Mission: Impossible

Season 2 Episode 1

The Golden Serpent (1)

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The Golden Serpent (1)
AIRED:
The IMF must take down Selimun, who works for the Golden Serpent triad running drugs. Complicating matters, Grant's father Barney has already infiltrated Selimun's operation, but is captured and the team must weigh whether to help him or complete the mission.
SUBMIT REVIEW
  • Very colorful episode, and it was great seeing Barney back in action again.

    9.0
    This episode makes it clear that there are other IMF teams working besides Jim and Co. And while we usually see missions being carried out within a few days, this one is a long-range operation--Barney has been undercover for three months.



    Selimun makes quite a colorful villain, with his wealthy background, hordes of women, and his utter indifference to anyone who is not in his tight little circle.



    Barney's three-month tenure comes to an abrupt end shortly after Jim's team takes over. (Come to think of it, Barney did have a tendency to run into trouble on the old episodes. You wonder that he stayed with them at all.) After scanning one of the "vitamin" bottles they use for their drug smuggling (using a nifty little miniature holographic gadget), Barney is caught on tape passing the gadget to Grant. Wouldn't you think that after three months of working for the prince, Barney would be aware of those security cameras?



    The torture device they used was rather strange, and it seemed very odd that the treatment did not leave Barney blind as well as debilitated.



    That holographic scanner was a wild enough device, but the companion piece, by which Grant seemingly created what must have been hundreds of replica bottles one at a time in a beaker of fluid, passed the bounds of plausibilty. It would have been more sensible to send the stolen image to the IMF labs or plants or whatever, and have them create the bottles in the usual way, as well as fill them with vitamin C. (They never indicated where the team got the vitamins to fill the bottles.)



    The best part of the episode was watching Barney, wracked with pain but knowing that he had to help Grant, forcing himself up and down to the underground area, not letting himself go until he knew that his son (and Max) were safely inside. The scene with Barney and Grant was wonderful--they seldom allowed such deep emotions to run rampant on this show or the old one. Max did a pretty good job in this scene, as well.



    Max got a nice, action-filled scene all to himself, playing tag with Baal up on that huge bridge. Very exciting. The part where he and Baal suddenly tipped sideways was confusing, though. I've seen it many times, but I've never figured out quite what happened there. The climax was a little disappointing because it was so blatantly fake. It did provide a nice cliff-hanger to the next week.moreless
Phil Morris

Phil Morris

Grant Collier

Peter Graves

Peter Graves

Jim Phelps

Jane Badler

Jane Badler

Shannon Reed (1989-90)

Antony Hamilton

Antony Hamilton

Max Harte

Thaao Penghlis

Thaao Penghlis

Nicholas Black

Bob Johnson

Bob Johnson

IMF Voice on Disc (uncredited)

Greg Morris

Greg Morris

Barney Collier

Guest Star

Patrick Bishop

Patrick Bishop

Prince Selimun

Guest Star

Rod Mullinar

Rod Mullinar

Conrad Drago

Guest Star

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • TRIVIA (4)

    • When Barney was keying in the number code into his wrist computer to make the lift open by itself, his hands were shivering. Yet the numbers that appeared on the screen of the "display" of the wrist computer remained steady.

    • Throughout the scene of Max and Baal fighting on the bridge, Max and Baal both have a bluish/greenish tint on them. Spotlight during blue screen filming too bright?

    • Grant and Max leave a substantial amount of splashed water and puddles when they come into the base: why doesn't Selimun notice this and wonder who entered the base?

    • Why is Max wearing dog tags when he scuba-dive/infiltrates into the underwater base? Seems kind of odd for a covert mission.

  • QUOTES (3)

    • Jim: Your father was my best friend. I knew him for twenty years.
      Grant: You were the lucky one then. He was my father and I saw him maybe one whole week every year of my life.
      Jim: Well that's the job he had to do.
      Grant: Yeah, the job took his life. Not just today, before I was even born. There was nothing left, nothing for my mom, nothing for me. The mission took everything.
      Jim: Nobody took anything from Barney, he gave it. He gave everything he had for his country, for your mother, and for you. I think most of all he gave it for you. I hope you'll think of him that way and I have faith.

    • Grant: Know how to use this?
      Barney: I built the prototype when you were in pre-school.

    • (upon seeing his son)
      Barney: Looks like another family affair.

  • NOTES (2)

  • ALLUSIONS (0)

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