Mission: Impossible -- Episode 20: The Golden Serpent

To Watch: Part 1 / Part 2

Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:

A Southeast Asian triad represented by a golden serpent symbol is drug smuggling and using the revenue to gain control over third world countries.  The IMF team, along with Barney Collier, plans to take down a prince (and triad member) by framing him and resurrecting his dead twin brother. After the prince gets killed, the team turns their attention to the businessman at the top of the smuggling ring.

Memorable Quote:
What the hell's going on?  ~Grant
About it being too easy?  ~Nicholas
Did I say that?  ~Grant

Highlight:

Some relatively compelling drama (very compelling by this show's standards) involving Grant finding his father near death but having to leave him to complete the mission, although they did miss an opportunity later when Grant finds out he's alive -- he just says "Dad?" and then the scene ends. Could have been an emotional moment.

Lowlight:

The laser-in-the-eyes bit was silly, and also it's hard for me to believe that Barney would be able to see again after that.

Other thoughts, observations, and questions I didn’t ask when I was in fourth grade:

• Our first episode of Season 2 and a two-parter at that.  I've watched this one in bits and pieces over a period of weeks so let's see how good my notes are.  At first glance, not too good.
• Early on there's a shot of the Sydney Opera House -- wait a minute, am I still watching MI2?
• I wrote "Ring is key?" in my notes.  I don't remember what that means, maybe they used a ring as a key at one point and I was surprised?  I'm not going to spend much time (ok, any time) rewatching to try and figure it out.  
• Grant's dad, Barney, is involved with this mission.  We saw him in The Condemned, and it's worth mentioning again that the actor is Phil Morris's (Grant) father in real life, and he appeared on the original MI series.
• I like the underground lair, feels kind of Bond-like.
• I knew the villain was familiar but I couldn't place him.  After googling him, it turns out that he was Glass, the Yakuza leader in MacGyver's Log Jam and one of the best villains from the series!  I hope the committee doesn't revoke my PhD in MacGyverology.
• Max picks the worst possible location for sniping -- a bridge that takes 10 minutes to get off. And given that he has a parachute, why doesn't he just use it right away? Although it does give us a chance to see Max try and dodge the bad guy's metal throwing blades, which I thought were a creatively distinctive weapon.
• I like the idea of a presumed dead twin brother coming back to challenge the prince, but it would have made more sense if the prince hadn't seen the brother die.
• I also like the multiple identical cars being used to confuse the tail.  I just saw a similar maneuver used on Burn Notice the other day.
• Shannon finds Barney, weakened and presumed dead, in a room lying down on a sofa.  After talking to him for a minute, she tells him to get some rest and then leaves. How about at least getting the man a glass of water or something?
• For the second straight episode, I'm complaining about the inconsistency with Max as a fighter. In Season 1 he's defeating an elite boxing champion and here he's having to break a sweat to defeat a puny pencil pusher.
• They sure didn't skimp on explosives at the end.

Final Analysis:

Overall this two-parter was pretty solid, and while I didn't love it, I'm ranking it 4 out of 20.  The plot held my attention and moved at a good pace, and it was nice to see the characters' relationship (in this case Grant and Barney) as part of the story.  Hopefully this is a sign of better things to come for Season 2.