Episode
Mission: Impossible: The Question
Overview
Nicholas Varsi, an enemy assassin, has been captured but claims to be a defector who will reveal his mission to a government agency, the FIS...when he is guaranteed safe asylum. But the FIS may have been infiltrated by a deep-cover operative and Varsi may be selling fake information, so the IMF must verify if he really wants to defector. Jim and Willy break Varsi out and Jim claims to be an agent for Varsi's former government and demands to know why he is defecting. Varsi says nothing and shoots FIS agent Andrea (actually a guest IMF agent) with an empty gun. They let him and Andrea go - he'll turn Andrea back to the FIS if he's a true defector, but instead Varsi goes to a hotel to meet with his former superior, Colonel Kremmer, and the IMF must figure things out before Varsi and Andrea are both killed.
Details
- Series
- Mission: Impossible
- Season
- Season 7
- Episode
- Episode 16
- Air date
- 1973-01-19
Episode context
The Question is Episode 16 in Season 7 of Mission: Impossible. It aired on 1973-01-19.
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Episode 15: Boomerang
Syndicater John Vayle, a member of the Luchek Family, dies in a plane explosion - the IMF believes Vayle's wife Eve set him up to get hold of records, which would be invaluable as evidence against Luchek. Eve has the records and plans to blackmail Luchek - Jim pretends to be a killer sent after her who Eve plays to find out who wanted her dead. The IMF set it up to look like her husband John is still alive and using truth serum on her in her sleep to provide the location of the records. Barney, a crooked cop, claims that he was working with Johnny and killed him afterward, and Eve has to check the records to make sure they still exist - the IMF follow her and Luchek to them and arrest everyone.
Episode 17: The Fountain
Syndicate exec Tom Bachman has stolen the computerized records from his rival Matthew Drake in a power struggle. Bachman is hiding in a village in Mexico from the crippled Drake, waiting for a hired pilot to take him to safety. Barney takes the pilot's place and then fakes a crash where he and Bachman stumble across the ""Fellowship of the Golden Circle."" Bachman discovers they have a fountain of youth - when Drake's men catch up to him, he takes Casey along as proof of his claim and offers to return the records if Drake backs him in distributing the water. Casey ages and dies before their eyes, and Drake agrees so he can get a shot at the water's healing properties. Bachman leads Drake (and the IMF) to the hidden tapes and the crooks gets arrested.
More episodes from this season
Episode 14: Incarnate
Hannah O'Connel rules over a Syndicate family, including her two sons who act as her lieutenants. Hannah masterminded the theft of a million dollars in gold bullion, and escaped to the Caribbean with her surviving son Thomas - Robert turned government witness but Hannah shot and killed him. The IMF must get her to return to the U.S. and recover the gold. The O'Connel's are set up in a house run by Casey and led to believe it's haunted by Robert - their gunsels turn up ""dead"" and Hannah contacts shopkeeper Barney to arrange a voodoo exorcism. Hannah blacks out thanks to the IMF and they send her son Thomas running after faking him killing Willy over Casey. When Hannah wakes up Barney tells her that Robert is alive and got her to tell him the location of the gold while she was unconscious. Hannah hires Jim as a pilot to take her to the gold and the IMF move in for the arrest.
Episode 18: The Fighter
Syndicate man Jay Braddock has corrupted promoter Paul Mitchell into working with him - they had middleweighter Loomis killed when he refused to throw a fight and the IMF must bring both men to justice. They do so by convincing Mitchell that his partner plans to kill him. Barney and Jim steal $37,800 from Braddock and then as a rival mob offer the partners the same amount to buy out their fighter Novick. Braddock decides to have Novick killed but the IMF intercept the call and send in Jim as the hit man. He ""kills"" Novick with a firebomb along with Susan Mitchell (actually Casey in disugise), the promoter's daughter. Mitchell tries to back out as the IMF pressure him, but Braddock messes things up by offering to kill Jim to reassure Mitchell. He manages to escape and they arrest both men.
Episode 13: The Puppet
Paul Ostro is the head of the Ostro family and a Syndicate member - after a hunting accident leaving him heavily bandaged he announces a new $100 million Syndicate plan and the IMF must find out what it is. It turns out brother Leo had Paul killed and has a substitute placed which he uses to convince four mobsters to contribute a million each into ""Paul's"" mystery scheme. Jim and Casey get Leo involved in an oil deal with a corrupt minister (IMF guest agent Khalid) while Barney as a cook gives ""Paul"" a fake heart attack - Leo has to play along and Willy gets the fake Paul out and they replace him with their own IMF agent Hank and steal the $4 million from the other gangsters. Leo's rival Gault finds the money and a ticket, and when Leo tries to get ""Paul"" to clear him, the IMF agent tells a different story. Leo has to reveal his plan to use the $4 million as the basis for a massive counterfeiting operation and take Gault and the others to his printing presses - the IMF move in and capt
Episode 19: Speed
Sam Hibbing, a major Syndicate drug dealer, stole three tons of amphetamines from a chemical plant and hit the stash in a secret location - the IMF must get it before he sells it. The IMF replaces Hibbert's drug-addicted daughter Margaret with Casey and her new friend Jim, who turns out to own a charter plane and served time for murder. Meanwhile Barney teams up with Hibbing's buyer Dayton to purchase the drugs but they must have them the next day - Jim sets it up so Hibbing's regular courier gave drugs to Margaret/Casey, leaving Hibbing with no other choice then to use Jim as the delivery man. Hibbing sees through Casey's disguise and she escapes, but Hibbing tries to stop Jim - Barney and Willy stop him and Margaret goes into rehab.
