STEPAN FROLOV

Stepan Frolov was a major with Bulgarian State Security. His rise to power within the Secret Police was no doubt helped by the fact that he was the nephew of General Petrovich, his mother's brother. General Petrovich insisted that in order to live on a government salary it was necessary to skim a little, and the theft of jewels that were part of the crown jewels of the German House of Hanover worth 700,000 leva, over $400,000, was a small part of that skimming. To hide the jewels, Petrovich had given them to his sister, Stepan's mother, and both she and Stepan had assumed that they must be merely costume jewelry. Stepan was unaware of the government corruption or the theft of the jewels in which his uncle had been involved, but he had been unknowingly implicated when Petrovich had set up Swiss bank account number 1779 in his name.

Stepan had met Penny Parker while she was in Bulgaria. She was performing with a troupe of nightclub dancers, and when she and Stepan met, the attraction was mutual. When the troupe returned home after a few weeks, Penny extended her stay and remained in Bulgaria to be with him. Penny had believed that Stepan was simply some guy with a government job and a shoebox for an apartment, so when Stepan had given her some of his mother's jewelry, just to wear, she too assumed that the gems were fake and that the jewelry was a gift.

At first the relationship between Penny and Stepan had been wonderful, but after the first couple of weeks it became difficult as Stepan became more possessive, until finally they had a fight and Penny decided to leave. She took the jewels with her, and as she waited in line at the airport, she made the acquaintance of MacGyver, who was returning home with a vital piece of microfilm. Stepan followed Penny to the airport and tried to convince her to stay, insisting that he loved her to distraction, but when she refused, he was willing to let her go and asked only that she return the jewelry he had given her. However, Penny had secretly slipped the jewels into MacGyver's pocket to hide them, and when they triggered the airport metal detector, Stepan arrested and detained them both.

When MacGyver and Penny escaped from the airport by breaking through a wall and riding a luggage conveyor belt, Stepan ordered all police and border patrols on alert, identifying the fugitives as enemies of the state. He also learned from his uncle the true value of the jewels and the urgency in recovering the microfilm that MacGyver had acquired which contained proof of the corruption within the government. Petrovich ordered Stepan to arrest Anton Burak, MacGyver's contact in the underground, and to use whatever means necessary to locate and to kill MacGyver and Penny, whom he believed were collaborating as spies.

Stepan next encountered MacGyver and Penny when they broke into his apartment to try to recover the microfilm and their belongings that had been confiscated during their arrest. However, Stepan was still in love with Penny, and he did not share his uncle's ruthlessness. He could not bring himself to shoot them, and MacGyver and Penny were able to escape once more thanks to an explosive diversion using kitchen chemistry and the keys to Stepan's car. Stepan suspected that Penny might remember his uncle's home outside the city where he and Penny used to visit while they were together. He ordered Anton, an officer in the secret police, to station his men at every gas station and farm house on the way to the border while he checked out his uncle's home.

Stepan did find MacGyver and Penny at the country home, but once again his gentle nature prevented him from killing them. He insisted only on the return of the last piece of jewelry that Penny had kept, and the microfilm that MacGyver carried. However, Petrovich had also gambled that he would find the spies at his country home, and when he arrived, he ordered Stepan to shoot them both since he was compromised as long as they lived. Stepan had come to believe that Penny was innocent, and he could not bring himself to kill the woman with whom he had fallen in love. Instead, he and MacGyver overpowered the general, and Stepan agreed to join MacGyver and Penny en route to the border. He explained that he would even be able to pay their way thanks to Swiss bank account 1779.

Thanks to MacGyver's concocted highway hazard that helped them to evade the police, and a friendly border guard who had also once succumbed to Penny Parker's charms, Stepan crossed the border with MacGyver and Penny and safely entered Greece.

Portrayed by: Kai Wulff

Cross Reference: Anton, Bulgaria, Anton Burak, Hanover Jewels, Penny Parker, General Petrovich

Episode Reference: Every Time She Smiles