Mission: Impossible

10 Beste Episodes of Mission: Impossible - Season 3

Mission: Impossible is an American television series that was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force. In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill; Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, takes charge for the remaining seasons. A hallmark of the series shows Briggs or Phelps receiving his instructions on a recording that then self-destructs, followed by the theme music composed by Lalo Schifrin.The series aired on the CBS network from September 1966 to March 1973, then returned to television for two seasons on ABC, from 1988 to 1990, retaining only Graves in the cast. It later inspired a popular series of theatrical motion pictures starring Tom Cruise, beginning in 1996.

Written by Sophie and last updated on Jan 04, 2023.

PS: The following content contains spoilers!

PPS: I will admit that parts of this page was written with the help of AI - it makes my work so much easier to not start from a blank page!

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Mission: Impossible - S3E7

#15 - The Elixir (Staffel 3 - Folge 7)

Riva Santel is the recent widow of the President of San Cordova. Deputy Premier Avilla plans to announce free elections but Riva will declare herself dictator in a coup. The IMF must stop her. Pretending to be a film crew, the IMF team gets in. Hostess Cinnamon fakes a collapse and the guys comment on her age. Rollin as a plastic surgeon comes in and Riva finds out Cinnamon is actually seventy years old. She insists on surgery for herself. Since the surgery can only be done on the night of the speech, she has herself taped by her own camera crew. Barney and Willy get hold of the tape footage, reedit it, and switch the IMF tape for Riva's. Riva is sedated during the speech and so her men use the tape. When she awakens, her face in bandages, she is shocked to hear "herself" announcing her retirement. While Cinnamon disguised as old-Riva conspicuously leaves the country, Riva takes off the bandages to find she has her wish: she is now a younger woman...with a totally different face.

The episode was rated 7,58 from 24 votes.

Mission: Impossible - S3E4

#14 - The Mercenaries (Staffel 3 - Folge 4)

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The IMF must bring down Colonel Hans Krim, the head of a mercenary army who has a ton of loot in gold bars hidden away in an inaccessible enclave. Rollin enlists while Jim and Cinnamon pose as gunrunners with Willy and Barney hidden in their truck. Rollin fakes finding a cache of gold and is then tortured into revealing it. Krim "kills" Rollin and then coerces Jim into moving it without revealing the secret gold to his aides. Krim tells the guards to ignore the truck with what he believes his gold, unaware that Barney has melted the real gold belonging to the army, melted it down to remove it from the vault, and put in the truck. While Krim's suspicious aide Gruner kills him over the betrayal, Jim drives away with the gold and the hidden IMFers, immune to being searched because of Krim's last orders.

The episode was rated 7,62 from 26 votes.

Mission: Impossible - S3E12

#13 - The Exchange (Staffel 3 - Folge 12)

During a mission in a half Western/half Communist country, Cinnamon is caught and arrested after delivering information to the team. She is tortured and proves immune to everything except effects involving her claustrophobia. As intelligence officer Strom gets close to breaking her, Jim decides that the team must try and trade her for a valuable Eastern spy, Rudolf Kurtz. The IMF have to covertly get Kurtz out of prison, get him past the Western police, and get the information from him. The IMF fakes "rescuing" Kurtz and taking him to an office in the Eastern zone, where he gives up his information to superior officer Jim. Strom is forced to trade Cinnamon, but shoots both her and Jim during the exchange. Believing them dead and with Kurtz keeping silent about the information he spilled to protect his own life, Strom departs...as Jim and Cinnamon, wearing bulletproof trenchcoats, make their escape.

The episode was rated 7,65 from 23 votes.

Mission: Impossible - S3E1

#12 - The Heir Apparent (Staffel 3 - Folge 1)

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The Archbishop of Povia must designate a heir to succeed the departed king as regent, as the king left no heir. General Qaisette plans to seize the throne in a coup if he isn't named. The IMF spread rumors that Princess Celine, who disappeared as a child, is returning. Cinnamon studies Celine's life. Barney and Willey lead Qaisette to Phelps who has an elderly blind Celine/Cinnamon. Thanks to Rollin who claims to be a doctor who knows about the "real" Celine's crippled arm, Qaisette believes he can use the "fake" Celine to discredit the Archbishop. But Cinnamon manages to pass every test (with some help from Barney) and Rollin ingeniously sneaks out before Qaisette can call him as a witness. Cinnamon-as-Celine has Qaisette arrested and then abdicates the throne, disappearing once more.

The episode was rated 7,76 from 21 votes.

Mission: Impossible - S3E15

#11 - The System (Staffel 3 - Folge 15)

A gangster, Constantine Victor (aka "Mr. V") has had the last witness against him on a murder indictment killed. Johnny Costa, Victor's associates and a casino owner, is the only one with enough evidence to get Victor convicted. The IMF must con Costa into talking. Phelps as a syndicate killer warns Costa that someone has put a contract on him. Cinnamon charms Costa and has him endorse minor credit slips which the IMF then forges for bigger ones. Rollin is a bookkeeper who supposedly works for Costa, finds an unlisted $25,000 planted by Barney, and the fake credit slips. Thanks to a prerecorded call from "Victor" mimicked by Rollin, Costa is relieved of duties. Costa confronts Cinnamon and gets her to admit she is working for Victor. Fleeing from Willy as another hit man, Costa locks himself in the casino vault to protect himself until he can testify against Victor.