Episode 12: Crack-Up
Peter Cordel, a hitman and grandmaster chess player, has evaded capture - the IMF must bring him to justice and determine who in the Syndicate he works for. Using a hypnotic drug given by guest-agent Sandy, the IMF condition Cordel to blackout every time he is told ""When in doubt, take a pawn."" Then they set it up so it looks like he kills several people during his blackouts and have him awaken in a mental hospital where an IMF orderly stages an assault to make it look like Cordel's boss wants him dead, so Cordel tells Sandy to warn his boss to call off his hit men, and the IMF capture the man.
Episode 20: The Pendulum
Gunnar Malstrom leads the Pendulum, a secret terrorist group that is planning Operation Nightfall, targeted at the U.S. government - the IMF must stop it and bring Malstrom to justice. Casey dates Malstrom and brings him to World Resources Ltd., an IMF front company and supposed rival organization to Pendulum, and offer him a job if he leaves Pendulum. The IMF use a hidden polygraph to determine that Pendulum plans the assassination of a general - they fail to learn that the assassination has already taken place and Pendulum plans to have their general blow up the Chiefs of Staff in an explosion. Jim tries to warn the fake general, who asks him to sit in on the meeting. Thanks to a planted transmitter, the IMF discover Pendulum's true plan and Jim gets rid of the bomb just in time.
Episode 11: Kidnap
Crime boss Metzger determines that the IMF was responsible for the heist at the Aquarius Casino (from last season's episode ""Casino"") and kidnaps Jim when he and Barney are on vacation, forcing the IMF to work for him to recover evidence against him from a safe deposit box. The evidence, a letter, is being used as a bargaining chip by Metzger's former crony, Connally, to get Federal immunity for his testimony. Casey and Willy manage to steal both keys to the box and get the letter, except Metzger's subordinate Hawks steals the letter to blackmail his boss. Barney comes up with a fake letter and use it to get to Jim where the IMF takes everyone into custody.
Episode 21: The Western
Van Cleve and his partner, Royce, robbed a museum of pre-Colombian artifacts - Cleve apparently killed his partner and has the artwork hidden somewhere in the U.S. and the IMF must find it and bring him to justice. The IMF convince Cleve that he has the ability to see the future with some rigged incidents. Then they convince him that he'll die in an earthquake that will cause a dam nearby to burst - Cleve flees to the desert where he has the art hidden. The IMF follow him and manage to grab him and Royce, who faked his death and planned to kill Cleve and grab the artifacts.
Episode 10: Ultimatum
The IMF has 16 hours to find a nuclear bomb placed by an extortionist, Dr. Cooper, in one of seven Pacific Coast cities and find Cooper's associates in charge of disarming the bomb. The IMF track Cooper to a cafe and fake a radio broadcast announcing his demands will be met - then Jim and Mimi break in as convicts and take Cooper and the others hostage. The IMF eventually ""let"" Cooper call his associate Rogers to disarm the bomb but Cooper's wife Adele kills Rogers when she fears the plan has gone awry. When Rogers' death is announced on the radio, a frustrated Cooper convinces Jim and Mimi to take him to the bomb (beneath City Hall) which he shuts off with seconds to spare - the IMF take him into custody.
Episode 22: Imitation
The Marnsburg Crown Jewels were brought to the U.S. and stolen from the UN Building - Jena Cole, a thief, is believed responsible but have no leads on the location of the jewels. The IMF must recover the jewels before the hostile Marnsburg government makes a case out of it. Jena is to turn the jewels over to the Syndicate, which financed the theft. Barney manage to get close to Jena and she finds he has plans to the Marnsburg Consulate. Meanwhile, the IMF return the ""real"" jewels, claiming the first ones were fake and confirming it throuigh her diamond fence (a IMF replacement). Jena and Barney team up to get into the consulate and steal the ""real"" jewels and turns them over to Jim the creditor, so Jena tries to fake him out for substituting her supposedly fake gems for the ""real"" ones, then sneak out. The Syndicate shows up and figures out which gems are which, and the police take everyone, including Jena, into custody.