TIM WEXLER

Tim Wexler had been an old friend of MacGyver ever since they had attended college together near Westport Beach, California. During college, Tim, MacGyver, and MacGyver's girlfriend Amy Austin had been officers of the Science Club. Their college yearbook had listed Tim as "Most Likely to Succeed" and MacGyver as "Already Has It." MacGyver left after college to explore the world, but Tim and Amy remained, and they found employment at the Westport Nuclear Processing Plant, where Tim also worked with Kyle.

Years later, Amy reached out to MacGyver for help after she discovered that someone had altered the records to cover up the theft of 30 kilos of weapons-grade uranium, enough to build a nuclear bomb, and she had become a target of the thief. When MacGyver arrived at Westport Beach to meet Amy, he was a witness as her car suddenly exploded and burst into flames. Tim was reunited with MacGyver when he arrived at the site of the explosion, and MacGyver shared with Tim and Police Chief Ed Train his suspicion that the explosion had not been accidental. Everyone assumed that Amy had died in the explosion, and it wasn't until after her funeral that it was learned that Amy was alive and that it was her roommate Bonnie who had been killed.

Tim and Kyle were on duty at the plant on Sunday afternoon when MacGyver and Amy returned to retrieve Amy's file documenting the theft and to search for the missing uranium. Amy and MacGyver were trapped in the nuclear waste disposal chamber, and when Tim was unable to override the system from the control room he went to investigate, just as MacGyver managed an escape by short-circuiting the electronic time clock. As MacGyver and Amy discovered that the missing uranium had been hidden in a concrete sign post, Tim confronted them at gunpoint and confessed that he had been involved in the theft, although he denied having any part in the murders. He threatened to lock them up, but MacGyver trusted his instincts about human nature, and as he and Amy slowly walked away, Tim could not bring himself to fire on his friends.

In the control room of the plant, they were confronted by Ed Train, who had been responsible for the murders of Amy's boss and her roommate, and who had orchestrated the theft with the intention of selling the uranium for $50 million. He had partnered with Tim as someone with access to the facility who knew how to handle high-grade uranium, and although Tim tried to prevent any more killing, Train was determined to eliminate any witnesses. Tim struggled with Train for his gun, but the gun went off, wounding Tim in the right abdomen, hitting Kyle in the shoulder, and striking the console which shorted out the control panel and put the plant in danger of a meltdown.

As MacGyver and Amy attempted to apprehend Train and to prevent a meltdown by climbing to the top of the facility and manually clearing the blockage in the high pressure injection system, Tim called the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to report the incident and monitored the control panels. Tim acknowledged that it was "too late" for him, and he urged Kyle to leave the facility, perhaps giving him time to save himself. MacGyver succeeded in releasing the pressure, and Tim smiled as he watched the gauges return to safe levels before he slipped into unconsciousness.

Portrayed by: Robert Englund

Cross Reference: Amy Austin, Kyle, Ed Train, Westport Beach, Westport Nuclear Processing Plant

Episode Reference: Flame's End