The Worst Episodes of Mission: Impossible

Episode Rankings

1. #1 Worst Episode
   Click to reveal

   REVEAL THE WORST
   

   5.0/10(1 votes)

   #1 - Elena

   S1:E1312/10/1966

   Double-agent Elena Del Barra is acting bizarrely, sending a microfilm of defense secrets from her own country. Rollin is sent into investigate, and return the microfilm without its theft ever being detected. Complicating matters is that an assassin, Callao, has been sent to kill her if Rollin can't figure things out in two days. Rollin convinces her to meet with teammate Dr. Enero, who hypnotizes her and learns she is suffering from a post-hypnotic suggestion to denounce the President, her good friend. With time running out, Rollin must return the microfilm, figure out the traitor, and save Elena.

   Director:Marc Daniels

   Writer:Ellis Marcus

   Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

   Director:Marc Daniels

   Writer:Ellis Marcus
2. 

   5.0/10(1 votes)

   #2 - The Short Tail Spy

   S1:E1412/17/1966

   A defector has been targeted by two rival groups from the same foreign country. The team is to discredit the younger group, so that the U.S. can more easily handle the old-line group. The IMF sets it up so that the younger group's assassin, Fetyukov, must seduce Cinnamon to get to the defector. The two play a dangerous romantic game, while Dan convinces the older group's assassin, Shtemenko, that Fetyukov betrayed him to the Americans. They then get pictures of him trying to assassinate the defector, and try to blackmail him to convince him further that Fetyukov is responsible. Cinnamon ""saves"" Fetyukov and convinces him that she wants to defect. As Fetyukov goes after the defector, it's up to Cinnamon to stop him.

   Director:Leonard Horn

   Writer:Julian Barry

   Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

   Director:Leonard Horn

   Writer:Julian Barry
3. 

   5.0/10(1 votes)

   #3 - The Legacy

   S1:E151/7/1967

   The IMF must get hold of a horde of Nazi gold through four young men, sons of Hitler's top aides, who are sent to Switzerland to meet for the first time and pool their parts of the ""puzzle"" together. One of the men, the only one known to them, is replaced by Rollin. Each has part of an account number, and the team needs to hypnotize and trick the bank manager into giving them the complete account # and then slip it to Rollin. The bank account contains an envelope with a microdot, which when combined with a slide in each man's pocket watch provides the location of the treasure. After seeing the other men's slides, Rollin fakes the loss of his watch, then he and the rest of the team head to the cemetary. Two of the men figure out the puzzle from their pieces and follow. In a gunfight Dan is wounded, but one of the men is killed and the other runs off rather then face Rollin's wrath. The gold turns out to have been made into a crypt, and is recovered.

   Director:Michael O'Herlihy

   Writers:Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield

   Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

   Director:Michael O'Herlihy

   Writers:Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield
4. 

   5.0/10(1 votes)

   #4 - The Reluctant Dragon

   S1:E161/14/1967

   Dr. Cherlotov, a scientist of an enemy power, failed to defect to the West when his wife did. Now that he has developed a cheap, effective anti-ballistic system, the IMF are ordered to get him out. Unfortunately, they find out that Cherlotov doesn't wasn't to defect: he merely wants to convince his superiors he is loyal and live out his life. The IMF smuggle in his wife Karen. Meanwhile, Rollin convinces Cherlotov's watcher and the security commissioner, Jankowski, to put Cherlotov under jail for suspicion. When Cherlotov realizes what his country does to other dissidents he agrees to defect, but Jankowski sees through Rollin's cover and tries to arrest them all.

   Director:Leonard Horn

   Writer:Chester Krumholz

   Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

   Director:Leonard Horn

   Writer:Chester Krumholz
5. 

