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The Worst Episodes of Mission: Impossible

Every episode of Mission: Impossible ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Mission: Impossible!

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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

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  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    Mission: Impossible Season 1 Episode 11 - Zubrovnik's Ghost
    6.1/10(468 votes)

    S1:E11

    The wife of a deceased scientist, Kurt Zubrovnik, is being pressured by Eastern forces to work for them. They are using a phony psychic to convince the wife her dead husband wants to defect!

    Director:Leonard Horn
    Writer:Robert Lewin

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  2. Mission: Impossible Season 1 Episode 13 - Elena
    6.4/10(440 votes)

    S1:E13

    Double-agent Elena Del Barra is acting bizarrely, sending a microfilm of defense secrets from her own country. Rollin is sent in to 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.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writer:Ellis Marcus

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  3. Mission: Impossible Season 4 Episode 26 - The Martyr
    6.5/10(216 votes)

    S4:E26

    As a duplicitous dictator courts the young people of his country, Paris poses as the son of his predecessor, a martyred youth leader.

    Director:Virgil W. Vogel
    Writer:Ken Pettus

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  4. Mission: Impossible Season 5 Episode 14 - Takeover
    6.6/10(213 votes)

    S5:E14

    Phelps must stop Charles Peck from using violence, created by professional provocateur Billy Walsh, to elevate his puppet, Mayor Steven Tallman to the governorship. Dana is a provocateur herself, arrested by Barney the current governor's representative. Walsh gets Dana out, and Paris is a blackmailer who convinces Tallman that Dana is his previously-unknown illegitimate daughter. Peck is concerned that Tallman (actually Paris in disguise) will confess their plans to save his "daughter", and orders Walsh to kill Barney and Dana. Barney stops Walsh on TV before he can blow up a crowd of demonstrators and police during a protest, and Paris-as-Tallman confesses to Peck's involvement.

    Director:Virgil W. Vogel
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Mission: Impossible Season 1 Episode 7 - Wheels
    6.8/10(469 votes)

    S1:E7

    In the country of Valeria, the IMF must assure that the corrupt Nationalist party's rigged voting machine doesn't give them the election.

    Director:Tom Gries
    Writer:Laurence Heath

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  6. Mission: Impossible Season 4 Episode 18 - Gitano (aka Toys)
    6.8/10(237 votes)

    S4:E18

    A 12-year-old king whose life is in danger is rescued by gypsies - Paris and Willie in disguise - and forced to dress up like a girl to fool his assassins.

    Director:Barry Crane
    Writer:Laurence Heath

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  7. Mission: Impossible Season 7 Episode 21 - The Western
    6.8/10(181 votes)

    S7:E21

    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.

    Director:Leslie H. Martinson
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Mission: Impossible Season 5 Episode 15 - Cat's Paw
    6.9/10(219 votes)

    S5:E15

    Larry Collier, newspaper editor and Barney's brother, is killed while trying to establish a link between corrupt police chief Abbott and Corley, the head of a ghetto mob who masks his illegal activities with an insurance front company. Barney, set up with a past as a crooked accountant, gets close to Corley by rescuing his secretary Millie - Corley hires him on when he finds out about his "past." Barney plants money to make it look like Corley's assistant Goslin is working against him, while the IMF use a phony seance to convince Goslin to quit with some incriminating evidence. Jim arrests Goslin with the evidence, a codebook, and uses it to force Abbott to back him as a mob boss then bribes Corley's guard to try and kill the mob leader. Barney rescues him and Corley runs into Jim, who threatens to take him to Abbott - knowing Abbott will have him killed, Corley turns state's evidence.

    Director:Virgil W. Vogel
    Writer:Howard Browne

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  9. Mission: Impossible Season 6 Episode 13 - Run for the Money
    6.9/10(181 votes)

    S6:E13

    Syndicate members Trask and Mason control the Syndicate's illegal racing operations, while Trask ruthlessly dispatches the competition - the IMF must take them out. Trask is jealous of thoroughbred owner Mason so Jim offers him a mysterious but promising racehorse - Trask finds out the horse is a kidnapped fast-racer. The IMF arrange for him to get the horse and then place a number of bets on the horse in Trask's name. After keeping Mason from having the horse killed, Trask's horse wins and the IMF get the $4 million from the Syndicate funds, leaving Trask to hold the bag.

    Director:Marvin J. Chomsky
    Writer:Edward J. Lakso

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  10. Mission: Impossible Season 7 Episode 18 - The Fighter
    6.9/10(180 votes)

    S7:E18

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Mission: Impossible Season 7 Episode 20 - The Pendulum
    6.9/10(182 votes)

    S7:E20

    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.

