VIKTORIA TOMANOVA

Viktoria Tomanova had been a Soviet agent with military intelligence who worked in the Records division of GRU Headquarters and was familiar with most of the key Russian agents. When she defected to the United States, she felt gratitude and loyalty to her adopted country, and she became an invaluable source of information to Pete Thornton and the DXS.

When a mole inside the DXS had led to the deaths of four DXS operatives in seven weeks, new Director of Operations Pete Thornton engaged the cooperation Viktoria Tomanova to set a trap, and he asked for MacGyver's help as someone he could trust. However, MacGyver, who was overdue for a vacation, was unwilling at first to help with the case, especially when he felt that Pete's plan put Viktoria in danger by making her a human target. Viktoria insisted that her participation was her choice, that her mother would still be in the Soviet Gulag if it hadn't been for a man like Peter Thornton, and that she owed a debt which she intended to pay. She had little patience with MacGyver, whom she saw as a coward who had to be begged to do his duty. She insisted that "John Wayne would not have been afraid," and he called him a "болван," or "bolvan," meaning a blockhead or jackass.

In fact, Soviet agents were behind the leak that threatened national security, and they had indeed targeted Viktoria Tomanova. Craig Bannister, a DXS agent and friend to MacGyver, had recently married Ingrid, who appeared to be the devoted young wife but was in reality a Soviet agent working with Anton Lem, a known GRU agent and assassin. For four weeks during their honeymoon, Ingrid had used sophisticated techniques each day to program her new husband to act as the mole within the agency. Under hypnosis, and without realizing that he had been compromised, Bannister had been feeding information to the Soviets through Ingrid and Lem.

The Soviet agents had used similar programming techniques on Reverend Mather, a respected clergyman, who had been programmed to assassinate Viktoria. At the prestigious and formal International Peace Through Science Symposium, Viktoria recognized Anton Lem among the guests, but she did not realize that her identity had also been compromised. Reverend Mather was one of the keynote speakers, but as he began to address the crowd, Lem activated a small remote device that triggered Mather's programming. He became disoriented and suddenly drew a gun and began firing toward Viktoria. MacGyver pushed Viktoria out of harm's way before disarming Mather, who was still disoriented and unaware of what had happened. Mather's programming had failed, which prompted Lem to activate a second remote signal which triggered a fatal heart attack by creating a magnetic field that would cause chemicals that had been previously introduced into Mather's bloodstream to form artificial blockages in his arteries.

Following the attempt on her life, Viktoria had a change of heart and realized she had misjudged MacGyver. She visited him to apologize for her earlier behavior, and she learned from him that Mather's death had been murder. Together, they returned to the Exhibition Center to search for clues that would shed light on Mather's suspicious death. MacGyver replayed a video from the evening of the gala and used a spinning hypnotic device and word association to help Viktoria with memory recall, and she began to realize that she remembered seeing Ingrid before as an agent of Soviet Army Intelligence.

Meanwhile, in a second attempt to eliminate Viktoria, Ingrid had programmed her husband Craig to believe that Viktoria and MacGyver together had been behind the agency leaks and the deaths of the four DXS operatives, and that Craig must now kill them both. The intention was to frame MacGyver as the mole in the hope that Thornton would be so heartbroken by his friend's betrayal that he would resign, making room for Craig to step into his position as Director of Operations.

Ingrid and Lem arrived at the Exhibition Center with Craig, still under the influence of their programming. At Ingrid's orders, Craig fired the first shot, but MacGyver and Viktoria were able to disarm Lem and Ingrid, and as MacGyver turned to Craig and reminded him of their friendship and their missions together, the effect of the programming began to weaken. Craig lowered his gun, but Ingrid was determined to maintain control. As with Reverend Mather, chemicals had also been introduced into Craig's bloodstream that would cause artificial clots to form when exposed to a magnetic field, and Ingrid used the same remote device to trigger a heart attack in Craig. Viktoria coldcocked Ingrid with her gun to stop the remote signal, and MacGyver fashioned a makeshift defibrillator using a pair of candlesticks, electric cords, and rubber insulation. The electric current successfully broke the magnetic field and counteracted the artificially induced heart attack. Craig Bannister survived and would fully recover, Ingrid and Lem would be taken into custody, and Viktoria assured MacGyver that "John Wayne could not have done it better."

Portrayed by: Victoria Fyodorova

Cross Reference: Craig Bannister, Ingrid Bannister, International Peace Through Science Symposium, Anton Lem, Reverend Mather

Episode Reference: The Enemy Within