   5.0/10(1 votes)

   #5 - The Frame

   S1:E171/21/1967

   Gangster Jack Wellman is moving syndicated crime into politics, killing off certain politicians and replacing them with men more sympathetic to the Syndicate. The team goes in as caterers. Cinnamon sneaks into Wellman's room, blows a hole in the wall, and inserts a fake safe. Meanwhile, Barney and Willy break into the real vault from the rear and steal the 4 million in profits that Wellman has tucked away, and which he is to split with his fellow mobsters at a dinner that night. They open the real vault and discover the money missing. Going upstairs, they find Cinnamon who claims to be Wellman's girlfriend, tells him she knew ""it"" wouldn't work, and reveals the fake safe. As Cinnamon and the rest of the team depart, the other mobsters tell Wellman to open the safe or they'll kill him, and don't believe his desperate pleas that he's never seen that safe before in his life.

   Director:Allen H. Miner

   Writer:Unknown

   Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

   Director:Allen H. Miner

   Writer:Unknown
6. 

   5.0/10(1 votes)

   #6 - The Trial

   S1:E181/28/1967

   Josef Varsh plans to put an American on trial on false charges, discredit the West, and gain power. Rollin, disguised as Dan, meets with a woman who sold out her boyfriend/Western spy. Meanwhile, Briggs himself is with the Deputy Minister, a rival of Varsh's and a reformer. Rollin-as-Briggs leaves behind evidence implicating himself, and Varsh has the real Briggs arrested. Kudnov, who knows Dan is innocent, insists that Varsh let Briggs go, so Varsh orders him killed. The IMF team makes the Deputy Minister vanish - now they have to get the Deputy Minister and the girlfriend into court to testify and make Varsh look foolish.

   Director:Lewis Allen

   Writer:Laurence Heath

   Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

   Director:Lewis Allen

   Writer:Laurence Heath
TRENDING NOW
The 20 BEST Episodes of Mission: Impossible
READ
7. 

   5.0/10(1 votes)

   #7 - The Diamond

   S1:E192/4/1967

   Henrik Durvard has taken over the country of Lombounda by military coup, and holds the natives in terror. He has obtained a diamond from the native miners, and the IMF are assigned to take it away from him. In London to auction the diamond, Durvard is approached by the team who offer to top all bids if they get exclusive rights to diamond production in Lombounda. Since Lombounda is not known for its diamond production, Durvard is suspicious. Eventually the team lets him figure out that they have a plan to use his country as a blind to distribute artificial diamonds that they claim they can manufacture. Durvard insists on being part of the scam, and forces the team to ""make"" a diamond from him using a piece off of the original stone. They do so, but when it comes time to fake the real diamond, the machine apparently overloads from the strain. The team slips the diamond out of the machine and leaves, as Durvard and the machine blow up.

   Director:Robert Douglas

   Writers:Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield

   Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

   Director:Robert Douglas

   Writers:Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield
8. 

   5.0/10(1 votes)

   #8 - Snowball in Hell

   S1:E212/18/1967

   A former prison guard, Sefra, has got hold of a supply of cesium 138, which explodes at temperatures above 70 degrees. Sefra plans to sell the sample and the formula from the closed-down prison base where he once worked. Rollin and Barney go in as a photographer and model respectively, and Sefra ""learns"" that Barney is a former prisoner returning for revenge. The team fakes a generator break down while Sefra beats Barney, and the cesium starts to heat up. Sefra has it taken to a nearby hospital refrigerator, where the IMF makes the switch. When Sefra discovers the missing jar, he forces Barney to show him the escape route which he supposedly used to escape. As Sefra makes his own escape, the IMF send the cesium sample toward him on a remote-controlled mini-tank, and it blows up, killing Sefra and making sure no one gets the formula or the sample.

   Director:Lee H. Katzin

   Writers:Robert Guy Barrows, Judith Barrows

   Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

   Director:Lee H. Katzin

   Writers:Robert Guy Barrows, Judith Barrows
9. 

   5.0/10(1 votes)

   #9 - Action!

   S1:E233/4/1967

   Miklos Klaar, an Iron Curtain filmmaker, has film of American soldiers and plans to edit it into an atrocity movie to discredit the U.S. He has recreated the jungle as a set from the one print of the film he has. Disguised as a Ministry of Propaganda officer, Rollin destroys the print and Barney floods the negative vault, forcing Klaar to reshoot the American footage as well. Cameraman and IMFer David Day is snuck in and films Klaar recreating the American footage. On the day the press is assembled, David and Willy manage to bypass Klaar's guards and air the footage of Klaar rehearsing his cast and crew and congratulating themselves on the phony massacre.