    Director:Lewis Allen
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Mission: Impossible Season 1 Episode 12 - Fakeout
    7.0/10(419 votes)

    S1:E12

    Anastas Poltroni is the head of an international narcotics syndicate, and has taken refuge in a country with no extradition treaty. The IM Force is assigned to lure him out without kidnapping him (to avoid the publicity).

    Director:Bernard L. Kowalski
    Writer:Leigh Chapman

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  13. Mission: Impossible Season 3 Episode 22 - Nicole
    7.0/10(301 votes)

    S3:E22

    Jim is sent in to recover a list of Allied agents from the enemy's highest ranking intelligence minister, Anton Valdas. Nicole Vedette's, Valdas' secretary, is apparently on the IMF's side but Jim decides not to use her. Instead Jim and Rollin plansto break into Valdas' safe during a party. Jim and Nicole meet and have a romantic attraction. The effort goes awry and Jim is shot and captured while helping Rollin to escape. Nicole is imprisoned on suspicion but tells Jim that no one is looking for Rollin. Nicole also tells him that Rollin's contact is a double agent. Jim believes Valdas substituted a fake list that he wants them to take back. The two escape and Jim collapses from his wound in a barn. Nicole reveals she is the double agent and reports the success of their charade to Jim. But because of her attraction to him she blackmails Valdas into letting them escape for real. Jim realizes the deception and Nicole confesses, unaware that Valdas put a bug on her. They are caught by Vald

    Director:Stuart Hagmann
    Writer:Paul Playdon

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  14. Mission: Impossible Season 5 Episode 2 - Flip Side
    7.0/10(248 votes)

    S5:E2

    The IMF must break up a drug-smuggling ring - Bracken gets his drugs from Mexico compliments of Diego Maximillian, who gets his drugs legally from C.W. Cameron. The IMF must connect Cameron to Bracken. Jim plays a Syndicate man who orders the pills from Bracken, and Barney tracks the shipment and switches out the drugs. The team has Maximillian picked up in Mexico so that Bracken has to go directly to Cameron to buy the drugs - the IMF get everything on camera and turn them both over to the authorities.

    Director:John Llewellyn Moxey
    Writer:Jackson Gillis

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  15. Mission: Impossible Season 5 Episode 21 - A Ghost Story
    7.0/10(217 votes)

    S5:E21

    Howard Bainbridge, a chemical warfare expert who defected to East, was contaminated by his own experiments and then returned back to the U.S. and his family manor, where his father (a paranoid arch-conservative) had him killed and the body buried. Since Howard destroyed the records before defecting, the IMF must recover the body to get a sample of the chemicals. The elder Bainbridge, Justin, is unaware that his head of security is an enemy agent also trying to find Howard' sbody. The IMF gain access to a air-raid shelter on the grounds and start ""haunting"" Justin with a secretly-implanted microphone and holographic projectors. Plagued by visions only he can see of his son and his dead wife Janette (played by Dana), Justin calls in physician Paris, who recommends he assauge his guilt conscience and Justin ends up digging up his son's body, which the IMF take.

    Director:Reza Badiyi
    Writer:Ed Adamson

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  16. Mission: Impossible Season 6 Episode 6 - The Miracle
    7.0/10(192 votes)

    S6:E6

    Only two Syndicate men know where $8 mil in heroin will be arriving - narcotics dealer Alvin Taylor an dhis executioner, Frank Kearney. When Jim approaches Kearney to make a deal and he refuses, Willie ""shoots"" Kearney - Barney as a surgeon then operates providing a heart transplant and covertly uses drugs and hypnotism to make Kearney mild-mannered. Kearney can't bring himself to shoot Jim and hears on the radio about people taking on the traits of persons they received organs from - with the aid of new girlfriend, the church-hating Kearney finds out the man who donated a heart was a priest! Realizing he can't do his job and the Syndicate will wipe him out, Kearney leads Casey and the rest of the team to the beach where the heroin drop occurs, and the police arrive just before Taynor can kill Kearney.

    Director:Leonard Horn
    Writer:Daniel B. Ullman

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  17. Mission: Impossible Season 7 Episode 7 - Underground
    7.0/10(178 votes)

    S7:E7

    Gunther Schell, the brains behind many Syndicate operations, escaped with the aid of a gang specializing in smuggling criminals out of the country - the IMF must locate Schell and the millions in Syndicate money he hid. The gang apparently brainwashes their ""clients"" and steals their money. Jim goes in as a doctor wanted for murder with his cash hidden after Barney hypnotically programs him only to divulge the information they want. Jim is contacted by the gang, led by Clavering, but the IMF loses contact with him when he's moved in a lead-lined casket to the gang's location, where Schell (who hasn't broke yet) is also at. Jim manages to knock Schell into a coma by triggering his diabetes and claims only he can save him. Jim calls in Willy as an anesthelogist and then the two of them knock out the gang and get Schell out. Barney sell's Schell's location to his superior, Lutz, and they all go to the hidden cash, where the police take them into custody.

