Discuss Mission: Impossible
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The Question
posted by sukhisooSTAFFMOD on June 13, 2020 at 8:26 AM
WARNING
This synopsis contains a spoiler.
Star Trek alumni Gary Lockwood and Jason Evers play a game of "invisible chess".
Gary Lockwood is a foreign hit man. (They don't say "Russian." They don't say "KGB.") He may or may not be a defector to the United States. It is up to Jason Evers to find out.
But then that meddling IMF comes into the picture and kidnaps the maybe he his maybe he isn't defector.
There is no Casey in this round. We are assured, though, through some expository dialog that she did some behind the scenes work to set up their caper. Way to go, Casey!
In her place, Andrea is used as the "love interest" that has been artificially engineered by IMF to pique Lockwood's interest.
He's one cold blooded dude, though. Barney's special lie detector device says he is telling the truth when he claims to be a defector. It also claims he is telling the truth when he says he is pretending to be a defector. In spite of some action scenes early on when the IMF kidnaps the hit man/maybe defector, the episode as a whole comes off as turgidly paced. In the climax, when Andrea's life is in danger, there are moments that should be tense but they come across as perfunctory.
What saves the episode, in my view, is the final twist. Gary Lockwood isn't a bad guy at all. Jason Evers is the foreign agent who has infiltrated the FIS (not the FBI and not the CIA). He's not on our side after all.
Willy gets him after he and Jim Phelps do some fisticuffs.
This episode is a decent enough meal that left me feeling like it should have been tastier.
Disc 4 is over. Two more to go.
Reply by LansingFan
on June 17, 2020 at 10:54 PM
I thought it was decent too. And speaking of Jason Evers, he's in a great episode of MST3K called The Brain That Wouldn't Die (aka Mike Nelson's first episode). Jason, who for some reason was using the first name Herb(?) at the time, plays a mad scientist who tries to save the life of his fiancee after she's been in a car crash. This has to be seen to be believed!
Reply by Jayhn1111
on June 18, 2020 at 2:38 PM
I still was never convinced that Lockwood’s character was a swell guy
Reply by sukhisoo
on June 19, 2020 at 8:36 AM
Pretty much all of Lockwood's characters lack something in the compassion department. There is something about his aura that is just off. This works to his advantage in a lot of roles. Playing a professional hit man certainly qualifies.
Reply by sukhisoo
on June 19, 2020 at 4:05 PM
I'm sorry @LansingFan . I don't understand the nature of your misunderstanding.
Reply by LansingFan
on June 22, 2020 at 12:24 AM
I don't understand it either. Speaking of Gary Lockwood, he was in 2 episodes of TwelveO'Clock High (playing the same character) and you have to see them to believe them.
Reply by LansingFan
on October 6, 2020 at 6:51 PM
@sukhisoo : Speaking of Gary Lockwood again, he made a movie early in his career where he played a medieval boy (wearing a Prince Valiant haircut) who goes on a quest to save a Princess from an evil sorcerer played by Basil Rathbone. I can't remember the name of it though. It's pretty campy.
Reply by LansingFan
on December 3, 2020 at 1:30 PM
Fun fact: Gary Lockwood's character from the TOS episode Where No Man Has Gone Before, Gary Mitchell, gets namechecked at the end of the first episode of Star Trek Lower Decks. I love that show. It's hilarious!