   Director:Leonard Horn

   Writer:Robert Lewin

   Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

   Director:Leonard Horn

   Writer:Robert Lewin
10. 

    5.0/10(1 votes)

    #10 - The Train

    S1:E243/18/1967

    Prime Minister Larya of Svardia is working to establish democracy, but is unaware that his personal protege, Deputy Premier Pavel, plans to set up a dictatorship. The team must persuade Larya of Pavel's plans. The IMF fakes a train ride for Larya, Pavel, and Pavel's aide Androv. They then fake a crash, put Androv and Pavel in a fake hospital, and tell them that Larya is dead. They immediately begin plans to eliminate anymemory of Larya and start arresting dissidents. Then the hospital wall slides away to reveal that Larya has heard the whole thing, and dismisses them both.

    Director:Ralph Senensky

    Writers:Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    Director:Ralph Senensky

    Writers:Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield
11. 

    5.0/10(1 votes)

    #11 - A Cube of Sugar

    S1:E264/1/1967

    Vincent Deane is a jazz musician and undercover U.S. intelligence operative who has memorized the plans to a microcircuit code but was then captured and imprisoned. The IMF must get him out. Deane's interrogator, Brobin, has hooked Deane on drugs to try and break him using the withdrawl symptoms, unaware that the chip is concealed among some sugar cubes Deane had. Pretending to be Deane's wife, Cinnamon implicates Rollin as the real enemy agent. Brobin has Rollin captured and imprisoned,but Rollin manages to escape and tamper with Deane's drugs so that he goes into a coma. Briggs pretends to be a U.S. representative demanding Deane's body, so Brobin has it cremated to prevent a revealing autopsy. Barney and Willy switch out the ""dead"" Deane. Rollin then agrees to tell Brobin where the microcircuit is, knocks out the interrogator, and with the aid of two masks makes his escape.

    Director:Joseph Pevney

    Writers:Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    Director:Joseph Pevney

    Writers:Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield
12. 

    5.0/10(1 votes)

    #12 - The Traitor

    S1:E274/15/1967

    An American intelligence officer, Hughes, has defected to the enemy with the only copy of an encoded top-secret message. The IMF must get to him, get him out, discredit him, and recover the message before the enemy can get a cryptographer, Belson, to work on the message. Rollin takes Belson's place, and sets it up so that Ambassador Brazneck, in charge of Hughes, believes that Dan is going to buy the papers from someone in the embassy. Rollin-as-Belson works with Hughes to decode the message, then drugs him. Willy gets special agent Tina Mera, a contortionist and acrobat, into the embassy through a fake air duct. She uses a fake bed covering to make Hughes ""disappear"", then break into the vault and get the real message. With Hughes out, Briggs picks up the fake message from someone pretending to be Hughes, who has ""disappeared"" from the embassy. Tina returns, plants money on Hughes, and removes the fake disappearing bed cover. Brazneck believes Hughes has betrayed him and Hughes flees

    Director:Lee H. Katzin

    Writer:Edward J. Lakso

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    Director:Lee H. Katzin

    Writer:Edward J. Lakso
13. 

    5.0/10(1 votes)

    #13 - The Psychic

    S1:E284/22/1967

    An investment promoter, Alex Lowell, gained control of manufacturer of NATO top-secret defense hardware and absconded to South America to sell them to an enemy powers. The IMF needs to recover the stock documents worth $80 mil. Cinnamon gets close to Lowell as a psychic who manages to prove herself accurate with her predictions thanks to IMF assistance. She then "predicts" that Rollin (as a gangster) will play against him, try to cheat, and lose. Lowell finds the fake cards that the IMF has planted. He goes through with the game, intending on cheating Rollin. He succeeds, but as Rollin is tossed out he secretly switches the stock documents with phonies thanks to a automated feeder arm, leaving Lowell with nothing but an unendorsed check for $80 milliion.