    Director:David Lowell Rich
    Writer:Leigh Vance

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  18. Mission: Impossible Season 7 Episode 19 - Speed
    7.0/10(184 votes)

    S7:E19

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Mission: Impossible Season 2 Episode 22 - The Killing
    7.1/10(309 votes)

    S2:E22

    Burt Gordon has set up a new version of Murder, Inc. for the Synidcate. The IMF need to get evidence of his actions. Jim and Cinnamon become Gordon's new neighbors, and their brother Rollin claims they are being haunted by the ghost of their long-dead sibling. Cinnamon seduces Gordon and wants him to kill her husband. A provoked Jim then attacks Gordon and is ""killed"" by Gordon's hitman, Connie and fake-disposed of in an incinerator. But then Jim's ghost comes back to haunt Gordon, ""killing"" Cinnamon. Gordon follows Jim's ghost-voice to his body and shoots it again...only to find out that the IMF disguised Connie as Jim. The police arrive and arrest Gordon for murder.

    Director:Lee H. Katzin
    Writer:Allan Balter

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  20. Mission: Impossible Season 4 Episode 25 - The Choice
    7.1/10(207 votes)

    S4:E25

    A duchess is under the powerful spell of a mystic, who notices his uncanny resemblance to Paris and plans to use him in a plot to ascend to the throne.

    Director:Alan Greedy
    Writer:Ken Pettus

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  21. Mission: Impossible Season 5 Episode 6 - My Friend, My Enemy
    7.1/10(239 votes)

    S5:E6

    A Communist agent, Karl Maur, spots Paris on vacation, knocks him out and turns him over to Dr. Tabor, who is a brain specialist and mind control expert. Unable to break Paris, Tabor blanks out Paris' memories and uses an implanted electrode to program him to attack Jim by convincing the disguise expert Jim represents an authority figure, similar to the ones he has lost two women to in the past. Doug and Jim find nothing wrong with him, but Barney finds fingerprints pointing to Maur and Jim delays reporting to the Secretary and tries to find out what's going on with Paris. Paris is befriended by a Communist agent working with Tabor - Tabor murders her and makes it set up as if Jim did it. Paris attacks Jim but snaps out of it when Jim's life is threatened and turns against Tabor.

    Director:Gerald Mayer
    Writer:Gene R. Kearney

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  22. Mission: Impossible Season 5 Episode 20 - Kitara (aka The Bigot)
    7.1/10(212 votes)

    S5:E20

    John Darcy, codename 'Kitara', leads a liberation movement in the African country of Bocamo and has been inadvertently captured by the ruthless Colonel Kohler. Kohler plans to torture Kitara, who if he confesses his true identity will result in the destruction of the entire movement. Kohler is after a truckful of government gold bullion Kitara stole. Jim and Doug play agents while Barney is captured and gets the location of the bullion from Kitara and gets it to Jim. Doug warns Kohler about ""lamposa hycondra"", a disease that causes blacks to turn white. After Kohler takes a IMF-rigged shower he wakes up the next morning to find himself black! Dana as a reporter introduces Kohler to shopkeeper Paris, who has ""proof"" that Kohler's grandfather was black. Kohler goes on the run and Paris hides him out at the gold's location. The authorities find Kohler there and believe he is Kitara and have him arrested, then hand the gold over to Jim to deliver it to headquarters.

    Director:Murray Golden
    Writer:Mann Rubin

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  23. Mission: Impossible Season 7 Episode 14 - Incarnate
    7.1/10(191 votes)

    S7:E14

    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.

    Director:Barry Crane
    Writer:Buck Houghton

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  24. Mission: Impossible Season 1 Episode 9 - A Spool There Was
    7.2/10(478 votes)

    S1:E9

    Rollin and Cinnamon go it alone to recover a reel of recording wire containing information on a chemical warfare project aimed at the U.S.

    Director:Bernard L. Kowalski
    Writer:Ellis Marcus

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  25. Mission: Impossible Season 1 Episode 14 - The Short Tail Spy
    7.2/10(422 votes)

    S1:E14

    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.

    Director:Leonard Horn
    Writer:Julian Barry

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Worst Episodes Summary

"Zubrovnik's Ghost" is the worst rated episode of "Mission: Impossible". It scored 6.1/10 based on 468 votes. Directed by Leonard Horn and written by Robert Lewin, it aired on 11/26/1966. This episode scored 0.3 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Elena".