That doesn’t look good.
Photo credit: CBS
Matty knows that if the public finds out about the nuclear power plant, the death toll from panicking will rise. She calls an information blackout, much to Bozer’s(Justin Hires) surprise. He trusts Mac and the team to save the day.
Thinking About Dumplings
Riley, already upset that her code could potentially kill millions, can’t think. At first, some random singing by Russ calms her, but it is Desi’s(Levy Tran) suggestion that she hack Kai and not the N3mesis code that gives Riley the way to find her.
Desi says: Hack Kai, not the code.
Photo credit: CBS
Kai is addicted to barbecue beef dumplings. Using that information, Desi and Riley track her down to an abandoned building. Riley needs Kai’s laptop to stop the destruction of LA.
Codex in the Plant?
The hoses burst, and Mac suspects a Codex plant in the nuclear facility. Who else would try to cause a meltdown and need money? Conspiracy theorist Russ actually disagrees, and tries to talk him down from his anger. Yes, Codex caused his father’s death, but LA needs Mac with a calm and cool head.
Mac still believes there is a Codex plant, and catches Lasky on his phone.
Photo credit: CBS
He tackles him and asks him how a nuclear disaster will bring about the peace Codex wants. Lasky explains he is on the phone with his wife, telling her to leave town with the children. He knows they are on information blackout, but he wants them safe. He has no idea who Codex is.
Who Paid Kai?
Kai has destroyed all the equipment she had and is on the run, but no one can outrun Desi, especially when Riley has the only exit blocked.
Photo credit: CBS
Riley angrily confronts Kai, who denies knowing about the nuclear plant. She just took the ransomware job for the money. She, too, is horrified.
Kai.
Photo credit: CBS
Luckily she left a cookie in the code, but they still need the laptop being used to control the plant.
Tracking it down, the trio have the laptop in their sights. It is surrounded, but Desi and Riley get within reach before being captured by…
Tje laptop.
Photo credit: CBS
Peyton.
Photo credit: CBS
She is a member of Codex, and is intent on destroying LA. In a weird Gift of the Magi way, Peyton says she has become what Riley had said she needed to become. Riley said she became what Peyton had wanted her to be.
Riley sneaks up behind Peyton, and Desi takes everyone down. Sadly, a wild shot from Peyton takes out the laptop’s monitor. Pulling a MacGyver, Kai and Riley fix the laptop and stop the nuclear plant from melting down.
Photo credit: CBS
The Deadly Cloud
Meanwhile, the hydrogen sensor is going off at the plant. Lasky says if it isn’t expunged, a poisonous, radioactive cloud will envelop the city.
Mac tells Lasky to call his family back and tell them that they need to leave.
Opening the valves will do the trick, but it could be a suicide mission. MacGyver volunteers to do it, but Lasky declines, saying that if he is going to trust anyone to do it, it will be Lasky himself.
Lasky overrides Mac.
Photo credit: CBS
“You Can’t Save Everyone”
To protect the city, the doors to the hydrogen sensors must be closed. The nitrogen/hydrogen mix will pull out all the oxygen, suffocating Lasky. Hardened by Codex’s recent events and the death of his father, MacGyver quotes his father and Codex, and pushes the button that seals the door and Lasky’s fate, so Lasky’s teammates won’t have to. The city is saved.
Photo credit: CBS
Lasky dies a hero.
Photo credit: CBS
Mac’s Last Memory
Visiting Kai in prison, Riley and Kai make amends. She does ask Riley to smuggle something in-two orders of barbecue pork buns.
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Russ comes into Mac’s unlocked house, and promises to watch whatever is on the memory stick with him.
Photo credit: CBS
He reminds MacGyver that he is not alone, despite his father being gone.
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Putting in the stick, his father gives a goodbye, but then begins reciting numbers.
WHAT DO THE NUMBERS MEAN?
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Luckily Russ gets a pen and paper to write them down, because the stick self destructs. So much for that final memory, Mac.