    Director:Charles R. Rondeau

    Writers:Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    Director:Charles R. Rondeau

    Writers:Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield
14. 

    5.0/10(1 votes)

    #14 - The Widow

    S2:E19/10/1967

    Alex Cresnic and his partner Walters have bought out an entire nation's heroin crop and are smuggling it into Marseilles for a sale - the IMF needs to put them out of business. Barney and Jim fake an elevator crash and ""blind"" Walters. In the hospital, Rollins impersonates Cresnic's voice and gives Walters specific instructions. Meanwhile, Cresnic believes Walters to be dead and meets Walters' widow, played by Cinnamon. She blackmails Cresnic into taking her on as his new partner, and then leads him to a rival competitor, played by Rollin. Jim is the chemist in the set-up, and Cresnic ""kills"" Willy and takes Jim to work for him. Jim has a jacket that lets him switch Cresnic's heroin for powdered milk. Cresnic makes the sale but the IMF has put an opening in the bottom of his desk where he stores the money. Rollin breaks in and tells the buyers to check their merchandise, after setting up Walters to go to the basement and check the money. The buyers discover the heroin is fake, and they

    Director:Lee H. Katzin

    Writer:Barney Slater

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    Director:Lee H. Katzin

    Writer:Barney Slater
15. 

    5.0/10(1 votes)

    #15 - Trek

    S2:E29/17/1967

    The country of Santales sold a collection of Incan gold artifacts to save its economy, which were stolen by Jack Cole. Cole's accomplices are killed and Colonel Cardoza of Santales is in charge of extracting the location of the artifacts from Cole. However, Cardoza is a traitor who plans to take the artifacts and leave Santales in financial ruin. The IMF must both recover the treasure and expose Cardoza. Phelps goes in as Cardoza's fence, and plots with the Colonel to get Cole to reveal the treasure. Phelps is thrown in with Cole, and they manage to escape thanks to Cardoza's set-up with Jim. Jim ""kills"" Rollin (disguised as an Indian) for his horses, and the Rollin reports to Cardoza's superior, General Diaz, that Cardoza is the one looking for the treasure. Cole takes Phelps and Cardoza to the treasure, and Cardoza kills Cole. As Diaz's men close in, Jim leaves via a helicopter, leaving Cardoza to try and explain why he has the treasure and was working with Cole.

    Director:Leonard Horn

    Writer:Laurence Heath

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    Director:Leonard Horn

    Writer:Laurence Heath
16. 

    5.0/10(1 votes)

    #16 - The Survivors

    S2:E39/24/1967

    Two scientists and their wives have been kidnapped by enemy agent Eric Stavak. If Stavak doesn't get ahold of a third scientist, the other two are useless and will be killed. If he gets the third, than Stavak will have the key to an ""ultimate weapon"" project. Phelps and Cinnamon pretend to be the third scientist and his wife and alllow themselves to be kidnapped and taken to the other two scientists and their wives. Phelps predicts an upcoming earthquake, which the IMF team goes to work and fake-implements. Phelps digs out an escape route through a storm drain, only to be shoved aside by Stavak and his henchmen as they make their escape. While Jim leads everyone out of a perfectly-working elevator, Stavak and the others are captured as they emerge onto a perfectly-intact San Francisco street.

    Director:Paul Stanley

    Writers:Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    Director:Paul Stanley

    Writers:Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield
17. 

    5.0/10(1 votes)

    #17 - The Bank

    S2:E410/1/1967

    Alfred Belzig, a bank director in the ""East Zone"", takes money from those trying to escape to the West, then disposes of them and keeps the money. Belzig plans to use the $3 million he's accumulated to support a new Nazi party. Rollin pretends to be an escapee - Belzig takes his money and kills him, allowing the team to track the money to a safe deposit box. Barney and guest team member Paul Lebarre (a former bank robber) stage a raid on Belzig's bank and steal only his deposit box. Willy, pretending to be a police man, ""arrests"" them and they depart just as the real police arrive. They wonder why the single box was targeted, Belzig tries to escape before he can be incriminated and fails.

