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CAROLE TANNER

Carole Tanner

Carole Tanner was the First Officer aboard the S.S. Victoria, serving with Captain Howard and Second Officer Atkins. The cruise ship was carrying about 1100 passengers during its voyage in the North Pacific Ocean when a phone call alerted the crew to the presence of a bomb on board. Captain Howard went to investigate, and he was killed when the bomb exploded, leaving First Officer Tanner, as the acting captain, in charge of the ship.

The anonymous bomber called himself Viking, and he threatened that another explosion would follow unless he was given $6 million in exchange for instructions on how to diffuse the bomb. To deal with the crisis, Pete Thornton called in MacGyver and Charlie Robinson, with whom MacGyver had worked as a bomb-diffusing team when they had served together in Vietnam. Also working the case from Los Angeles was Mike Donahue, another bomb expert and Vietnam veteran who had commanded the lead sabotage control group in Cam Ranh Bay.

When MacGyver and Charlie Robinson rappelled aboard the Victoria from a helicopter, they had approximately three hours to disarm the bomb, but as the search of the ship continued, Officer Atkins brought word that two more identical bombs had been located. Despite the extremely stressful circumstances and her own fear, Carole Tanner remained calm, competent, and efficient, and proved to be a natural leader in handling the crisis. She maintained order aboard the ship as MacGyver and Charlie began working to diffuse the first two bombs. However, as Charlie penetrated the seal around the cabinet in order to test a yellow chemical, he breached the vacuum inside, revealing that the chemical was phosphorus, which flashed when exposed to air, triggered a thermocouple, and set off the bomb. Charlie died in the explosion.

Carole Tanner ordered that the damaged section of the ship be sealed off, and she volunteered to take Charlie's place. While maintaining radio communication between them and with Thornton's team in Los Angeles, MacGyver and Carole worked in tandem to diffuse the remaining two bombs. Although MacGyver's tools had been lost in the ocean during his arrival, he and Carole used materials at hand to diffuse each trigger. A tube from a neon sign was used to create a momentary suction and to safely withdraw the phosphorus from the vacuum, and an electrolyte acid was neutralized using a pastry tube, oven cleaner, and low fat milk so that it could be safely drained. MacGyver realized that the chemical detonator, the thermocouple, and the unstable electrolyte fluid had all been signatures of the Ling Chow Bomber in Cam Ranh Bay in 1973 when Donahue had commanded the sabotage control group there, and that Donahue would have been familiar with each of these triggers. When Pete ran a cross check, the computer determined that Donahue was the most likely suspect for Viking's identity.

Although the bombs seemed to be disabled after the acid was drained, they suddenly reactivated with a timer connected to two fuses, one yellow and one blue. MacGyver urged Donahue to make a judgement call about which fuse to pull in order to save the ship and capture Viking, and when Donahue insisted that he pull the blue, MacGyver pulled the yellow and instructed Carole to follow suit with only seconds to spare. The bombs were deactivated, Donahue's identity as Viking was confirmed, and he was immediately arrested. The Victoria had been saved, and although a helicopter had been dispatched to collect MacGyver following his mission, Carole suggested that he remain on board, recommending a cruise as a great place to relax, if you've been under stress.

Portrayed by: Ellen Bry

Cross Reference: Officer Atkins, Mike Donahue, Captain Howard, Charlie Robinson, Victoria, Viking

Episode Reference: Countdown