The episode was rated 7,90 from 20 votes.

Mission: Impossible - S3E18

#10 - Live Bait (Staffel 3 - Folge 18)

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Selby, a double-agent for the U.S. within an enemy country's intelligence service, is suspected by his superior, Kellerman. The IMF must keep Selby in the clear and eliminate Kellerman. Selby complains when Marceau, a courier who knows about Selby's identity, is taken from him by Kellerman. Selby claims Kellerman is the double-agent. Rollin, as a government official, gives Kellerman 24 hours to break Marceau. Using his underling Brocke, Kellerman works with Rollin to trap Selby. Kellerman comes to believe that Agent Jim has kidnapped Brocke's girlfriend to force Brocke to give away Marceau's location to Selby. In reality, Stephanie is shown a fake split-screen of Jim conspiring with "Kellerman" (Rollin in disguise on tape!) to kill Brocke and eliminate Marceau. Brocke believes Stephanie and accuses Kellerman but she recants under pressure. Meanwhile, Marceau is wired to an explosive. When Stephanie recants the IMF break in using knockout gas and use liquid nitrogen to free Marceau. The

The episode was rated 7,90 from 21 votes.

Mission: Impossible - S3E25

#9 - The Interrogator (Staffel 3 - Folge 25)

Agent Norvan Kruger knows about his country's plans to launch some kind of attack which will devastate the world. he's been captured by a second country unfriendly to the U.S. Kruger's interrogator, Spindler, hasn't broken the agent but even if he does the U.S. needs the plans. The IMF capture Spindler and Kruger during transport and lock Spindler up. To convince them he's who he is he tells them of Kruger's knowledge of the plan to launch nuclear missiles from submarines against the U.S. The IMF use drugs to scramble Kruger's memories and convince him he is an interrogator assigned to break a prisoner (Rollin). He's told he must get the information from Rollin or his superior Kutzof will have him shot. Rollin claims to have the same submarine-location knowledge Kruger does. Kruger grows steadily more confused, particularly when he can't hear what Rollin is saying. Jim as a psychiatirst tells Kruger he's blocking out the words. When "Kutzof" shows up, under pressure Kruger blurts out h

The episode was rated 7,91 from 22 votes.

Mission: Impossible - S3E19

#8 - The Bunker (1) (Staffel 3 - Folge 19)

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Dr. Erich Rojak and his wife Anna are being held in an underground laboratory/bunker by a totalitarian enemy government. Another unfriendly government has sent an assassin, Ventlos, to kill Rojak. The IMF must rescue Rojak and his wife, destroy the test missile Rojak is working on, and stop Ventlos. The IMF infiltrate the base and Jim introduces a handstamp system, unaware that Ventlos has already replaced the bunker's security chief. Jim uses his system to expose security officer Cinnamon as a phony and she is imprisoned near Anna. Willy breaks in via the furnace and rescues Anna while Cinnamon takes her place...

The episode was rated 8,00 from 24 votes.

Mission: Impossible - S3E16

#7 - The Glass Cage (Staffel 3 - Folge 16)

Anton Reisner, a reistance leader in a tyrannical country, has been imprisoned in the automated Trast Prison and is being tortured by Major Zelinko in order to get the names of the other resistance leaders. The IMF must get him out of the prison. Reisner is in a video-monitored escape-proof glass cubicle. Barney and Willy get themselves imprisoned when Cinnamon as head of the country's prison system arrives for an inspection. She distracts Zelinko long enough for Barney and Willy to escape, wreck the video system, and get to Reisner. But..they tell him to stay in the cell but act different, then get recaptured. Zelinko notes the discrepancy between the door counter and the written log and puts two and two together (incorrectly) with Reisner's odd behavior and assumes Reisner is an imposter. Zelinko and Gulka plot to keep the switch secret but Cinnamon arranges for Zelinko's underling Vasney to overhear it. She has Zelinko arrested and takes Barney, Willy, and the Reisner-as-the-imposte

The episode was rated 8,00 from 26 votes.

Mission: Impossible - S3E5

#6 - The Execution (Staffel 3 - Folge 5)

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The IMF must stop Lewis Parma, a Syndicate man who is close to gaining total control of the food distribution industry in the U.S. To stop him, the IMF must get his hired assassin Vic Duchell to turn state's evidence, but Duchell is resolute. Jim pretends to be a merchant who resists Parma's extortion efforts so as to become a target. Duchell bombs Jim's apartment but is knocked out. He wakes up "years later" to find himself on death row: he's been convicted for Jim's murder and is hours away from execution. Duchell believes Parma will get him out as he did one time before, but thanks to the IMF's staging, of course Parma is nowhere in sight. Just as he is is about to be fake-executed, Duchell breaks and turns evidence on Parma, just as Parma arrives at the warehouse where the scam is going on.