    Director:Alf Kjellin

    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    Director:Alf Kjellin

    Writer:Unknown
18. 

    5.0/10(1 votes)

    #18 - The Slave (1)

    S2:E510/8/1967

    In the country of Elkabar, King Ibn Borca is conducting a brisk slave business with the aid of supplier Karl de Groot. de Groot raids into neighboring countries. The IMF team must put the two men out of business. Barney lets himself be captured by de Groot, gets the info on a cell, then escapes with the info so they can create an exact duplicate of the cell. Jim "sells" Cinnamon to de Groot, then Willy retrieves her and captures de Groot. Jim then approaches de Groot's partner Jara and tells him he killed de Groot and that Jara has a new partner...

    Director:Lee H. Katzin

    Writers:Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    Director:Lee H. Katzin

    Writers:Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield
19. 

    5.0/10(1 votes)

    #19 - The Slave (2)

    S2:E610/15/1967

    Willy kidnaps Princess Amara, wife of the king's brother Fasar, who knows nothing of his brother's slave racket. They put Amara in the duplicate cell and then Rollin-as-Borca tells her she will be sold at the next auction. Jim delivers Cinnamon to Borca, and then they dress up a sedated Amara as Cinnamon, and Barney and Willy switch her for Cinnamon. Rollin, masquerading as an Interpol agent, convinces Fasar to go to a slave auction that Borca is holding. Disguised, the men watch as "Cinnamon" is put up for auction. Fasar reveals himself and Amara's disguise is revealed. She tells her husband of the slave cells. Borca is killed and Fasar puts an end to slavery in Elkabar.

    Director:Lee H. Katzin

    Writers:Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    Director:Lee H. Katzin

    Writers:Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield
20. 

    5.0/10(1 votes)

    #20 - Operation Heart

    S2:E710/22/1967

    Professor Bennett is an archaeologist who is caught up in political coup by Gomalk, the Chief of Security Police. The coup is aimed at President Rurich. Bennett was accidentally arrested and interrogated, inducing a heart attack. The team must both rescue Bennett and prevent the coup. The IMF stage an assassination, spoiling Gomalk's own intended assassination. Cinnamon, impersonating Bennett's husband, tries to frame Bennett so that President Rurich believes he is an American agent. That would screw up Gomalk's plans, so he keeps the news secret, except that Phelps tells Rurich anyway. Rurich orders an interrogation of Bennett and orders an operation. Rollin, disguised as a doctor, slips in and ""discovers"" a bomb in the room. Barney, Willy, and guest agent Dr. Siebert come in as a bomb disposal unit who pull guns and try to ""rescue"" Bennett. Rollin fakes Bennett's death and the IMF team escape with Bennett hidden in a bomb disposal gentry, and then Rollin takes Bennett's place. Rurich

    Director:Leonard Horn

    Writers:Arthur Rowe, John O'Dea

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    Director:Leonard Horn

    Writers:Arthur Rowe, John O'Dea
21. 

    5.0/10(1 votes)

    #21 - The Money Machine

    S2:E810/29/1967

    Walter DuBruis is a criminal financier in Africa, and has made a deal with a countefeiter, Rag Tagoor. DuBruis will pass the fake money that Tagoor manufactures, wrecking the pro-Western country of Ghalea. DuBruis is above the law unless there is firm evidence, so the IMF have to put him out of business. Cinnamon tries to corner the market on a company's copper stock, interesting DuBruis by mentioning her husband has found a new vein of copper. DuBruis plans to buy the stock for himself, but needs money. Conveniently, Rollin fakes an epileptic seizure, and DuBruis discovers that Rollin is a counterfeiter. He makes a deal with Rollin to make up fake money to make up the $5 million he needs, by providing his own $3 million as a sample. Thanks to a fake machine and Barney passing out special paper, the deal goes smoothly, but Barney substitutes fake money for DuBruis' real money, too. DuBruis attracts the attention of the foreign minister by buying up all the copper shares. Told to show t

    Director:Paul Stanley

    Writer:Richard M. Sakal

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    Director:Paul Stanley

    Writer:Richard M. Sakal
22. 

