The BEST episodes of Mission: Impossible (1988)
Every episode of Mission: Impossible (1988) ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Mission: Impossible (1988)!
In this update of the original 60's series, Peter Graves returns as Jim Phelps, head of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). Brought out of retirement by the death of his successor and protege, he brings together a team of four skilled operatives and leads them as they travel the globe conducting "impossible" covert missions for the U.S. His new team consists of Nicholas Black, master of disguise; Max Harte, self-trained soldier; Grant Collier, technological genius and son of former IMFer Barney Collier; Casey Randall, femme fatale (and killed in action in episode 1.10), and Shannon Reed, another femme fatale and former newscaster and Secret Service Agent.
#1 - Countdown
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/26/1989
To prevent the detonation of a nuclear bomb by a fanatic unaware that she is being mislead by a general seeking to take over his country, Grant must get close to the woman and find the location of the bomb.
#2 - Deadly Harvest
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/6/1990
Terrorist Jouseff K., a native of the country of Orambach, plans to release a deadly virus over the wheat fields of the U.S. The team must stop the production of the virus in Orambach and destroy the terrorist cell.
#3 - The Fuhrer's Children
Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/16/1989
The head of a neo-Nazi organization plans to ally similar groups with an elaborate computer scheme, and has a ""master plan"" which guarantees him success.
#4 - Spy
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 3/18/1989
An ex-MI6 agent sells lethal chemical weapons and the IMF must team up with a Russian spy whose people also want to eliminate the threat.
#5 - The Golden Serpent (2)
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/28/1989
The team turn Selimun against his Golden Serpent masters, but when they kill him they must deal with the head of the organization to recover the hidden gold and destroy the Serpent once and for all.
#6 - The Princess
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/5/1989
A militant group hires an assassin, Coyote, to take out the princess of a country who she is turning toward Western ways. The IMF must go undercover to infiltrate the group, find out the identity of the assassin, and take him out before he can complete his assignment.
#7 - Target Earth
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/9/1989
When an IMF operative at a commercial orbital launch site goes missing, Shannon takes her place, only to find herself trapped on a space shuttle in orbit when terrorists take it over to launch a global blackmail scheme.
#8 - For Art's Sake
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/14/1989
A valuable painting and a foreign country's national treasure is stolen by a master thief during its exhibition in the U.S., and the team must recover it before the situatioin turns hostile.
#9 - Gunslinger
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/3/1990
An arms dealer who runs a mock-Western town in Nevada is the team's next target.
#10 - Reprisal
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 4/15/1989
A deranged ex-IMFer targets retired IMF agents, killing them and framing Jim Phelps for the crimes. The IMF gives Jim only a little time to prove his innocence before they must turn him over to the authorities.
#11 - The Golden Serpent (1)
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/21/1989
The IMF must take down Selimun, who works for the Golden Serpent triad running drugs. Complicating matters, Grant's father Barney has already infiltrated Selimun's operation, but is captured and the team must weigh whether to help him or complete the mission.
#12 - Command Performance
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/12/1989
The IMF team must rescue an imprisoned holy man and recover a holy relic which holds evidence of the Defense Minister's atrocities.
#13 - The Assassin
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/20/1990
The team must discover the cause of a series of bizarre assassinations caused by seemingly innocent people, but Nicholas is targeted as the next killer.
#14 - War Games
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/2/1989
The IMF must stop the general of a European country from using a series of war games as a cover to invade a neighboring country.
#15 - Bayou
Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 5/6/1989
The IMF must use voodoo rituals to break up a white slavery ring run by a sadistic Louisiana bar owner and millionnaire.
#16 - Submarine
Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/29/1989
A retired admiral prepares to sell a computer virus that can sink any naval vessel, but the plan goes awry when he destroys the computer ""cure"" before the IMF can get it. Now they must force the admiral to reveal the ""cure.""
#17 - The Cattle King
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 12/18/1988
The IMF teams up with Australian aborigines to bring down a superstitious cattle king and arms dealer.
#18 - Banshee
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/30/1989
An Irish arms dealer plays both sides of the country's conflict against each other, and the IMF must trick them into uniting to defeat him.
#19 - The Lions
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 2/4/1989
A king's son returns to his Asian country to take the test that will confirm him as the king, but his uncle, a rabid anti-American, has rigged it so that he can fail, so the IMF must rig it back.
#20 - The Killer
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/23/1988
When an IMF team leader is assassinated, Jim Phelps comes out of retirement and assembles a new team to bring the killer to justice.
#21 - The Sands of Seth
Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/24/1990
When several progressive Egyptian leaders are killed, the IMF team is sent to stop the head of the department for ancient studies at the Cairo museum. It turns out that he has revived the cult of Seth, with sacrificial ceremonies. His henchman has been impersonating a mummy to kill anyone who might talk. Jim, Shannon and Max pose as part of a dig, claiming they have found important relics from the original worship of Seth, while Nicholas and Grant try to break the trust between the leader and his followers. But Grant is caught and is scheduled to be the next sacrifice...
#22 - The Pawn
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/15/1989
When a Russian scientist and chess player decides to defect, Nicholas must take his place under the watchful eyes of the KGB while the rest of the team gets the scientist and his daughter out of the country.
#23 - The Legacy
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/26/1988
When the sons of four Nazis come together to recover a fortune in gold and create the Fourth Reich, the team must infiltrate the group and locate the gold.
#24 - Holograms
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/6/1988
The IMF must lure a canny drug lord on to U.S. territory so he can be arrested for his crimes.
#25 - The System
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/30/1988
The team must force a mobster to turn evidence against his partner and mentor.