It was rather startling to find that the man killed in the opening scene was an agent; his attitude came across as an officer who has grown concerned about facts that he has come across in the course of his duties and has made up his mind to become a whistle-blower.
The astrology element harks back to an "Old Mission" episode where Cinnamon boned up on the subject to portray a world renown astrologer. Jane Badler is a fine actress; she takes on a large variety of roles and performs them with gusto. She must have enjoyed the countess, with her haughty "I'm so much better than you peasants" attitude.
Jim, surprisingly, does very little in this episode; in fact, they probably could have dispensed with him entirely without too much trouble. His primary job came at the end, when he goaded Szabo into boasting prematurely of his plans.
Poor Max had his part of the assignment blown immediately; he should have taken a few moments to tidy up after he cut through the fencing.
The whole segment of Grant rescuing Max came across rather oddly. In the first place, I wouldn't have thought that Grant would be allowed to casually stroll away from the car; surely someone should have been keeping an eye on him.
In the second place, given the position of the car, I find it hard to believe that Max could have approached it with no one noticing. The confrontation scene was good, though, with Grant frantically stalling for time, then Nicholas and Jim gamely joining in.
Another questionable scene was with Nicholas and Jim, left alone in the war room. They began discussing the situation, without the slightest concern that there might be listening devices in the room.
Max having failed to locate the missiles, they had to quickly adjust their plans and have Shannon convince Szabo that the dead agent had disarmed the missiles. Szabo, of course, rushed to check on this, with Max and Nicholas watching. A light touch (which you would never have seen on an "Old Mission") came when Nicholas and Max, having spotted where the missiles were located, looked at each other and said, "Bingo!"
Disarming the missiles was a tense scene, with Grant (already smuggled into the war room ceiling to do his part) really emphasizing how very, very carefully they had to go. They cut the scene short, but gave the audience an idea of how exhausting it had been by showing Nicholas and Max in the dawn with their uniforms undone and covered with sweat.
Exhausted or not, they both had to go straight on to other duties--Nicholas back as a U.N. observer in the war room, and Max on standby to rescue Shannon. (Interestingly, Jim makes the statement that, while they need to rescue Shannon, the mission must come first. In a later episode, "Church Bells in Bogata" Jim was prepared to sacrifice the mission to get her back.)
Max had a nice bumpy ride, clinging to the underside of a truck while following Shannon out to her death site. (Although why did they feel the need for a military escort for a single woman in handcuffs?) I've always wondered about that business of holding on to the undercarriage of a vehicle--wouldn't it get too hot to hold onto?
Szabo, by the way, made a pretty good villain, convinced that the stars were on his side--even though Shannon had tried to show him otherwise. (I loved the scene where Shannon told him that his astrology system had been discredited for 700 years, and was only used for quickie astrology columns for gullible women. "Tell me, General--are you going to meet a tall, dark stranger? Are you going to take a trip?") Even confronted with the real performance of the war games on the computer, he still believed that he was right, and began screeching that the computer was wrong--and was probably still yelling when the Politburo arrived.moreless
AIRED:
The IMF must stop the general of a European country from using a series of war games as a cover to invade a neighboring country.
 Phil Morris |
Grant Collier |
 Peter Graves |
Jim Phelps |
Jane Badler |
Shannon Reed (1989-90) |
Antony Hamilton |
Max Harte |
 Thaao Penghlis |
Nicholas Black |
Bob Johnson |
IMF Voice on Disc (uncredited) |
Kevin Miles |
Gen. Eli Szabo |
Guest Star |
Lewis Fiander |
Colonel Garva |
Guest Star |
Nickolai Grigorovitch |
Politburo Chief |
Guest Star |
Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions
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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (3)
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Nicholas: Our information leads us to believe that your armament is more offensive than defensive. Ballistic missiles, for example.
General Szabo: A weapon is a weapon, and the best method of defense is attack. -
General Szabo: Countess, your knowledge of astrology is quite impressive. Perhaps you can use it to save your life.
Shannon: You want me to tell you your future?
General Szabo: If you do not, believe me, I can predict yours. It will be very short. -
General Szabo: Ah, gentlemen, just in time. We're about to commence.
Jim: Well, I hope you don't have any accidents today, General. I see you have the eyes of the world on you.
General Szabo: Accidents? Warfare is an exact science, like astrology. Whatever happens here today will not only be planned, but predestined. As for the television cameras, they will be recording history.
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NOTES (0)
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ALLUSIONS (0)
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Mission Impossible
12/21/117
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Are there no fans for this show?
09/13/1113
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We appear to be the only 2 fans of this (great) show...
04/25/081
Season 2 Episodes
See AllEp 16
The Sands of Seth
Ep 15
Church Bells in Bogota
Ep 14
Gunslinger
Ep 13
The Assassin
Ep 12
Cargo Cult
Ep 11
Deadly Harvest
Ep 10
For Art's Sake
Ep 9
Banshee
Ep 8
The Fuehrer's Children
Ep 7
Target Earth
Ep 6
War Games
Ep 5
Countdown
Ep 4
Command Performance
Ep 3
The Princess
Ep 2
The Golden Serpent (2)
Ep 1
The Golden Serpent (1)
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