    5.0/10(1 votes)

    #22 - The Seal

    S2:E911/5/1967

    Taggart. an industrialist, has a rare stolen statue that America needs to maintain a friendly relationship with a foreign country. He refuses to turn it over and IM Force are sent to get it. They need a cat, Rusty, to bypass Taggert's elaborate security. Phelps fouls the computer with a doctored key card, requiring Willy to deliver a replacement containing Barney and the cat. Cinnamon is a reporter investigating a supposed curse on the statue, while Rollin pretends to be a professor from the statue's country of origin. Rollin makes a faked grab for the statue, and Taggert has to shut down the electricity to prevent him from dying. Barney uses the brief power outage to get past the sonic detectors and drill a hole into the chamber. He then inserts a miniature crosswalk so the trained cat can go across and loop the statue around its neck. Despite the distraction of a local tank of fish, Rusty succeeds and everyone makes their escape as Taggert discovers the theft.

    Director:Alexander Singer

    Writer:Allan Balter

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    Director:Alexander Singer

    Writer:Allan Balter
23. 

    5.0/10(1 votes)

    #23 - Charity

    S2:E1011/12/1967

    A husband-and-wife con team, the Hagars, rip off the wealthy for donations to charity, only to take it all for themselves. The IMF ""crashes"" the Hagars' get-together with a groiup of millionaires at an estate on the French-Italian border. The Hagars have converted their ill-gotten gains to platinum, and have it stored in the base of a pool table . Jim goes in as a gigolo supposedly hired by Erik Hagar to keep his wife Catherine occupied, while Cinnamon keeps Erik occupied by pretending to be a wealthy invalid. Barney tunnels into the estate and switches out the platinum bricks with an inflatable duplicate. Rollin pretends to be a hitman trying to kill Catherine, but is caught and confesses he was hired by Erik. Suspicious, Catherine hires him and then tries to flee the country. Jim fakes putting the platinum in the trunk of her car. He and she make it to the border, but Erik, follows, takes the car. Unfortunately for him, Barney and Willy have taken the real platinu, melted it down, an

    Director:Marc Daniels

    Writer:Barney Slater

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    Director:Marc Daniels

    Writer:Barney Slater
24. 

    5.0/10(1 votes)

    #24 - The Council (1)

    S2:E1111/19/1967

    Frank Wayne is the head of the Syndicate, and by putting the Mob's ill-gotten gains in a Swiss bank account, he threatens to ruin the U.S. gold reserve. The IMF must recover the funds and put Wayne away. Jim harasses Wayne, forcing the gangster to move his records to the Syndicate's office HQ. Then Jim and Barney subpoena and grill Wayne, while Rollin studies Wayne to impersonate his mannerisms. They fake an escape for Wayne long enough for him to call his henchman, but Rollin then takes his place. ""Wayne"" then orders Barney's death. With ""Wayne"" on the lam, the Syndicate insist that he leave town, but Rollin sells them on the idea of plastic surgery...to make ""Wayne"" look like Rollin!

    Director:Paul Stanley

    Writer:Allan Balter

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    Director:Paul Stanley

    Writer:Allan Balter
25. 

    5.0/10(1 votes)

    #25 - The Council (2)

    S2:E1211/26/1967

    Rollin-as-Wayne orders the death of Jim, who is impersonating a federal investigator, without getting the approval of the Syndicate Council. With Jim's killing a a distraction, Rollin breaks into the safe at Syndicate HQ and duplicates the financial records. The Council, unhappy with ""Wayne's"" independence and the fact that the murder is attracting headlines, condemn him to death. Rollin runs, but at the last moment switches place with the real Wayne, who has received plastic surgeon to make him look like Rollin. Wayne is killed by the hitman, Johnny, and the records are used to bust the Syndicate.

    Director:Paul Stanley

    Writers:Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    Director:Paul Stanley

    Writers:Allan Balter, William Read Woodfield