Mission: Impossible -- Episode 31: The Assassin

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Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:

A doctor is brainwashing people and using them to assassinate world leaders.  When Nicholas goes undercover in the doctor's clinic, the doctor gets the upper hand and brainwashes him. Nicholas goes to a zoo to assassinate an African ruler, and the IMF team must stop him before it's too late.

Memorable Quote:
Have I missed something?   ~Nicholas
Welcome home, Nicholas.  ~Jim

Highlight:
The scene by the pool is really good when Max and Shannon begin to realize the extent of Nicholas's brainwashing.

Lowlight:

For a villain who's described as having a genius-level IQ, Westerly is pretty stupid in a lot of ways, but primarily for showing up personally at the scene of each of his assassins' crimes. Wouldn't someone from law enforcement other than Grant have noticed him on video and charged him by now?  Some of his other tactics are also questionable, such as why he doesn't question Max and Shannon when they confront Nicholas by the pool, or why he sets up a decoy to draw out the IMF team but then doesn't take any action against them.

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

• This is our second MI episode with an identical title to a MacGyver episode and includes elements of Brainwashed and DOA MacGyver. 
• I've said before that this is one of the few episodes that I vaguely remembered: "an episode where Nick goes bad (and I vaguely remember a lion being involved?)".  
• They didn't establish how Westerly knows Shannon's cover when she goes up to him at the racetrack and starts talking to him.
• 19:21 mark: There's the lion -- I knew it!  I like the little drum beat that's played every time the lion is shown stalking its prey.
• 31:40 - Why do they have Max shadowing Westerly considering that Westerly knows what Max looks like?  No matter, Westerly doesn't spot him even though they're about 20 feet apart.
• Why wouldn't they tie Nicholas up after sedating him?  Or at least take off his watch that Westerly is using to manipulate him?
• Pretty convenient that both the OPEC leader and the president of West Africa happen to be in Boston.

Final Analysis:

Great episode!  In a series where many of the episodes are formulaic and somewhat dull (especially in the first season), this one stands out as being original and character-driven.  I've said before how I generally prefer more of an emphasis on plot over character, but this series takes the plot emphasis to an extreme to the point where we don't know hardly anything about the characters' personal lives, histories, motivations, and feelings.  This episode by itself doesn't fill in those gaps, but at least it's a step in the right direction.  And despite the story being a little clunky and not always making sense, it's exciting and action-oriented.  Ranking it 2 out of 31.