The episode was rated 8,00 from 28 votes.

Mission: Impossible - S3E23

#5 - The Vault (Staffel 3 - Folge 23)

Phillipe Pereda, finance minister of Costa Mateo has stolen $40 million from the vault of the country's president, De Varo. De Caro plans to announce the money will be used for an industrialization process. Pereda plans to frame the president for embezzlement when it is found the money is missing from the supposedly impenetrable vault, then take over the country. The IMF must stop him. Willy sneaks Barney into the vault and he gets it open and makes it look like it was robbed before setting off the alarm. Rollin (as an auditor) lets a guard see Barney before knocking him out, then knocking himself out. Pereda realizes that with this new robbery, he won't be able to frame De Caro. Cinnamon and Jim (as representatives trying to cut a deal with Pereda to buy land once he is in power) suggest he temporarily replace the stolen money with Treasury cash before De Caro confirms the theft. Pereda sneaks into the vault using an audio tape of De Varo's perfectly pitched code, he puts in the money

The episode was rated 8,12 from 26 votes.

Mission: Impossible - S3E17

#4 - Doomsday (Staffel 3 - Folge 17)

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Carl Vandaam, a bankrupt European tycoon, is masterminding the theft of plutonium to make a hydrogen bomb and sell to the highest bidder. To keep such a bomb from falling into the wrong hands the IMF must stop Vandaam. Jim and Cinnamon get close to Kura, one of the bidders, by offering to bankroll him in return for oil rights. Vandaam demonstrates the bomb's plutonium core but afterwards Barney manages to steal the plutonium and replace it with an empty cylinder. Vandaam's aide discovers the theft and seals the building while Vanddam bluffs it out hoping they catch the thief before the bidding is over. Kura wins the bidding unaware that Cinnamon has planted a device in his money. Cinnamon insists they see the plutonium again, Vandaam is forced to reveal the theft, and Kura wants a refund. Cinnamon destroys the money by remote control. Kura has Vandaam shot while the IMF escape and summon the authorities.

The episode was rated 8,16 from 31 votes.

Mission: Impossible - S3E20

#3 - The Bunker (2) (Staffel 3 - Folge 20)

With Cinnamon-as-Anna in place, she is taken to her "husband" and tells Dr. Rojak to be near an air vent. Jim as a security officer has placed a small remote-control flying disk in the bunker's air vent system and it holds a hypo. Barney steers it to Rojak's monitored cell and he uses the hypo to induce a heart attack. Jim summons Rollin (as a heart specialist) who advises surgery and instructs that "Anna" be at her husband's side. Ventlos the assassin plans to disrupt the operation by taking Rollin's place in disguise and the IMF quickly has to readjust when Ventlos tries to kill Rojak and destroy the installation.

The episode was rated 8,27 from 26 votes.

Mission: Impossible - S3E14

#2 - The Test Case (Staffel 3 - Folge 14)

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A scientist of an enemy power, Dr. Oswald Beck, has developed a bacteria which causes cerebral spinal meningitis and mutated it into a form that kills and then becomes inert after a few hours. The IMF must destroy the preliminary culture and stop Beck. Rollin replaces the prisoner chosen for a test of Beck's bacteria, and Barney switches the bacteria cylinder for one with knockout gas and then uses a balloon to capture the gas. Rollin "dies" but then Jim, who has infiltrated the base as a military medic, "discovers" that Rollin isn't dead. Meanwhile, Barney releases the knockout gas into the control room, knocking out Beck's superiors. Beck thinks they are dying from his bacteria and believes they'll think he's a traitor who tried to kill them rather than the test subject. He flees but is shot while Jim destroys the bacteria.

The episode was rated 8,30 from 23 votes.

Mission: Impossible - S3E13

#1 - The Mind of Stefan Miklos (Staffel 3 - Folge 13)

Walter Townsend is discovered to be a double-agent: the U.S. government has leaked false information to him to give to the enemy which will cause them embarassment if believed. However, Townsend's contact Simpson has discovered the information is false and reported to his superiors Townsend is a defector. Simpson's superiors know of his jealousy toward Townsend and send their best intelligence officer, Stefan Miklos, to discover the truth of the matter. The IMF must make Miklos believe the information is true and Simpson the liar. Rollin-as-Miklos gets Simpson out and then takes Simpson's place. The IMF sets a series of clues to make Miklos belief that Townsend truly is a traitor and preparing to defect, including tickets and a passport. However, Miklos spots a planted "clue" that convinces him the IMF are doing exactly what they are doing: framing Townsend! He identifies them and then receives the information from Rollin-as-Simpson and Jim when he's spotted Jim as one of the IMF opera

The episode was rated 8,33 from 27 votes.

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